THE bond between a pet care store and an animal rescue charity has grown stronger after a year of fundraising.

Pets at Home in Taunton has chosen St Giles Animal Rescue Centre as its chosen cause to benefit from the funding it raised over 2019.

After a year of hard work, £6,000 was raised for the Wrantage-based rescue centre, and the partnership is set to continue as it continues to be the chosen charity for 2020.

Chairman of trustees at St Giles, Jenny Green, said: "This year we were very lucky to be the chosen charity of the year at Pets at Home Taunton.

"We were very grateful to Pets at Home to give us such a great platform to promote the work we do in store, as well as raise much needed funds to keep up with the demands on the charity, particularly at this time of year.

"This week on top of the 25 dogs already at St Giles we also had a new arrival of ex puppy farm dogs, and the phone continues to ring with members of the public looking to St Giles to take in pets they can no longer care for.

"Opportunities to raise this amount of money mean so much to us.

"As a charity we never want to have to turn any dog or cat needing our help away because of lack of funds."

A cheque for £2,708 was presented to staff from St Giles at the Taunton-based store following its successful Santa Paws event.