A St Helen's mother and daughter who devote every minute of their spare time to a dog homing charity have been chosen to profile the invaluable work of volunteers across the country.
Nicola Gallagher, aged 37, gave a home to retired greyhound Coral more than two years ago. Since then Nicola and retired mum Patricia Allen, aged 58, have devoted hours and hours every week to finding homes for retired greyhounds for the North West Retired Greyhound Trust. The two introduce greyhounds to schools, Brownie packs, the Women's Institute and other community groups, fundraise, and attend shows and events throughout the year to raise awareness of greyhounds as pets.
Volunteers are the backbone of a charity like the Retired Greyhound Trust, so the organisation has launched a campaign to profile its volunteers from across the country in the run up to Volunteering England's official celebration of volunteers, Volunteers' Week in June.
Patricia and Nicola are two of hundreds of volunteers at 72 branches of the Retired Greyhound Trust across the country.
Pat said: "We started doing talks on greyhounds and we were surprised at how many people didn't realise greyhounds could become such great pets. Many just think greyhounds are working dogs on the track. This spurred us on to do more and more talks. We go into every possible organisation we can to tell them how wonderful retired greyhounds are as pets."
As well as talks, the two meet with potential new owners to talk through what is involved in owning a greyhound and they devote their spring and summer weekends with other volunteers from their branch at dog shows and events where they raise the profile of having a greyhound as a pet.
Nicola said: "We do spend a lot of time volunteering, but it is such a worthwhile cause. My husband and step father realise how important it is to us and, unless the football is on, they will often come and help us. It can be a real family affair!"
Between them, Pat and Nicola have helped the North West Branch home more than 200 dogs in two years with the Trust.
Ivor Stocker, Director of the Retired Greyhound Trust, said: "Without people like Pat and Nicola we would not be able to ensure retired greyhounds find loving homes. Our volunteers do an amazing job and one of the key aims of this campaign is to say thank you for all of the work that takes place across the charity.
The Retired Greyhound Trust has teamed up with Volunteering England to become an official partner of Volunteers' Week from the 1 to 7 June 2010 to pay tribute to the great work of its volunteers.
To find out more about volunteering or adopting a retired greyhound from the North West Retired Greyhound Trust, please tel: 01270 257525 or log on to www.northwestrgt.com