Jo was always desperate to have a pet so when she was about 8, she persuaded us to get 2 goldfish, Sharkey and George! Sadly, George only lasted with us for a few weeks and after he was buried in the back garden, he was replaced by Kipper.

Jo was sure that Kipper was headbutting Sharkey and blamed him for Sharkey's subsequent demise. Having gone off him, Kipper became Alex's pet!

For her birthday in September 95, we gave in and got Jo a much-wanted hamster who was called CJ, after the singer of a favourite song! Jo spent so much time with CJ, teaching him to climb the stairs, and reading to him till he fell asleep in the pouch of her hoodie! Sadly in March 1997 we lost CJ. Jo was devastated but over the years she had another 5 hamsters. Each one had a distinct personality of their own.

Lewis was next (the rest of the name of the singer who's name CJ took!) He was nicknamed "the bar of soap" as he was so hard to handle when we first got him. (PS he turned out to be a she!!) Then came Benjamin, called Tarzan as he used to swing from the bars on the top of his cage.  He was followed by Izzy who chewed one of my dining room chairs!

When Jo moved to Greenwich for uni she and Aimee had a hamster called Thai who we had to drive home from London in the car on a boiling hot day. Once back home and sharing a flat with Neale and Katie, Jo's last hamster was Elliott, called after a character from "Scrubs" a favourite tv programme. Once when Jo was in hospital, Neale and Katie let Elliott out of her cage and she went missing in the kitchen for several hours - we don't think Jo ever knew about this!

Lastly, for her birthday in 2012, all Jo wanted was a pet pigmy hedgehog! She had been in touch with a breeder in Edinburgh and had fallen in love with the cutest little baby hedgehog, who duly became part of our family and was named Adrianna Tate Duncan ( again after a tv character!). She became known to all as Ade.

When we lost Jo, Ade moved in with us and we looked after her till she passed away in October 2018.

All of Jo's pets are buried in our back garden.(PS - Kipper lived with us until he was almost 18!)

(While at university, Jo and Aimee had 3 goldfish. The first was buried outside their flat and his grave was marked with a dessert spoon! The second was given a naval burial at Greenwich docks! The third was called Mr T Mason after the name on a promotion for Tesco Club  cards at their local store. He survived uni and went home with Aimee!)