https://www.ashsmith.io/2013/03/quick-tip-adding-custom-category-attributes-to-magento/ Using this link I've set up my custom category attribute, it does show up in the backend but it will not save so that I can retrieve and show the value in the frontend.
var dump shows this:
object(Mage_Catalog_Model_Category)[19]
protected '_eventPrefix' => string 'catalog_category' (length=16)
protected '_eventObject' => string 'category' (length=8)
protected '_cacheTag' => string 'catalog_category' (length=16)
protected '_useFlatResource' => boolean true
private '_designAttributes' =>
array (size=6)
0 => string 'custom_design' (length=13)
1 => string 'custom_design_from' (length=18)
2 => string 'custom_design_to' (length=16)
3 => string 'page_layout' (length=11)
4 => string 'custom_layout_update' (length=20)
5 => string 'custom_apply_to_products' (length=24)
protected '_treeModel' => null
protected '_urlModel' => null
protected '_defaultValues' =>
array (size=0)
empty
protected '_storeValuesFlags' =>
array (size=0)
empty
protected '_lockedAttributes' =>
array (size=0)
empty
protected '_isDeleteable' => boolean true
protected '_isReadonly' => boolean false
protected '_resourceName' => string 'catalog/category_flat' (length=21)
protected '_resource' => null
protected '_resourceCollectionName' => string 'catalog/category_flat_collection' (length=32)
protected '_dataSaveAllowed' => boolean true
protected '_isObjectNew' => null
protected '_data' =>
array (size=37)
'entity_id' => string '321' (length=3)
'parent_id' => string '2' (length=1)
'created_at' => string '2015-02-02 14:50:55' (length=19)
'updated_at' => string '2015-02-23 12:33:52' (length=19)
'path' => string '1/2/321' (length=7)
'position' => string '2' (length=1)
'level' => string '2' (length=1)
'children_count' => string '23' (length=2)
'store_id' => string '1' (length=1)
'all_children' => null
'available_sort_by' => null
'children' => null
'custom_apply_to_products' => string '0' (length=1)
'custom_design' => null
'custom_design_from' => null
'custom_design_to' => null
'custom_layout_update' => null
'custom_use_parent_settings' => string '0' (length=1)
'default_sort_by' => null
'description' => string '<div><img class="catimage" src="/skin/frontend/waterlee-boilerplate/default/images/columbarium-binnen.jpg" />
<div class="catdescription">
<div class="cattitle"><h1>Urnen</h1></div>
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed porta arcu vel dictum volutpat. Praesent molestie dolor at vehicula consectetur. Praesent dictum, ipsum ac porta dignissim, arcu purus mattis tellus, tempus semper ex ligula quis magna. per inceptos himenaeos.</div>
</div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Uitv'... (length=771)
'display_mode' => string 'PAGE' (length=4)
'filter_price_range' => null
'image' => null
'include_in_menu' => string '1' (length=1)
'is_active' => string '1' (length=1)
'is_anchor' => string '0' (length=1)
'landing_page' => string '15' (length=2)
'meta_description' => string 'a' (length=1)
'meta_keywords' => null
'meta_title' => null
'name' => string 'Urnen' (length=5)
'page_layout' => null
'path_in_store' => null
'thumbnail' => null
'url_key' => string 'urnen' (length=5)
'url_path' => string 'urnen-17.html' (length=13)
'path_ids' =>
array (size=3)
0 => string '1' (length=1)
1 => string '2' (length=1)
2 => string '321' (length=3)
protected '_hasDataChanges' => boolean true
protected '_origData' =>
array (size=36)
'entity_id' => string '321' (length=3)
'parent_id' => string '2' (length=1)
'created_at' => string '2015-02-02 14:50:55' (length=19)
'updated_at' => string '2015-02-23 12:33:52' (length=19)
'path' => string '1/2/321' (length=7)
'position' => string '2' (length=1)
'level' => string '2' (length=1)
'children_count' => string '23' (length=2)
'store_id' => string '1' (length=1)
'all_children' => null
'available_sort_by' => null
'children' => null
'custom_apply_to_products' => string '0' (length=1)
'custom_design' => null
'custom_design_from' => null
'custom_design_to' => null
'custom_layout_update' => null
'custom_use_parent_settings' => string '0' (length=1)
'default_sort_by' => null
'description' => string '<div><img class="catimage" src="/skin/frontend/waterlee-boilerplate/default/images/columbarium-binnen.jpg" />
<div class="catdescription">
<div class="cattitle"><h1>Urnen</h1></div>
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed porta arcu vel dictum volutpat. Praesent molestie dolor at vehicula consectetur. Praesent dictum, ipsum ac porta dignissim, arcu purus mattis tellus, tempus semper ex ligula quis magna. per inceptos himenaeos.</div>
</div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Uitv'... (length=771)
'display_mode' => string 'PAGE' (length=4)
'filter_price_range' => null
'image' => null
'include_in_menu' => string '1' (length=1)
'is_active' => string '1' (length=1)
'is_anchor' => string '0' (length=1)
'landing_page' => string '15' (length=2)
'meta_description' => string 'a' (length=1)
'meta_keywords' => null
'meta_title' => null
'name' => string 'Urnen' (length=5)
'page_layout' => null
'path_in_store' => null
'thumbnail' => null
'url_key' => string 'urnen' (length=5)
'url_path' => string 'urnen-17.html' (length=13)
protected '_idFieldName' => string 'entity_id' (length=9)
protected '_isDeleted' => boolean false
protected '_oldFieldsMap' =>
array (size=0)
empty
protected '_syncFieldsMap' =>
array (size=0)
empty
