A Workington pigeon fancier had a major role to play at a ceremony for Remembrance Day in London.
Les Blacklock, secretary of the Victoria club and twice a former president of the RPRA, laid a wreath at the Animals in War memorial in the capital.
He said: “I was very proud to lay the wreath on behalf of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.”
The monument is a powerful and moving tribute to all the animals that served, suffered and died alongside the British, Commonwealth and Allied forces in the wars and conflicts of the 20th century.
The trustees of the Animals in War Memorial Fund obtained planning consent from Westminster City Council to erect the memorial at Brook Park, Park Lane on the edge of Hyde Park.
It was unveiled by HRH The Princess Royal in November 2004, the 90th anniversary of the start of World War I.
The £2 million needed to build the monument came from a national appeal and the generosity of many individual donors, charities and companies.
Among the pigeons remembered by the memorial is Tommy, from Dalton in south Cumbria who was awarded the Dicken Medal for his brave efforts during World War II.
The medal was given by the PDSA, the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals.
He had been blown off course and ended in Nazi-occupied Holland where he was found by the Dutch resistance and nursed back to health.
He was sent back to Dalton and flew home with a coded message containing vital information about the location of a German U-boat base in Amsterdam, which was then bombed by the Allies.
When the war was over the fancier who owned the pigeon put on an exhibition and money raised paid for a children’s playground in Dalton, which is still there today.
