Knights pledge to help Freya

Golden coloured Labrador Freya, trained by charity Support Dogs, has been adopted for the year by Castle Park, home of Doncaster Knights' who have pledged to raise at least £250 over the next 12 months.

Freya is a disability assistance dog for Angela Cooke, who lives in Doncaster. Angela has a number of health issues which are caused by diabetic complications and hypermobility.

She struggles to walk and often needs a wheelchair to get out and about, relying on assistance dog Freya to enable her to lead an independent life.

The assistant Freya is Angela's second disability assistance dog from Support Dogs, giving her confidence and independence and also helping with everyday tasks and activities Angela undertakes.

'We're hugely grateful to Castle Park and to Doncaster Knights for their generous support of Freya; it costs around £2,000 a year to fund a working support dog and we receive no government funding, so rely entirely on public donations to fund our work training our wonderful dogs,' said Support Dogs' fundraising manager Danny Anderson.

She added: 'Our dogs quite simply transform the lives of people affected by autism, epilepsy and physical disability, enabling them to stay safe and be more independent.'

Eleanor Hughes, event sales manager from Castle Park said: 'We are delighted to sponsor Support Dogs this year.'

She added: It was a great experience to meet Freya and her owner Angela and hear about the great help that Freya provides. We look forward to raising the sponsorship for Freya in order for her to continue to help Angela.' Support Dogs is national charity based in Sheffield, and is a member of Assistance Dogs UK. It provides and trains assistance dogs for children with autism and adults with epilepsy and physical disability.