Three Guide Dogs stalwarts from Pembrokeshire will be honoured at a prestigious awards ceremony in Bath this Saturday.

Eva Rich, Connie King and Anne Lillycrop have been shortlisted for a Guide Dogs Regional Volunteer Award in recognition of their long and dedicated service to the charity.

The trio helped to establish the Pembrokeshire fundraising group, which marks 40 years in December. Since its inception, the group has raised a massive £626,932 for Guide Dogs Cymru.

Eva, 72, was one of only two guide dog owners originally involved. "We were known as the Tenby branch and did things this side of the county," she said. "Now we cover the whole of Pembrokeshire.

"We set up with the help of regional fundraiser Haydn Thomas, who was himself blind. Tenby Town Council was heavily involved, and the Mayor was our president for a few years."

Connie will be 90 in September. Her husband, Dennis, was the group's first chairman, and the couple were well known for projecting films about guide dogs five nights a week in local hotels, holding raffles and raising thousands of pounds.

Anne, 78, a previous branch treasurer and chairperson, credits Guide Dogs for introducing her to husband Peter, who was press secretary. "I went along to a meeting and he misspelt my name!" she said.

Despite their combined age of 239, Eva, Connie and Anne are still active with the group, which has a real family feel.

"People come and go, but we've had the same nucleus all along," said Eva, who was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1991 and a Guide Dogs Lifetime of Achievement award in 2012.

The trio have many happy memories of the past 40 years.

"The annual sponsored cycle ride on Pendine Beach was popular for 25 years," said Eva. "We held crazy dog shows on the beach and sold raffle tickets at the donkey derby. We all had full-time jobs as well!"

High-profile male voice choirs such as Treorchy and Pontarddulais would travel to Pembrokeshire for fundraising concerts, with Eva singing solo. "The cost of coaches is too high now, and we choose our choirs locally," said Eva.

"There were dinner dances at Park House, now a nursing home, and we used to attend the county shows. These days it's more about street collections and coffee mornings, and we have a regular stall on Saundersfoot harbour most Wednesday afternoons in summer."

The weather has not always been kind to the group. "We were holding a barbeque and hog roast," said Eva. "Another local guide dog owner, Iris Roblin, bred pigs on a smallholding where she lived with her sister Evelyn. A marquee was set up on the farm and the hog was roasted, but it poured with rain and we had to cancel. We were eating roast pork for a long time!"

The group's next big event is a pay-at-the-door concert with Whitland Male Choir on Tuesday, July 7, in St. Johns Church, Tenby, starting at 8 pm. To find out how you can help Guide Dogs in Pembrokeshire, contact Eva Rich on 01834 812868.