A bronze sculpture was unveiled at 11am on Saturday (October 14) as a memorial for Ely’s ‘most famous cat’, Garfield.
The cat, who was also commonly known as ‘Garfy’ and ‘Mr Sainsbury’, was a local celebrity and loved by people in the city.
The ginger tom regularly received media attention for his antics and was the star of two books.
He was often found wandering around the Sainsbury's store on Lisle Lane, where people started to buy treats for him when they did their weekly shopping.
Sadly, he died in 2019 after being hit by a car. His owner, David Willers, ran a fundraiser to commission the statue of the much-loved feline, which will take its place at Ely Country Park.
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The fundraiser raised more than £6,000 which has been used to create a bronze sculpture of the much-loved feline, and there is also a bench placed beside it.
“People loved Garfy.” said David.
“Ever since we lost him, people have been asking if we can erect a memorial for him, so we approached the council and got permission to install a life size bronze of Garfy with a bench in Pocket Park, close to his roaming ground.”
David says the idea is that people can sit on the bench and stroke the statue, just as they used to stroke the real Garfy when he was alive.
The statue was created by local artist Sally Dunham who creates a wide range of animal sculptures from her studio in Soham.
Sally says she was “delighted” to be asked to create Garfy’s likeness.
“When David approached me, I was honoured to be invited to work on this project,” she said.
“Garfy has such a special place in people’s hearts and the idea of being able to create a place of reflection is wonderful.”
