Well as i've mentioned a thousand times before, my g-gran (who you all know about..) bred, exhibited and owned siamese for maaany years-i love the breed cause its all i can ever remember, and i know she had had siams since she was young..today i was told the story, and saw pictures, of how she got her first siamese..
She was about 12..and to my knowledge was still living in Wales, and her eldest brother Brinley (long since left us) was in the army..post WW2 but was in national service too etc..and on one of his visits home he brought 'lavish gifts' for everyone which he picked up when he was travelling via Londlon, a bottle of fancy perfume for his ma (so my g-g gran), some posh fishing gear for his dad (so my g-g grandfather.) posh, handmade, suits for both his younger brothers, a frilly frock for Joan (youngest sis) n then for my g-gran and her twin Mary, a pair of kittens he picked up from a 'curious place' (that was the given explanation) and they were a pair of seal point siamese tom kittens-which for the time were most rare in Wales where it was all farm mogs! The kittens were named Bandit, as he freqeuentlly stole meat from the ladder (they lived on farm premises as my g-g-grandfather was an estate manager) and t'other was named Shep, strange don't you think? He was named this as he would follow my g-g-grandfather out to check the sheep each morning, winding between his legs chatting, and would sit on the dry stone wall watching the herd go by...often stalking over to see what it was all about. Shep belonged to g-gran and Bandit to Mary, her twin, who sadly died just a short year later of Meningitus (sp) so g-gran took care of both the naughty seal point boys..they would have moved up to Coventry not too long after Mary died as work had gone scarce, and of course-the cats came with them. Shep was caught in a snare and shortly died (they lived by vast open land back then) but Bandit lived to about 13..and moved with gran when she and my g-grandfather wed, and actually some pictures of my paternal grandfather when he was very young actually have Bandit in them. After he went...she got a seal point girl from a local breeder...and so the affair began. Nearly seventy years later she is currentlly catless, with her last three siams passing away consquetivley through old age in the past 18 months. But yes..i thought it intersting, so thought i would share the story with you!
There were some fabulous photos too-but i wasn't allowed to bring them back to copy as gran was obsessed i would loose them
I will try and get at least one with gran and her twin with the pair of kittens..i think someone else has a copy of that...
