£20k for bombers and barkers

Throughout her civic year, Coun Gill Ogden was a passionate advocate of the International Bomber Command Centre, taking shape in North Kesteven, and of Canine Partners, a charity providing assistance dogs to disabled people.

By the end of her year, she accrued £19,400, which was significantly higher than usual, through the generosity of the F&PC Scotto Charitable Trust, which put £16,600 into the fund.

In total, the Bomber Command Centre received £11,400, with £8,000 going to Canine Partners.

Coun Ogden said: “I have been pleased to support these wonderful causes and, through the generosity of the F&PC Scotto Trust, I have achieved more than I could have ever dreamed of.”

Highlights of her civic year included talking to veterans of Bomber Command and she was moved to tears seeing and hearing about the work of the dogs which Canine Partners provides – including four in Lincolnshire and one in her home village of Heckington.

This donation has paid for the training of a labrador puppy to alert owners to phones, work and empty washing machines, and raise alarms in emergencies.

“This fantastic donation will really transform the lives of disabled people,” said Canine Partners representative Pauline Shepherd, who attended the annual council meeting with dog Blythe.

“It helps us to maintain our 340 current active partnerships, four of which are in Lincolnshire, and to develop 84 new ones through 2016.”

Accepting the Bomber Command Centre’s donation, trustee Tony Worth said it would contribute towards the outstanding sum required to build the Chadwick Centre in the coming year.

“We are enormously grateful for the support we have had from this council and continue to receive,” he said. “The centre will be a wholly international concern on North Kesteven land and I will be pleased to see this money contribute towards that.”

Both charities are close to Coun Ogden’s heart. She is a dog lover, and her father helped build Lancasters during the Second World War.