King Coel’s Kittens on 60 years of fundraising in Colchester

But while the identity of King Cole himself might be under question, the good deeds King Coel’s Kittens have done throughout the years are indisputable.

The Colchester-based group was founded in 1962 by journalist Bill Tucker, when a handful of young people came together to discuss how to raise money to support residents with special needs

The volunteers, now 14, have donated more than £500,0000 so far, but instead of giving out cash, they are purchasing items.

Jacqueline Bowis, chairwoman of King Coel’s Kittens, said: “Back in 1962 a decision was made that because we are responsible for public money it must be visible what we have spent it on.

“By purchasing an item, we know the money has been spent to the best of its ability.”

Headway, YMCA, Acorn Village, St Helena Hospice, Colchester Toy Library, Hospital Radio and Colchester YES are some of the organisations the kittens have managed to help through their events by donating kitchen equipment, electrical goods or furniture.

Left to right - Bernard Alden, Beverley Davies, Jackie Bowis, Judy Alden

For more than 20 years, for example, residents welcomed the Kittens’ Christmas tree float which travelled around the streets of Colchester to raise funds in the run up to Christmas.

But one particular fundraising event, the May Day Market in Severalls Lane, still brings laughter into the kittens’s lives.

Mrs Bowis added: “The kittens used to do their own stall and we used to spend two to three weeks going around town to collect tins of food and then sell it on our stall.

“A funny side of it was that when we knocked on the doors some people used to give us cat food as they they thought we would be feeding cats.”

The group has a long list of good deeds, but some of them have really made a difference in the community.

Guy

Mrs Bowis added: “We actually paid for the first community bus.

“We used to organise volunteers to drive and it would take people shopping or to events.

“It was there for anybody to use against a small charge towards the petrol.”

In the past ten years. however, the kittens have limited their effort to one single annual event - their Bonfire Night display, which raised £35,000 for the new cancer unit at Colchester Hospital.

This year’s event, which will once again take place in Castle Park on Friday, is quite special for the kittens as it marks their 50th annual display.

Mrs Bowis said: “We see familiar faces every year.

“Some people say ‘Oh, my grandfather of father used to bring us to the fireworks’.

“But the most interesting part is when we stand at the gates to let people out and we hear them say ‘That display was the best one ever’.”

Judy Alden, who is now in her 70s, is one of the kittens who joined the group in 1969 after becoming Colchester Carnival Queen.

Every year, Judy and her husband, Bernard, create the Guy Fawkes effigy, which is placed in front of the castle waiting to be carried through the park and burned at the bonfire.

Judy said: “We make a wooden frame, we stuff it with Gazette newspapers and then I put a big shirt on him and make a pair of trousers and a big old curtain for a cape and make a hat.

“It takes between three days and a week and if you stood him up he would be between eight and ten feet tall.

“The fact we now get about 8,000 people at the display is amazing and I was at the concept of fireworks which I am quite proud of really.”

Visit kingcoelskittens.org.