St Mary's C of E Primary School & Nursery

Mr Brown came into Class 12 to tell us about his experiences visiting the battlefields of the Somme, and to share his knowledge of the war. Both classes then visited Purton museum, where they were hosted both by the wonderful volunteers there and by Bob Lloyd from RAF Brize Norton. The children were shown various exhibits and then told all about the fascinating role that Purton played as one of only 3 centres in the country to have retrained ‘civilian’ horses for the war effort – some of them extremely wayward! They were then each given a copy of a horse tag (which detailed the problems associated with each animal prior to re-training) in the hope that they will remember the incredible sacrifice these animals made in the war effort. For those who do not know, a memorial (in the form of a poppy made of horse shoes) has been erected to the horses, donkeys and mules of WW1 outside the Pear Tree hotel. Our grateful thanks to all the adults involved!