The British Ragdoll Cat Club

About the Club

The British Ragdoll Cat Club was founded on 28 June 1987 when Sue Ward-Smith who bred under the Pandapaws prefix invited a small group of Ragdoll enthusiasts to attend the inaugural meeting in London. From small acorns the club has continued to grow, and now at the start of the new Millennium is a flourishing oak with an International membership of close on 600.

The aims and objectives of the club are to promote interest in the breeding and exhibiting of Ragdolls; to help breeders by establishing a standard of points, and to encourage the care, protection and maintenance of healthy breed lines of Ragdolls and cats in general.

TBRCC is an extremely active club, which caters for everyone who has an interest in Ragdolls, from the potential pet owner to the most professional breeder. Apart from overseeing the welfare of the breed and providing regular educational workshops and teach-ins, the club devotes itself to bringing members together at a variety of social functions. These are structured to give members an opportunity to discuss their cats, but also to allow members to gather in a convivial social setting, the emphasis being placed on enjoyment.

Events

To assist both novice and experienced breeders to keep fully up to date, several regional teach-ins and seminars are held annually where valuable 'hands on' experience can be gained by assessing the variety of cats and kittens on exhibition. Once a breeder has fulfilled the criteria necessary to become a registered breeder with the club he/she can apply to go on our Registered Breeders list.

TBRCC celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 1997 and as part of a year of celebrations the club held its 1st Ragdoll Exemption Show at the Telford International Centre, Shropshire. With over 100 entries for the first show, members have ensured that this has become an annual fixture on the calendar. We start the New Year with a bang as the show is usually held on either the first or second Saturday in January. Our 1st Championship Show was held on 4 January 2003 and a thoroughly enjoyable weekend was had by all as around 40 of us stayed at the nearby Holiday Inn. After the long drive to Telford it's great to relax with friends over drinks and dinner before the show on the Friday evening. And again on the Saturday evening when we hold our After Show Dinner at the hotel.

Our Lunch and Annual General Meeting takes place towards the end of March, the highlight of which is the Presentation of Trophies & Awards to members who have shown their Ragdolls throughout the year. The lucky winner of Ragdoll of the Year not only takes home some beautiful trophies and rosettes, but a bottle of champagne to celebrate!

During the summer months we are fortunate to have such resourceful members who kindly host Garden Parties allowing us the opportunity to get together informally for an afternoon's enjoyment and fund raising. A delightful range of Club merchandise is available at most functions or by mail order.

Publications

We send out quarterly newsletters, keeping everyone up to date on what is going on in Ragdoll circles and at the beginning of each year, the TBRCC "Ragnews" Annual, which is a quality publication of approximately 200 pages packed full of interesting articles from our members from all over the world. The Annual is usually available for collection at our Show at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire.

Welfare

The club provides a Rescue and Rehoming Service with a network of willing volunteers situated all over the country ready to help. Fortunately in the twenty one years, we have only had to deal with one actual rescue, and all credit is due to our breeders for carefully selecting suitable homes for their kittens. In recent years, we have been asked to help rehome a number of Ragdolls when people's circumstances have changed and they are no longer able to keep their cats. If you are able to offer a good home to a Ragdoll please contact Glyn Davies on 01442 381509.

Progress We Have Made

Looking back over the years it is gratifying to reflect on the successes we have achieved all over the world in taking the breed forward. Here in the UK, Ragdolls were officially recognised in the UK in March 1990 when all three patterns could be shown at Preliminary level in Assessment classes, with each cat being judged individually against the Standard of Points. The Bicolours were promoted to Provisional status on 1 June 1996 and two years later the Mitteds and Colourpoints moved up to join them. We have worked hard towards our final goal and were thrilled when Ragdolls were promoted to Championship status at the start of the 2001 show season.

Since 1 June 2001 all three patterns of Ragdolls have been eligible to be shown at Championship status in the traditional colours of seal, blue, chocolate and lilac. Adult Ragdolls compete against each other in the Open Class for Best of Breed and a Challenge Certificate; if numbers permit, classes will be split male/female. The same applies in the Adult Neuter Open Classes. Kitten classes do not qualify for a certificate, but can compete for Best of Breed and 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings. Each cat on gaining 3 Challenge Certificates from 3 different judges becomes a Champion.

Champions can then go on to compete for 3 Grand Challenge Certificates, again from 3 different judges, to become a Grand Champion. At this stage cats have to compete in the Champion of Champion classes against other Semi Longhair breeds. It is therefore much harder to achieve a Grand Challenge Certificate and only the "creme de la creme" of the breed will ever achieve this award.

Grand Champions are eligible for the final accolade at the Supreme Show - a UK Grand Challenge Certificate; two UK Grand Challenge Certificates are required before a cat is titled UK Grand Champion.

An application for the recognition of the new colours for the Red Series and Tabby Ragdolls was submitted to the GCCF by the Ragdoll BAC in August 2002 and passed at the Council Meeting in October. At the start of the new Show Year - 1 June 2003 - all colours and patterns of Ragdolls bred in accordance with the Ragdoll Registration Policy have been eligible to take part in GCCF Shows at Championship status.

There are two major cat shows where TBRCC plays an active part and has an Information table to help educate the many hundreds of visitors who are interested in the Ragdoll - The Supreme Show at the NECC, Birmingham held towards the end of November and The National Cat Show at Olympia, London in mid December. On average at each of these shows around 40 to 50 Ragdolls take part in competition with a further 10 or so on exhibition.

How do I Join?

If you are interested in joining TBRCC, please contact the Membership Secretary at the address below or fill in the membership form . Included as part of the subscription, members receive a copy of the TBRCC "Ragnews" Annual.

Paula Long
Honorary Secretary TBRCC
Westend
Johnsons Drove
Parson Drove
Wisbech
Cambridgeshire
PE13 4JS
Tel: 01945 700850