'Our cat mayor poll had higher turnout than Brexit'

A woman determined to bring "silliness and togetherness" back to her neighbourhood is creating a local cat directory a year after holding a feline mayoral election.

Hayley Hawkins, from Low Fell, Gateshead, was inspired by a cat election held in the US and her own 13-candidate poll attracted a turnout of 77.3%, higher than the last general election and the Brexit referendum.

This year, she is collating the Kitty Pages Low Fell directory to "include profiles of the cats in the area" and put them in nearby pubs for people to enjoy.

She hopes people walking around Low Fell "might start looking out for cats and thinking 'ooh that must be Sir Floofybottom the third, I read about him'."

Hawkins said: "Division seems to be in fashion at the moment and it is very easy to feel powerless in the face of it but I knew I needed to do something, no matter how small, to bring a bit of silliness and togetherness into our community."

Naomi Radcliffe, who is the human of winning mayor Patrick, said: "Our family loved the cat mayoral election and Hayley's time and efforts were really appreciated.

"Our kids love telling their friends that their cat is the mayor of the road."

Hawkins is currently accepting cat profiles for the directory and welcomes ideas for cat related articles, "the dafter the better", to be included.

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