About

Hi, my name’s Ida. Thanks for finding She And The Cat’s Mother, a mother and daughter partnership, (Gwen Hullah and Ida Barker) accompanied by our tabby cat, Purrdey, who came voluntarily and stayed on purpose. We’re based in the Victorian Spa town of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK ❤️

Back in the early 2000s (when MySpace was at its peak) we documented for BBC Video Lives my experiences as a solo performer and first-time busker, (for the annual buskers festival at the east coast seaside resort of Bridlington) performing only my own self-penned songs (genre: indie and BritPop inspired) 🌞⛱🌊


During my live music career of 2003 to 2010, my mum, Gwen was my music manager, roadie, booking agent and filmer of all my videos on camcorder 📹


Mum (a farmer’s daughter from the Yorkshire Dales) has an extensive music background, Radio Witham was the brainchild of my mum (Gwen Barker nee Hullah), she was the instigator and founder of Grantham Hospital’s Radio Witham, officially launched in 1977; and station manager there for nearly ten years (1978 to 1987) ❤️

Black and white photograph courtesy of the Grantham Journal (1976); titled, "Helping Radio Witham on its way" as Radio Witham receive a cheque raised by men from the R.A.F
Black and white (close-up) photograph courtesy of the Grantham Journal 1976 of ,Gwen Barker (nee Hullah) the woman who instigated Grantham Hospital's Radio Witham; and was the station manager there for nearly ten years
Image shows a 1980's “Request Form” kindly printed for free by the Grantham Journal for Radio Witham listeners for Grantham Hospital patients and family members to fill out to request their messages and choice of songs to be transmitted on the radio station's programmes.
Image shows Grantham Hospital's Radio Witham four page leaflet (from the early 1980s), introducing hospital patients to the broadcasting team with a rundown of weekly programmes, presenters include: Kim Morrisey, Brian Clarke, Paul Martin, Richard Squires, Julie Cox, Lyne Hall, Malcolm Knapp, Pauline Chantry, Phil Harrison, Anne Sanders, Maureen Blakey, Gwen Barker (nee Hullah), Mike Cowan, Peter Clawson, Nigel Coonigan, Willie Christian.
Image shows a photograph of our third Radio Witham studio in 1983. Caption below image states: a spare creosoted wooden medical porter cabin based on the hospital premises dismantled and new foundations dug (JCB) by Malcolm Barker (Gwen’s husband), then reassembled by Tim Harris (hospital engineer), Malcolm and Gwen (station manager) with helpful volunteers to proudly stand a stone-throw from the hospital kitchens and side-door into the hospital. Within this porter cabin: reception area, library, studio 1 and 2, engineer-room and toilet. In 2013, due to roof leakages, abolished to be re-housed within the hospital.


After 2010, mother and I embarked on working together on a new venture: She And The Cat’s Mother, a self-publishing book business, to-date we’ve published over 13 original books (formatted to ebook, paperback and hardback) genres include revenge fiction, fantasy, screenplays and how-to publications ☀️


Roll forward to 2025, and the unexpected opportunity to find a companion song for our merchandise of self-designed “diamond signature” leopard print clothes at Brazen Bitch brought my original song, Cat Out Of The Bag out of the vaults (first demo recorded in 2004 on DAT cassette at Fairview Studios, Hull). 📼

Mum kindly agreed to lyrically re-write this song with me, and retitle it to: “The Leopard Print Song” — now released on streaming platforms including Spotify 💚

We invite you, along with our steady growing following, to become part of the leopard print song’s story… ☀️

Thanks for rocking with us!!
— team, She And The Cat’s Mother

😎
P.S. leave a comment and we’ll strike up a free air guitar solo ☀️🎸🎶

Click image above to view our YouTube channel