Following the announcement that HM Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral will be taking place on Monday, 19 September and the day being declared a bank holiday in all four UK nations, we wanted to let you know that Guide Dogs will be treating this day the same as we would for other, planned bank holidays.
This means that our offices, our Guide Line service and our Supporter Care line will be closed on 19 September. But our Out-Of-Hours emergency line will still be open. The number is: 0345 143 0217.
We have emailed all our volunteers to inform them that Guide Dogs will be observing the bank holiday, and we would expect most volunteer activity to be scaled back during this period of national mourning and paused completely on the day of the funeral.
We have also emailed all service users to let them know the majority of our services will be paused on the bank holiday.
We do understand that everyone has a different response to the death of HM The Queen, and we are sensitive to this. For some of us, the past few days have been very emotional and for others, their grief at the news has caught them off guard. Whatever your reaction or thoughts, I think it’s important that we should look out for one another during this unsettling time.
And once again, on behalf of myself and all of my colleagues at Guide Dogs, I would like to extend our sincere condolences to the Royal Family and the Royal Household. Members of our Executive Team placed a floral tribute from all in The Guide Dogs family in the flower garden at Green Park.
The note on the tribute opens with a quote from HM The Queen herself: “Family does not necessarily mean blood relatives but often a description of a community, organisation, or nation”, and goes on to say: “From the whole Guide Dogs Family – staff, volunteers, supporters and service users – thank you for your heart and devotion over 70 plus years.”
