Last Wednesday, 22^nd April, a small tabby cat caught the attention and hearts of the admin and site staff here at Blacon High School.

The cat was first seen outside the school railings close to the bus stop and eventually followed Marcel Aziamale as he walked along the path into school. The cat followed him into reception and was initially shooed back outside but this cat was not about to be put off so easily. It rolled over to be made a fuss of, meowed plaintively and gazed at us through wide pleading eyes – resistance was futile!

We took the cat into the storeroom on the admin corridor and could see that it was thin, suffering from a skin condition and obviously hungry. The team went into action – a tin of tuna was brought in and devoured by the cat and a telephone call to the RSPCA led to them authorising treatment by a local vet, a cat carrier was found and Dee and Martin took the cat to the vet.

To everyone’s surprise the cat had a microchip containing vital information - our cat is Holly and the owner’s address and telephone number recorded. But when the vet tried to contact the owner there was no reply. Treatment was given to Holly and on the way back to school Dee and Martin stopped off at the address of the owner (close to the University of Chester) only to find out from a neighbour that the family had moved away from Chester months ago. Now what?

Dee and Martin made their way back to school and, very reluctantly, released the cat near to the school on Auckland Road. We office ladies made plans to ‘adopt’ Holly and bring food in should she return. Imagine both our surprise and dismay when half an hour later we received a phone call from Holly’s owner who wanted to come and collect her. We had to explain that we had let Holly go!!

The owner was not deterred. She had that day off work and was determined to come and look for Holly anyway, setting off from Warrington straight away.   We spent our lunch breaks wandering up and down looking for Holly – to no avail. The owner arrived and also wandered up and down Melbourne Road looking for Holly – to no avail! Then one final attempt – Alex (in the office) had, by chance, a box of cat biscuits in the boot of her car and Martin took the owner back along Auckland Road close to where Holly had been released – a few shakes of the box and . . . yes, you’ve guessed . . . Holly appeared from under a bush . . . and was re-united with her ecstatic owner.

She went on to relate how Holly had disappeared 7^th August last year – they had put up posters in the neighbourhood but not had any response, so when they moved out of Chester in October assumed she must be dead!

Where has Holly the littlest hobo been for the last 8-9 months? We can only guess, but with her friendly and appealing nature she has probably been begging for scraps of food and melting a few other hearts along the way.

We have received a lovely thank you card (and a box of chocolates) and these updated photos of Holly from her owner. Holly is making a good recovery and getting well looked after. It seems Holly has spent most of her life having to scrape by… found in a box as a kitten, thin and on the brink of death. Taken in by a kindly cat rescue lady but bullied by the larger cats and having to live isolated, first in a bathroom and then in a pen in a garden before being adopted by her present owner where she had settled well for six months before disappearing.

Will Holly finally settle down? Let’s hope so.