Shetland pony Wendy Woo is face of our partner purple poppy friends in Northern Ireland

PERFECT PARTNERS: Wendy Woo and charity volunteer Fiona Kee

We recently announced partnership working with the Ancre Somme Association, a charity in Northern Ireland that was born out of a trip to the battlefields of France and Belgium in 2006.

Ancre Somme Association is dedicated to the memory of the men of the 9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers. Men from County Armagh who fell on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme and are buried where they fell, in what became known as the Ancre British Military Cemetery.

Like us at The War Horse Memorial, the Ancre Somme Association use the universal emblem of the purple poppy to remember fallen animals of war and conflicts and raise funds to support educational activities.

Now meet Wendy Woo, the mascot for the organisations Purple Poppy Memorial Fund. Wendy Woo is a rescue pony who lives with charity volunteer, Fiona Kee, and makes a big impression when she attends war exhibitions and helps with the veterans’ charity fundraising events.

Fiona, who lives in Bushmills, in County Antrim says: “Wendy is a 12-year-old rescue Shetland pony who came to me from hard times. She might be only 38 inches tall but she has led the VE day parade in Bushmills and met the mayor of the Causeway Coast and Glens. She's now a pony with a purpose.”