Each year Newfound Friends offers charities the unique opportunity to host a sponsored dog rescue day to raise vital funds at NO cost to their charity. Over the past 31 years, Newfound Friends UK has supported over 50 charities, raising over £1.5 million.
Under close supervision of the Newfound Friends team, up to 30 participants can "take the plunge" from the Newfound Friends dinghy into a cold marina to enjoy the amazing and unique experience of being rescued by an incredible Newfoundland.
Newfound Friends charity days are accessible to all, including children over 10 years old. Each participant is provided with a wetsuit, life jacket and are looked after by the Newfound Friends Team. Everyone's safety is paramount.
"Jumping into the Portishead Marina and being rescued by Tizz was a fantastic experience and one that I will always remember. I couldn't believe how powerful but also how gentle the Newfoundlands were. An amazing way to raise money for charity"
Meet some of the Newfound Friends Team.
If you would like to find out more information about our charity days, please email mrdpugh@mail.com
Hearing Dogs for Deaf People
Saturday 2nd July the team started out very early and travelled to Southampton for this event. One of several emails we received afterwards sums up the pleasure of taking part in a well organized fundraising event. Well done to all concerned and thanks for the wonderful welcome.
Hi Dave and all your fellow Newfie owners/handlers,
We hope you all got home safe and sound and had a reasonably good journey and you weren't all too tired, although we're sure you must all be knackered!
A massive, massive thank you from Chris and I in particular for all your hard work yesterday. It was such a fabulous day & I've already had lots of emails saying how much people enjoyed it and how everyone loves the dogs!
You all worked so tirelessly and cheerfully. Everyone was so kind and helpful to us all, putting any nervous people at ease and helping people who needed help - so appreciated!
We're hoping that we have raised a good amount of money, and as soon our Treasurer, Tim gets all the numbers in (and the money!) we'll let you know how we did. I think we probably did well over £350 just on the bucket collections alone, so it's all looking on target to blast the £5,000 target, no small thanks to you all.
We've taken on board your advice for future events and we are looking forward very much to working with you all again in the future - we feel we have made some good friends with you yesterday, so thanks so much once again.
And a huge hug, kiss and pat to all those wonderful dogs - how we love them!!
Best wishes to you all, Chris and Barbs
Dogs for the Disabled
I feel compelled to write to you to advise you about a recent event that we organised on behalf of the charity I work for, Dogs for the Disabled. Having heard about the group, Newfound Friends, and seeing the obvious similarities between their use of working dogs and our own, I felt confident that a fundraising event based around this activity would work well.
On Sunday 18th July, we met Dave, Jean and their team at a lake in Aylesbury for one of the most fun-packed and feel-good days that I have experienced in a long time. The team were highly professional from start to finish, with fabulous dogs that drew quite a crowd at the side of the lake. We had been lucky enough to get 40 people signed up to take part, of which two were our own physically disabled clients, both wheel-chair users with little or no mobility.
The team looked after everyone impeccably, ensuring that they were happy and fully understood the instructions before they entered the water. Participants completed the rescue individually, either in the middle of the lake or near to the side. Each one was made to feel really special and was given a sufficient ?challenge?, whilst the whole time being totally safe. Each participant was accompanied into the water by a member of the team who assisted in the rescue throughout.
I took part myself and was so, so pleased that I was able to experience this unique activity. Being a dog person myself, I can totally understand the dedication and commitment involved in training these dogs to do what they do. Dogs and humans worked together like clockwork and it was a privilege to be able to see them in action. I wholeheartedly look forward to being able to book the guys in again next year in the hope that they will run another day for us.
We raised well over £7,000 on the day itself which is enough to train another assistance dog for a physically disabled person. Thanks to these people and the special things that they do, there will be yet another disabled person whose life will be made earlier thanks to their canine carer.
Rachel Butler Dogs for the Disabled
Taking the plunge for Guide Dogs
Forty sighted and visually-impaired people leapt into the chilly waters of Bristol harbour to be rescued by a Newfoundland dog, to raise £6,000 for Guide Dogs.
The guide dog owners and supporters were taking part in an event organised by charity fundraising group Newfound Friends, at Portishead Marina.
“It was a brilliant experience,” said guide dog owner Maureen Rowley, who raised £170. “I was a little apprehensive to start with but I just relaxed and thought of Guide Dogs – and why I was raising money for the charity which has transformed my life – and enjoyed the ride!”
Non-swimmer Tony Walsh had more reason to fear the water. “Once I was in the water I felt very safe holding on to Squirrel’s harness as she swam back to the boat. She felt fast and strong and I wasn’t worried,” said guide dog owner Tony, who raised £80.
The friendly, furry, giant Newfoundland is a natural swimmer and has webbing between its paws to help it swim. In the 1930s, a Newfoundland called ‘Swansea Jack’ rescued 27 people from Swansea harbour, and it is in his honour that a guide dog puppy named Jack is being sponsored with money raised at the Bristol event.
It is over 14 years since Newfound Friends was formed and at the present time it has been involved in raising over half a million pounds. for various childrens charities.
Apart from raising money for children's charities the dogs have been involved as companion animals in various capacities at Newfound Friends - Children's Charities, children's hospices and hospitals throughout the UK.
We believe that the work undertaken by Newfoundlands in this field is unsurpassed by any other breed.
Our involvement with the dogs has brought us together with different families who use the hospice for respite care. There is no doubt that the care and attention the families receive from the hospice is a major influence and benefit to all the families and children concerned.
We are always in need of new ways to raise funds for the hospice and the children that they support. If you have any ideas, thoughts or opinions that you feel may be of benefit to raise funds please let us know. Please don't hesitate to tell us wether it's a fundraising idea, new ways of fundraising through merchandise or the dogs themselves just being a general benefit to the organisation.
If you have any thoughts on subject matter for either of the above it would be useful to get some feedback to what the market is looking for.
Just to say that we don't only support the childrens hospice. This year Newfound Friends have been involved with many and varied other organisations:
Charity Fundraising
The ways Newfound Friends have raised money have taken various forms over the years beginning with charity days where people got themselves sponsored to be rescued.
The highest ever single amount raised was achieved for a sponsored dog rescue by Credit Suisse' Head of European operations, Geal de Boissard. His individual total was £22,000. That's twenty two thousand pounds! Well done Geal, it's going to take something special to beat that!
To award Geal for his fantastic efforts for Parkinson's U.K, Newfound Friends presented him with a specially commissioned bronze Newfoundland Trophy.We've also attracted support and encouragement from large companies who have either equalled or exceeded amounts raised by their employees. Some have been encouraged to make the Childrens' Hospice their charity of the year. We have been supported in these ways by Nat West, Barclays, the Post Office, Nationwide and Hewlett Packard among others.
Each time Newfound Friends has featured on TV or in the national press we have received donations from individuals and institutions. Some institutions have the management of trust funds in their remit and the combination of animals and children often meets the criteria for donations from these.
We have also received grants from the Foundation of Sports and Arts, the Rotarians and even a collection from the staff of the Old Bailey.
We have, with the aid of our patrons, held a grand ball and corporate evenings on board the Matthew and the tall ship from Russia named the Nikolai, during the International Festival of the Sea.
This year we had teams in the Bristol Dragonboat race for the first time.
Before you donate
By clicking ‘donate’ below you will be taken to our Just Giving donation page, on here you will need to enter a donation amount and fill out your payment details.
Newfound Friends would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your kind donation - the money raised will help many of our supported causes and means a lot to us.
