Staff at a Ribble Valley country store organised a ticketed early morning dog walk for customers and an open day to help raise funds for a cancer charity.

Around 40 dogs and their owners completed a 3.5km circuit on private farmland adjoining the Whalley Corn Mills premises in aid of the Rosemere Cancer Foundation.

They were rewarded with finishers’ medals and doggy treat bags presented by Ribble Valley Mayor Cllr Louise Edge.

Many of the walkers then stayed on for a family dog show. The series of events helped to raise £925 for the charity.

The show judge was Hayley Watson, of Mellor Dog School and Doggie Day Care. 

The dog show sponsored by Vetspec, had four classes – cutest puppy, dog with the waggiest tail, dog the judge would most like to take home and young handler.

The open day also featured a dog agility display and agility have-a-go sessions hosted by members of Pendle Dog Agility Club and tips on retrieval training by Mellor gundog coach Tony O’Hare.

In addition to this, there was a demonstration of speed sheep shearing by professional shearer James Tatham, of Fence, and Emily’s Mini Farm from Oswaldtwistle brought rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, chicks and other pets for children to handle and learn how to look after.

Country store customers enjoy the walk over the private landStore manager Pam Floyd said: “We would like to thank all our customers for supporting our dog walk and open day. It was one of our busiest.”

The store, which is owned by local farming family the Townsons, has been a supporter of the Rosemere Cancer Foundation for more than 15 years. 

Through its annual dog walk and open day plus on-counter collection boxes, it has raised almost £9,000 for Rosemere in total over this time.

The charity’s community and events fundraiser, Yvonne Stott, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to the Townson family and all the staff and customers of Whalley Corn Mills for their support.

"Putting on a day-long event of family activities as successful as Whalley Corn Mills’ is seriously hard work and takes a lot of behind-the-scenes organisation and effort. We are very appreciative.”

Rosemere Cancer Foundation works to bring world-class cancer treatments and services to cancer patients throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria being treated at Rosemere Cancer Centre.