its and bobs ............................... cats of hanover “More people in Hanover than you’d expect are cat owners,” says Charlie Doidge, whose house has one official cat resident, Bling, pictured right, and two others who regularly drop in uninvited. Hanover’s cats were featured in a BBC2 documentary, Cat Watch, last autumn, and Hanover’s cat owners currently stay connected on a Facebook page, Cats of Hanover, where they chat, post pictures of missing cats, share new cat paraphernalia on the market, and suchlike. “One resident, an elderly chap, lost his cat, and the Hanover community on social media played a large part in bringing her home” she continues. “Unfortunately she had been run over and was badly hurt. The chap couldn’t afford vet fees so we decided to club together: I asked people to put money through my letterbox, and we raised over £500, which was enough to help him avoid incurring vast debt.” Thus heartened, Ken and Eva, the group owners, decided to organise another fund-raising endeavour: an art exhibition in which cat owners are invited to paint or draw their cats, frame the pictures, and the images will be exhibited, and put up for sale, throughout <strong>June</strong> in the Dover Castle pub. Proceeds go to the Lost Cats <strong>Brighton</strong> charity. Bling, incidentally, stars in a book written and illustrated by Charlie, Boris and Bling. He isn’t pink in real life. eva@ohsoswedish.com goodmoney art competition <strong>Brighton</strong>-based social enterprise Goodmoney are launching a new giftvoucher scheme for local independent businesses. And they’re giving local kids the chance to see their designs printed on the greetings cards that accompany the vouchers, in a competition open to anyone 16 and under living in the <strong>Brighton</strong> & Hove area. The vouchers are part of a scheme devised to encourage people to favour local independent businesses over national and international chains, and thus to keep money circulating in the local economy. It is all set to start up in September: over 80 <strong>Brighton</strong> & Hove businesses have already signed up and many more are likely to have followed suit by then. There will be three different categories in the competition, for under 8s, 9-11s and 12-16-year-olds, and the design should be inspired by what the young artist loves about the local area. Designs should be square(ish)-format and at least 20cmx20cm, and a photo or scan of the design must be submitted online at goodmoney.co.uk/enter by 15th July. They will then go up in an online gallery. Two winners of each age group will be announced on September 1st, the first voted for by the public, the second by a panel of judges, which will include Caroline Lucas and <strong>Viva</strong> <strong>Brighton</strong>’s Art Director Katie Moorman. The scheme is free for local businesses to get involved in; they can find out more by watching Goodmoney CIC’s video at goodmoney. co.uk/video. For more information visit Goodmoney’s website, or email Dan Webb on dan@goodmoney.co.uk ....10....
Joe decie ............................... ....11....