We had another successful coffee morning raising funds for Guide Dogs.  It was lovely to welcome some guide dogs as well.  

We have had some news about our latest pup Kenny - head over to Kenny's Page to find out more.  

We are delighted to announce the arrival of our latest sponsored pup, Kenny - named after Ken!  Here he is at six weeks old.

Thanks to all who supported us! 

We were pleased to receive this picture of Ada in training.  Good luck Ada!

Here is Ken with a version of himself, expertly knitted by Yvette.   

We're thrilled to announce that, hot on the heels of Betty, Ada (2) has now started training!  Head over to Ada's Page for more.  

We're thrilled to announce that our pup Betty has now left her puppy walker and has gone into training as a Guide Dog.  See Betty's page for more. 

Huge thanks to Vicki for arranging a raffle event at the Barley Mow in Maidenhead.  As you'll see from Ken's letter below, it was a great success! 

 29th November 2021

Dear Supporters,

I am most impressed at the amount raised for Guide Dogs at the event held at the Barley Mow public house in Maidenhead, James and Vicki Sweeney, along with their seven month old delightful son Owen, ran a raffle at the pub, raising an amazing £1,140 for Guide Dogs.

Among the supporters were MP Teresa May, and Councillor Phil Haseler and Councillor Mc Williams giving their support.

They were also supported by two Guide Dog owners Levi and Kate and their Guide Dogs Hugo and Teal, Hugo is a yellow labrador and Teal is a black labrador retriever, all in all, a wonderful day was had by everyone.

The landlady Jenny of the Barley Mow said she would be only to pleased to support Guide Dogs by holding coffee mornings and requested that a Guide Dog pup may be named Barley, we at the Friends of Ken agreed to this request, and we will of course give them as much support as we can, to name a Guide Dog puppy we need to raise five thousand pounds, the funds raised today  means our group has raised thirty five thousand pounds plus since we started back in 2012.

So it is with thanks to James Vicki and Owen, the landlady and customers of the Barley Mow for your ongoing support towards our fundraising efforts for Guide Dogs Via the Bob and Betty Hutchinson Tribute Fund set up in 2012, by the late Betty Hutchinson, after her husband Bob passed away, they were so dedicated to the work of the association, and that is why we all support this cause to this very day.

I close with all best wishes and renewed thanks.

From Ken at the Friends of Ken.

As our previous pup Ada had to be withdrawn from training, Guide Dogs have now given us a new pup Ada to sponsor.  Head over to Ada's Page to find out more.  

We have just received this letter from Guide dogs, about our latest pup, Betty.  

Dear Mr Ken Weinling,

Please join us in celebrating Betty’s first birthday! Thanks to your generous support, in memory of Bob & Betty Hutchinson. Betty has had an amazing first year, and I hope that you have enjoyed following her development and adventures.

Betty will hopefully soon progress to the next stage. Each puppy is unique and develops at their own pace, and some pups might not enter this next stage until they are 15 months old, so it may be a little while before we are able to share the amazing news that they have moved on with you.

Every hour, another person in the UK goes blind. When someone loses their sight, Guide Dogs is here to make sure they don’t lose their freedom as well. We rely on donations to continue our life-changing work. Every pound raised makes a difference to people in the UK living with sight loss, so we are incredibly grateful for your generosity and support. 

We have had our 8 month pupdate, telling us how our latest pup Betty is doing.  Visit Betty's page to find out more.  

We now have our fifth Guide Dog puppy, named after Betty, who set up the Bob Hutchinson Tribute Fund through which we have been raising funds for Guide Dogs.  Now called The Bob and Betty Tribute Fund, we are delighted to welcome Guide Dog Puppy Betty.  Here she is!

Due to issues with the Covid pandemic, we've not been able to see a picture of Betty as a little pup, but we have the above picture of her at a little older.  

COVID Update

Friends of Ken would like to wish everyone well at this difficult time.  We are of course unable to raise funds through our coffee mornings and our summer events are on hold until we know more.  Meanwhile, Ken is in isolation with his family, but in good spirits despite being a little unwell (not Covid) 

We are all clapping for carers, and also for those who work in supermarkets, including our own Sue, who is also an independent living assistant, doing essential work.  Pam is busy making scrub bags and masks for the NHS.  Yvette is delivering to her mother who is in isolation and busy knitting crafts for our next coffee morning.  Jackie has a birthday coming up and is collecting donations for Friends of Ken in lieu of gifts and cards. 

There is also a lot of gardening being done – especially growing vegetables!

We will soon have some good news to bring you, about a new puppy – so watch this space!

Our latest Christmas Coffee Morning (2019)

We were very lucky to have the perfect conditions for our summer garden party at Loki's house.  Guests and dogs had a great time, with a delicious home-made afternoon tea, quiz, raffle and plenty of doggy treats.  Thank you to everyone who supported us - we raised over £400!  

We are very sorry to tell you that our stalwart supporter Jenny has passed away.  Born with congenital cataracts, Jenny did not let the fact that she lived in darkness deter her from leading life to the full - and being very generous with it. She met Ken when she came to his support group to talk about Pets as Therapy, a charity she supported by taking her dog to meet people in hospital.  Shortly after joining Friends of Ken, Jenny started working with her own guide dog, Toby.  She was devoted to Toby and he stayed close by her until the very end.  We will all miss Jenny's enthusiastic support.  

