Rayleigh and Wickford MP, Mark Francois, spent time with the Dogs Trust stand when he recently paid a visit to Wickford Infants School to support their centenary celebrations.
The school, which is one of the oldest in Wickford, has been through a number of guises - including as a primary school during the 1960’s and 70’s - but converted to an infant school some years ago and it now 100 years since the first school originally opened around the time of the First World War.
As part of the centenary celebrations the school had been specially decorated by staff and pupils and they also ran a fun day on the school playing fields, which included a number of stalls, including one from the Dogs Trust.
Mark has been a strong supporter of the Dogs Trust and was present at the recent official opening of their new major dogs’ home in Wickford (which has already succeeded in rehousing several hundred dogs across the wider south Essex area).
Commenting on his visit to support the school and the Dogs Trust, Mark said:
"It was a real pleasure to be present at the centenary of Wickford Infants’ School. As one of the oldest schools in the town it is wonderful to see them celebrating 100 years of providing local children with a good education and, in that best tradition, Mrs Francis and her team at the school are continuing to do that very well today. As a supporter of the Dogs Trust it was also very nice to visit their stand and to hear their new dogs’ home in my constituency is going from strength to strength – all in all it was a very good day out."