A GIRL Guide unit from Hawkesbury Upton were special guests at the unveiling of a new war memorial for animals last week.

1st Hawkesbury Upton Guides were invited to the official launch ceremony of the National War Horse Memorial at Ascot on Friday, June 8.

Featuring a bronze statue of a war horse, the memorial honours the horses, donkeys and mules who served Britain and its allies in the First World War.

A national competition was launched to name the horse on the memorial, for which Hawkesbury Upton Guide, Nisha Watchman, aged 11, suggested the name ‘Poppy’.

Several Guide units suggested this name also, but the judging committee liked the reasons that the Hawkesbury Upton Guides gave for their choice.

Louise Roberts, leader of the unit said: “We told them we chose the name because the poppy evokes WW1, the poppy was the only flower to grow in no-man’s land and the poppy is used as a symbol of remembrance.”

As well as Nisha, Annice Anderson, 15 and Katherine Warner, 11, from the unit helped unveil Poppy, along with Jess Edwards, a Brownie from Chester, who had the idea for the competition.

Nisha, who lives in Lower Kilcot, said: “I was a very inspiring thing to do and it felt really exciting, yet nerve-wracking.”

Susan Osborne, co-founder of the War Horse Memorial said: “It was an historic day, and having Louise and the unit with us to take part in the unveiling made it all the more special for us.”

“Poppy will stand for all time as a symbol of the service and sacrifice of millions of horses, mules and donkeys in the First World War.”

Of the million horses, donkeys and mules sent out to war, to drag heavy weaponry, carry supplies to the front line and remove corpses of soldiers from the battlefield, only 62,000 returned.

thewarhorsememorial.org