Tiddles was for 17 years the tabby cat at the lovely church of St Mary the Virgin, in the Gloucestershire village of Fairford, from 1963 until her death in 1980. Having befriended the verger and his wife, she stayed on and became a firm favourite, attending services regularly and sitting on the knees of willing members of the congregation. A local stonemason, Peter Juggins, felt that when she died she deserved a memorial at least as much as some of the people who already had one ('more, in some cases', said a commentator), and so he carved the likeness that stands outside the church porch today.
