DANE AID AT THE GREAT DANE CLUB
Some decades ago the Great Dane Club received a very generous, anonymous, legacy of £5000. The legacy stipulated that the money was to be used solely for the health and welfare of Great Danes. The committee at the time, with great foresight, decided to open a dedicated Dane Aid bank account so that there could be no confusion between our general fund and the monies left to us in the legacy.
Over the years various causes have benefitted from these monies and we have stayed true to the original wish that it only be used for the health and welfare of our breed.
Successive treasurers have judiciously and safely invested part of the monies in government gifts which provided interest far in excess of what could be expected from even the highest interest rate bank account. As a result of this, despite contributing to various Dane related good causes the original £5000 now stands at over £6000. Our latest donation being £1604 to the research into dilated cardiomyopathy, being carried out at Liverpool University and supported by all the other eight breed clubs and the Kennel Club Charitable Trust.
At the end of last year we received an extremely generous legacy of £10.000 from the late Miss Georgina Allard. Unfortunately, we have very little information as to who Miss Allard was and what her association with our breed was. The condition of the legacy was almost exactly the same as the original and as a result your committee has decided to add the money to the Dane Aid account. Our intention is to find out whether, in the current financial climate, it is judicious to invest some of what is now over £16.000 again in government gilts.
The money held in Dane Aid has always been an important way for The Great Dane Club to support worthy causes that benefit our breed. This is becoming even more important with modern science increasingly being involved in researching diseases that affect pedigree dogs. It is unfortunate that these research programmes invariably come at a considerable cost and your committee is very aware that this money will probably be called upon for future ventures to improve our breeds` health and with this in mind will be very selective as to which causes we support.
Since its inception, the Dane Aid account has been very successful and the committee over the years has been extremely aware of its importance and has done its best to both distribute the money carefully and to make what money is left earn as much as it can so that more is available to help our wonderful breeds` health and welfare. We are now on the verge, through advances in scientific techniques, to actually rid our breed of life threatening and/or painful conditions and The Great Dane Club is determined to help with this in any way possible.