Dame Mary stunned by Guide Dogs work

Over £150,000 has been raised by Specsavers since 2009 for its partner charity Guide Dogs and the multiple's founder, Dame Mary Perkins (pictured) has said she wants to make that figure £250,000 by the end of the year.

The pledge was made at a recent visit to the Guide Dogs national breeding centre in Leamington Spa to see how the money had been invested.

'I was stunned by the scale of work and time that the charity invests in the breeding programme, training and ongoing care for all the guide dogs in the UK. It makes perfect sense now, but before my visit I had no idea that the guide dogs regularly returned for an eye test,' said Dame Mary.