IF YOU happen to be walking across Lambeth Bridge on a weekday morning and run into a smiling yellow labrador accompanied by a tall man in uniform, the chances are you’ve just met Jack, one of the British Army’s best recruits. His handler? Warrant Officer Class 1 Andrew ‘Vern’ Stokes, Garrison Sergeant Major, London District: the man responsible for military ceremonial state occasions and a Bafta award winner to boot. Jack, now five, has been coming to work with him all his life.
Stokes has always had dogs but when in 2015 he was appointed to his current role, he wasn’t sure if the job would support having one at work. Fortunately, “it turned out that there were enough people to help if I had to nip out of my office”. As a result, Jack has grown up at Horse Guards, with St James’s Park, Green Park and Hyde Park his playgrounds. Raising him from a puppy was a Horse Guards team effort but luckily “there’s no shortage of goodwill here”, explains Stokes.
