A FAMILY who were reunited with their dog after a major search are making a special trip back to Darwen from the Lake District to thank those who helped them.

Vince and Lisa Gregg tracked down their dog Newey ten days after she went missing in the town.

And they were so overwhelmed by the generosity of the Darwen people, the couple, who live in Windermere, plan to return to the town to thank everyone personally.

Vince, 34, said: "We were so desperate to find Newey and we got so much help from the people in Darwen that we wanted to bring Newey back to introduce him to them and say thank you properly.

"We plan to travel over to thank those who helped us, including staff at Sainsburys who plastered our posters everywhere and the people at Sprints printers who gave me lots of discounts and got the posters done so quickly.

"At one point we had about nine people helping us to deliver the leaflets in the town."

Newey went missing after he was left for a short time in Vince's van in Sainsbury's car park.

It is believed he was stolen and sold to a man in Accrington, who saw Vince's appeal in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

There had been concerns the dog could go blind because he relied on medication for an eye problem.