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 One of Margaret Barker’s earliest and the most enduring memories is that of her beloved Joey, co-incidentally the same name as the horse in Michael Morpurgo’s novel “War Horse’’ As a young child Margaret helped to look after a battle weary war horse, who was one of the very few, to return home after World War 1. Joey was getting on in years by the time Margaret came into his life but as a young child Margaret bonded with this horse with an affection that stayed with her all her life. She tells of how, on Gala Days in Wakefield, she and her mum would dress Joey up with ribbons in his mane and tail, groom him till he shone and polished his hooves till “you could almost see yourself in them’’ Confident that Joey’s livery would see him through to win the “Best Presented Horse’’ Margaret entered Joey as a real contender. However he came second to another horse which, despite looking every bit as good as Joey,
was found, after the competition, to have black boot polish covering an old sore on his back. Margaret just consoled herself with Joey and believed that he could never be second best in her eyes. They friendship remained the same till in 1933 Joey was taken to a “retirement home’’ and Margaret never saw him again. Being an avid reader and hungry for information about history Margaret recalls finding a book with graphic details of WW1 amongst which were picture of animals that were sent to the front.
These images imprinted on Margaret’s mind and making the connection with her lovely Joey realised the true extent of why Joey always bolted at any loud bangs or high pitched noises. Living through man’s second conflict (World War 2) Margaret became aware of the sacrifice paid by all concerned but never did she forget the price Joey and millions like him also paid. It was about this time that she came to believe that animals should be commemorated on Remembrance Day alongside the soldiers they work for and died with. Seventeen years ago Margaret became totally blind, but never has she lost sight of Joey, the images in the book and her quest to have these animals commemorated. Two years ago whilst I was on sick leave I really needed to find something to make me feel as if I was doing some good. After 36 years in the NHS I really felt let down by all the red tape and academia of nursing, choking the very ethos and empathy of caring out of the job. It was almost a different job that I’d started in all those years ago. Echo is my rescue whippet who he is so laid back and gentle that I thought we could do something together. It was then that I looked at Echo and the idea of being a Pet’s As Therapy dog handler came to mind. We applied, were assessed and passed with flying colours and our first client was an old blind lady in a residential home who loved animals and missed the unique companionship and devotion only found between animal and human. We started to visit Margaret and soon realised that our love of animals, our respect and belief in Remembrance Day were equal and within a few weeks we decided that we would write a few letters to people to put across our idea of a wreath for animals. It seems that we were meant to meet, bringing the love and companionship of the relationship Margaret has with Echo, right up to date with that shared by the soldiers and the animals during wartime. And the rest, as they say is history. |
