John Smithson (Catz Inc, New Zealand)
John became involved with the Cat Fancy in 1977, registering his first cattery name Imperatus with the NZCF in 1978. Over the years he has bred and granded many cats, beginning with NZ’s first Red Persian Grand Champion, closely followed by NZ’s first Himalayan Double Grand Champion. He has also granded Orientals and British Shorthairs in the USA with ACFA and CFA respectively. In 1980 he became Editor of NZ Cats and produced the first NZCF Yearbook. In 1985 he became a Longhair Judge, extending to include Shorthairs in 1990. He has now judged for 30 years and on several continents.
In 1993, he served a term as National President of the NZCF, before emigrating to the United States. In 2001, after his return to New Zealand, John was a co-founder of CATZ Incorporated and proceeded to bring American format shows to our shores with combined Double Specialty and All-Breed Rings. He took up Munchkins in 2004 and successfully bred and exhibited 10 cats to Grand Champion status, taking one to All-Breed Cat of the Year in 2009.
Several years ago, John began to research the Father of the Cat Fancy, Harrison William Weir. As a result of that research, a huge collection related to Harrison Weir, his work, his autograph letters, his prints and his illustrative art, has been established as 'The Harrison Weir Collection', and the basis for a separate book on his life, now nearing completion. John is now the Curator of that collection and currently manages a large web-site dedicated to the artist, at www.harrisonweir.com
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New Member
The club welcomes our new member, Emma James who attended our committee meeting on the 14th.
New Member: Emma James (Palmerston North) - Ragdolls
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End-of-Year Get-together
For 2014 this will be on 7th December at the Bridge Café on Gorge Road in Ballance starting at 11.30am.
Please RSVP to our secretary, Colleen White, so that she can confirm the numbers with the restaurant. We look forward to seeing you there.
Date: Sunday, 7th December 2014
Place: Bridge Café, 91 Gorge Road, Ballance
Time: 11.30am
RSVP: by 3rd December 2014 to Colleen White, 06 353 2130 secretary@pncatclub.co.nz
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Committee Meeting – 14th October 2014
No location dramas were experienced this time and we had two guests - new member Madeleine Gray and joining member Emma James. Thank you both for your interest.
- 2015 ShowOne of our judges has been approved by the judges' registrar, and another is waiting for approval. Two others are in receipt of contracts and we are contacting a replacement for one of our proposed judges who will be unable to attend.
Rosette sponsorship packages were finalised and will be detailed on the website.
- General
Decided that the club would advertise in the NZCF booklet being produced for the 2015 National Show.
The calendar project is nearing its conclusion. It is anticipated that 40 calendars will have been sold by the time it finishes.
During summer and for the convenience of committee members, the monthly meetings will start half an hour later at 7.30pm
- Next Meeting: Tuesday, 11th November 2014
-- Time: 7.30pm (note the later start time)
-- Location: Rumour Has It Cafe, 305 Rangitikei St, Palmerston North
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Fund-raising Barbecues - Reminder
The first of our club fund-raiser barbecues was held over the weekend. We now have another two coming up and if you'd prefer not to work at them but are out and about on Sunday, why not come by the Mad Butchers in Pioneer Highway and support the club by buying yourself a sausage? Food and a good cause - what could be better?
Our volunteers will be manning the barbecues at the Mad Butchers on the following dates:
- 26th October (Sunday)
- 9th November (Sunday)
Contact: Paul Holden, kerrypaul@xtra.co.nz
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How Much?
- Rosette Sponsorship
Ahh, our show hall bling: Those colourful rosettes we hang on the display rack at the start of the show and which are hanging on cages at the end of the show. And nearly all paid for by sponsorship! For the 2014 show that was $2,060.75 worth of sponsorship.
This was organised by Margaret Morgan.
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2015 Cats Calendar
We are selling through our stock of fund-raising calendars at a very pleasing rate but this means if you would like to purchase one you will need to move quickly. A low-resolution preview of the calendar can be found here:
www.pncatclub.co.nz/calendar.pdf
You can deposit your payment ($15 per calendar) into the club account 02-0630-0172405-000 but please include your surname as a reference when making your payment and follow it up with an email to let us know you've made payment. We will arrange a convenient drop off/pick up time from there.
For our out-of-town members, we are happy to post calendars if required.
Contact: Jane Webster, talmijane@gmail.com - 06 353 5623
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History Notes: 1971 - Burmese
Another example from the "it doesn't have to be really old to be history" file, this is the earliest catalogue I have had access to that has Burmese at the Palmerston North show. I know they must have exhibited there earlier than this but I don't have any examples!
Anyway, this catalogue page from the 1971 catalogue shows a number of names and prefixes I'm familiar with, and no doubt for our Burmese breeder members there will be some cat names they know as well.
I was able to scan this catalogue for the club's archives thanks to Betty Green. Extra thanks must go to Genevieve Rogerson and family who retrieved the catalogues from Betty's damaged 'red zone' house in Christchurch.
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