Кейт Мур - Felix The Railway Cat

For her family of colleagues – who are really more like friends – her fame has not changed her. That lively, playful, disdainful and loving cat they see every day is still just as much a part of the team as always. Five years on, Felix continues to make it a pleasure for them to come to work, whether their alarm is going off at 4.45 a.m. or they are facing a night shift with its long, but no longer lonely, hours.

‘I think everyone likes Felix,’ says her colleague Adam Carter. ‘Having her around makes the place seem a little more homely and friendly; it makes it a nicer place to work. She’s a symbol of that.’

‘She’s Felix,’ Angela Dunn says simply. ‘What would we do without Felix?’

Illustrations

When Felix arrived at Huddersfield station, she was just eight weeks old.

She was too tiny to venture far – spending most of her time snoozing in the back offices.

Felix soon started to take up a bit more desk space …

But while initially she may have been more of a hindrance than a help to the job at hand, Felix eventually became an integral part of the team.

After several years of hard work, Felix earned a well-deserved promotion to the role of Senior Pest Controller.

Team leader Angie Hunte: ‘Felix has always been special. I love her to bits. I can’t imagine being without her.’

Dave Chin, the maintenance man, a.k.a. ‘The Cat Whisperer’.

Andrew McClements, who formed a close bond with Felix when he joined the Huddersfield team.

The cat flap that was installed for Felix (but which she refuses to use).

Felix guarding the entrance to the station with Terry.

Felix, with her colleague Andy Croughan, draped in the livery of TransPennine Express.

Felix has many fans amongst the customers at the station, including Pauline and Mike Dyble who made a special visit to see Felix as a treat for their 55th wedding anniversary.

The Fairy Bricks charity created this Lego Felix when she raised over £5,200 by ‘running’ 5k.

Acknowledgements

This book would have been impossible to write without the generous support of the team at Huddersfield station. Angie Hunte, truly a Felix favourite, was especially and repeatedly helpful – and it was a genuine pleasure to see the joy in Felix’s fluffy body as she scampered along the platform with Angie and came out from her hidey-holes the moment she heard her voice. Gareth Hope made a special trip to Huddersfield to contribute to this book, and also kindly dug out documents and photographs to assist with the writing. Special thanks also to Andrew McClements, Andy Croughan, Angela Dunn, Chris Bamford, Dave Chin, Mark Allan, Alan Hind and Jean Randall for generously giving up significant time for interviews; and to Chris and Joanne Briscoe for taking the time to recall Felix’s first eight weeks as a kitten in their home. I am also grateful to Pauline for looking after me during the night shift at Huddersfield station, and to all those other members of the team who kindly filled in surveys, sent photographs, replied to emails or shared anecdotes: Adam Carter, Amanda/Chrissy, Christine, Craig, Dave Rooney, Jon Ironmonger, Liam, Louise Jacobs, Michael Ryan, Rachel Stockton and Sam Dyson.

At Penguin Books, a massive thank you to editor Fiona Crosby for brilliantly spotting Felix’s literary potential and for making this book happen. Thanks to all at TPE for letting Felix tell her story, especially Sarah Ford, Jack Kempf, Sarah Cunningham, Lisa Gannon, Catherine Unsworth. Last, but by no means least, thanks to Beth Gribble for identifying the plants in Billy’s garden, and to my husband Duncan for all his support.

The following books, newspapers and websites were consulted in order to bring Felix’s story to life:

Books:

A Century of Huddersfield: Events, People and Places over the Last 100 Years by Brian Haigh and Susan Gillooley (Sutton Publishing, 2000)

Golden Years of Huddersfield: Local Nostalgic Photographs from the 1940s, 50s and 60s by Diane Harpwood and Phil Holland (True North Books, 1998)

Huddersfield: Home Town Memories by Melvyn Briggs and John Watson (The Derby Books Publishing Company Ltd, 2011)

Newspapers:

Daily Mail , Guardian , Huddersfield Examiner .

Websites:

bbc.co.uk/news, bluecross.org.uk, buzzfeed.com, districtdavesforum.co.uk, factretriever.com/cat-facts, Felix’s Facebook page, manchesterandsalfordrspca.org.uk, mentalfloss.com, purr-n-fur.org.uk[an especially brilliant resource on the history of station cats], rspca.org.uk, vets-now.com.

Photos:

Photo section images provided by Andrew McClements, Gareth Hope, Al Richardson, TransPennine Express, and the Felix the Huddersfield Station Cat Facebook page.

Finally, thank you to Felix, the Huddersfield station cat.

THE BEGINNING

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MICHAEL JOSEPH

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Michael Joseph is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

First published 2017

Text copyright © First TransPennine Express Limited, 2017

Written by Kate Moore www.kate-moore.com

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover photography by Alistair Richardson

Other cover images: hat © Alamy, tag © Shutterstock

To protect the privacy of certain individuals, some names, events and identifying details have been changed

Royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to Prostate Cancer UK (registered charity 1005541)

ISBN: 978-1-405-92979-0