The perfect time to celebrate Guide Dogs' achievements

Christmas is a time for family and celebration, and it can also presents a chance to reflect on the year gone by. In my blog last month, I talked all about what I hope you'll agree are the wonderful collaborations we've achieved in 2012. But there has also been a host of other things going on – in fact, I'd say this year has probably been one of the busiest in Guide Dogs' history!

Firstly, Guide Dogs as an organisation has changed. We’ve created 20 mobility teams throughout the UK which are more joined up departmentally, and closer to the communities they serve. I'm convinced this can only be a good thing, and I'm sure many of you reading this will have experienced positive differences as a result. The new teams put us in a much better position to help thousands more blind and partially sighted people get mobile, and that is exactly what we are doing already, as you will see…

We've broken some all-time records when it comes to our guide dog service. We're committed to growing our world-class service for as long as people need it, and there are now 135 more guide dog partnerships than there were this time last year. By the end of the year, we expect to have trained and qualified 840 partnerships in total, and have more dogs on the streets now than in our entire 80 year history. I'm always inspired by what our guide dog owners are able to achieve, and I am reminded of our Guide Dog of the Year 2012 winners, John Tovey and Dez, who saw such a remarkable turnaround since joining forces. John is going back into education in the New Year so he can get into work once again. Good luck, John!

Then there's our My Guide project, which we also formally launched this year and has involved working with (41!) local blind societies across the UK to train sighted guides. These guides then help some of the 180,000 blind and partially sighted people who rarely, if ever, leave home alone. I know that so far this year, we've assisted people with sight loss at least 5,000 times, and I hope this will continue to grow in the new year. Like all the best ideas, this is fantastically simple but can bring truly life-changing results.

We've also rolled out Buddy Dogs as a full service. We use dogs who don't quite reach the standard required to be a guide dog, and place them with a young person and their family or school to foster confidence and understanding of dog ownership. Again, it's brilliantly simple yet has remarkable, far-reaching effects. We've already had people who were previously uncomfortable around dogs get a buddy dog. They've then gone on to consider guide dog ownership – it’s all part of the mobility journey!

In June, we announced the shocking news that attacks on guide dogs by other dogs are at an all-time high, with an average of eight a month. Our announcement attracted widespread attention, including at our most successful Parliamentary engagement ever, and in September I gave evidence at the EFRA Select Committee inquiry into Dog Control and Welfare. Attacks on guide dogs can be devastating, not only for the dog but for the owner, too. We want the introduction of compulsory microchipping for all dogs immediately and, as a result of our campaigning, we're hopeful of a Westminster announcement soon. The Home Office has recently published draft legislation that will give police more powers to tackle irresponsible dog ownership, hopefully preventing attacks before they happen, and personally I don’t think it will come a day too soon.

We’ve also launched a new campaign, Safe and Sound, highlighting the dangers posed by quiet electric and hybrid vehicles. We want these vehicles to emit artificial engine sounds so all quiet vehicles can be heard by pedestrians at all times. I think this will become a hugely important campaign, as these vehicles pose a danger not only to people with sight loss, but also to other vulnerable pedestrians and road users such as cyclists. That danger is only set to increase as the number of quiet vehicles on our roads grows.

In other news, last month our trustees appointed a new Chairman, John Stewart. I'm thrilled to welcome John to the Guide Dogs family and we are all genuinely delighted to be working with him as he has a wealth of experience behind him. I feel that he'll bring both strategic insight, and a fresh perspective, to the visual impairment sector in general, and to Guide Dogs in particular.

Just this month, we were among the charities given The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award. The award celebrates the vital contribution made by volunteers from 60 organisations across Britain, and I think that this is wonderful recognition for our 11,000 volunteers. I'm constantly humbled by the lengths they're prepared to go to to help us in our mission to ensure that blind and partially sighted people can enjoy the same freedom of movement as everyone else.

I want to wish everyone a peaceful, relaxing Christmas and a wonderful new year. I'd like to publicly thank each and every Guide Dogs staff member and volunteer for the immense amount of hard work I know they have put in this year. I am incredibly proud of your amazing achievements in 2012, and hope you can all rest a little over the next few weeks and come back firing on all cylinders, ready to continue our life-changing work in 2013.

Finally, I can’t end without saying that none of what we do would be possible without the continuing generosity of our supporters. The guide dog service receives no government funding, so it's all thanks to people like you that we can go about our life-changing work. Thank you for your donations this year, and please continue to help us in the next. As you've read, we've done a great deal, but we know that there's still so much more to be done.