EVESHAM Dogs Trust is celebrating 50 years of caring for homeless pooches by marking the occasion with the full completion of their new centre.

The state-of-the-art new centre will be finished today( Wednesday May 2), the same day that the trust celebrates 50 years since it opened.

Evesham Dogs Trust officially opened in May 1967 as Heathercoombe Lodge. Previous names for the site were Broadway kennels and Wickhamford kennels.

When it opened it became the NCDL’s first entirely new kennels to open for many years and in the early days was assisted by the Avon Dog Rescue Service, taking in up to 50 stray dogs per week.

The first rebuild of the site took place in the early 90s due to an increase demand for space and expanded from 100 to 120 kennels.

In 2014, a state of the art rebuild began to completely revamp the old rehoming centre, costing £8million and funded entirely by donations.

Chris Slight, rehoming centre manager said: "We have done well as a charity by moving with the times.

"The kennels were previously looking very tired but they were state of the art at the time that they were built.

"Nowadays the needs of dogs are more obvious and our kennels are about giving the dogs choice.

"There have been some very difficult times, but the staff have stuck together and they can now be very proud of the facilities that are being offered to the dogs, as well as to visitors."

The newly rebuilt site now boasts 80 spacious kennels with underfloor heating, 23 all-weather exercise paddocks and specialist training and behaviour facilities.

Puppy kennels have been added to the site so that young dogs can have the care and attention they need away from the hustle and bustle of kennel life.

The new centre has implemented glass fronted kennels to prevent infection, previously the kennels had bars at the front which saw people reaching through and touching the dogs.

The dogs now have access to outside space throughout the day rather than only having access to toilet areas.

Hounds are also given heated floors in the kennel, as well as a colder area of the kennel if they get too warm.

The new paddocks have all weather surfaces and textures such as sand and astro-turf, in contrast to the old kennels which were mainly mud, becoming impractical in wet weather.

Dogs no-longer need to be transported off site for operations with a veterinary operating suite, so dogs trust staff can carry out neutering, dental and routine operations on site for the first time.

The reception area has also been revamped and increased in size, with the old reception described by Mr Slight as 'Just a passageway really, people would have been squashed into a little space.'

The centre rehomes approximately 800 dogs per year and can look after up to 120 dogs at any one time.

In the last 10 years, Dogs Trust Evesham has rehomed more than 10,000 dogs.

The national charity Dogs Trust, formerly known as the National Canine Defence League (NCDL), was established in 1891 and set up to protect dogs from ‘torture and ill-usage of every kind’.

The name changed to Dogs Trust in 2003 and is now the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, caring for over 17,000 dogs each year through its network of 20 rehoming centres in the UK and one in Dublin.

In 1978, former CEO Clarissa Baldwin coined the slogan ‘A dog is for life, not just for Christmas’ and Dogs Trust is working towards the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary destruction.

Dogs Trust also invests significant resources in education and the promotion of responsible dog ownership and we work internationally to promote dog welfare issues.

Dogs Trust is now active in ten countries around the world and has moved from being just a rehoming charity, to one that also works within the community and alongside the Government to deal with a range of issues in society from dangerous dogs, so called “status dogs”, puppy farming and the online sale of puppies.

The charity continues to advise government ministers at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and has been heavily involved in all the major animal welfare legislation over the last 30 years.

Most notably the charity have been involved in legislation on the animal welfare act, breeding, dangerous dogs, greyhounds and microchipping which became compulsory after the Dogs Trust campaigned for the piece of legislation.