Rosie the 'Christmas' pony's special gift to children's hospice
Students at a Bristol school have raised more than £1,000 for a children’s hospice as a thank you to a little pony which used to visit them each Christmas.
Rosie the pony has been a regular visitor each Christmas to The Downs Preparatory School in Wraxall since 2011, attending festive assemblies.
Rosie is owned by Gill Impey whose daughter used to attend the school.
Gill, who initially welcomed Rosie into the family as a companion for her dressage horse, said: “Rosie loved people so much and was very laid back and friendly.
“She would often wander into my kitchen to say hello.
“If she could have lived in the house with us she would have.
“My daughter went to The Downs School and I was helping with the costumes for the reception nativity play and jokingly mentioned I had a pony who could come on stage as the donkey.
“The head of Pre Prep at the time thought it a wonderful idea but suggested the Christmas Pre Prep assembly would be more fun as all the children could enjoy her.”
Each year Rosie would join the Christmas assembly, sharing her Christmas list with the children.
Rosie also started working for Father Christmas, following him and his reindeers on Christmas Eve making sure to put back any presents which fell off the sleigh.
Every year, students sprinkled Rosie – who always dreamed of being a reindeer - with ‘magic dust’ during her festive visits to make sure she could fly with Santa on Christmas Eve.
After helping Santa for 13 years, Rosie saw her long-held dream come true – being given the magic power of being able to fly all the time and not just one night of the year.
Gill said: “All those years of magic dust added up and have now worked permanently and she can fly every day and not just on Christmas Eve.
“She now works full time for Father Christmas and can't visit the assembly anymore.
“But we always leave an extra carrot out for her on Christmas Eve.”
Rosie was also a regular visitor to Children’s Hospice South West’s Charlton Farm children’s hospice, next door to the Downs School, including at Christmas.
She also visited at other times during the year to spend time with children and their families staying at Charlton Farm.
CHSW became Rosie’s favourite charity and when she left to fly full time, a fundraiser including a non school uniform day was set up as part of her goodbye – raising an incredible £1,375.
Downs School Deputy Headteacher Imogen Payne said: “Rosie really was magical.
“Her calm, warm nature was amazing and to see the children’s faces light up whenever she appeared was wonderful. The children would save their apple cores from snack time for her and loved her visits to school.”
CHSW Area Fundraiser Lucie Perryman said: “We will miss seeing Rosie at Charlton Farm but are delighted she has been granted her wish of flying with Santa full time.”