History of the Club
 The Early Days
Back in 1983 a group of cat enthusiasts
headed by Angela Sayer (Rixon) decided to form a new
cat club. This club was called the Cat Association of Britain and they
were given office space at Angela's house to carry out the work of
correspondence and meetings. Situations changed, membership increased and
more people became involved up and down the country therefore it became
necessary to use their own homes and equipment to process the work.
At that time they decided to have regional
and breed clubs. Aristocats was one of the first clubs formed and it was
the club for the Surrey and Sussex area. Win Soanes was the founder of
this club, it proved to be very popular and the first cat shows were
organised.
These shows were fairly small with about
eighty cats at each show. They were run on a system of three rings in
order that each cat could be judged by three different judges. This made
it possible for the cat to gain three certificates in the day and become a
champion. These shows were always held at Dorking Halls in Dorking,
Surrey.
FIFe
 In 1990 The Cat Association of Britain was
accepted as the British member of FIFe, the international organisation of
the cat fancy and our shows then took on a different format which then
meant that our certificates were valid in all the FIFe countries.
December 1990 was a show to remember. It
was a National show, once again at Dorking Halls and all the preparations
had gone very smoothly, we envisaged no problems. We had to leave the
house at 6am, but when we looked out of the window, we saw that eight
inches of snow had fallen overnight! What a nightmare! There was quite
an obstacle that we encountered on the way, a very, very steep hill down
to the halls, great fun. The show went ahead but of course not everyone
turned up, but that did not seem to matter and like all unusual
happenings, it united the exhibitors and caused so much merriment, what
fun we had.
November
1991 was the Aristocats first International FIFe show and Ruth Kuhnel was
our first all-breed judge from abroad. All the other judges were from the
UK. In those days we could use National judges which were fine for the
first championship level. We had 153 cats at this show.
 Win Soanes was a 'fun person' with a wicked
sense of humour, she called a spade a spade and would tolerate no
nonsense. The shows were so popular for these reasons, as one never knew
what might happen. Win, on the microphone presenting Best in Show, was
always amusing and her Persian grooming demonstrations were legendary and
the highlight of any show.
However
Win retired. Maureen Trompetto (Shackell), show assistant of Aristocats,
was also the Show Director for the Cat Association. The pure volume of
work became too much and the Aristocats Club slowly declined. Shows in
their name continued for a few years, we had to move to East Grinstead as
Dorking Halls was refurbished and became too small. We produced a show
twice at this venue, April 1999 being the last one.
Felis Britannica
Now we have a new beginning as a Full Member of Felis
Britannica ...
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