A haven for abused animals in the Black Isle
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Winona with some of the residents she cares for.
FOR a couple who live on their own, Winona and Bill Wall are never short of company.
The current roster at Peddieston House near Cromarty stands at 19 horses and ponies (with possibly two more coming) 12 large dogs, an unspecified number of cats — two in the house and roughly 15 ferals who occupy a shed — six geese, all called Boris, around 40 poultry, including several rescued from battery farms, and 17 ducks. It is only later that Winona remembers to add the peacocks to the list.
That her home has become a haven for all sorts of animals is partly the fault of the Inverness Courier and its readers.
Back in 1994 Winona appealed for help when she stepped in to save a 23-year-old pony called Tinker from slaughter. The response from readers of the Courier and other north papers was so generous that she ended up with enough money to save six other horses.
She also founded the Sadie Duncan Memorial Trust, named in honour of her late mother, to continue her work to save as many animal victims of human cruelty, neglect, exploitation and abandonment as possible.
"We don’t just take something in, rest it and off it goes again," she pointed out. "The animals stay under our protection."
Everyone who agrees to re-home an animal from Winona must accept a contract stipulating the conditions in which it is to be kept. If they fail to keep that agreement, the animal may be returned.
If she cannot help, Winona has plenty of other contacts who should be able to assist, she added.
She has one clear rule: no animal is turned away.
Winona (67) has never been able to resist animals. Her first serious row with her father, noted Inverness solicitor and depute sheriff Donald Duncan, came when she "liberated" a family of white mice from a friend and hid them in her bedroom.
"I remember on a hockey trip to Aberdeen, I made the first 11 help me pay for a puppy I saw in a shop window," she recalled.
"I got a friend’s father to come home with me to be a witness to any violence threatened by my father when I turned up with this dog."
Years later, as a teacher herself, Winona’s pupils would sometimes bring her neglected animals.
When she married army officer Bill, the couple always kept horses.
Some of these grew very used to the sound of gunfire on the adjacent firing range while Bill’s army colleagues got used to him turning up for work with his uniform covered in horse hair — or perhaps even dog milk if he had puppies to nurse.
Bill now puts his technical expertise to good use to keep the machinery running at Peddieston, among his many other duties. However, he draws the line at mucking out. After all, he is an officer and a gentleman.
It was inevitable that the couple would return to the Highlands after Bill retired as a lieutenant-colonel after 38 years service with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Bill reasoning that after years of Winona following him around the country while he pursued his career, it was only fair that he follow her for once.
"I was very ill in York until a Scottish doctor diagnosed me with the Highland Disease and sent me home," Winona said.
"Apparently it’s quite common. It’s so flat down there that people miss the mountains."
However, Winona being Winona, she did not just have the scenery in mind when they were looking for somewhere to set up home.
"Bill didn’t want to buy a place with this much land because he knew exactly what I would do with it," Winona said.
"But I didn’t think it would be this bad," Bill interjected.
"Saint Bill" as Winona has dubbed him, has suffered for his wife’s passion for animals.
He recalled falling from a horse and seeing its hooves coming frighteningly close to his head while Winona ran over, anxiously shouting: "Is my saddle all right?"
Then there was the time that a goose attacked him, though luckily Bill’s zip bore the burnt of the attack rather than anything more vital.
"Sheer ingratitude!" he declared. "Here was I trying to feed it and it attacks me."
Winona is not entirely unsympathetic, even though she admits to being a person for whom the idea of sleep is a waste of time.
"If I was married to me, I’d have murdered myself by now!" she stated.
"Time will tell," was Bill’s muttered comment.
Winona is now attempting to recruit others to help her look after occasionally ungrateful animals.
With Winona now retired from her job as head of a special education unit in Ross-shire, depriving her of the income which supported her work as "the Black Isle’s answer to Dr Doolittle", she admits she would not be able to continue without the help of friends, neighbours, members of the public, local vets and others involved in the care of neglected animals such as fellow Black Isle animal welfare charity Munlochy Animal Aid and the SSPCA.
Over the years she has reported many instances of animal neglect or cruelty to the SSPCA and knows they will be dealt with, though inevitably this has made her unpopular with certain people.
To help attract some extra funding, Winona is now seeking charity status for the Trust, but to achieve this she must demonstrate benefit to humans as well as to animals.
This is where Winona’s background in special needs teaching comes in useful, as well as her experience as volunteer with the Samaritans, an Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre and on a Children’s Panel.
Working with animals is known to have therapeutic effects in some cases and Winona wants to bring underprivileged children and adults to Peddieston to work with the animals and learn some life skills. "It’s amazing how youngsters with issues can develop a rapport, especially with horses who have been abused," she said.
"I’m passionate about lots of things. I’m passionate about being Scottish, I’m passionate about animals and I’m passionate about vulnerable people."
This interest can be mutually beneficial, however. With both Winona and Bill now retired and on reduced income, she admits it is only the efforts of offenders on Community Service which have kept the Trust going.
Thanks to them, her personal animal sanctuary now has a new stable and storage shed, freshly trimmed trees and refurbished fences and hen houses.
By treating the offenders with respect, they responded in kind and Winona adds that she also learnt from the experience, including how easy it is to slip from the straight and narrow.
She also believes that the offenders also gained from the experience. "Most offenders come from urban backgrounds, so coming to a place like this and working with animals can be a culture shock," she said.
She would love to hear from anyone who is able to help in whatever way they can or wants to visit. "Anyone can shovel dung," she pointed out.
"You won’t need to go to Weight Watchers or on a diet. I’m struggling to put weight on — I also have muscles in places no female should have them.
"I can also promise you that the craic is second to none!"
