DOG owners took their pooches on an annual walk to celebrate their beloved pets and raise funds for great causes.

The seventh Colchester Westie Walk took place  in Highwoods Country Park, with £600 in total raised for puppy-related charities

However, the day started off slowly with organisers turning up at 11am to find no other westies.

Thirty minutes later and no-one had arrived causing the organisers to worry that attendees had the wrong day.

Amanda Doyland, of Colchester Westie Walkers, said: “By 12.15pm suddenly we could see westies emerging from their owner’s cars and we had a sigh of relief.

“It was again a lovely sight to see all the different shapes, sizes and looks, and that was just the owners, but it was even better to see the westies.

“You came from Felixstowe, Ipswich, Chelmsford, Canvey and Brentwood. Even though there were delays due to A12 incidents, you still battled through.”

Karl Upsher helped direct attendees to the car park while Shirley Upsher and Amanda sorted out the raffles, certificates and goodie bags.

The walk had many new members joining who had never been on a walk before or had only attended the Christmas party.

Colchester Westie Walkers gave out 63 raffle prizes with some donated by members and others coming from businesses including Bill and Bert, Dunelm Colchester, Jollyes, Tesco Hythe, The Health Shop, The White Hart and more.

Amanda added: “Thank you so much for your donations, we didn’t expect that money to come and the prizes were amazing.

“The weather stayed on our side as there was no rain until we left the visitors centre and then the heavens opened and down it came.

“Thank you to Jamie for helping with the car park and helping humans who were falling over in the mud.

“Thanks to Julie for pushing Smirnoff in her buggy and Lesley for helping out.”

The westie walk had 57 regulars and seven honorary westies attend, for more information on the group visit bit.ly/3V4I6gH.