Alfie the tabby uninjured after Boxing Day chimney drama in Woodbridge

Ben and Claire Titmarsh with their cat Alfie who escaped up the chimney on Boxing Day and had to be rescued by the Fire Brigade.

The three-year-old moggie was staying in a holiday home with owners Ben and Claire Titmarsh, both 31, in Woodbridge while visiting family in Suffolk from London for Christmas.

Clearly the relaxed pace of a more rural lifestyle did not suit Alfie who decided to explore a chimney in the property on Boxing Day – with unfortunate results.

“We heard him meowing and saw this stuff coming down from the chimney,” Mr Titmarsh said.

After trying to coax him out Mr Titmarsh said he “popped outside and saw him sat on top of the chimney”.

Ben and Claire Titmarsh with their cat Alfie who escaped up the chimney on Boxing Day and had to be rescued by the Fire Brigade. Contributed by Ben Titmarsh

“He was really scared, poor little thing.”

The fire service was called and brought an aerial ladder platform because they could not climb over the slate roof of the property in St John’s Hill.

Some of the one-way roads in the town were closed off to allow the unit to get up the road.

But despite the best efforts of the fire crews to coax Alfie into a basket the scared cat took his fate into his own hands.

Mr Titmarsh said: “He ran off and jumped off the roof, eight or nine metres, straight down to ground level and bolted off into Woodbridge.”

Thankfully Alfie was found in an alleyway, uninjured from his climb or his leap of faith.

Praising the firefighters Mr Titmarsh said: “They were all so nice, they were all happy to be there and they didn’t treat it any differently to had it been a human.”