Saltbury wouldn’t be the same without its pets, so here are a few of my fluffier characters.

Daphne Jackerman-Prodnoze  (a.k.a. Daffers) (Appears in ‘History Girls’ and ‘Sofia’). She is a high energy female Springer Spaniel and the nearest Dame Evadne Jackerman has (or wants) to a child.  She has boundless energy, is rather too fond of getting wet and muddy, which adds mud to the oil on Dame Evadne’s skirts.  She is highly intelligent and unshakeably loyal, albeit mildly insane. It later turns out that there has been a succession of Daphnes. Dame Evadne gets a new one each time one dies.

Boxer (Prodnoze).  (Appears in ‘History Girls’, and ‘Wyeburn Station’).  Like Byron, below, he was a horse belonging to the Prodnoze family in the 1820s.  He too is a hunter but he is a much calmer more biddable beast and the horse the family let their cousin George ride when he comes home from India.

Bronze Fauld.  (Appears in ‘Debbie’s Gift’, ‘Fracture’, ‘Wyeburn Station’ and ‘Sofia’).    A cat, he is the third of a litter of four born to Leather Baxter.  He joins the Fauld family after Debbie brings Sofie and little Dannie supposedly just to see Leather’s kittens and they fall in love.  He likes to sleep on Sofie’s bed when she’s four and still does when she’s 20 and Bronze is a pretty elderly puss.

Mr. Brown (Carter).    (Mentioned in ‘History Girls’).  He is an elderly Tom cat and a little tyrant who rules the lives of History teacher Ethel Carter and her partner Gwen.

Byron (Prodnoze).  (Appears in ‘History Girls’).  Byron (named after the poet) is a glorious thoroughbred hunter and like his namesake he is ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know.  He was the beloved horse of Elizabeth Prodnoze around 1820.  She loves nothing better than to career around the countryside jumping every fence in sight and Byron has the determination, power and courage to tackle anything his mistress dares try.

Ezekiel (Wilding).  (Appears in ‘Martine’.)    Is an elderly tomcat who belonged to the family of Debbie Stewart’s childhood friend Jenny Wilding and her Vicar father Peter in the 1970s.  They’d had him for as long as Debbie, then 18, could remember.  She says he seemed to hate everyone except His Reverence, who he followed around like an adoring spaniel.

Fluff  (Wright).  (Appears in ‘Yvonne’ and ‘Fracture’).  She is Yvonne Wright’s white long haired queen cat.  Yvonne describes her as elderly (she is 14 in 2003).  Yvonne had her as a kitten when she was five and the two dote on each other, but Fluff also takes to her girlfriend Julie’s little girl Mandy, who adores her and has a tendency to carry her around, which fluff tolerates with remarkable patience. Sadly she eventually died, leaving Mandy heartbroken. Carol and Tina give her their kitten Mitzi as a replacement.

Gold (Baxter, then Tredgold). (Appears in ‘History Girls’) Gold is the first born of Leather Baxter’s litter. He is a muscular tom, but Susie Tredgold, the director of Saltbury Museum falls for his charms as a kitten and gives him a home when he’s old enough.

Gold, Silver, Bronze and Mitzi.  (Appears in ‘History Girls’).  These are the litter of four kittens born to Carol and Tina’s cat Leather in 2006.

Hoppity Rabbit.  (Mentioned in ‘Roisin’).  She was the pet rabbit of a friend (unnamed) of Hazel Fauld when she was at primary school.  Hazel absolutely fell in love with the sweet little bunny and pestered her Mums for a rabbit of her own.  It wasn’t practical as the family were away so often, but it left a lasting legacy in that Hazel’s big sister Roisin still calls her by the pet name of Bunny.

Leather  (Baxter).  (Appears in ‘Carol’, ‘History Girls’, ‘Fracture’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Millie’).  Tina Burns found her as a tiny kitten, cold, wet and close to death in Carol Baxter’s garden.  She nursed her back to health and tried hard to find her owner.  Meanwhile, formerly cat hating Carol falls hopelessly in love with the little scrap and when they fail utterly to trace her original home, Leather becomes her cat, or more correctly, Carol becomes Leather’s human.  Tina had initially named her Kitlet, but Carol decided that this lacked dignity.  She named her Leather after her sporting heroine, Diane Leather, the former women’s world record holder for the mile. She becomes devoted to Carol and Tina, sleeping on their bed and curling up on Tina’s back when she reads lying out on the living room carpet.  Mind you, she sulks if they go away.  Tina found her on 20th August, 2005 so they count that as her birthday.  No-one knows when she was really born, but perhaps about three months before.  Later Carol and Tina each think the other has taken her to the vet to be neutered.  As a result, Leather becomes the proud mother of four kittens: Gold, Silver, Bronze and Mitzi.  Carol tries to keep Mitzi after the others are old enough to be found homes, but Leather has other ideas.  She’s a clever little thing and in 2009 she finds the secret document hidden in a relay baton. We find out in ‘Millie’ that she died, aged 17, in 2022.

Maisy (Fauld). (Appears in ‘Sofia’ and ‘Rosemary’.) She’s the sweetest, most affectionate little black and white cat and lives at Wyeburn old station with Hazel and Annie, where she pretty much rules the roost. She loves her human’s, but then everyone should look after their staff!

Mitzi (Baxter, then Wright).  (Appears in ‘History Girls’ and ‘Fracture’. Mentioned in ‘Sofia’).  She is the runt of Leather’s litter. She’s very sweet, but quite an assertive little thing.  Carol wants to keep her when the rest of the litter are found homes, but she and her mother terminally don’t get on.  Eventually Yvonne adopts her after her beloved Fluff dies.

Silver (Baxter, then Kemple). (Appears in ‘History Girls’ and ‘Fracture’). She is the second of Leather’s litter and the oldest female. When she is ready for a home, Julie Kemple adopts her, but Julie only lives next door but one and Silver likes to annoy her mother by continuing to stroll through her territory: Carol and Tina’s garden, especially when her sister Mitzi is still around.

Sugarlump (Fauld).  (Mentioned in ‘Haze’, ‘Annie’, ‘Rachel’ and ‘Daughters’)  She was Roisin Fauld’s pony when she was a little girl and lived in the paddock which lies between the ‘Cottage’ garden and the stream.  She was the only pet the sisters were ever allowed to have.  Hazel always wanted a rabbit (hence Roisin’s nickname for her: Bunny) and both girls had petitioned for cats or dogs over the years, but Martine and Debbie always said no because they were away on tour too often to look after them properly.  The pony could just be left to graze, with a local farmer friend keeping an eye on her, or put in a stable in the winter.