A charity that rescues and rehomes Greyhounds is celebrating opening a new charity store in Abergavenny.

Greyhound Rescue Wales began in 1993 with a small group of people including charity founder Alan Thomas trying to rescue Greyhounds and Lurchers in the Swansea area.

Over the next few years, the organisation grew quickly and attracted support from many parts of Wales.

Greyhound Rescue Wales became a registered charity in 1996 when it covered the whole of Wales and is the longest established Greyhound charity in Wales and the only all Wales charity dedicated to rescuing and re-homing Greyhounds and Lurchers.

Their new store on Abergavenny’s Monk Street opened on Tuesday October 19 and is their sixth store to open with the charity already having shops in Cardiff, Swansea, Blackwood, Neath and Merthyr.

Each store has a patron dog from the charity, with Pumpkin the Greyhound visiting Abergavenny last week for the store’s grand opening.

The shops are run entirely by charity trustees and volunteers and sell a whole range of items including clothes, electrical items, DVDs and dog toys and accessories.

All items sold in the shops are donated by the public, and all revenue and proceeds from shop sales goes to the charity and their dog sanctuary in Ammanford, Swansea.

The charity’s main aim is to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome Greyhounds and Lurchers, and with an official veterinarian based in Swansea many volunteers transport the dogs to get checked out before they head to the sanctuary.

The shops around Wales are critical to helping the charity do their rescue and rehoming work with the shops often being the first point of contact to the public helping promote and raise awareness of the wonderful work the charity and volunteers do. The charity is always seeking new volunteers along with good-quality donations, with many members of the public using the shops to donate items including blankets and towels specifically for the charity’s sanctuary in Swansea.

With many dogs at the sanctuary looking for permanent homes, the shops also actively promote adoption as well as the charity helpline for those seeking more information.

Judy Bancock works as Area Manager for the charity, and is delighted that they have managed to open a new store.

She said: “From opening our first shop in Blackwood in October 2014 up to our newest shop in Abergavenny, my vision has always remained the same; to make our shops stand out on the High Street.

“The shops are so important to fund the work we do as a charity, as our sanctuary would cease to exist without money generated from shop sales.

“In order to achieve my goals for the charity our teams are trained to the highest of standards.

‘‘Our customer service policy has one main goal - to give our customers a great shopping experience at affordable prices.

“Our shop window displays are handcrafted and changed on a monthly basis by our extremely talented and dedicated teams.

“We are extremely excited and happy to add Abergavenny to our shops portfolio.

‘‘We look forward to welcoming customers old and new.”

For more information on the charity please visit their website https://greyhoundrescuewales.co.uk/