2 Dec 2025
Dogs that save lives
East Anglian Working Newfoundlands (EAWN) is a non-profitable club that works in collaboration with charities and good causes to raise funds and awareness. We are incredibly humbled and thankful to the dogs (and their humans!) that they have chosen to support East Anglian Air Ambulance for over a decade. This year, they have reached the milestone of £30,000 raised to help save lives across the region.
Newfoundlands are working dogs, originating from the island of Newfoundland, Canada. They are very strong swimmers with a thick, waterproof coat, and were traditionally used by fishermen for hauling fishing nets. The East Anglian Working Newfoundland group consists of Newfoundland dog owners who use the dogs’ natural swimming abilities and rescuing instinct to practice water rescue.
Claudia Underwood, of EAWN, explains, “All our Newfoundlands are our family pets and live in our home. The EAWN group meets up every Sunday from April through to September and we train the dogs to rescue casualties in the water, along with retrieving equipment and boats.”
On weekends in December, in the lead up to Christmas, EAWN meets at Elveden in Suffolk. Instead of working in the water, the dogs enjoy pulling Christmas trees on carts to the cars of customers in return for a donation.
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“All donations go to two to three chosen charities,” Claudia says. “We chose East Anglian Air Ambulance as one of our charities as we think the work they do is understated. It is a service that we want to protect – and our work is our way of saying thank you.”
EAWN have been supporting us for over 10 years now and, this year, hope to reach the milestone of £30,000 raised in aid of the charity.
“We are super proud of this achievement, and of our dogs!” Claudia says.
This December, the EAWN group are welcoming the community to visit EAWN at Elveden Christmas Trees to get involved to support EAWN and our lifesaving charity.
“People can get involved in our fundraising simply by coming down,” Claudia explains, “You don’t have to buy a Christmas tree; you can just have your photo taken with the dogs or the puppies in ‘Cuddle Corner’ – and you can donate what you can, as it all counts.”
Claudia adds, “As a club we are all super proud to showcase our pets and the Newfoundland breed. They save lives in many different ways.”
Visit East Anglian Working Newfoundlands at weekends this December at Elveden Christmas Trees, Elveden Estate, Elveden, Thetford, IP24 3TQ.
