08/12/2021
A wee story to warm your cockles.....
Day eight of our Advent calendar, and the story of a little donkey.
In 1920, at the Peterborough Cattle Market, Jimmy was sold to the RSPCA by a horse dealer called George Walding.
But, Jimmy had something of a colourful back story.
This little black donkey had been at the Somme and had become the mascot of the 1st Battalion of the Cameronian Scottish Ri**es.
"Jimmy was born in No-Man's Land, and the Cameronians brought him back to the British lines, gave him tinned milk and looked after him," says Sam Morrell, member of the Cameronian Scottish R***e Association.
"Jimmy carried food, am******on and injured men - everything connected with regimental supplies."
"They gave him three stripes and made Jimmy a sergeant and he used to lift his hoof and salute an officer. He was quite well known for this," Sam adds.
Over the next 20-odd years, in and around Peterborough, Jimmy became a local celebrity, attending fettes, gala days, and garden parties, to help raise money for the RSPCA.
As an 'old soldier', he enjoyed a quiet retirement; well fed, watered, and loved.
When he died, in 1943, be was buried, with full military honours, in Peterborough's Central Park.
