Gosport Cats Protection name kitten after 'secret founder' who has died aged 93
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Cats Protection’s Gosport Town Branch was founded in 1982 by Hazel Alexander and daughter Debbie Marshall – but husband and father, Alec Alexander, has always been by their side along the way.
Alec died on 3 June at age 93 and it was decided that one of the branch’s tiniest kittens was given his name to carry into the future.
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Hide AdAt eight weeks old, the young black-and-white cat was brought in after being cared for by a member of the public who found him at Fareham Reach Business Park and hand-reared him and his siblings Alice and Arnie but was unable to keep them.
Kate Stapleford, branch co-ordinator, said: ‘At the branch’s 40th birthday celebration in July last year, Alec remembered that Hazel and Debbie had nothing more than a cat trap, a foster pen and a £200 start-up grant from the charity’s headquarters when they started.
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Hide Ad‘However, what he didn’t tell people was that he built the first foster cat pen by converting a shed in their garden, so we often think of him as our secret founder who preferred to stay hidden from public view but was very much a core part of the branch from its earliest days.
‘Alec would always say that Hazel was really the grand star and that she’d do anything she could to help cats. Again, he was modest and didn’t mention the considerable part he played supporting his wife and daughter with the cat work.
For more information about Cats Protection’s Gosport Branch and the cats that are currently in its care, visit the website by clicking the link or alternatively you can contact the team by calling the branch on 07825 592 921.