Guide Dogs Wells, Street + Somerton Fundraising Group

14/04/2026

If you're interested in volunteering with Guide Dogs, check out their free webinars tomorrow! Lots of different volunteer roles available.

Tomorrow is Microvolunteering Day, and we’ll be sharing simple ways you can make a meaningful impact through small actions.

If you’re interested in getting more involved, we’re also hosting two webinars tomorrow where you can learn more about fostering and our wider volunteering opportunities. These sessions are a great chance to discover how you can support people with sight loss in a more hands-on way.

If you’d like to attend, please register using the links below to receive reminders and joining details:

Fostering webinar: f855c926-56a1-49cc-a2b3-122e96aa0661@cb3bcfb5-16c9-4fd2-851a-82287749c564" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/f855c926-56a1-49cc-a2b3-122e96aa0661@cb3bcfb5-16c9-4fd2-851a-82287749c564

General volunteering webinar: adb9e5e4-1566-4f7c-8de9-b33f18885808@cb3bcfb5-16c9-4fd2-851a-82287749c564" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/adb9e5e4-1566-4f7c-8de9-b33f18885808@cb3bcfb5-16c9-4fd2-851a-82287749c564

We look forward to seeing you there!

Visual description [ Volunteer fosterer Terry is standing in a field with trees in the background, looking onwards whilst his foster dog- a golden retriever is running ahead towards the camera smiling]

10/04/2026

We are collecting at Tesco, Glastonbury tomorrow!

Come and say hi if you are doing your weekly shop or popping in for a few bits for the weekend.

We will be there from 9am -4pm.

Did you know we accept card payments and foreign coins? 😍

We will have some pups in training and working Guide Dogs with us so if nothing else come and say hi to them as they always love to say hi, with permission from their owner/raiser of course 😍🐾

01/03/2026

What an amazing achievement 😃

Dr Karolina Pakėnaitė recently graduated with a PhD from the University of Bath and is now aiming to become the first deafblind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

All the while Karolina’s been studying and training, her guide dog Bosley has been by her side but, two weeks ago, Bosley retired after just over nine years as a working guide dog.

Karolina said: “Bosley is truly the best guide dog, and I am so grateful to have had a companion by my side throughout my sight loss journey. It feels like a very special coincidence that we have reached the end of our big chapters together.”

Bosley will be staying with Karolina for his well-earned retirement.

Karolina is also fundraising to name a guide dog puppy. She added: “Bosley is a sponsored guide dog, lovingly named by the community in the village of Bosley. I would love to pay it forward one day by sponsoring and naming a puppy ‘Everest’ or ‘Himal’ (the Nepali word for mountain)."

If you would like to support this, you can donate at: https://givestar.io/gs/deafblind-everest-project

(Photo description: Karolina has long blonde hair and glasses and is wearing a long black coat. She is standing at the side of a street with Bosley sitting beside her. Bosley has a red and white checked Guide Dogs harness on and Karolina is holding his lead.)

30/11/2025

Fancy having fun, meeting our pups in training and working Guide Dogs all whilst raising money for Guide Dogs?

Do you have around 8-10 hours a YEAR free?

Why not come along to our next fundraising meeting in January (check out our events page) or find out more about what is involved and sign up on the Guide Dogs website:

https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/how-you-can-help/volunteering/be-part-of-a-fundraising-group/fundraiser/

We are a friendly, fun loving small group of people who are dog mad! We are a mixed group of fundraisers, puppy raisers, boarders and Guide Dog owners. We all muck in and help out with events etc but we need more people just to spread the load so we can do more events and spread the word of this amazing charity.

Come join us, even if you have an hour to spare in the year, we would still love to have you on board.

I mean, who can say no to that cute face on the pic below? 😍🦮🐾

30/11/2025

We recently had a lovely bingo night hosted by the fabulous Dee.

It was the first time Dee has been a bingo caller (not sure what the official term is!) and she did a brilliant job.

We raised an amazing £201 on the night!

Well done team & thanks to all those who took part! We had so much fun we are thinking about doing another bingo evening again in 2026. So watch this space.

25/09/2025

A local fundraiser Helen McCann is at Accessible Wells on Saturday 18th October. She has asked if there is anyone that would like to volunteer on the day to help out? She is looking for other Guide Dog Owners, White Cane users and Puppy Raisers. Volunteers might be asked by the public about their experience regarding accessibility issues in and around Wells, so be prepared!

As always please speak to your PDA if you are a Puppy Raiser before taking part.

If you are interested then please contact Helen https://www.facebook.com/helen.mccann.777 who is organising the Guide Dogs effort on the day.

For more information about Accessible Wells, there website address is below:

This website is a valuable resource for disabled residents and visitors, their carers, families and friends. We hope it will help everyone get the most out of living in and visiting Wells.

22/09/2025

It seems Facebook can't handle videos and photos together. So I have uploaded the photos from Saturday's events again!

22/09/2025

Well what a Saturday! We had 2 events going on in 2 different locations. A lot of planning was involved as we are a small but mighty team but we managed to do both successfully!

Well done to our teams at both locations. We raised a total of around £200 for both events.

We met some lovely people and some who might be interested in volunteering in a variety of roles 🥰

1st location: Nurture Vets open day in Wells. We had Lins, Dee, Sally & 7 month old pup Lindy and Dawn, Mark and their 18 month old German Shepherd. I'm gutted I forgot to take a photo of the German Shepherd but Mendip Times were there and took some photos so I will look out for them and share them when they come out!

Thanks to Nurture Vet Hospital for the invitation. We had a wonderful day meeting everyone and the dogs especially! Can't wait for next year!

2nd location: Somerton Beekeepers honey show at Keinton Mandeville. Thanks to Chris, Jane, Martin, Denise, Maria, Claire, Jen, Alex & Homer. Thanks to Somerton Beekeepers Honey show for the invite. We had a lovely time, hopefully see you next year.

Visual descriptions are in the alt text for each photo/video.

22/09/2025

For those that saw our post about Hil's head shave event in August, she has only gone and raised just over £2,500. She can now Name a Puppy!

Can't wait to know what you will call them and follow their journey!

Well done to Hil and thank you to everyone who donated.

🐾

19/09/2025

Looking forward to attending Nurture Open Day tomorrow. Hope to see you there 🐾