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 Rifles.
"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 Rifle Association.
"Jimmy carried food, ammunition 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.
