‘Pirate’ puss Gordon is latest sculpture on York’s cat trail (From York Press)

‘Pirate’ puss Gordon is latest sculpture on York’s cat trail

9:54am Saturday 11th February 2012 in News By Dan Bean, dan.bean@thepress.co.uk

NEXT time you’re walking along York’s historic streets and feel like you are being watched, it might just be the gaze of Gordon.

The moggy, who is about 12 years old, has become a fixture in Stonegate after his owners submitted a picture and a description of him to a local company.

Gordon is owned by Andrew Nicholls, from Earswick, his wife Helen, and daughters Rosie and Molly. He has no eyelids on his left eye, which means he occasionally has to wear an eye patch to keep it from getting dirty or infected.

Mr Nicholls said: “We found him as a stray about seven years ago at Sandsend, where we used to holiday. “He’d been a stray for two years, and the man who used to give him food was called Gordon. He’s the nicest cat you could ever hope to meet, but very lazy. He’s still quite nimble, even with the patch, but he doesn’t like wearing it.”

Last year, Shambles-based York Glass ran a competition to find a lucky cat which would act as a model for a sculpture to be added to the 16 cat statues perched on buildings around the city.

The statues were originally put up to ward off wandering evil spirits and to generally bestow good luck and good health on the inhabitants, and they have now become part of the tourist trail.

Mr Nicholls said: “We submitted a photo and a write-up. Now, he’s immortalised on Stonegate. It’s a brilliant sculpture. They’ve definitely got his shoulders right, hunched down, because he’s quite a big cat.”

Maria Fooks, manager of York Glass, said: “It’s fantastic, Gordon looks brilliant. I think it’s the best cat on the trail now. After going through dozens of entries which all had terrible stories, he’s such a nice cat and still does lovely things, like following the girls on their paper rounds, so he had to win.”