A dog rescue centre at Porth officially unveiled its new redevelopment on Saturday.

St Francis Dogs Home at Trevelgue opened its new kennel facilities, which was attended by dozens of supporters.

The town crier Simon Anderson-Jones announced the official opening, which was followed by speeches from Anthony Kinder, the chair of the trustees, and Beverly Dobson, the centre manager.

Jeremy Varcoe, the nephew of the original founder Nancy Bates, was given the honour of cutting the ribbon to the new facilities, which will allow the charity to increase the number of dogs it can rescue, rehabilitate and re-home.

Fundraising activities were staged throughout the day and there was also the opportunity for people to sign up as volunteers and foster carers.

St Francis Dogs Home, which was founded in 1955, specialises in rescuing and rehoming dogs in desperate need in the local area. The charity has only been able to foster dogs in recent years due to the condition of its kennel facilities, which closed down in March 2020.

There are now 10 replacement kennels plus two isolation kennels, with each block having its own food prep space. The redevelopment is designed for sustainability with insulated modular buildings, solar panels and low energy heating.

The kennels, which meet DEFRA standards, aim to provide the best possible care for dogs needing specialist support or whilst awaiting foster placements.

Centre manager, Beverly Dobson, said: “It has been three and a half years of quite intense work organising the new kennels, so it is quite exciting this has happened at the start of 2026.

“The reason the centre had to close was primarily following an inspection from the Environment Agency, which gave us 12 months to bring the drainage up to scratch.

“The kennels, which also needed to be upgraded, were built on top of the drains so after we had a legacy it was decided to do the two at the same time.

“We set up a fostering model and since 2022, the charity has cared for 240 dogs and successfully rehomed 216.

“Having no kennels had its limitations as we couldn’t take in dogs and work out what was best for them. Some dogs had to be euthanised because they have needed training and rehabilitation because of their behavioural issues

“We were not able to do a lot of rehabilitation and intensive training so the dogs could be ready to go to a new home. The kennels allow us to bring in new dogs and assess them to see if they can go to a foster straight away or need rehabilitation.

“When the dogs go to a foster we can get to know their personality, which helps us understand what the right home for them is.

“It is a really exciting year for us. We are delighted.

“We would like to thank everyone who came to our open day and for making it a memorable event. We were so lucky with the amount of people who came.

“The weather was amazing and everything went to plan. We couldn’t be happier. Now it is back to the real work.”