22nd June 2004
Celebrities have dressed up as you’ve never seen them before to help the Brooke - the world’s foremost charity for the welfare of working horses, donkeys and mules - celebrate its 70th birthday in star-studded style.
More than fifteen famous faces have been photographed in the guise of classic characters with equine links for a unique “Stars in their Saddles” photo gallery. The remarkable gallery is the centrepiece of a new book about the Brooke’s work, which is being published on June 22 to mark the 70th anniversary of the charity’s founding.
The gallery includes Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen as Dick Turpin, Jenny Seagrove as Calamity Jane, Ronnie Wood’s daughter Leah Wood as Maid Marion, Coronation Street star Bill Roache as a First World War cavalry officer, Joanna Lumley as Madam Butterfly and Anthea Turner as Prince Charming.
The book - A Helping Hand - also shows haunting photographs of the Brooke’s tireless work in developing nations, where our field clinics and mobile veterinary teams provide free care for sick and injured working equines and also educate owners in good animal welfare practices.
The story of the Brooke’s founding in Cairo in 1934 by compassionate Englishwoman Dorothy Brooke is also told in the book. From humble beginnings as The Old Warhorse Memorial Hospital, the Brooke has grown into an international lifesaver: we now reach over 500,000 working equines each year in Egypt, Jordan, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, ensuring they are healthy, happy and fit for work - and benefiting the several million family members who are supported by their labours.
Our book also reveals an exciting 10-year plan to increase by eight-fold the number of working equine animals we help across the world.
'A Helping Hand' launch evening 22nd June 2004
Editors Notes
A Helping Hand costs £15 (including P&P) and can be bought through the Brooke - tel: 020 7930 0210.
The book has been sponsored by the following companies: Baileys Horse Feeds, Campaign Productions, Ev-Veterinary Products Ltd., Horse & Rider and Pony magazines, Intelligent Horsemanship, Pictorial Press Ltd., Saddleworld, Wellesbourne Property Ltd.
In the early 30’s, Mrs Brooke appealed to the British public for funds so that she could end the suffering of ex-British army horses. The horses, mostly from Britain, but also including American and Australian horses had seen service in the First World War; when the conflict ended in 1918 they had been sold into a life of hard labour in Cairo.
The photographs in the book were taken by freelance photographer John Wright who first got involved with the Brooke when he was commissioned by the Daily Mail to take photographs of celebrity vet Emma Milne visiting the charity’s work in Egypt.
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