These pages will give you information on  GCCF shows that have been attended by my cats.

They will also contain any written show reports that are published in Our Cats magazine.

These are not published for a number of weeks, but I will add them to the relevant pages as soon as I can.

Unfortunately I cannot  give details of shows that I will be attending as this is against 

Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) rules.

To add to your enjoyment of these pages I thought you may appreciate knowing how

 GCCF  Championship shows are run.

Each breed has its own Open Classes: there are separate classes for Male Adults, Female Adults, Male Neuters, Female Neuters and Kittens. Kitten classes are for kittens with a minimum age of 14 weeks up to nine calendar months old when they become adult;  these kitten classes may be split by sex or age at larger shows, or even both ways if there is a big entry. Adult and Neuter Open classes are not split further, no matter how big the entry. The cats in these classes are placed in order of merit.

The winner of  an Adult Open class will, if considered by the judge to be of sufficient quality, be awarded a Challenge Certificate ( CC ). Similarly, the winner's of Neuter Open classes are awarded Premier Certificates       ( PC ). Three CC's awarded by three different judges make a cat a Champion (CH ), three PC's from three different judges make him or her a Premier ( PR). 

Champions and Premiers may be entered in the Grand Champion or Grand Premier class respectively as well as, or instead of, being entered in their Open class. There are not "Grand" classes for each breed - just one or two per show section - and only a Grand Challenge (GCC) /Grand Premier Certificate (GPC) and a Reserve Grand Challenge/ Grand Premier Certificate are awarded per class - provided the judges consider the cats worthy of these high awards. Three GCC/GPC certificates from three different judges makes the cat up to Grand Champion (GR CH) or Grand Premier (GR PR). A cat keeps its title when it is neutered so you will often find a GR CH in a neuter class after it has retired from breeding.

Many shows offer Best of Breed awards for the best Adult, Kitten and Neuter of each breed, but these do not count towards a title of any kind. Some shows hold a Best in Show but, again, winning this does not count towards any official title although it is a great honour for the winner.

The Supreme Show

Unlike most other shows the Supreme has no miscellaneous or club classes. It does, however have classes other shows do not have. There are four Adult Open classes for each championship status breed: Champion Male and Female classes for full Champions, the winners eligible for GCC, and Pre-Champion Male and Female classes for cats with one or two Certificates or who have qualified as kittens, competing for CC's. The same applies to the neuter classes which are split into Premiers and Pre-Premiers.

Cats which are already Grand Champions do not compete in these classes but in special  classes for Grand Champions only, the winner being eligible for United Kingdom Grand Challenge Certificate ( UK GC ) Grand Premiers compete for a United Kingdom Grand Premier Certificate ( UK GP ) In these classes several breeds compete together. UK Grand Certificates are only awarded at the Supreme Show and only if the judge thinks the cat is worthy of such a high award,  two such Certificates from different judges giving the cat the title United Kingdom Grand Champion or United Kingdom Grand Premier.

    Even a UK GR CH starts afresh when it is neutered, hoping eventually to gain the coveted double title of        UK GR CH and UK GR PR - rare but it has been done!

Best of Breed winners at the Supreme Show do not get certificates but compete against the BOB winners in their section for Best of Variety.

The seven Best of Variety Adults ( Persian, Semi-Longhair, British, Foreign, Burmese, Oriental, Siamese )compete for Supreme Adult, the seven kittens for Supreme Kitten and the neuters for Supreme Neuter. The Supreme Adult and Supreme Neuter both gain the title Supreme to add to any other titles they already hold.

Finally, the Supreme Adult, Supreme Kitten and Supreme Neuter compete against each other for the honour of being judged Supreme Exhibit. No extra title - just the honour, a very large rosette and a silver trophy to hold for a year.   

Non-Pedigree cats  

Household Pets, which are defined as unregistered cats with one or both parents unregistered, have their own section  at all-breed shows and at many specialist breed shows. Household Pet Open classes are divided variously by colour and/or coat length; shows which expect a large entry offer more different classes than those which expect only a few, so one show may have a single class for Black, Black & White & White cats whereas a larger show may offer separate classes for each of these.

Household Pets do not have a standard of points but are judged on condition and temperament; if all the cats in the class are in tip-top sparkling condition and purring their heads off, the winner is the one the judge likes best. No certificates are offered and no titles can be won.

Household Pets also have their own section at the Supreme Show. The classes are split  Male and Female, as for the pedigree cats but, unlike the pedigree classes, these classes may be split further after the entries are in if there are a very large number of cats in a particular class. The class winners are judged for Best of Group, the Best of Group winners compete for Best Non-Pedigree Longhair and Best Non-Pedigree Shorthair and finally these two compete for Supreme Non-Pedigree Exhibit.