Prospect School's resident cat Blackie has closed her eyes for the very last time.
On a Saturday morning, school staff, present and former pupils as well as parents gathered together to give their beloved feline a proper farewell.
"She was very old. She was about 19, that's very old for a cat.
She's been in our school for nearly 10 years," says principal Gay Turner. Blackie has gone to live with Mrs Turner in the last six months as she was very fragile.
"She's been left abandoned by a local family so we adopted her or she adopted us. We adopted each other," she adds.
Blackie spurred the school's 10-cent Friday drives, initially, to buy special dry biscuits to prevent her allergies. The fundraising now sponsors a World Vision child in Africa as well as another cat.
Mrs Turner says Blackie taught the children caring. They were very fond of her and had created cards and wrote poems about her. "I think if children have an affinity for animals, the more they'll have an affinity for people," she says.
However, the school won't be without a pet for long. Another cat has the run of the school. CC, short for Charlie's Cat, usually hangs around Charlie, the caretaker.
Mrs Turner thinks the neighbourhood cats know the school is a soft touch.
"We've had a cat that came in to have litters in our school under the hall. Then we had to adopt those out, find homes for them," she says.
"If another cat comes along, we'll adopt that. They smell us out."
