The heartwarming tale of donkey who 'saved Christmas' in Shrewsbury leads to a fascinating discovery
A fascinating discovery has been made after the tale was told of a donkey who “saved Christmas” in Shrewsbury during the Second World War.
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The cart, shed and paddock of the beloved Jessie the donkey have been discovered at the historic Pitchford Hall south of Shrewsbury.
In December the Shropshire Star shared the story of Jessie, who helped deliver sackfuls of cards and gifts at Christmas while the nation was blighted by war in 1941, with the help of her devoted carer, Private ‘Taffy’ Ellis.
Derek Owen, who has tended the grounds of Pitchford Hall for over three decades, spotted Jessie’s tale in the newspaper last December.
Having seen the accompanying 1941 photograph of the donkey laden with Christmas mail in her cart, he realised: “That looks just like the cart we have at Pitchford!”
He told Pitchford’s owners James and Rowena Nason, and it transpired that James knew about the cart.
“The military insignia painted on its sides – the Light Infantry badge – stayed in my mind as I did some time in the Light Infantry,” he said.
Once Derek and James had retrieved the cart behind a large pile of logs in the hall’s wood shed, James invited Dr Robert MacKinnon from the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum, and originator of the Christmas story, to see the cart.
Robert, who said he “never once imagined the historic cart had survived”, went to Pitchford, bringing with him Lady Sybil Grant’s vivid 1946 oil painting of Jessie from the museum.
