Beloved tram cat returns home for the final time
The memorial of a cat at a tram stop where he frequently cuddled up to commuters has now been returned to his former owners in an apparent "stroke of luck".
Benton, a black and white moggy, became well-known for visiting the Inham Road tram stop in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, before he died in 2021.
Nottingham Express Transit (NET) subsequently added a poster about him to the stop's information board at the time.
However Ginny Hicks, the cat's owner, spotted an tram worker while travelling to work last month, who mentioned it would soon be taken down.
"She struck up a conversation with him," her daughter, Steph Hicks said.
"They offered really quickly to give [Benton's memorial] back to her and arranged it all... but if she hadn't been going to work at that time on that day, it might not of happened."
The "sociable" feline was found as a stray by the Hicks' family when he was a four-month-old kitten, after almost being hit by a bus in 2015.
He ingratiated himself with the local community thereafter by visiting the Inham Road tram stop "pretty much every day".
Steph said: "He was a really big personality, even for a cat. He'd just go down there all the time, because he was smart enough to know that there's people that are going to be staying still there.
"If there was somebody out on the street, he wanted to be their friend.
"Since he's been gone, we end up speaking to people about him and his memory, complete strangers, bonding over the memories of Benton."
The memorial of Benton was formally delivered back to the family on 3 June.
"We're very touched by all of this, it just kind of feels like it's come full circle with him coming home," Steph said.
As an alternative to the memorial, information about Benton and a collage of pictures has been added to the tram stop's web page.
"So it's a bit bittersweet, because obviously we still miss Benton, but knowing that he was so loved, its a nice feeling."
According to Steph, NET needed to change the information board because it was "outdated", and there was no room to keep the memorial poster on the new version.
"[We're] completely fine with that. We feel really cared for by NET and the lovely gestures that they've done there," she said.
Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.
Benton the tram stop cat gets shelter memorial
The commuter cats who became fur-mous
Nottingham Express Transit
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Single Lotto ticket holder wins £4 million jackpot
A single ticket holder has won the £4 million jackpot in Saturday's Lotto draw. The winning Lotto numbers were 11, 17, 27, 30, 39 and 46 while the bonus number was 56. Players have been urged to check their tickets and call in to claim the top prize, with the jackpot winner matching all six main numbers to take the £4,003,513 sum. Set of balls 10 and draw machine Lancelot were used. Wednesday's jackpot will be an estimated £2 million. Andy Carter, senior winners' advisor at The National Lottery operator Allwyn, said: 'Amazing news for our lucky Lotto players, as one ticket-holder has won tonight's £4 million jackpot. 'Luck is clearly in the air, as this is the second Lotto jackpot win in a week, after a single ticket-holder bagged last Saturday's (May 31) £3.9 million jackpot.' No players matched all five numbers in Lotto HotPicks, which uses the same numbers as the Lotto draw. Twelve players won £13,000 each after they managed to match four numbers. The winning Thunderball numbers were 01, 05, 13, 17 and 39 while the Thunderball was 08. No-one matched all five numbers plus the Thunderball to scoop the £500,000 top prize, but one ticket holder matched all five regular numbers to win £5,000.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Delight as 'Bambi' baby deer spotted behind Manchester city centre nightclub
A baby deer has been spotted close to Manchester city centre, more evidence that wildlife is returning. The creature was seen on a riverside path, behind Hidden nightclub off the A56 Bury New Road, at about 8.30pm on Friday evening. Support worker Tom Lightbown, 36, was walking along a path beside the River Irwell on the way to the shops when he spotted the baby deer (fawn) ahead of him. It's just a few minutes' walk to the AO Arena. Tom shared his pictures with the Manchester Evening News. He said: "I was just going shopping into the city centre. I was walking up a path and as I got around the corner, it was just standing in the pathway. I just stopped. I didn't want to carry on walking towards it because there is a road on the other side and if I scared it, it's going to run potentially into the road. READ MORE: LIVE updates as M60 drivers face long delays following serious crash which saw seven taken to hospital READ MORE: LIVE updates as the Red Arrows fly over the North West "I stood still watching it for a while. It came onto the path and started walking towards me. It was quite a nice experience, actually. It was a very nice experience, seeing a creature like that in the city centre. It was quite surprising. I've seen urban foxes before but I've never seen a deer. "It's quite a shy animal to be so close to an urban area." It's not the first time deer have been spotted in urban areas, but rarely has one so young come so close to Manchester city centre. In 2021 a deer was spotted near HMG Paints in Collyhurst Road gambolling in the grass near the factory near a stretch of the River Irk near Cheetham Hill. Staff at the company had previously seen fish, stoats and even otters but never deer. In 2019 a deer was spotted swimming alongside the ducks in a canal near Castlefield. The animal was later spotted heading towards the Palace Theatre with more sightings on Oxford Road. An otter was spotted in in a stretch of the Irwell, close to Manchester city centre, in June 2023. The animal was seen underneath the Trinity Bridge close to the Lowry Hotel. It followed a previous otter sighting in December 2020 which at the time was described as a 'big deal'. Mike Duddy, a project manager with the Mersey Rivers Trust, said then that otters and other fish being spotted had become more common as the condition of Manchester's waterways had improved. Peregrine falcons have been a feature of the city centre for years. The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester And North Merseyside is campaigning to 're-wild' Manchester, through its 'Nature Recovery Network' for the city to encourage more frogs, bats, bees, starlings and wildflowers. The trust says on its website: "Working with the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit we are looking in detail at where the different wild places are situated across Manchester, as well the distribution of a number of different plant and animal species. This information will be used to help us create a Nature Recovery Network map for the city which will identify priority habitats and wildlife corridors."
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Birmingham's on-the-run bull rehomed in Norfolk after ‘unexpected' city break
A bull spotted trotting through city streets – after apparently escaping from an abattoir – has been given a new home by an animal sanctuary. The stray bovine, thought to be around two years old, was safely contained by Birmingham City Council staff on Friday after being spotted by startled passers-by in New Bond Street, Digbeth, shortly before 9.30am. Street cleaning crews corralled what the council described as the 'beautiful albeit misplaced' animal until it was checked over by an animal welfare team and then transferred to the care of West Midlands Police. Wendy Valentine, founder of the Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Frettenham, near Norwich, said of the bull: 'We became aware of his desperate break for freedom when we received multiple calls from concerned supporters asking if we could help. 'We sprang into action and negotiated with the Birmingham police, assuring them that we could give him a secure home here at Hillside. 'With nobody coming forward to claim him, they agreed that we could collect him and bring him to our sanctuary.' The bull, which arrived at Hillside at about 2.45am on Saturday, has been named Liam and will now live out its natural life with the sanctuary's 750 other rescued cattle. A video released by the sanctuary showed the bull munching hay in its new surroundings around a minute after its arrival. Council staff efforts to keep the animal and the public safe won praise from councillor Majid Mahmood, Birmingham's cabinet member for environment and transport, who wrote beside a picture of the bull on X: 'This magnificent animal seemed to be enjoying an unexpected break, but our amazing street cleansing staff weren't phased at all, helping moving it into a safe place. 'Well done to our animal welfare staff & park rangers.' Footage of the bull amid city traffic went viral on social media on Friday, prompting jokes it may be heading towards Birmingham's Bull Ring shopping area.
