CAMBRIDGESHIRE CAT CLUB

Camchat 19

Welcome to the Autumn Edition of Cam Chat

The AGM of the Cambridgeshire Cat Club took place at the Queens Veterinary Hospital, Cambridge, on Monday 10 September 2001. I am pleased to say we had a good attendance this year, thus avoiding a second AGM which has unfortunately occurred over the last couple of years. I am also pleased to announce that we have a new Chairman and welcome Paul Davidson to the post. Anthony has come to the end of his three years in office but I am sure the committee would join me in thanking him for his hard work and continued commitment to the club. Congratulations to Paul for taking up the challenge and we wish him well. The committee remains largely unchanged and is as follows:

Chairman – Paul Davidson; Vice Chairman – Anthony Allgood; Honorary Secretary – Marion Fisher; Honorary Treasurer – Graham Fisher; Assistant Secretary – Susan Luvaglia; Kitten Registrar – Graham Fisher; Show Support – Marion Fisher; Committee - Lilian Howard, Les Howard, Gretta Hall-Tamlyn, Barbara Davidson, Sally Tokens, Elsie Hare and Mark Pearman. Anthony and Marion remain GCCF delegates and Paul will continue as webmaster.

We still have one vacancy on the committee, so if you would be interested in being co-opted on, please let me or a committee member know – we would love to have you join us. Fresh blood brings fresh ideas!

Special Presentation

A special presentation was made at the AGM to two of our most dedicated committee members. Lilian and Les Howard have been on the Cam Cat Committee almost since the beginning and are what we would call “quiet” members of the committee. However, their help over the years has been unfailing. Though all weathers, and even illness, Lilian and Les have attended all our meetings to make sure the doors are open and the tea and coffee is made. Their help at our shows is invaluable and their support for the club is exemplary. The committee decided that such dedication should not go un rewarded and presented Lilian and Les with honorary lifetime memberships to the club and also, from our 2002 show, a dedicated class in the non-pedigree section which they will judge. Details of the Soleil Class (Lilians prefix) will appear in the schedule but the winner will receive the Soleil Trophy and placing's down to 4^th place will receive a special rosette. Many congratulations to Lilian and Les and thanks for your untiring support.

Monthly Meetings

8 October – Cheese and Wine Social Evening. Come along for cat chat and bring your photos and rosettes. Soft drinks will be available for the drivers!

12 November – to be arranged

8 December – Coach Trip to the National – see below for details
Seats going fast !!!!!!!!!

10 December – Christmas Party. Held at our Vet School venue,
8 pm. Tickets Ł4.50 each, available from Marion Fisher, 12 Longfields, Ely, Cambs CB6 3DN. Please make cheques payable to the Cambridgeshire Cat Club. Come along and have a good festive evening.

14 January – Show Preparation Meeting. Anyone who is willing to help at our show in March is more than welcome to come along to this meeting. This is when we need your support

For future presentation

Peter Lilburn from Novartis will be coming in March 2002 to give us a presentation about the use of Program in flea control and its use in ringworm. Their drug, Fortekor, which is at the forefront in the treatment of cardiac disease in dogs, received its licence earlier this year for use in cats with chronic renal insufficiency. This is a very exciting development as although it will not cure the condition, it has the potential to prolong the quality of life and life expectancy of affected cats by several years.

We also hoping to arrange a visit by a Feline Advisory Bureau accredited ultrasonographer to tell us about ultrasound scanning Persian cats for PKD. Watch this space!

A message from the Secretary

I am beginning to run out of ideas for our meetings and need your help! If there is anything you would like us to try and arrange, or indeed you have another idea for a meeting, I would love to hear from you. Please contact Marion on 01353-668034 or e-mail marion49uk@yahoo.co.uk. At one member’s request we managed to arrange a talk on Helicobacter in cats so, it can be done.

Coach to the National

The coach has been booked for Saturday 8 December for our annual trip to the National Cat Club show. If you wish to reserve seats, please send a deposit of Ł5.00 per seat to Marion (address above). The final price will be around Ł7.00 - Ł8.00 per seat, depending on numbers, but this will be confirmed at a later date along with departure times. We will be picking up from the coach depot at Soham, the Cambridge Vet School, St Neots and Baldock. (Apologies for my error in the last Cam Chat, we will not be picking up at Royston - why do I always confuse Royston and St Neots? No prizes for guessing who failed O level Geography!) As usual we will be holding a raffle with seasonal prizes on the way home along with our feast of mince pies, sausage rolls and wine, and all cats on the coach will receive a little prezzie from Santa. Please remember that if you require a seat for your cat carrier, you will have to pay the same price for it. Members and non-members are welcome to join us, and anyone wishing to spend a day Christmas shopping in London instead of visiting the show are welcome too.

Membership Subscriptions

And now the bad news. Unfortunately the time has come for an increase in membership fees to help cover rising costs. It was agreed at the 2001 AGM that from 1 January 2002 membership fees will be as follows: Single Ł5.00, Joint Ł8.00, Junior Ł1.00. This represents an increase of Ł1.00 per member but there is no increase for Juniors. Please send your membership fees to Marion Fisher, 12 Longfields, Ely, Cambs CB6 3DN.

Show Support

Don’t forget to claim your rosettes for cats gaining their titles, best of breed winners, club class winners and for the non-pedigrees, open class and club class winners. I have had quite a few claims recently so it is encouraging that members are taking up this offer - or reading their Cam Chats! This year at the Supreme we will be offering rosettes to Best of Breed winners and will also be holding a Best Decorated Pen competition. This will be free to enter so please let Marion know your pen numbers when you receive them. I am hoping to offer special rosettes for the winner and runner-up in both pedigree and non-pedigree sections with a small prize also for the winners. Don’t forget to keep a note of your show wins for the Cat of the Year competition. We have some very nice trophies which we hope to display on our table in Club Row at the Supreme. I have a couple of volunteers to help on the table but a couple more would be nice.

Just a few reminders ….

~ Membership fees are due on 1 January 2002 ~~
Register your kittens on the Kitten Register with Graham on 01353-668034 or Graham.Fisher@care4free.net, Ł1 per month or Ł10 for the year ~~
Bric-a-brac is always required for the club table, contact Mark on 01638-507295 ~~
Christmas Party 10 December at 8 pm, Ł4.50 per ticket ~~
Inclusions for Year Book urgently needed, contact Marion (details above).