AN assistance dogs charity has won a £1,000 Movement for Good award thanks to nominations from the public.

Helpful Hounds Assistance Dogs, which operates in Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Surrey, is one of 500 winners in specialist insurer Ecclesiastical's Movement for Good awards.

Members of the public were invited to vote for their chosen charity, resulting in 13,695 charities being nominated by 253,879 members of the public.

This award will support the charity's Puppy Project which supports the purchase, training and welfare of the Charity Dogs in 2020.

CEO of Helpful Hounds, Peter Rufus said: "We are so grateful to Ecclesiastical’s Movement for Good. This award has arrived at a time of particular need. This training of both dogs and families has to continue despite everything else that is happening around us and we have needed to be creative, this year, to ensure that we keep our own people as well as our Families safe. This award will help us to continue our work and help support our latest Puppy, 'Heidi Helpful Hound', who is now eleven weeks old."