A dog rescue charity has expressed sadness after being snubbed for their usual pitch at a Wigan Christmas market

Northern Greyhound Rescue is a registered charity in the North West and Lancashire area that rescues and rehomes greyhounds, lurchers, and other sighthounds.

The organisation relies on foster homes and private kennels to care for dogs, funding its work through donations and public support.

The charity has been an attendee at the Standish Christmas Market – which this year is scheduled for Saturday, December 5, 2026 – ever since it first started 10 years ago.

However, this year the rescue charity has been denied a place and they were initially confused as to why this could be.

Julie Case, fund-raising volunteer, said: “We usually make over a £1,000, we bring the dogs and it’s a great awareness event as well.

"We’ve even found people who have physically adopted dogs there.”

"I sent in the application and it said it was unsuccessful even though we’ve been there from the start, there was no explanation given.”

The charity has a couple of events it attends annually including Shevington Fete and usually the Standish Christmas Market.

After posting about the issue on Facebook, the charity received an email from the organisers saying that they had to reduce the number of stalls on the street due to safety issues and suggested that they apply to Standish Community Centre who will be setting up stalls as part of their Christmas Market next door on the same day.

On this, Julie argued that it was “a poor excuse” and “a real shame” after attending the market for so long.

A spokesperson for the Market said: “Standish Christmas Market is one of the most popular one-day events in the whole of Wigan and has become bigger and better over the past 10 years - and this has meant a huge increase in the number of people who attend.

“However, anyone who organises large-scale events will know that safety and security have had to become even more important recently, and as well as putting in new security measures last year we have had to reduce the number of stalls on Cross Street this year to accommodate crowds.

“The charity has always been insistent on having that exact spot as it is next to grass where dogs can be ‘exercised’ but that spot is now not available.

“We have suggested an alternative venue to them for market day but we were disappointed that they went on social media and to the press about this decision before discussing it with us.

“The market has raised tens of thousands of pounds for charities and good causes over the past decade and we work positively with virtually all our traders to site them in the most appropriate place - but safety has to be our main priority.”

Instead, the charity has now set up a fund-raiser to raise the money that it might have received and are currently at around £700.

To view the Northern Greyhound Rescue fundraiser, head to: https://gofund.me/a161cbb86