STAFF and customers at a pub have raised the final few pounds to reach their £5,000 target for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association so that they can sponsor a guide dog puppy.

The final push for funds came at a fun day at The Bell, Sandy, where there was a guide dog display, as well as a tug-of-war, tombola and cake sale, and for children, a bouncy castle, face painting, name-a-teddy competition and refreshments.

John Welbourn, who took over as landlord of The Bell in Station Road in May last year, decided to start fundraising for a charity and chose Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

As part of the charity’s name-a-puppy scheme, if the pub reached its £5,000 target it can support a guide dog puppy for the first year of its life and also choose the puppy’s name.

The pub’s staff and customers have made a massive effort over the past year - there have been weekly raffles and lotteries, one of the barmaids has done a sponsored skydive and another customer also raised £600 by running a local marathon.

“Staff and customers have been fantastic,” said Mr Welbourn.

“The weather on the day was atrocious and the whole thing was nearly rained off. But thankfully in the end we managed to raise £908 to pass the £5,000 mark to make sure we had enough to sponsor a dog.”

It is hoped the guide dog puppy will be brought to the pub to be shown off to staff and customers.

The cash left over from the fund raising event will go to a local youth football team and to help sick people.

Mr Welbourn’s next project is to raise money for the genetic unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. His wife Susan is currently being treated by the hospital for an illness that will require major surgery soon.

Madeline Mason, from Guide Dogs in Bedfordshire, said: “Everyone at The Bell has made a huge effort to be able to raise the £5,000 needed to name a guide dog puppy in just one year.

“It costs £10 a day to breed, train and support each of the 4,600 guide dog partnerships in the UK so every penny that The Bell has raised will make a huge difference to the lives of blind and partially sighted people in the area.