Tributes have been paid to the founder of a Tottington animal charity who has died aged 91.

Dorothy Maden, who set up Pets in Need on Turton Road, died in January after a lifetime spent caring for animals. 

She lived in Tottington for most of her life and set up  the charity with her husband Leonard in 1990.

Pets in Need became a registered charity in 1993 and celebrates its 30th birthday this year.

Dorothy played an active role with the organisation, which looks after and finds homes for animals in need, even as she became older, and acted as its treasurer for many years before taking a step back in 2019. 

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Dorothy moved into Lavender Hills Care Home in Ramsbottom in August last year.

Jill Brenchley, who was her neighbour for 26 years, remembers Dorothy as a "generous" person who would always give up her time for others.

She said: “She always had animals around, she had ducks in the bath, if a lamb needed feeding she’d keep that in the house.

“She had a massive influence on animals and people and her door was always open, people just dropped in all day every day.

“A lot of people learnt an awful lot from her.”

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Jill says that Dorothy was an excellent fundraiser for Pets in Need and held an annual garden party for the charity which was always well attended.

She continued: “The cars must have been a mile down the road, waiting to get in every single year, and the highlight was the dog show.”

Dorothy was a glamorous woman who excellent at dominos and always wore make-up, "putting her face on before she did anything".

Emily Freeman, treasurer and volunteer at Pets in Need, remembers Dorothy as a caring person who especially loved donkeys.

She said: “She was very popular, she always had her house full.

“She oversaw everything [at Pets in Need] up until the last couple of years, she was the go-to person.”