
Blind Caerphilly woman raised over £5k for Guide Dogs Cymru
The money she raised helped name a puppy Flora in honour of her former guide dog, who passed away in 2021.
In June 2024, Sue and her husband Steve were visited by nine-month-old Flora, a yellow Labrador being raised by Guide Dogs volunteer Linda Hole in Bristol.
Sue was happy to find out that Linda had also raised Wenna, her second guide dog.
Sue, who has had seven guide dogs in total, said: "Meeting puppy Flora made the skydive worthwhile.
"She was gorgeous and so well-behaved, giving puppy raiser Linda her full attention.
"I hope she goes on to be a successful guide dog."
She added that her seven guide dogs have had a huge impact on her life, saying: "Having a guide dog gives you so much confidence to get out independently and meet people.
"They talk to you when you have a dog, but when you are using a cane they don't like to approach you, or don't know how."
Sue Sims completed a skydive last summer to fundraise for Guide Dogs Cymru (Image: Guide Dogs Cymru) Sue and her current guide dog, Saxon, are active members of the Caerphilly fundraising group for Guide Dogs, participating in supermarket collections and talks.
"We meet so many people, and we just love it," Sue said.
She invites anyone interested in the cause to meet her and Saxon at upcoming collections at Tesco in Talbot Green on Friday and Saturday, June 13 and 14, or Asda in Caerphilly on Saturday, June 21.
To find out more about volunteering for Guide Dogs, visit www.guidedogs.org.uk/volunteering.

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'It would symbolise that we're really serious, in what should be the wildest part of the country, (about) bringing nature back.' While the project would consider applying for a reintroduction licence 'down the line', following the positive response to the initial consultation, the focus now is on working up a plan with local people that is deliverable, he said. One of the key concerns with lynx is the likelihood of them taking sheep in fields adjoining woodland. Measures that could be used – as they have in Europe – to reduce the risk to livestock include electric fencing, guard dogs, compensation payments and people on the ground to respond to issues. Dr Deborah Brady, lead ecologist for the Lifescape Project, told the PA news agency: 'For this country we expect the risk to be reasonably low, but there is definitely a risk. 'Even if it is low, everything matters, for every sheep taken there is an impact on that individual farmer, both an emotional impact and a financial impact. 'We need to work really closely and carefully with farmers to think about how we best approach it.' Dr Brady is clear the cats pose no danger to people. 'They avoid people wherever they can, people rarely see them and there has been no recorded fatality from lynx ever, so they are no danger to adults or children, they are no danger to people,' she said. While she said their return is not going to be the 'silver bullet' to the problem of an overlarge deer population, as each lynx only kills one deer a week, the presence of a predator helps keeps herds moving and reduces overgrazing. Bringing back a native species such as the lynx can help rebuild ecosystems and start to 'turn the tide' on wildlife loss in the UK, one of the world's most nature-depleted countries, she said. Lauren Harrison, a sheep farmer on Hadrian's Wall, said she was excited but 'quite ignorant' about lynx before she visited the Missing Lynx exhibition. 'I was very excited and very positive, but I had concerns for the livestock,' she said. She has since gone on a visit with other farmers to Switzerland and Germany where she saw it was possible to live alongside the animals. Her land is sufficiently far from woodland not to be affected, but she said for farmers facing the small risk of losing sheep 'that needs to be managed, needs to be done in a way that's fair to farmers, that's practical, and doesn't get in the way of day-to-day life'. She urged other farmers in the area to get involved with the project. Alongside the practical benefits of bringing back lynx, there is an emotional value to returning the animals to Northumberland, she believes. 'It's a slightly forgotten-about area around here, we are a long way from Westminster and financial centres. 'Just to be the place that has this stunning creature coming back, I think it would give such a lift to know that's on our doorstep,' she said. To take part in the national survey on reintroducing lynx, people can visit: