When Sherry was a child, she grew up with dogs, the most remembered, Judy and a cat named Tibby, who was a very large cat. Even after we were married, he continued to live with her Dad in Wide-open. So yes, from an early age Sherry was an animal lover, and they were very important to her, so I think she would want them remembered along with her own memory. I was not much of a dog person, so after we were married we decided to have a cat, Sherry was always the one that chose the cats we have had. Our first cat was a male black cat with a white bib, we bought him at Robinson's Pet Shop in Grainger Market in the 70s when we lived in a ground floor flat in North Shields. She named him  'sunshine' and he moved with us from North Shields to West Yorkshire in 1976, and he was with us in all three homes we lived in, the last one in being Horbury. He developed a kidney problem and needed to drink a lot of water, and he eventually went blind. Sadly, his health deteriorated to the point that we decided that the kindest thing would be to have him put to sleep. So, on that morning Sherry let him jump up on the bath and said; 'Come on son, have your last drink' then we took him to the vet situated in Dewsbury. A very sad day.

After some time passed, we were shopping in Wakefield, and we were looking around the central market, and we passed this pet store with a variety of cats on show in the window. Sherry spotted this little kitten underneath this cut out cardboard box, a very timid tabby cat, and this was the one she chose to take home with us. This cat was a female tabby and Sherry named her Peggy, this was actually Sherry's Mother's name, so that left her sister a bit put out over her choice. Anyway, she was a very loving and playful cat, during our remaining time in West Yorkshire we sold our house and lived with some friends for a while until we could move the business on. So, because these friends had their own animals, Peggy lived with another friend who was single for a while, and then we finally made the move back up North. First to North View in Cambois and then Church Avenue in West Sleekburn, once again Peggy developed problems with her kidneys and after being told by our vet that nothing else could be done, so again we reluctantly decided that the kindest thing would be to have her put to sleep. To spare her the uncomfortable journey to the vets, we asked the vet if they could come to us. It was on one sunny afternoon in August when Peggy was in the garden curled sleeping on a chair when the vet arrived, she passed away peacefully, she was 21 years old. That afternoon was a very painful experience for us both, euthanasia is painless to the pet but horrendous for us to watch her slip away so quickly, I carried her down the garden and laid her to rest in the place I had prepared, she still lies in that spot today.

The following was written by Sherry: on that day August 20th 2003. ''Today, we lost our beautiful little girl. Peggy, a piece of my heart went with you, were my dear sweet silent friend, who showed me nothing but love. I miss you so very much, my Peggy P'.

Our next cat, this entry written by Sherry: The end of September 2003. "We have a new member of our family Mr.Tibbs. An angel sent with Peggy's blessing, a beautiful beautiful little boy. Sadly, this intense light faded, when we tragically lost him on Christmas Eve. How much more can my heart take?" Entered by Pete: Mr. Tibbs was knocked down by a car outside of the Horse Resource on the main road at the end of our garden.

Our next cat, this entry written by Sherry: March 2004. "Today a quiet sweet spirit came into our home 'Thomas' gentle and true. Please, I pray he stays. May 11th 2011. Not long enough! My beautiful little boy died today, no words come easy, my heart aches so much. His quiet loyal spirit will always stay with me, I miss him so much." Entered by Pete: We found Tom in a cat shelter in Seghill, although we were told he was healthy, the first thing he needed to have done was some dentistry. At that time the vet told us he also had a heart murmur, one Sunday evening around Christmas time we came home and found Tom struggling for breath. We immediately took him to the Croft Hospital near Cramlington, he stayed overnight and was given medication for a while afterwards, he improved and we thought he was going to be alright. I let him out one morning before I went off to work, late morning Sherry rang and said she had been wondering where Tom was and having looked around found him in the front garden where he had passed away. I always thought that if the vet had said he would have to continue his medication indefinitely he would have lived longer. I think his lungs had filled up with fluid. He was a gentle giant of a cat. All the above cats apart from Sunshine are buried in our garden in Church Avenue.

The story continues with our current cat Marmie, originally named Marmalade because of her coat. She was found under the bonnet of a car and taken into the vet at the top end of Morpeth (near the Jet garage) where out Great Niece Kerry was working. Initially, she was homed by Kerry's older sister Fiona but they had to give her up due to the Asthma that her husband Andrew suffered from.

The following written by Sherry: "I hesitate to enter this, but the sweetest little angel came home with us today, September 11th 2011. Only 12 weeks old, she is so full of life, it comes as a shock, but she is filling my life with laughter, love and at times pain, please, please, let her stay" Entered by Pete: Yes, she is still with myself two years after Sherry has sadly passed, now 13 years old. You have to understand that because we did not have any children these cats were all Sherry's babies.