Why we're remembering Hearing Dogs in our Wills

Diane and Keith Pickford are supporters of Hearing Dogs. Find out why they have decided to leave a gift in their Wills.

Sitting down with Diane and Keith Pickford soon brings a smile to your face. They are clearly content in their retirement, finishing each other’s sentences, with their two dogs winding around their legs. You wouldn’t know it, as she can lipread and speaks so well, but Diane has been profoundly deaf since contracting meningitis aged four.

The couple has a strong personal connection with the Charity and they regularly volunteer to garden at our training centre in Buckinghamshire. That’s one of the reasons why, when they drew up their Wills, they decided to include Hearing Dogs.

“From the breeding programme, the training and the matching with deaf people to the ongoing support, we just love everything that Hearing Dogs does,” says Diane. “And it’s an amazing community. We’ve made so many friends through the Charity, so we felt we wanted to give something back.”

As well as hearts, their heads also played a part in the decision. Keith continues: “We have no immediate family, so our estate is split between a few charities, with one being Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. I was surprised when I found out Hearing Dogs is supported entirely by public donations, so we thought a gift in our Wills would help, especially as it enables them to plan for the future.”

Over half of the hearing dogs we train are thanks to gifts that have been left in Wills, so they are a very important source of funding for the Charity. And as deafness is on the increase, demand for our hearing dogs is only going to grow.

Diane sums it up. “Hearing Dogs really helps deaf people. I know from experience how isolating and frustrating deafness can be. So we wanted to do something to help too. Helping people and giving something back – that’s what it’s all about really, isn’t it?”