Newly-elected councillor near Banbury hailed as a hero after finding missing cat

When councillors get elected to serve their area, they always promise to go that extra mile for their residents.

But David Hingley’s first act in the role has earned him the title of ‘local hero’ in one woman’s eyes.

David was just elected earlier this month to serve as the councillor for the Adderbury, Bloxham and Bodicote areas on Cherwell District Council.

And this week, he helped reunite a lost cat with her owners.

Poppy, a five-year-old Birman cat, went missing from her Bodicote home last week. Poppy’s owner, Kathryn Williams, delivered posters and flyers through letter boxes all across the village and asked for help finding the much-loved cat on social media too.

Kathryn said: “She’s an indoor cat so not experienced with the outdoors, and with the high traffic levels and many foxes in the area we were extremely worried."

Then at around 4.30pm on Thursday May 12 she received a phone call from David, who had managed to find Poppy two streets away sitting on a wall behind a tree.

She added: “His quick-thinking to not only notice the hidden cat, but to call us and help us locate her was truly heroic. His eager-eye and quick-thinking has quite frankly saved her life in my opinion.

"We have been so worried, and he has been able to ease us of that worry and we can go back to normal life again. He is a hero in our eyes.

"He even turned down our offer of a reward! Not all heroes wear capes!”

Kathryn said it was a huge relief to see Poppy safely returned.

She added: “It’s a massive relief. When a cat goes missing it’s the worry about where she is, especially an indoor cat. Has she come to an untimely end? Has she been taken? Is she hungry? Is she hurt? The unknown is the worst part of it all. Having her home has relieved us all of a huge stress.

“We are delighted to see that she was in good health, no injuries, however, she was dehydrated and hungry. We are working to slowly feed her back up.”

David said: “The owner of the cat had done a fantastic job of putting out leaflets, and I got one through my letterbox. I thought I’d have a look for the cat and have a walk around the village.”

He spotted a cat on his walk, and was able to match the photo on the flyer he received through his letterbox with the cat he found.

He added: "I phoned the owners right away, and as soon as the owner came along the cat meowed.

"I was very pleased to be able to help reunite Poppy with her owner. It’s one of my first acts as a new councillor for the ward.

"It’s nice to already be giving back to the community after having only been elected two weeks ago.

“Because I am local to the ward, and live here it meant I was already in the community, and I am always looking out for things.

"It’ll be the first of many things I will do for the villages over the next few years.”