Carol became interested in Siamese and decided to have a go at breeding. She became the owner of Palantir Galathilion (who she called Lara), a blue tortie point who had a lovely temperament but very little type! When she was entered at the “local” show, the Essex Cat Club in 1974 I was dragged along together with my mother. I found the whole thing a bit boring and had expected that this was the last time I would go to a show - little did I know! Carol married and moved away leaving the neutered Lara with us and Julia became my vet.By now we had also became friends, and she proposed my application to join the Red Point & Tortie Point Club. In 1974 I showed Lara at the Herts & Middx Show at the Alexandra Palace, and my mother and I were introduced to Kay Burgess when Julia “signed” us up to work on our first table. I do not think I have been to another show since then and not helped in some way or other.

In 1975, I brought Palantir Lorien (Sam) a seal tortie point. Julia had two Torties in the litter and I had the second best - Julia was secretly annoyed when Sam blossomed and turned out to be better than Laurelin her sister - she never said so but this was obvious in several ways !! She did very well at her first two shows, being nominated for BIS at the second. I had now become well and truly smitten with Siamese, and had the show bug. Sadly, Sam slipped out of an open window which I had forgotten to shut one night, and after frantic searching I found her lying dead in the road outside my home as she had been run over.

Thankfully Julia was willing to trust me with another of her kittens - some months later I became the owner of Palantir Meduseld, a cream point. After purchasing two further kittens, a seal tortie point and a tabby point kitten both from breeders recommended by Julia , I applied for my Syntax prefix. Unfortunatley all 3 later tested positive for FeLv by Glasgow and had to be found pet homes

For the third time with help from Julia, I started all over again with completely different lines in order to have a “fresh” start. Julia as always supported me all the way, and having been introduced to Venita Cook and her family, I eventually came home with a Seal Tortie Point Denka Miss Ellaneous. I will always remember the evening trips to Derby - this was 150 miles up the motorway and then back ! Julia always did the driving, although on the odd occasion she allowed my mother to drive the last bit of the home journey. In those days I had still had not learned to drive.

Julia was instrumental in my becoming a committee member of the Tabby Pointed Siamese Cat Society, and committee member and later Treasurer of the Red Point and Tortie Point Siamese Cat Club.
She had always been a staunch supporter of the “newer” breeds and guided many including the OC&FG in it’s early years. I had already met Glenda, who had been a friend of Julia’s for some time when she was working in the office at Chace Vet. We also became friends, and as I owned an Oriental Tortie at the time who potentially carried cinnamon, I went along to the inaugural meeting, and was placed on the committee. When my cream point girl Caranbar Cream Cameo was mated to Julia’s Ch & Pr Palantir Tom Bombadil she had a nice cream point boy who went to Glenda to be used in her cinnamon breeding as an outcross. Strider later sired Glenda’s oriental black boy Sayonara Secret Sinnerman, a cinnamon carrier.

Over the many years that followed, Julia continued to be my friend and Vet. We used to spend a lot of weekends at shows, as she vetted in and one or both of us were showing - sometimes successfully and sometimes not. Only now am I able to remember how much I looked forward to these days, even though I often used to moan about feeling rather exhausted on the Sundays after ! Despite this we regularly went off on the Sundays too, either to visit the RHS garden at Wisley, to tour small alpine and other plant nurseries. The lunch was always special at Wisley as Julia loved food, but not rabbit food - her name for any salad , or fish. We both especially loved desserts - she often had two or even three delectable offerings and insisted that they all be served on the same plate ! We also used to have our “annual holiday” when she put aside two separate days in August when I had taken leave from work, and we would travel as far as Wales, Devon, Lincolnshire, West Sussex and Dorset to visit favourite gardens and garden centres - always treating ourselves to a Little Chef olympic breakfast to set ourselves up for the day. She also loved to browse and buy assorted collectables and curiosities when we went to Brent Cross and Lakeside Shopping Centres, Enchantica (Dragon) Extravaganza’s, Dragon Gorge Fun days (another Dragon maker), art and sculpture exhibitions, and more. We even spent one of my birthday’s in the late 1990’s on a “dragon egg” hunt in a forest in Staffordshire - the winner won a large crystal and a dragon although neither of us were lucky ! This involved endless walking, often in circles with me getting completely lost - rest assured that Julia who had a sat nav in her head before they were invented always knew where we were. This type of activity was a repeat of our visit to the Dorset Maize Maze which was exactly as the name implies - walking around a field of maize with a maze beaten into it and trying to get to the centre ! When we finally got there you had to answer three riddles to solve a puzzle and win the prize - she got them all right but was beaten to the prize (I cannot remember what it was) by a child !

On a very personal note she was always prepared to listen and to advise and support me when my Mother became ill in 1996. When she passed away in 2003, the support was still there in every possible way.

In late 2005, she was starting to show signs of a health problem, but did not tell me or anyone. At the same time she had to prepare to move out of her home for many years above the Chace Vet surgery as it was to be closed by the Carter family. She was practical, and calm and immediately set about securing a new home for her cats and herself before finally going to a doctor, and then disclosing the diagnosis. It came as no surprise to see how she continued her determined fight to live as long as possible and to continue to do all the things she loved. In typical Julia fashion, she defied all the odds and continued to work in the many positions she held in the Fancy until things became too difficult. She re-homed all of her cats barring two last year, while still able to decide who was good enough for them. The remaining two have now gone to live with Jan, another of her friends for many years who helped her with computer matters relating to her GCCF connections, who was far more able to do what was required than I was.

Julia was delighted to have bred two stunning Oriental Bi-Colours in her last litter, despite being in total denial about the colour of one (Palantir Snowstripe), announcing to all “I don’t do caramel” ! His litter sister Palantir Crystalshard is now with Di Brown and has been having her own babies which will carry on the Palantir prefix.

I will not end this on a sad note - I am quite sure that Julia will now be having a serious committee meeting with her many friends and Cat Fancy colleagues who have already passed on, especially about the current state that GCCF is now in !!!!

June Hutchison (Syntax)

Copyright © June Hutchison 2009 ©