Sixty-year-old grandmother Vivien Eliades has no plans to retire as one of Brighton’s volunteer shepherds.
Vivien has been helping the city council’s rangers look after the municipal sheep for three years – and she loves it.
She helps to keep an eye on the sheep that graze the Downs near Brighton.
Vivien was volunteering with Brighton Conservation Volunteers when she first heard about the need for volunteer shepherds.
She said: “I am a keen knitter, and the idea of clearing the land, keeping an eye on the sheep and knitting a jumper from their wool appealed to me. I was one of the first people to be trained.”
She said the sheep are needed to keep the chalk grassland around Brighton under control. Without the sheep to keep them down, bushes would grow and the land would turn to scrub.
She added: “I go out once a week early to check the sheep. I check their fence, and if their water is frozen I break the ice. I check that they are all still alive and that none are limping. If I find a sheep lying on its back, I have to get it upright – they’re unable to do it themselves and would die if they weren’t helped to stand.
”Dogs can be a problem but most owners are responsible and it is good to know that some of them keep an eye out and report to us if they see anything wrong.”
Brighton and Hove City Council says its ‘lookerers’ need to be able to get around on uneven slopes, spare about one hour a week, undertake free training and be committed to checking the sheep.