A CWMBRAN animal shelter and charity has received a helping hand from a team of volunteers who got stuck in with weeding, painting and planting trees.

For two days, All Creatures Great and Small were supported by underwriters from the Newport branch of Yorkshire Building Society.

The centre, which announced it was in desperate need of funds to help keep the sanctuary going, thanked the staff for giving up their time to pitch in.

“They have improved the appearance of the sanctuary greatly,” said Ryan Price, the charity’s administration and fundraising officer.

The team also donated animal food suitable for larger residents at All Creatures Great And Small including goats, pigs and ponies.

“The efforts that they went to prior to volunteering were also greatly appreciated – the food for the animals was a massive help.

“People often forget that we have larger animals that also need support, so this was a most welcome and pleasant surprise.”

The project was part of Yorkshire Building Society’s volunteering scheme which allows every colleague up to 31 hours’ paid leave a year to help out at a charity or good cause of their choice.

Annemarie Cox, an underwriter at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “We were amazed with what we managed to achieve in a relatively short space of time – it was fantastic to see what an impact we had.

“The animal sanctuary regularly hosts fundraising events so it’s important that it looks good when people arrive. As a charity they rely on the generosity of the public so we wanted to do what we could to help.”