A mystery over Sidmouth Bowling Club’s missing ‘lucky’ wicker donkey has been solved - after it was revealed the mascot has taken a holiday.

Club member Burt Hague had mocked up a ‘fun’ poster saying the life-size figure vanished in June. He added that the disappearance of the donkey seemed to tie in with a dip in form for the club’s over-60s’ A-team.

The tongue-in-cheek poster reads: “Missing all summer. Have you seen anything of our LUCKY wicker donkey?

“If found before the end of the outdoor bowling season, please replace in usual position in front of the club, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.” This week, the donkey’s whereabouts were revealed - it had booked itself a summer holiday to The Donkey Sanctuary.

The charity, which owns the donkey, took it back to give it some tender loving care.

A spokeswoman from the sanctuary said: “It [the donkey] is usually down in Sidmouth for the summer, but comes back to us for winter care. He’s in need of a bit of extra TLC right now, but will be back for next summer.

“We are very happy to have the bowls team pop up here to return them back to top form.

“Alternatively, we actually have quite a few little wicker donkeys and we could give them a tiny statue to have at their club to support them through the rest of their season.”