Dog walker raises funds to help out greyhound rescue

Sue Spencer of Helpringham raised ?1500 for the rescue centre in Fosdyke by walking 100 miles. L-R Vaughan Harman of Bob and Hope rescue centre, Sue Spencer and Santa Drozdova - volunteer. Pictured with rescue dogs L-R Jim, Billy, Noir and Mario. EMN-210807-094322001

Susan Spencer volunteered with the Bob and Hope Greyhound Rescue Centre at Fosdyke, near Boston, when she retired from work last year.

A midwife at Pilgrim Hospital for 36 years, she now helps walk the dogs and set up a Facebook page to fund raise while doing the miles of exercise, recording her route with a smart watch.

Susan said: “On average I walk about 10 miles around the fen each day.”

She wanted to raise the centre’s profile and recuit more volunteer dog walkers as well as contributing towards the huge food, utility and vet bills.

Vaughan Harman, 61, has run the centre in his retirement for the last 12 years. He has been funding it at upwards of £12,000 annually out of his own pocket and said: “It is absolutely amazing of her to go to that trouble. I’m over the moon.

“I’ve always had greyhounds and lurchers as pets from a rescue centre, when one day they asked me to drive up to Sunderland to pick up 30 greyhounds from a trainer.

“I was horrified at the state of the dogs. They were lying in faeces, with open sores, they were underweight and some had injuries.” Another 15 dogs had been exterminated.

Trainers hand over dozens of dogs unfit to race. “They often come in feeling insecure and shy and you have to win their trust,” said Vaughan, who just wants to find them caring homes.