Volunteers Dee and Andy

"We have been following Lucy's work for a while. After raising money for her by selling homemade biscuits, we wanted to give it to her in person so decided to do a weeks volunteering as it would give us an insight into Lucy's life and what she has accomplished so selflessly and of course we wanted to meet the animals we see on her Facebook page.

We were greeted by Alibaba at the gate, shortly followed by Lucy. She was rushing out for a meeting with the Bulgarian authorities so we got on with feeding the dogs then spent time grooming them and taking as many as we could for a walk. It was good to give love and attention to them, especially when you see the results of an hour getting matted fur out!

It's not all about dogs, the rescued horses need more specialised attention and the cats have more independence but still need feeding and their areas must be cleaned. While we were there, 3 little kittens were left and we just fell in love with them and we now sponsor them.

Lucy's outreach work to Roma areas is vitally important. I don't know how she keeps up with it. On her visits, she checks up on animals seen on her previous visit, sees new cases and has to remember everything! So it was good to help by being her PA for a few hours! As we had a car we could also help with vet visits and distributing donated food and clothing.

The 7 days were full on and very rewarding. We understand Lucy's life more now and how she is dedicating her life to the animals and her local community. We will be back to help again when we can and I hope that other volunteers come forward."

Dee and Andy