The Midlands Cat Club Show was held this year on the 21st February 2010 in the Kilmurry Lodge hotel in Limerick. A very special show this year as it was their 25th silver anniversary! Every pen received a special anniversary rosette and there was a raffle for a commemorative piece of silver. The show attracted a record number of entries – 114 cats!

Despite the flurries of snow on the Saturday evening when we arrived at the hotel, most of the exhibitors we spoke to did not experience any major problems getting to the venue. There was, and always is, a great atmosphere at this show. I think it is a real bonus to be able to enjoy the show without having to step outside for anything, as coffee, lunch and all the necessary facilities are all available within the hotel.

It’s a real shame more Irish hotels are not open to the idea of cat shows. They are really missing out on a lot of business as there were great crowds of visitors in attendance throughout the day, plus of course many exhibitors who stayed over in the hotel for one or even two nights. The Kilmurray Lodge must be commended for their support of the Midlands Cat Club over the years, and I must say each year we attend we find that the hotel has always improved in some way or another. This year, for instance, we found a very pleasant outdoor smoking area had been added to the hotel bar.

Cornish Rex Nikki

Anyway, back to the show, which seemed to run very smoothly and Carmel and the show team were all in great spirits for the 25th anniversary! It was our first show for our new Cornish Rex Lorrentino Givemesomelove (aka Nikki) and she seemed to settle in well and attracted a lot of attention :-) We later discovered that Nikki is the first ever Cornish Rex to be registered under the GCCFI! We were delighted with our results, as both Squeek and Nikki got their awards – Squeek getting her 2nd GPC and Nikki her 1st PC. This also meant that Nikki qualified for the GCCFI Supreme show in April, which was the icing on the cake! As Keisha is already a Grand Premier under GCCFI we put her on exhibition rather than in competition, and she really enjoyed herself in her cosy decorated double pen. We got to show off all her awards and rosettes from her other shows too!

Keisha on Exhibition

The best in show results were as follows:

  • Best Persian: Sheerbliss Mystical Charm
  • Best Semi-LH: Coontastic Tangerine Dream
  • Best British: Labrys Warrior Princess
  • Best Foreign: In Gr Ch Shadanza Tanzanite
  • Best Burmese: Coomakista Portraitofagirl
  • Best Oriental: Itihat Christianne
  • Best Siamese: (no entries)

Overall Best in Show went to the beautiful Labrys Warrior Princess. Many congrats to Em and Jacqui!!

Best in Show non-pedigree went to a long-haired black and white called Harvey.

After the show we attended the judge’s dinner, something we had never done before, and it was very enjoyable getting to meet and speak to all the judges and the show management team.

We look forward to the next Midlands show and we hope it goes from strength to strength over the next 25 years!

Here’s our updated “standings”:

Keisha (Lorrentino Lilyofthevalley):

  • 1 Reserve Imperial under GCCF
  • International Grand Premier
  • 1 Tara GPC under GCCFI (needs 1 more to make Tara Grand Premier)
  • TICA Supreme Grand Champion Alter (SGCA)
  • TICA Best Devon Rex Alter in Europe North 2008/2009

Squeek (Lorrentino Tiger-Lily):

  • International Premier
  • 3 Reserve Grand PCs under GCCF
  • 2 Grand PCs under GCCFI
Nikki (Lorrentino Givemesomelove)
  • 1 PC under GCCFI