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Registered Charity Number 1210772

Welcome to Christ Church, Blacklands & St. Andrew, Laton Road, Hastings

The October meeting of the Parish Group had a VIP guest – a chocolate coloured Labrador called Tiggy. Accompanying Tiggy was her owner, Ruth Narracott who is a dog trainer for the charity Canine Partners.

Ruth explained about the founding of the charity, the training of the puppies and the work that they do. The puppies go to ‘foster homes’ where they get used to everyday life and noises and then when they reach the age of fourteen months they go to a centre for training and are tested for suitability for becoming a canine partner. Very careful selection is made when partnering up a dog with a potential owner as most have specific needs.

Tiggy and Ruth demonstrated what skills the dogs use: as well as retrieving when something is dropped, they can open and shut cupboards, open washing machine doors, unload the washing and close the door, switch lights on and off, help with shopping by collecting goods from shelves in shops, assist in getting undressed and act as an alarm if there is a problem as they are taught to alert neighbours if their owner is in trouble. These are just a few of their skills and are very useful for people suffering from M.S. or with other disabilities. Help for Heroes have been using Canine Partners for soldiers who are badly injured.

The charity is self-funding and relies entirely on donations. If you would like to learn more about the charity their web site is:  www.caninepartners.org.uk or you could speak to one of the Parish Group members.

The next meeting will be on Monday November 19th at 7:30 p.m., when the talk will be on “Hastings Hotels” given by ex-Hastings mayor Maureen Charlesworth.

Our full programme for 2012/2013 is on our page here.

Parish Group