Is there any hope?
I have watched the recent events unfold with growing incredulity.

Not only have the GCCF dumped OUR CATS after over 20 years of what most of us see as pretty good service, but they have pitched in with a group/ team of people that seem to have little or no experience in the cat game, or more particularly, the publishing side of the cat fancy.

Not only that, from what I can gather from the hundreds of messages flying around the chat rooms and emails etc, the new crew are not exactly flavour of the month. When did we ever get such anti feelings about the OUR CATS team or the way they conduct themselves either in print, on line or in person and at shows?

It seems to be me that the executive committee must have had their tea laced at the meeting where this decision was taken... word on the street is that they had to decide there and then and it was all led by a chosen few.

Rush job or what? The sad thing is, if they are prepared to do this to what I would call an institution like OUR CATS, what are they likely to do if it was you or me in the dock… or for any other major decision?

This seems to me to be a sad day for the world of cats and I know I am not alone in wondering where all this will end when our leading committee can be so clearly led or dominated to such an extent. Is there any hope?

Again, I am one of the sad cases who does not want my name and address displaying due to all the kind people in the cat fancy who like to have a go back when you tell the truth.
Name and Address supplied

We must be laughing stock of overseas registering bodies
MY HUSBAND and I were horrified to read in your paper the news of the change of Official Journal of the GCCF.

Whatever the reasons for it, justified or not (we don‘t know all the facts) this strikes at the very roots, history and tradition of the Cat Fancy (viz. Fur and Feather) and should NOT have been done without consultation throughout the Fancy. The Breed Club of which we are, respectively Chair and Vice-Chair, received no warning, neither did our BAC.

Our cats has been a friend to many of us over the years: purveyors of our Club and BAC news, recipients of our sad obituary notices, both human and feline, and celebrators of our triumphs. Why should we have all this taken away from us by a whim of the Executive Committee?

This comes over more like a military coup in a Banana Republic than the workings of a long- standing, distinguished organisation. The more so, in that objectors apparently do not dare give their names and addresses - that smacks of Mafia. We must be the laughing stock of overseas registering bodies.

We feel that our human rights have been infringed by the GCCF making this major change on a matter so fundamental to all breeders and exhibitors in this undemocratic way, totally without consultation and behind our backs.

We are therefore considering a legal action to this effect against the members of the GCCF Executive Committee. Might anyone be interested in joining in?
Dr T. J. H. Bishop & Mrs T. J. H. Bishop, Episcopuss Tonkinese

Horrified re. GCCF
I am horrified that the GCCF have taken the decision they have about the contract for the paper.
Yet again we, the ordinary exhibitors and breeders, are the victims of their idea that they can unilaterally control the cat fancy.

Whilst I enjoyed receiving the "glossy" monthly magazine after the rather prosaic Fur and Feather, the fact that the show reports took so long to be printed was infuriating at times, and sometimes I even forgot I had been to a particular show! (This has not been the case with Our Cats, every fortnight... Ed)

Why weren't the affiliated clubs asked for their opinion on this matter? This whole debacle could have been avoided.

I will not be subscribing to this new publication, and, in fact, am seriously thinking of becoming a turncoat and registering my kittens etc. with TICA/FB. I suggest that the GCCF disassociate themselves from any untested companies before they implode and fade off into infinity!
Name and Address supplied

What GCCF have done is very wrong
I think what the GCCF has done is very very wrong, I’ve been involved with the GCCF since the eighties and have always had OUR CATS, like everyone else I find your magazine the best for info etc...

What I’d like to say is more or less the same as everyone else has said, apart from one thing. I’m on the GCCF stewarding scheme and if I pulled out of the GCCF I’d never be a judge! The way the GCCF is with us potential “Trainee Stewards” is silly anyway. But if I stopped registering and showing with the GCCF I would end up not being a Judge, and it has taken me a long time to get where I am now on the stewarding scheme (three years to date!).

But all I get from the BAC is, come to the BAC meeting in such and such a month. If I don’t, because it’s too far, I get reprimanded, so far I haven’t gone as, IT IS TOO FAR!

I’ve been told - IF YOUR FACE FITS YOU’RE IN, IF NOT, YOU’RE NOT!

I don’t creep to Judges or the GCCF!!! That’s probably why..........

Is there any wonder that a lot of the Judges are elderly! (By the way I’m 50 now!) (That’s quite young… I’m 55, Ed)

I’m not going to the Supreme myself this year as it’s too expensive,
And as for Mrs Shafto being part of this new so called GCCF mag and PR Officer for the Supreme, I’m still waiting for the famous ‘Calender’ that I paid for last year!

And now the GCCF want these people doing our show reports.

We should start up a petition! (There is one… go to the Our Cats web site and look under readers letters, Ed)

Again, I am another one of the band of Name and Address supplied as I do not want my card to be marked.
Name & Address supplied

I will not subscribe to the new magazine
THERE is little I can say in support of Our Cats newspaper that has not already been very well expressed by other subscribers.

Like them, I cannot imagine why I, a breeder, exhibitor, club officer, BAC delegate and, above all, a subscriber for over 20 years to your publication, was not consulted about, or given any prior warning of such an important change.

I know nothing of this new publishing firm, but any sensible person must see that if it doesn’t succeed financially, the Cat Fancy is going to be in a grave predicament.

I can say categorically that I shall not, on principle, be subscribing to the new paper. It saddens me, however, that so many readers feel the necessity to withhold their names and addresses. It is only a hobby, and we don’t live in a police state, do we?
Sue Lloyd, Seido Orientals

Concern
I AM writing to express my concern and utter disbelief at the way the contract for Show Reports / Judges Critiques has been awarded to the ‘Seaview Design Group’, a company without any previous professional experience in the publication of anything like the GCCF official journal!

I personally feel that the contract for such an important undertaking should have remained with Our Cats who, without doubt, have many years of experience in professional publishing; they act in a very impartial and unbiased manner and treat their readers with utmost respect, courtesy and true professionalism. I am not convinced or confident that ‘Seaview Design Group’ has any of the above qualities.

If Governing Council are no longer happy with the way in which Our Cats have managed the contract, surely the most sensible way to have dealt with the matter would be to have had a conference with their Managing Director, or appointee, to try and resolve the situation. I assume such a meeting DID actually take place without a satisfactory conclusion?

I also presume that various other “professional and experienced” groups were approached, and tenders requested and submitted? Thus enabling the Executive Committee to be in a better position to make comparative choices.

Would it be possible, please, for a list to be printed of all the magazines contacted, and those who have submitted tenders, in order that GCCF members might feel confident a fair decision has been reached?

I have been breeding and showing Siamese cats for almost 25 years, and have supported the GCCF in many ways. From time to time, I have had immense pleasure judging in the Household Pet Section at certain breed shows, so I am known to most of you. I have to say, therefore, it is with great regret I feel the need to write a letter of this nature.

It is without any doubt, in my opinion that the contract should remain with Our Cats and their many years of experience and expertise, or passed over to a similarly professional magazine publisher, who will act in an impartial and unbiased way, but certainly not to a member of the cat fancy.

As previously stated, it is my opinion that the ‘Seaview Design Group’, are neither experienced, not impartial enough to run a magazine of this calibre, and they are most certainly not unbiased.
Laurence Armstrong (Mr)