In 2017 we raised funds for Turtles Swimming Club.  Here is Yvette presenting a cheque to Alison Grey - the funds will be used for new pool equipment to aid the swimmers with their swimming lessons.  

Ken recently visited Bowler, our latest sponsored pup to see how he's doing.  He's 8 months old now and doing well with his puppy walker, Karen.  Ken was accompanied by Ann Brown of Ladygate Lane Bowls club, who kindly raised funds to help us sponsor him.

We had four dogs helping out at our latest coffee morning - here are Toby the working guide dog, Oakie and Krombie the retired guide dogs, with their friend Daisy.

We had a lovely time at our 2016 annual garden party, with dogs and their guest enjoying the sunshine. 

Ken and Jenny visited ORCHYD, to meet the volunteers and children who were benefiting from their holiday this year.  They were presented with this card to say thank you for raising funds for them. 

Our charity for 2016 is once again ORCHYD We are very pleased to be helping them with their wonderful work in providing much needed holidays for children with severe disabilities.  

We had a coffee morning at Pinner Methodist Church and raised over £100!  Thanks to all our supporters and Church members who helped on the morning.  

We're very pleased to announce that, as well as raising funds for Guide Dogs, our charity for 2016 is ORCHYD, a wonderful organisation that provides holidays for children with disabilities.

We had a stall at the Ickenham Village Christmas Festival and raised a splendid £233!  Thanks to Julia, Jenny and guide dog Toby, and Gill.  

We have lots of news to tell you about our sponsored pup, Star.  We have received her ten month pup-date and a first birthday note from Star herself, clever dog! (Have a look at them on Star's Page).  Then Betty and Jackie were invited by Guide Dogs to go and meet her and her puppy walker Gill.  It was lovely to see her for real - here are some photos.  As you can see, she's changed quite a bit since the adorable puppy photo! 

Thank you to everyone who came along and supported our Doggy Garden Party!  We raised over £350!  

We have now received an 8 month pupdate for our sponsored puppy, Star.  As you can see, she's doing well, but might need some work on her confidence in certain situations - we will keep you informed.

We're delighted to announce that Ladygate Bowls and Social Club have chosen Guide Dogs as this year's charity.  They will be helping us to raise funds towards our third guide dog puppy, which they will be invited to name for us.  With their help, we'll be on to our third puppy much sooner, so thank you very much! 

At our last meeting we had some FABULOUS NEWS!!  We have now raised enough for our second guide dog puppy!  We have named her Star and she has already settled well with her puppy walker.  Here is a picture of her.  For more information about see Star's Page.

Our last event was LIGHTING UP THE MANOR!  We were there with our ever popular tombola, meet the author and lots of other exciting stuff - lovely to see so many people there, despite the fact we nearly blew away! 

Once again, our annual garden party was great fun.  We had good weather, lots of lovely food and drink, plus lots of four-legged friends to make a fuss of.  And we raised nearly £350!

Our 2014 Ruislip Manor Funday was a great success!  We had two stalls this year, the ever popular tombola, plus a stall selling teddies and gifts, as well as meet the author.  We raised £250 - thank you to all who supported us.

Our first cheese and wine party was a great success.  Wine flowed freely and there were plenty of cheesy nibbles.  And we raised  £175!  Cheers!

Our Annual Christmas Bazaar was another great success!  We had everything from chocolate fountain to teddy tombola and meet the author.  Here are some pictures.

Yorkie the retired guide dog and owner Betty were the hosts once more this year, with 20 dogs and 30 of their humans attending.  The weather held, apart from a gust of wind that blew a gazebo next door and one short shower that made the quiz questions hard to hear (well, that was a good excuse . . .)  Here are some pictures.

The weather was superb and we had a very busy day - and the mayor and his wife popped by to buy a tombola ticket (they didn't win . . .)

We are very sorry to hear that, after a valiant battle against cancer, Ken's guide dog Terry was put to sleep on March 25th.  He was a lovely dog and will be missed by many.  Click on the link for a Tribute to Terry. 

Here are some photos from our Christmas 2012 Bazaar in Ickenham Village Hall:

We have received a photo of our sponsored pup Hutch in training, together with a dedication from Guide Dogs.

Guide Dog Puppy Hutch 

Sponsored by The Friends of Ken Weinling

in Memory of Bob Hutchinson

with sincere gratitude from

Guide Dogs for the Blind

Here are some pics from our 2012 Doggy party, when Terry and Yorkie invited their friends, and owners, to a garden party to raise funds for Friends of Ken.  We were very lucky that they chose one of the few sunny days we had this summer!

Here are some photos from our 2011 Christmas Bazaar, taken in quiet moment before we opened the doors and the hoards came in!

We received a lovely letter from Pield Heath House School, thanking us for our donation, as well as a card, which you can see on the home page.

Our 2010 summer party raised a splendid £355!

Ken had a lovely morning at Grangewood School. He and Terry met many of the pupils and the wonderful staff.  Then he presented the school with a cheque.

* * * *

Our 2009 Christmas Bazaar raised a fantastic amount of just under £2000!!!

* * * *

Our 2009 Summer Party raised a splendid £250!

* * * *

We raised £297 on our tombola stall at the Ruislip Manor Fun Day.