It seemed a fairly standard summer fayre, with the Climthorpe and Fustleton Volunteer Fire Department putting on a demonstration of "How to rescue a cat from a tree" using the Dennis Rotating Fire Ladder. (Shown in the slide image)
What emerged later was that Mr Wilkins, the CFVFD stunt cat had wandered off for a snooze, and wasn't available for the demonstration. Rather than disappoint the masses, Fire Chief McDonald "borrowed" one of the Vietnamese Boat Folk kids from the Orphanarium display, put them in fancy dress cat costume, then chased them up a tree.
No harm done, and Sgt Fitzhugh wasn't minded to raise a report....but ill-feeling remained for several years.
Bonus - Why do we love telling stories about the end of the world?
