As we look back over our 20^th year of rescue, we reflect on a record year in terms of rescue intake at Woodlands. A feat we’d never have imagined in August last year, when funds had almost completely dried up as the cost-of-living crisis strangled finances under unprecedented demand of rescue cases, meaning we stood on the brink of closure.

Every life saved since that day, has been down to the generosity of our supporters and volunteers, alongside the dedication and commitment of our team.

So, as we entered into our 20^th year of rescue, we were simply glad to be able to look forward to saving more of those in need, while also providing a home to the many rescues who now call Woodlands home. We certainly didn’t have the year we’ve experienced in mind!

When 2025 was ushered in, the decision was made to name our rescues alphabetically; our first rescue being a black and white shorthair called Annabelle. Annabelle came to us on the 6^th of January and soon gave birth to 5 gorgeous kittens. Since then, we have gone through the alphabet 3 times!

That isn’t to say that we’ve been in a position of financial luxury, over 300 of our regular donors have had to withdraw their funding due to pressures on their own finances, alongside cost-of-living circumstances. Yet, the legacy of their kindness continues. Today’s donation always helps to build a tomorrow.

All of these lives that we’ve been able to save still date all the way back to before those days when we feared we might be closing our doors forever. This means that if you have helped or contributed in any way, then every life given a second chance is indebted to you.

This is as true today as it was when our doors first opened.

Visitors today will look to our field and see our equines grazing contentedly, they’ll see them rolling in the grass, snuggling up and then chasing each other. Their lives unfolded as naturally as if they had actually been born here.

This has not always been the case.

Not too long after we’d opened, and having now expanded into rescuing more than cats, we took a call from a concerned animal lover who’d heard some devastating news regarding the fate of some wild horses.

Miles away, in Dartmoor, horses were being rounded up ready for sale to Italy where they would be slaughtered for the fashion trade, to be turned into handbags to be exact. These young equines, born and living wild on the Moors, blissfully unaware of the hand of human touch or the cruelty the human mind can sink to, were to be herded into cramped trailers to be transported by land, over hundreds of miles in stifling summer heat. What remained of their life during this death drive purely served to preserve the quality of their hide.

Back then social media, and expertise for small charity organisations like ours were both in their infancy. Facebook merely served to connect friends with each other while Instagram was an app for photos more than connecting people with content and appeals. Therefore, our supporter base was way smaller than today, meaning our ability to raise funds was reliant on more traditional methods namely rattling tins at supermarkets.

Yet every penny counted as much then as it does today. 

Enough was raised to pay for the transport to Dartmouth to rescue the three horses. Funds were on hand to provide them, now called Minnie, Milo and Maggie with the treatment for lice and flea infestations that riddled them, and nutrition to bring their weight up to natural levels. The rather ramshackle stable we had at the time could at least be used for them to bed down into, undoubtedly an improvement on the comfort they had experienced on the wet, windy moors of the wild.

Over time the stable also saw a complete overhaul and was refurbished. Gradually becoming the comfortable respite it is today. All funded by the kindness of the public and made what it is with the help of volunteers.

Nearly 10 years on, those same stables continue to shelter our equines, old timers like Milo and Minnie, and new rescues like Derek the donkey. Every fence post, every bag of feed, every vet bill paid, they all build the capacity for the next rescue, and the one after that.

In the fraught times when closure loomed last August, it was through the accumulated goodwill of every donation that had come before that gave us something to hold on to. The infrastructure was in place thanks to past kindness. The trust existed because of proven care. The ability to bounce back remained grounded on the foundations had been laid, brick by brick, donation by donation over many years.

The cats being adopted today are sleeping in pens or learning to socialise with toys funded by supporters we may have lost to the cost-of-living crisis. Tomorrow's rescues will be saved in an environment whose journey started through contributions from donors who helped us fifteen years ago. This is how rescue works-, in circles, not lines. Every pound given becomes part of something that continues long after the initial gift.

So, whether you supported us in our first year or our twentieth, your impact is still as relevant right now. It's here, today, in every life we save. And it will be there tomorrow too.

That record number of cats we were able to rescue this year? Their journey to salvation started long before they were born. The help we get today always builds the hope for tomorrow.