Dog trials raise $12,000 for hospice

Hospice Southland volunteer co-ordinator Jody Forbes (left) and events co-ordinator Suzanne Prentice (second from left) take time out of the running of the Southern Indoor Charity Dog Trials, held at the Southern Field Days site in Waimumu in August, for a photograph with the volunteers who run the event.

Dog trials committee chairman Mike Joyce said with the recent settling of accounts he was able to announce the event raised $12,000 for Hospice Southland, which was ‘‘a couple of grand more than last year’’.

The three-day event attracted 130 triallists from throughout the South Island.

The trials, which have been held since 2016, had raised about $73,000 for charity in that time, Mr Joyce said.

The committee was grateful to the businesses which sponsored prizes and the volunteers who helped run the event, he said.