CARING pupils have raised more than £9,000 for the Guide Dogs charity — earning them the right to name three puppies.

Bolton School Girls' Division started raising money for the charity seven years ago when they collected £5,000 naming their first pup Rolo.

Rolo was born in July 2009

The Golden Retriever was born in 2009 and successfully qualified as a guide dog in 2011 and is now working in the Hull area.

In 2011, the girls raised a further £2,500 for Guide Dogs and were able to name a second puppy and chose a name to coincide with the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’s birthday.

Dickens was born in May 2012 and qualified in 2013, going on to work in the Liverpool area.

Over the last year the girls raised a further £1,500 and named their third pup Peanut.

He was born on December 12 last year and two pupils from the school were able to introduce him to the rest of the school with a photograph during a morning assembly.

He started his guide dog training in early February and is set to visit the school to meet some of the girls in the future.

A spokesman for the school said: "Andrea Salt from the charity also visited the school to talk to the girls about the difference guide dogs make.

"She has been registered blind from the age of 18 and received her guide dog during her second year of university.

"She told the girls about how it transformed her life and the great companionship that comes with having a guide dog.

"This gave the girls a wonderful insight into how the money they raised will help to change lives for the better."

Pupils are keen to continue to support the charity and are hoping to raise even more money in the future.

Bolton School Girls’ Division is the first school in Greater Manchester to have raised enough money to sponsor three puppies.

They are closely followed by the Boys’ Division, which last year raised £3,000 to sponsor two puppies on the new scheme.