Great grandmother Kitty Woodcock is celebrating being reunited with her beloved moggy Sooty - thanks to the Telegraph & Argus.

Mrs Woodcock, who is 85 and lives in Wibsey, had given up hope of ever seeing black and white Sooty again after he wandered off at Christmas.

But when she picked up Monday's T&A there was Sooty - pictured after his dramatic rescue from an island in Wibsey Park lake.

She contacted the RSPCA's Mount Street depot where he was recovering from his ordeal and within hours, a relieved Sooty was back home in Fletcher Road, curled up on his mistress' lap.

"It was lovely to see the article," Mrs Woodcock said today. "I am really grateful to the T&A. I would never have got him back otherwise."

Sooty went missing while Mrs Woodcock was away staying with her daughter for two days over Christmas, and her son was looking after him.

"Maybe he went looking for me," Mrs Woodcock said.

It appears that Sooty wandered across to the island when the water iced over - then became marooned.

He was rescued by Odsal firemen after local people heard his desperate miaows and raised the alarm. They threw some cat food across for him and contacted the RSPCA.

The firefighters used an inflatable walkway to get across to the island. Sooty, alarmed, ran up a tree and then dived off into the water before rescuers caught up with him and ferried him back across the water safely.

Sooty enjoyed a belated Christmas celebration when two young neighbours brought him a Christmas cracker stuffed with feline goodies.

"Kirsty and Nicole have known him since he was a kitten," Mrs Woodcock said.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.