Will Young dashed straight to Llanharan from his latest panto appearance, while still in costume
A Welsh dogs’ home has received a huge donation from a famous pop star. Will Young took a break from his latest panto role as Spirit of the Beans at Bristol Hippodrome to dash across to Llanharan to drop of 64,000 meals to Hope Rescue.
Will, who shot to fame as the winner of Pop Idol in 2002, is co-founder of Miraculous Meals, the dog food brand committed to supporting rescue centres with 50% of all profits funding meals for rescue dogs.
The 64,000 meals equates to a mammoth eight tonnes of food, equivalent to the weight of two elephants – enough bowls to stretch out over a kilometre in length. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here.
In true festive spirit, Will jumped straight from his Jack at the Beanstalk panto performance in Bristol into the lorry carrying the donation to personally help deliver the food to Hope Rescue.
This donation marks the beginning of a bigger commitment to the Llanharan rescue centre, ensuring every dog is fed throughout 2026 with Miraculous Meals’ new dry food that launches in January.
Hope Rescue is Wales’s largest dog rescue centre, rehoming over 800 dogs each year, and has long faced significant uncertainty in securing a stable food supply for the dogs in its care.
Will said: “We are delighted to provide this very large donation of our new dry food and to help make sure that all of the dogs at Hope are well fed this Christmas and throughout 2026.”
The visit from Will, who has four number ones and two Brit Awards to his name, comes after a tough autumn for the centre which was left under several inches of water in September and damage to the tune of more than £100,000.
Without being able to afford the repairs it looked as though the rescue centre had nowhere to turn but local contractors decided to team up to do much of the work for free, saving the charity £86,000. You can read much more about that here.
Christmas is historically one of the most pressured moments for UK rescue centres, with abandonments rising sharply due to financial strain. Last year, The Dogs Trust received more than 50,000 requests from owners needing to give up their dogs, a 50% year-on-year increase linked to the cost-of-living crisis, with pressures intensifying as Christmas approaches.
Hope Rescue CEO Vanessa Waddonadded: “Miraculous Meals have been so supportive to us in many ways and this donation, arriving just as the Christmas period puts extra pressure on rescue centres, is incredibly appreciated.
“Knowing that our dogs will be fed consistently with great quality food supports their health and, therefore, their wellbeing and behaviour, giving them the best chance of a successful adoption. It’s the best gift any of us could hope for.”
