Introduction
The Palmerston North Cat Club is affiliated to the New Zealand Cat Fancy.
Show
Palmerston North Cat Club's annual show is held on the first Sunday in May.
History
Palmerston North Cat Club was one of the clubs founded in the revival of New Zealand's cat fancy in the decade after the end of the Second World War. Clubs had been formed in Auckland and Hamilton in 1949, shows held in Invercargill, and moves were afoot in Wellington to get their club re-established when the Palmerston North cat fanciers founded their club in May 1951.
The club's first show was held two years later on 27th June 1953 - a date chosen because it suited the visiting English judge, Mrs Joan Thompson. After that first show the local newspaper commented:
Judging by the number attending the Palmerston North cat show on Saturday afternoon in the Kiwi Hall, cat shows in this city will become a permanent fixture if the local people have anything to say in the matter.
The 1960s saw several new developments in the cat fancy on exhibition at club shows - the first cameos and colourpoint Persians appeared at Palmerston North Cat Club shows in 1961 and 1962 respectively.
In the early 1970s the club affiliated with the newly created New Zealand Cat Fancy Inc and the first of the two years without an annual show occurred in 1979.
As well as annual shows throughout in the 1980s the club held a seminar in the Convention Centre which was very well received.
By 1994 the entry numbers for the annual show had reached 240 and in 1998, for only the second time in the club's history, no annual show was held.
In the new millennium the club twice hosted the National Show, firstly in 2000 (in conjunction with Havelock North Cat Club and Central Districts Cat Fanciers Association) which attracted 650 entries and 15,000 members of the public, and then again in 2006.
The prediction of that 1953 newspaper report that 'cat shows in the city will become a permanent fixture' has been proved right and the Palmerston North Cat Club has an achievement to be proud of in holding annual shows almost every year between 1953 and today.
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