A PAGEANT of the Donkey is taking place at Pershore Abbey this Sunday (21) when the role of the donkey in the life of Jesus will be acted out with local schoolchildren.

The event, which gets underway at 3pm, will feature eight live donkeys in four tableaux, each acted out with children and with commentary from a narrator.

Kenneth Crawford, the vicar at Pershore Abbey, explained that Canon Andrew Bowden, from Cirencester, and his wife, Sue, were the brains behind the event.

Andrew said: “We have held similar performances at Gloucester Cathedral in the past.

“Young people especially respond enormously to animals and to have animals in the Abbey also stresses the idea that God is interested not just in human beings but in the whole of his creation.

“We hope that those who come to see the show will be excited and moved by the performance.

“It starts with Christmas, moves to Palm Sunday, then good Friday before finishing with Jesus’ resurrection on easter Day.

“The whole life of Jesus from start to finish can be linked in with the donkeys.”

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