After deciding to permanently move out of his residents and into Redruth Train Station, Hector the station cat was adopted by the fabulous GWR staff and has since become a bit of a celebrity. Not only is he popular with travellers he’s got more than 3,000 fans on Facebook from everywhere between Redruth and Australia.
Hector has many unofficial duties at the station including selling tickets, track inspection, pest control and keeping travellers company. Unfortunately, he’s been unable to perform his duties recently after suffering an elbow injury which left him limping and unable to wight-bear. Luckily, he was spotted close to home and the GWR staff were able to take him to the vet.
As Hector is adopted, he relies on donations from the community to buy his food but after being given a vet bill of £104.47 hector had to spend all the money in his food piggy bank and borrow some money from the GWR staff to cover his bill. Since he had to spend all his savings at the vet, the GWR staff decided to put a post on his Facebook page asking for help. This set in motion an amazing show of community spirit from Redruth and beyond.
Hector and the GWR staff have been blown away by the support and generosity from the community. Within an hour of posting on Facebook that Hector needed help people began to show up at the station with donations of food and money for his piggy bank. In just a few short days Hector was inundated with packages from all over the country and has so far received 9 bags of biscuits, 19 boxes of pouches, over £90 for his piggy bank, a new collar, and a new toy. Along with these packages Hector also received some lovely messages from the people who sent them.
Dear Hector, I hope this helps after you spent all your pocket money with the vet. Feel better soon xxx
From Kirsty Blackburn
