New Cheshire Military Museum Exhibition highlights role of animals in war for Remembrance Day

Cascading purple poppies commemorating the role played by animals in war will be on display with traditional red poppy highlights at Cheshire Military Museum from November 7th. The New temporary exhibition, including the purple poppies, honours the role animals and birds played in WWI and more recent conflicts. The Exhibition brings together stories of horses, donkeys, mules, dogs and pigeons through writings, poetry and artwork and artefacts. 

The museum in Castle Square, Chester will host the purple ‘Richmond Poppies’ made by crafters in Richmond Yorkshire and mounted on Army camouflage netting from Catterick, alongside other items, until January as part of a collection organised and on loan to Cheshire Military Museum by The Donkey Breed Society. This is the final leg of the collection’s tour of three military museums of the north including York Army Museum and Cumbria's Museum of Military Life.

The crocheted purple poppies were created to highlight the contributions of animals and birds in war and peacekeeping activities. They were gifted to the Northern Region of the Donkey Breed Society and are now to be seen by a wider audience. 

Sarah Booth, Secretary of the Northern Region of The Donkey Breed Society said; “‘We are honouring in this exhibition at Chester, the estimated 16 million animals that took part in World War I.  Their versatility, adaptability and bravery were astonishing.  Animals were also used in WWII.  In more recent conflicts, explosives detection and search and rescue dogs have also been deployed.  We work closely with the War Horse Memorial Organisation and are so pleased that Chester Military Museum is hosting our collection as part of ‘Purple Poppies: Animals in War’.”

Preparations for the exhibition have involved a visit to a school as far away as Alsager in Cheshire. Missy the donkey visited Alsager Highfields Primary School so that pupils could learn about animals in war and the roles they played.  Missy’s owner is from the Northern Region of the Donkey Breed Society.

Caroline Chamberlain, Curator of Cheshire Military Museum added; “Alongside Sarah, we have been collecting some amazing anecdotes, shared by the public, and building an interesting picture of the bravery displayed by animals in war. We have been working on this new exhibition for some time and it is fantastic to see it come to life with contributions from many supporters. We thank them and would encourage everyone to come and find out more about the roles played by these animals and others and why it is so important that we remember the sacrifices that were made. Animals and birds had no choice in whether they went to serve their country.“ 

The Exhibition runs through November and December and can be visited Thursday to Sunday. School visits are Tuesday and Wednesdays. On Saturday 16th November, there will be donkeys at the Museum for a Family Fun Day.

Special knitting and crochet Poppy Kits will be available in the museum shop for everyone to create their own poppies.