Pollyanna becomes patron of ABC Sanctuary

Pollyanna is honoured to have accepted the role of patron to the ABC Animal Sanctuary, alongside actress Joanna Lumley.

The sanctuary was founded by actress and animal lover Alexandra Bastedo (above right), best known for her role in cult TV series The Champions.

Alexandra has run an animal sanctuary for nearly 30 years. Her first animal rescue was a donkey, and her sanctuary is now home to unwanted donkeys, ponies, miniature shetlands, sheep, goats, cats, pigs, poultry and wild birds. Since moving out of the flood plain near Chichester five years ago and buying a small house with a much bigger acreage for the animals in West Sussex the numbers at the sanctuary have increased enormously and the ABC Animal Sanctuary is always full to capacity.

The aims of the Sanctuary are to rescue abandoned animals and animals in distress. Upon arrival they are quarantined so as not to spread disease to the others, wormed and neutered when necessary. The animals are then restored to health and rehabilitated before, if possible, looking for a new home. In some instances when the animals are very old or need permanent special diets or have personality disorders they are guaranteed a home for the rest of their life.

Alongside her busy acting career, which has seen Alexandra appear in films such as Casino Royale and a diverse range of TV programmes from The Saint and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) to Eastenders, Alexandra has also written several books. Pollyanna was pleased to paint the covers and illustrate two of these - 'The Healthy Dog Book' and 'The Healthy Cat Book'.
Pollyanna continues in her role as patron of several other welfare and conservation charities, including Raptor Rescue, Naturewatch, The Badger Trust, the Gamelea Countryside Training Trust, Cats in Need, and as Trustee of the African/Asian Conservation Trust and International Vice President of The Wildlife Defence Fund.

As patron of the ABC Animal sanctuary, Pollyanna was delighted to attend the charity's fundraising gala evening on the 6th March. Guests enjoyed a fresh home-cooked meal before watching the performance ‘Love is in The Air’ - a gala of arias, songs, theatrical love scenes, love letters and poetry, performed by an all star cast including Alexandra, Lorraine Chase, Peter Egan, Jenny Seagrove, Virginia McKenna, Liza Goddard and many more.

The evening also included an auction, when a specially produced canvas print of Pollyanna’s painting of a donkey and foal raised a wonderful £450.00 towards the evening's grand total of £11,000.00

All proceeds from the evening were divided between the ABC Animal Sanctuary and Peter Egan’s charity All Dogs Matter.

Pollyanna's daughter and business partner Anna-Louise (right) is pictured celebrating with some of the cast after the show - From Left - Alexandra Bastedo, Anthony Valentine, Liza Goddard and Lorraine Chase.