Jessie The Donkey's Wartime Cart Found at Shrewsbury Estate

Transcript

00:00My name is Robert Killen, I am from the Soldiers' Troops Museum in Shrewsbury Castle,

00:03and we did a story last month for Christmas around this wonderful painting,

00:09so it's to do with a donkey called Jessie, and she worked for the King's Troops infantry

00:13during the Second World War delivering Christmas mail as well as soldiers'

00:18kit bags around Shrewsbury, and she retired to Pitchford Hall where we are at today,

00:26and so I've been learning a bit more about Jessie, we've found where she lived, a little

00:32stable, we've also found potentially a paddock as well, and I brought this painting here,

00:38reunited it with this wonderful cart, so this is the cart that Jessie used for her work in

00:45Shrewsbury delivering soldiers' kit bags between the railway station and the infantry training

00:50centre, which is now a digital flax mill, and also delivering Christmas mail in 1942,

00:56and so it's absolutely amazing to find her cart and to reunite this painting,

01:02which was done by a lady called Sybil Grant, and she lived at Pitchford Hall, and she took

01:08Jessie after retirement, she gave her a new home here at Pitchford where she spent her days.