About Maureen
Maureen was born in the spring of 1949, in Stockport, a town just south of the city of Manchester. She has had a love for cats from a young age and recalls bringing cats home to her mother in the hope that she would let her keep them, then waking up the next day to notice that they were gone. It wasn’t until long after she had got married and moved over to Penistone that her love for cats developed into a need to help them.
Maureen has been battling with a condition called Fybromyalgia since the year 2000 that, if untreated, results in her having to use a wheelchair. Then in 2003 she was hit with the terrible news that she had breast cancer. After undergoing treatment in both the Hallamshire and Weston Park hospitals, and with a considerable amount of inner-strength, Maureen managed to fight the cancer and make a full recovery. However, it was in the aftermath of the cancer that Maureen realised that she wanted to give something back. Aside from the love and affection she had for her husband Richard and their children, Maureen felt that she wanted to mother something, which led to her adopting a cat and its kitten from a local charity, Royston Animal Welfare.
Maureen volunteered for a time at Royston Animal Welfare but, after becoming frustrated with some of their working practices, she decided to go it alone and started taking in one or two cats. One or two led to two or three, and she eventually came to the decision of turning her garage into a cat sanctuary. Since then Maureen has housed 600+ cats. However, with the declining economy, homeless cats are on the rise, and Maureen is concerned that she will not be able to cope with the demand without much-needed donations. Unfortunately, also as a result of the economic climate, these are not as plentiful as they used to be.
