The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association ("Guide Dogs") is one of the UK's best-known, and best-loved, charities. Guide dogs have been bringing independence and mobility to blind and partially-sighted people for over 75 years, and today there are more than 4,700 guide dog partnerships in the UK.

Each year Guide Dogs breeds around 1,000 puppies, which spend their first year in the homes of volunteers, before working with specialist trainers who teach them the skills needed to guide a visually-impaired person. This takes about six months, including several weeks' training with the new owner. A guide dog has a working life of around six-and-a-half years, and it's not unusual for someone to have five or more dogs over their lifetime.

While the guide dog service is at the core of our activities, there are two other key aspects to our work:

- Campaigning on issues that affect the quality of life of visually-impaired people and restrict their freedom and independence - such as access, mobility and the availability of rehabilitation services.

- Educating the public about protecting their eyes, and funding research into different eye diseases.

We have four Dog Training Schools in Redbridge, Leamington, Bolton and Forfar, a Breeding Centre near Leamington, and 28 district teams across the UK. We employ over 800 professional staff, but rely equally on the support and dedication of more than 10,000 volunteers.

Preventing sight loss; particularly among those who are visually-impaired but have some residual vision.