Maddy Powell-Wiltshire
13th December 1997 – 25th June 2011
About eleven months ago in July 2010, we were unemployed due to the death of our last South African feline employer. Originally we were employed by a group of four South African felines but time had taken its toll over the years and in the end there was only Flapjack left.
When she passed away from cancer, we were at a loose end wondering what to do when another servant, Aunt Ann, told us about a possible job opening.
Maddy Powell’s servants had given notice and were moving to Australia, other applicants had already been interviewed and engaged but fortunately for us the arrangement fell through and we were offered the position.
When we first commenced our duties we were very quickly put in our place and the first rule was that the sitting room was almost for her exclusive use, although we were allowed to bring in our lunch and keep her company while she watched the lunchtime news on TV. There was to be a strict routine in the mornings; first of all breakfast had to be served followed by a morning brushing and finally one of us was required to escort her into the garden for her morning constitutional. For several months Aldi's smoked salmon was considered a great treat until we made the mistake of offering her some Waitrose Wild Alaskan Salmon. From that day on, she refused to eat the Aldi's inferior product and glared at us if we even thought of offering it to her!
Maddy was a very kind employer and once our hours had been established, she usually did not disturb us at other times. In the mornings, no call was made on our services until the alarm went off, but then we had better jump to it. She also understood that it had taken her many years to train her previous servants Pat and David so she allowed us a certain amount of leeway and did not chastise us too much when we were less than diligent. Sometimes, however, when we were taking a break in the kitchen from our duties, she would feel like a snack and would blockade the kitchen door until we prepared a meal for her. On other occasions no matter what we were doing we would be summoned into the sitting room to give her a thorough brushing; in fact as far as brushing went she was an addict. When she was ready she would turn over for the other side to be done and she would occasionally lift her head for a chin rub. Woe betide you if you had the impertinence to suggest a chin rub though, it had to be done her way or not at all.
She was a lovely employer however and there was not an ounce of malice in her. To find her paralysed on Saturday morning due to a blood clot came as a terrible shock to us as she was full of life the previous evening and had retired quite late, after partaking of a late evening snack, something to which she was very partial. It was heart wrenching to see her in distress, and although there was nothing that could be done to fix things at least we were able to be with her and to hold and comfort her until the very end.
Maddy, it was wonderful for us to have had the privilege of working for you for these few months, You came into our lives for such a short time, and before we knew it, we were totally besotted with you … you were the centre of the home, winding us round your paw, making us your very willing slaves and absolutely adoring you.
We thank you for this and we thank Pat and Dave Powell for giving us the opportunity of knowing and loving you - your memory will forever be in our hearts and in the words of our daughter Kirsten, who you kindly allowed to visit and stay over one weekend:
“Tears are the applause to a beautiful soul so let them be heard”.
Well Maddy we are applauding you now …….
YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTON AND WILL ALWAYS BE IN OUR HEARTS
