Cat chat volunteers ‘surprised’ by feline-free audience ...
20 September 2015
Volunteers Sheila Pennell and Ann Simpson co-presented a Cats Protection talk at the request of the Erdington United Reformed Church Women’s Fellowship in September – and after cat-chattering away for a while were ‘surprised’ to discover that none of the ladies in the group had a cat!
Thankfully, however, just one male of the species – Chris Thornburn - had asked his wife Margaret if he could ‘come along too’ that evening, as they had half-adopted a neighbour’s cat who they say is ‘a great source of pleasure’ to them both.
Chris, who lives in Erdington, says: “I wanted to join the ladies because of the subject matter – cats. The cat that visits us we call ‘Madam’ but we know from her owner that her real name is Fluffy. We found the talk very interesting – especially as it focused around what cats need. After all, they are living creatures and have particular requirements, just like us."
Richard Brown, CP's volunteer photographer, became technician for the night, bringing along his own projector and other equipment so that a DVD covering the main aspects of the work of the charity could be shown. This puts across the five welfare needs of cats – a safe environment, suitable food and water, health and vet care, allowing them to express normal behaviour and, of course, ensuring love and companionship.
Sheila and Ann found ‘co-presenting’ a great way of getting the various messages across, and the audience (even though catless!) contributed anecdotes around how cats were looked after in the past – for instance, given milk, when we all know nowadays that cats should only have fresh water alongside their food.
Organiser of the event, Jean Claybur, thanked the three volunteers for coming along and kindly gave a £25 donation to benefit the needy cats in Branch. The fellowship ladies snapped-up several jars of ‘Jenny’s jams’ which rounded the donation up to a very nice £50.
** Anyone wanting to book a CP talk, do call the helpline and make that request. Volunteer Emma Truman is the Branch Education Officer, and is happy to tailor her talks to suit schools, Brownies and Girl Guides.