A RYEDALE animal lover is organising a series of charity events in memory of her rescue dog.

Kate Collier, who lives in Pickering, took care of Jak, after he was abandoned, blind in one year and deaf, at the age of 16.

Over the next two years, the pair helped raise thousands of pounds for dog charities before Jak died last Christmas.

Since then Kate has continued her fundraising by setting up Jak's Legacy which pays for monthly medication for three dogs, Bella who has hip dysplasia, along with Honey and Bobby who both suffer with heart problems.

Kate's next fundraiser is an auction this Saturday, followed by a 'world walk' in September.

She said: "It is much harder for me without Jak as I can't do the little things - bread and butter work as I call it so concentrate on bigger events.

"Lots of items are coming in for the auction and we have at least 72 lots from family days out to Sunday lunches."

Kate said she was also in the process of organising a world walk for animal charities in memory of my Jak.

"When he died I wanted to do something big to help animals all over the world so came up with the idea of doing a walk," she added.

"Lots of Jak's friends on Facebook in UK, USA and Australia said they would walk and as it could turn out to be big we thought we would throw it open to animal charities all over the world to raise funds and awareness of shelters."

Kate said they were asking people to nominate which charity they would like to support and collect sponsorship.

"The walks can be as long or as short as people are able to do and maybe if there are groups you could have a fun day too to raise more funds," she added.

"We suggest everyone sets off at 11am,in their time zone, on September 20 and all we ask is a small donation to Jak's Legacy and for people to let us know how much they raise for their charity."

Jak's Legacy Auction will take place on Saturday, May 16, at Pickering Memorial Hall, with viewing at 6.30pm and the auction to start at 7pm.

Tickets are £3 including nibbles and first drink. The evening will also include a raffle and tombola.

For more information go to walk.jakslegacy.co.uk