Welcome to the 18th summer edition of Cam Chat

As I am putting this newsletter together, the sun is shining, the garden is looking colourful, the cats are basking in the sun and it seems too pleasant to be indoors slaving over a hot computer. However, with summer now with us our thoughts will soon be turning to summer holidays, but before you jet off to the sun, why not join us for the …

Annual Garden Party – Sunday 8 July

Once again Susan and Chris Luvaglia are opening up their garden for us to enjoy our annual garden party. This will take place at Causeway House, Grandford Drove, March, Cambs starting at 12.30 pm. For those of you who are not familiar with our host and hostess, Susan and Chris are members of many years’ standing and Susan is a current committee member. Although we cannot guarantee sunshine, we can guarantee a warm welcome and a fun afternoon.

The garden party is to be held in conjunction with March Dog Training Club and their well-behaved dogs (and owners!) will be giving us a display. There will be a buffet lunch which I can guarantee will be superb, thanks to Susan’s excellent culinary skills, a bouncy castle - for the adults as well as the youngsters, games, hand photography, a raffle (please bring a prize) and much more.

Tickets are Ł4.50 per adult and Ł2.25 for children under 10 and are available from Marion Fisher, 12 Longfields, Ely, Cambs CB6 3DN. Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope and make cheques payable to The Cambridgeshire Cat Club.

We would like to make this a bigger and better event this year as we had the disappointment of having to cancel our show, so please come along and support Susan and Chris as well as the club.

Dates for your diary

August – No meeting

10 September – Annual General Meeting

8 October – Cheese and wine, general get together bring along your photos and rosettes !!

Speakers for our meetings are yet to be arranged for the rest of the year. Please let me know if there are any topics you would like us to try and include. It is hoped to arrange a talk about the use of Program in the treatment of ringworm which appears to be a very effective and safe method of treatment with astonishing results. Watch this space!

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will take place on Monday 10 September at 8 pm in the Senior Common Room, Queens Veterinary School Hospital, Madingley Road, Cambridge. Members due to stand down are Mark Pearman, Lilian Howard, Graham Fisher and Marion Fisher. All are willing to stand again and there is one vacancy. If you would like to have a say in how the club is run and bring in some ideas, why not put yourself forward for nomination?

The committee meets approximately four times a year and members take turns in hosting the meetings in their homes. In the event of more people being nominated than places available, an election will be held and ballot papers will be sent to all paid up members at the beginning of August for return before the AGM in September.

Nomination papers are enclosed with this newsletter. If you wish to be nominated you will need a proposer and a seconder and you must all be fully paid-up members. If you wish to nominate someone, please ask his or her permission first.

Nominations and items for the Agenda must be received by 31 July 2001. Please send to Marion Fisher, 12 Longfields, Ely, Cambs CB6 3DN

The last two years have seen a very disappointing turnout for the AGM which required us to hold a second meeting in October, incurring unnecessary expense to the club. We need a minimum of 20 members to attend – it is YOUR club, please come along and let us know your views.

Year Book

The publishing of the Year Book seems to coincide with the start of the new club year, subs coming in and preparation for the show. This year I really would like to get organised and have the Year Book ready to go for printing by the end of December. This is the usual plea for articles, adverts, poems, show wins and stud entries. If you would like details of your stud boys entered in the Year Book, please let me have the following details: your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address if you have one, your stud’s name and breed number and also the names and breed numbers of the sire and dam. Please also include any special requirements e.g. FIP queens only. All items for the Year Book should be sent to Marion, address overleaf, or e-mailed to marion49uk@yahoo.co.uk as soon as possible.

Kitten Register

The kitten register has been pretty quiet of late. Please let Graham have details of any kittens you have for sale; you can reach him on 01353-668034 (after 7pm please) or e-mail him at Graham.Fisher@care4free.net . Entry on to the kitten register costs Ł1 per month or Ł10 for the year.

Show Support

We have some new Best of Breed rosettes and rosettes are also available for club class winners and non-pedigree open class or club class winners. Not many of you have made a claim this year – all you have to do is send an A4 stamped addressed envelope to Marion and a rosette will be popped in the post to you and your details entered in the Show Wins section in the Year Book.

Members should have received details of our Cat of the Year Competition with the Year Book. Please let Marion know if you do not have an entry form and/or rules or you need more. We have some beautiful trophies for the section winners to keep and a shield for the overall winner which will be kept for a year. Please let Marion know how you are doing.

Club Table

We will be taking the club table to the Eastern Counties Cat Society show on 4 August and the Supreme in November. The trophies for the Cat of the Year competition will be on display so do come and see us. One brave soul has volunteered to do a stint with Graham and Marion at the Supreme – grateful thanks to Jenny – do we have any more takers please? An hour of your time will make all the difference to us.

We now have pens, cat toys and china thimbles for sale, all at reasonable prices. Mark Pearman is in charge of the bric-a-brac and would dearly love to hear from you if you have any. Please contact Mark on 01638-507295 or hand your bric-a-brac in at our meetings, or at the garden party, or to any committee member.

Coach to the National

It seems a little early to be thinking about the National but we will be running a coach again this year. Depending on the cost of the coach, tickets should be in the region of Ł7.00 per seat. The same charge will be made if you require a seat for your cat carrier. The National is on Saturday 8 December at Olympia. The coach will pick up at Soham, the Cambridge Vet School, St Neots and Baldock – times will be confirmed later but, as usual, it will be a very early start. Each cat will receive a small present from Santa and there will be wine or fruit juice, mince pies and sausage rolls on the way home. There will also be a raffle with seasonal prizes, the proceeds of which will go to the Welfare Fund. Members and non-members are welcome. If you would prefer to go Christmas shopping, it is a cheap means of reaching London.

And finally …

Cam Chat is issued four times a year: January, April, July and October. If you have any news you would like to share with the Club, please let Marion know.

In the meantime, enjoy the summer, support the garden party and we look forward to seeing you at the AGM!