[Western Gazette] Queues of people lined up outside Sherborne Abbey on Saturday as they waited for Joey, the life-size horse puppet from the hit production War Horse, to make his guest appearance as part of the Sherborne Abbey Festival.

But little did they know, Joey the horse almost didn’t arrive at all after the prop trailer carrying the puppet broke on the A303.

Liz Burt, of the organising committee, said: “The props trailer carrying Joey had to pull over on the A303 after a wheel broke –it was completely unrepairable damage. They had a lucky escape not to have an accident and had to pull over somewhere near Mere.”

The chances of Joey arriving looked slim but Jacqui Baker, the wife of festival artistic director John, wasted no time and secured an even more appropriate vehicle to transport Joey to the event – a horse box.

Her next door neighbour and racing horse breeder Doug Procter, his wife Lucy and ten-year old-son Will, who own the company The Glanvilles Stud, came to the rescue.

Mr Procter said: “I got the call when I was sitting in the barber’s chair getting my hair cut. My next door neighbour said the National Theatre truck had broken down and was there any way we could help? I thought – what on earth is she talking about? I phoned my wife Lucy and she and my son Will jumped into our horse trailer and went to pick up Joey immediately. They turned up with the trailer, transferred all of the puppetry gear and headed straight for Sherborne.”……

Read the full Western Gazette story here…..

Western Gazette
7th November, 2015