Frisby stray dog sanctuary boosted by donation from local housebuilder

Cat Foyster from Davidsons Homes hands over a cheque for £500 to Phillip Voyce of the Leicestershire and Rutland Stray Dog Sanctuary along with Mary Hutt and Lucy the Lurcher PHOTO: Supplied

Dog pens are set to be upgraded at a Frisby on the Wreake sanctuary, thanks to a donation from a local housebuilder.

Leicestershire and Rutland Stray Dog Sanctuary has received £500 from Davidsons Homes, which is building new homes at its Waterford Heights development, just a few miles away in Melton.

The sanctuary, which was started in 1961 by Alfred Voyce, provides care and shelter for stray dogs while new homes are found for them.

Mr Voyce bought the farm and land on leaving the army in 1947 and created a smallholding whilst also working at Pedigree Pet Foods. He learnt that when the police picked up a stray dog it was looked after for three days and then put to sleep if it was not claimed. From that point, Alfred paid two/six for each dog and cared for them until he could find them a new home.

The sanctuary grew from covering just the Melton area to also encompass Market Harborough and Rutland.

Alfred’s son Phillip took on the running of the sanctuary after his father passed away in 1978, and the sanctuary now rehomes up to 200 dogs a year. Two full-time staff and three to four volunteers care for the animals.

Phillip said: “We are extremely grateful for Davidsons Homes’ donation. It couldn’t have come at a better time, as we are upgrading our dog pens to be in line with new council regulations.

“The necessary work is costing us £150-£200 per pen and currently means we can’t house as many dogs as we would like to, so the donation is very helpful and will enable us to finish the work a bit quicker.

“We are pretty much self-funded, as the revenue from our boarding kennels and pet cemetery helps us to cover the costs of the sanctuary, but donations like these are always a very welcome surprise and help us to continue our work in the area.”

Stephanie King, sales director for Davidsons Homes, said: “We were thrilled to be able to support the amazing work that the dog sanctuary does. It’s very important to us to give back to the community in the areas that we are building homes and once we saw what Phillip and his team achieve, we knew we had to help by making this donation.”

For more information on rehoming a dog or volunteering at the Leicestershire and Rutland Stray Dog Sanctuary go to www.frisbydogsanctuary.co.uk