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Pet’s memorial is lower speed limit
By Benjamin Parkes
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SAD MEMORY: Poppy and Fuchsia Singleton-Hoare with a picture of Satin (22015/1)
A FAMILY have won their fight to get the speed limit outside their home reduced - but it took the death of their cat to make it happen.
Three years ago 14-year-old Fuchsia Singleton-Hoare's black and white cat Satin was mown down by a car on the road outside her house in Patterdown, Chippenham.
It happened in the middle of the night and the first the family knew about it was when a neighbour brought their dead pet to the door the following morning.
The road had a 60mph limit and they had long feared that something like this would happen so they decided to lobby for a reduced limit.
Fuchsia's mother Sarah, 39, a former Gazette reporter and now a successful children's writer, wrote to the then county councillor Paul Fox and he notified the relevant department.
This week, just when everyone thought it had been forgotten about, a permanent memorial to Satin appeared on Melksham Road outside the house in Patterdown - a 40mph speed limit sign.
According to Wiltshire County Council, the signs were not put up specifically because of Satin's death but because it had reviewed the limit and deemed it to be too fast for a road with houses on it.
Hardenhuish pupil Fuchsia is happy with the result. She said: "We got Satin when she was a kitten and she was part of the family. My sister Poppy, mum and dad, and me were very upset when she was run over.
"People have slowed down on the road outside our house since the signs went up which is good for the pets around here and it's much quieter too."
Ms Singleton said: "The road had a 60mph limit, so we decided to lobby for a reduced limit, in memory of Satin and for the sake of the many rabbits and hedgehogs getting squished on our road - not to mention our own safety.
"We wrote to our local councillor and requested the change and the sign and several others were put up three years later.
"Of course I cannot say how much our letter and lobbying were the cause of this decision, but it does go to show that it is always worth a try."
4:06pm Thursday 8th February 2007
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Posted by: craig on 6:18pm today
oh my god who would call theur daughters poppy and fuchsia...hahahahahahaha
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Posted by: Alexander Chung-Sik Finkle-McGraw, timbuktoo on 10:06pm today
You must be joking. No one witnessed the accident, so how do they know whether the car was travelling too fast? Utterly ridiculous populist nonsense.
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Posted by: G Bruinstrom, Chippenham on 10:22pm today
If the cat was 'mown ' down, then it was propbably a local farmer.
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Posted by: Marjorie Proops, London on 10:29pm today
I notice that Ms Sarah Singleton-Hoare hasn't made it to Sarah Married-Hoare yet despite having two kids.
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Posted by: Tracey, Marlborough on 10:41pm today
Fox comes to the rescue of Poppy and Fuscia criticised by Ivy resident! That'll set the cat amongst the pigeons! lol
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Posted by: MARK, melksham on 11:12pm today
You have got to be kidding!
How about if all the motorist petitioned the council to have cats banned form the roads?

This is utter nonsence
Just another excuse to put the speed Scammera van in that locationa nd entrap some decent law abiding people for financial gain.

and for the sake of the many rabbits and hedgehogs getting squished on our road

Does this mean they do not expect a pedestrian to have any more road sense than a cat?

Cats i think ,have more sense -e.g. have you ever seen a cat step into the road with a mobile glued to it's ear.

Cats i think ,have more sense -e.g. have you ever seen a cat step into the road with a mobile glued to it's ear.

14-year-old Fuchsia Singleton-Hoare

That's got to be a made up name

All names are at some point...

The road had a 60mph limit and they had long feared that something like this would happen

So why have cats or move there then?

Do cats not die when hit at 40mph?

Nah, you only drive over them slower, prolonging the pressure on the poor thing...

oh my god who would call their daughters poppy and fuchsia...

*sigh*

I love cats, and I certainly wouldn't move onto a 60mph road and then let the cat out. Hell we don't let the cat out where we live now as we're one floor up and he's too stupid not to fall off. Fortunately he's terrified of the outside anyway, otherwise we would have had to move by now

If you're going to have pets, make sure you live somewhere suitable for gods sake. What's next? lowering the speed limit to protect the insects?

I consider myself fairly good at road kill. I've have the usual, loads of rabbits, aroggant cock phesents, pigeons, foxes, I got numerous ducks on the US/Candian border road I've even had a badger. I've run skunks and racoons through a combine and was promised $50 if I could "deal with" a pig with the aforementioned farm machinery. But cats, now they're tricky. They dart about and you just can't get a decent aim on them. Never even had a hit never mind a kill.

I notice that Ms Sarah Singleton-Hoare hasn't made it to Sarah Married-Hoare yet despite having two kids.