Thought you might be cheered up by this. Until this year we had 2 cats here at work, Mumsie and Joshua. Mumsie was found in the school compost heap with 2 new born kittens 15 years ago. My Special Needs children looked after them and when we could not find an owner, the Head agreed to them becoming school cats. Mumsie was looked after by an autistic boy who had real problems communicating with anyone and we used Mumsie as his method of getting through the day. He left College with as good as qualifications as anyone else and the ability to communicate openly with anyone, all thanks to Mumsie. In 1999 she won the Arthurs National Cat of the Year for her services to autistic children. Part of her winnings was £1,200. Both her and her surviving kiiten, Joshua, lived off the money for the rest of their lives. Last night I took the remaining money to the local Cat Protection branch who have dedicated the Old Cats Home, the area where all the oldies that can't be homed for one reason or another, live out their lives peacefully and in comfort, to their memory.