Untitled - Kyina & Talisker Cats Breeders of Russian Blues in ...

Thouglhts on Cat ShowsBr. p. M. SODERBERG #,H..#:,1,J"T."1il?andGenerarChairman of the Siamese Cat Club.1 'VE been thinking ! I har eI to admit that this mental Pru-I cess does nol alwals lead t'conclusions of momenlrrrts impolt.and I am not too certain that thispreseni effort will achieve satishctoryresults. I shall, at least,have ihought, and that is betterthan doing nothing. I do notthink that what I have to sar ishiehlv controversial, for I had nopr"econceived notions when Iitarted. I thought quite objectively,but had arrived at nodefinite conclusions when I hadfinished.My theme this month is cat showscatshows in London-for I have littlcknotledge ol the nany that are norv heldin the provinces. London has a largerpopulation than any other city in theivorld, it has transport facilities secondto none. vet when il r'umc" lo slaglng acat show the interest of the public seemspathetically sma1l.Nou'the reason for this apparent lacko1 public enthusiasm is certainlv not ducto the poor qr:alit' of our cats. ibr all inall British-bred pedigree cats are the l;estin the rvorld. If vou ncecl proof of'thisstatement, 1'ou have onh to read thereports of lbreign shorrs. \'ou rrill finclthat cats which har e been erported lromthis countrv hold their ol.n u hcn sholvnagainst those lvhich hale ller:n brecl inthe countrv wherc the shorv is helcl'France, Holland, ,'\ustralia and theUnited States all possess charlpion catswhich have been bred by British lanciers.and those four countries are not the onl1'ones in rvhich our cats havc achievetloutstanding succcsses.I rnirst conlcss that I lravt ttot tlteactual ligures o{ attenclantt at Londonshorvs, but I do know that by comparisonthey generally fall lar short of thosereportcd from abroad. In 1949, a onedavshow was held in Mclbournc andon this occasion the paying puficerxceeded l'100. Few English shows cantouch that figurt', in fact, I can onlythink of three sholvs since the rvar whichhave exceeded 1400 on any one davrvhile the majority har.e ial1en lar belowthis figure. Since thervar, in Switzerlandthere has been a three-day show whichtopped the 15,000 mark, and onlY lastvear a three-day show in Copenhagenattracted a public of nearlY 13,000.Figures of that magnitude make onethink. At least they make me think !Surely it is a sound assumplion thatthe financial success of a show is almostentirely dependent upon the gate.Perhaps it lvould be more precise to saythat for most shou's the gatc is the factorthat tips the balance. If one is to judgtrfrom the financial statements issued aftermany shorvs, it is just this factor whichhas tipped the balance the wrong way'Clubs are finding it difficult to make theirsholvs balance on the right side.Better PublicityI have a l'erv idcas which maY be o1'some r.alue in this matter, but, as I havenever run a show and sincerely hope tharI never shall. I put them forward with.urne degrcc ,'i def'erencc'l'he firsr assumption I lvant to makcis that the British public. although anowner of cats to the tune of somethinglike eight miliion, is not on the wholcpedigree-rninded, and the owners olpedigrec cats form a very small part 01'tht: cat-owning publir: in general. I1'voll acccpt this lact, it sec-ms to me that13