Sally Field was a volunteer dog walker for over 40 years.

The RSPCA has paid tribute to a 104-year-old volunteer dog walker who recently passed away.

Sally Field had been a volunteer at the charity’s Millbrook Animal Centre in Surrey for over 40 years and had continued to walk dogs for the RSPCA until she was 102. She had told centre staff that dog walking "kept her going" beyond her 100th birthday.

Sally would walk up to 10 of the centre’s dogs each week and Millbrook Animal Centre estimates that she walked more than 2,000 different dogs during her time volunteering for the charity. She also helped out the centre’s cafe and took part in the RSPCA’s fundraising activities.

Millbrook Animal Centre manager Sue Walters said: “We are all devastated about this news as Sally has been a big part of the team here for decades. 

“She was truly an amazing person and a dedicated volunteer who helped us out for so long and all in her own time. She walked so many of our dogs and rehomed some of them too - Millbrook was such a big part of her life. 

“We tried to encourage her to wind down and not take as many dogs out in her later years, but she said it kept her going and she loved them all. 

“When she eventually stopped her dog walking, she would come up to the centre and would sit with them for company. The staff were all delighted to see her too.”

In May this year, she was recognised as a King’s Coronation Champion during the Big Help Out initiative to mark her contribution to volunteering over so many years. She also won many other awards for her volunteering and met Paul O'Grady at the Animal Heroes awards ceremony.

Sue Walters continued: "She was very upset when she heard about Paul’s passing this year. 

“Her Coronation Champions award was a fitting recognition for all she had done and she was able to come into the centre to show her certificate to us all. She will be dearly missed, but forever remembered and loved by our staff, volunteers and of course by all the animals, especially all the dogs she helped over the last 40 years.”

Sally lived in Addlestone in Surrey for her whole life. During World War II, when she was working in the Vickers factory in Weybridge, she escaped when the factory was hit by a Nazi bombing raid. 

As well as volunteering for the RSPCA, Sally was well known for walking her neighbours' pets and caring for members of her community who were housebound.

Image (C) RSPCA