The Russian Blue Breeders Association 21st Show “We've got the key to the door, never been 21 before!”

The show management team travelled down to Abingdon on the 6 th October, in preparation of our show the following day in a downpour that can only be described as biblical! We were very fortunate however that the 7^th October dawned bright and clear, a beautiful autumnal day to celebrate the huge achievement of our 21^st Championship Show.

Our 21^st show had all the hallmarks of a 21^st birthday party – cake, balloons and beer (of the non-alcoholic Russian variety), made “knowledgeably!” by Mike Buckeridge (husband of Marlene, our Show Manager).

The Russian Blue Breeders Association were holding their show at the Guildhall, Abingdon for the second successful year and we were once again thrilled with the venue, our wonderful exhibitors and visitors. As it was a special celebration for us we had spot prizes for our 21 st entrant, cat in pen number 21, cats and kittens born on the 21 st of the month and so the list goes on, after all, 21 is a milestone number! We even had special prizes for Claire Bandy, Val Anderson (now membership secretary), Jill Jackson (Chairman) and Val Price (Committee member), who all exhibited at the very first RBBA Championship show, a huge support to the club and a wonderful achievement in itself.

Marlene Buckeridge spent the day in a genuine Russian dress all the way from St. Petersburg and the “grey cat suit” was on the prowl in Abingdon town itself gathering waifs and strays (by that I mean visitors!) into the show hall in the afternoon to excellent effect once again. We had a new addition to our show, our “history” board, a work in progress, obviously. It is interesting to note just how long the club has been in existence. Our first championship show taking place back in 1982. We even had some real Muscovites, Svetlana and Tatyana who visited the show especially for our 21 st celebration.

Our bottle stall was run by Dawn & Peter Howe and made a good deal for the club, our cat toy stall, run by Mark Roberts was also a huge success and our raffle was ably organised by Yvonne and Hannah Hendra - we even considered calling the Guinness World of Records in to judge it for the biggest raffle ever (at least at a cat show), the table was positively groaning in prizes!

We closed the show promptly at 5pm and as all you show managers out there will know, arrangements for our 22^nd show on 6^th October 2007 are already in the planning.

Amanda Roberts
Joint Assistant Show Manager

(Last years show)