Meet The Team

Nadia Leishman is the UK Head of Sand To Sofa Rescue and Chair of our Charity Committee. When friends living in Saudi Arabia adopted a rescue dog, Nadia teamed up with Alya, who is our Saudi Head of Rescue, a prolific rescuer and our major fundraiser. Together they co-founded Sand To Sofa Rescue. Nadia has rescued, rehomed and fostered more dogs than she could possibly count. She was brought up and lived in Cyprus where she and her husband Andy were major participants in dog rescue and fostering. They introduced and administered an island-wide spaying scheme to control overpopulation which was rife at the time. On moving to Singapore in 2016 Nadia and Andy continued to foster dogs. When work brought them and their family to Scotland, the opportunity to set up a rescue presented itself and Sand To Sofa Rescue was born. Despite working full time and being a mum, Nadia pours a huge amount of time and effort into the rescue. The hugely popular and busy Facebook page, all social media and all of the marketing are just some of her numerous roles. Nadia holds a licence to rehome dogs issued by Aberdeenshire Council and is a qualified Canine First Aider. She and Andy have three dogs of their own (all 'failed fosters' and the latest one, Dolce, is a Sand To Sofa dog♥️) plus two cats and one day she'd like to continue with her other passion which is owning horses.

Steve Connelly is the 'back room staff' of Sand To Sofa Rescue. Steve and his wife Fiona applied to adopt Seeta in August of 2025 and after the home visit Nadia asked if he would come on board to assist her with some of the admin. This was just the opportunity Steve had been looking for, having retired from a career in aircraft engineering two years earlier. He had been involved with another rescue several years ago but circumstances had forced him to give it up. Living just ten minutes from Nadia meant that this was a great chance to get back into rescue and become part of a close-knit team. Steve now looks after all the admin for Sand To Sofa Rescue. He created our website and also has the role of home check co-ordinator and is a home checker himself. Steve is Secretary of our Charity Committee and is a Trustee of the Charity. What started as a bit of help with admin has evolved into an almost full-time voluntary role. He is a qualified Canine First Aider and is studying for a Level 3 Diploma in Canine Behaviour and Dog Law. Steve and Fiona have two dogs of their own, a Westie called Maggie and Seeta their Sand To Sofa Rescue dog. In their leisure time they love to load up the dogs and go touring with their caravan.

Nadia and Steve after another successful home visit meant Sora the husky found her forever home

No rescue can run effectively without help from its volunteers on the ground. Sand To Sofa Rescue are supported brilliantly by Viv, Gillian and Karen, their home check team across Central Scotland who spring into action when distances from Aberdeenshire mean it's just that little bit too far to reach. Without our team it would be a much more difficult task.