A collection of photogenic felines will be on display in an Aberdeen bookshop for the next month as part of a civic arts project to raise cash for charity.
The Cat Parade project has enlisted community groups, schoolchildren and artists from all across the north-east to paint 100 replicas of the iconic Kelly’s Cats, which stand proudly on the parapet of Union Bridge in the Granite City.
The pride of painted kitties, which were inspired by the leopards in Aberdeen’s coat of arms, will be on show in the window of Waterstones on Union Street for the next month before being auctioned off to raise funds for Unicef, Clan Cancer Support and the Denis Law Legacy Trust.
It has been organised by the city’s Bon Accord rotary club to commemorate its 100th anniversary, and comes after a similar project involving the iconic animals in 2005, and 2014’s Wild Dolphin sculpture trail.
On Saturday evening the project was officially launched at the bookshop. Fans of the curious cats were able to meet the artists behind each sculpture and hear a talk on the history of Kelly’s Cats by Aberdeen historian and author Fiona Jane Brown.
Ms Brown said: “It was a really successful night, we had a big crowd turn out to see the cats being officially unveiled.
“The cast iron leopards were first made in 1905 for the widening of Union Bridge, so these new balustrades were commissioned by the bridge’s architect William Kelly.
“But it was actually a Gray’s School of Art artist and sculptor called Sidney Boyes who designed the cats and the panels that used to be on either side, before the north side of the bridge was taken down for the shops.
“The reason they were named Kelly’s Cats though was because a group of students, who were doing a charities week, put little scarves around the cats and Mr Kelly was so annoyed he wrote to the newspaper, and a journalist nicknamed them Kelly’s Cats because of how angry and protective he was about them – even though he didn’t design them.
“It’s a fantastic project, and I hope they all the cats will help to raise as much money as possible for the charities.”
The artworks will be on display until September 27, when they will go under the hammer at an auction at the Marcliffe Hotel.
Sam Murray, the president of the rotary club and organiser of the Cat Parade, said: “It was a really fun night, everyone was taking photos with the cats, they’re proving very popular.
“Our target is £40,000 which will be split between the three different charities, we’ve already made a substantial amount of money through sponsorship so we’re well on our way to reach that target.
“We raised £35,000 when we did this in 2005, so I hope we’ll be able to smash that record and raise even more.”
For more information, visit www.catparade.co.uk
