Cats' Tales Number 43

Cats' Tales The Newsletter of Cats in Need, Cyprus - Issue 43, 2012

Mary French 1927 – 2012

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Forward

By Sue Blythe

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t is with great sadness that I advise everyone who knew Mary French that she passed away 30th June. Mary had a relatively short time back in the UK and her health deteriorated quickly. Her passing was rapid and I am advised that she was not in pain.

As Mary was instrumental in so many people’s lives and known by so many of you, I, as Chairman of Cats in Need, Cyprus think it right and fitting that we celebrate Mary’s life and the huge contribution she made to animal welfare in Cyprus. This special edition of the Cats in Need newsletter is dedicated to Mary and you will find lovely tributes from many of her friends.

Mary will be missed by many people and of course the cats.

Please all be assured that the work she started for the cats in Cyprus will continue through me with Cats In Need, and through you all with your continued support for this very important work.

I hope you enjoy reading the tributes and looking at the photos.

Warmest regards Sue Blythe

Mary French - a celebration of her life 1927 - 2012, by Sue Blythe

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A walk on Curium Beach, by Judy Barnes

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My Memories of Mary,

by Jayne Sanderson

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A friend who will be sadly missed,

by David Forster

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Mary enriched all our lives,

by Valerie Forster

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Memories of Mary, by Frank Garrod

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My best friend, by Shirley Illingworth

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Cats’ Tales is published by Cats in Need, Cyprus P0 Box 153, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM99 1GU E-mail catsinneed@manx.net Editors: David and Valerie Forster © Cats in Need, Cyprus 2012

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Mary French – a celebration of her life 1927 – 2012 Sue Blythe, Chairperson of Cats in Need Cyprus, has written this moving tribute to a remarkable person.

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ary moved to Cyprus soon after she hours and hours mixing it with pasta and retired from the army, where she rice so there would be enough to go had served for many years as a Major in around. The cats loved it. Mary’s house the Nursing Corps. Little did she know had a smell of cat food cooking as the what her retirement would turn out to be. large cauldron was always on her hob.

She knew Malcolm Stevenson, who had been looking after a large number of stray Spaying and neutering cats in the orange orchard near to Akrotiri Locals became aware of the sanctuary Airbase and he fed them every day. When and cats were often dumped and left we first came across the site, we saw a there. Mary knew that the only way to tired old car being greeted by about 100 prevent an explosion of kittens was to get cats all running towards it, as they greetthe cats neutered, but of course this cost ed Malcolm and their dinner. Jayne and I a lot of money. Jayne and I said that we were intrigued and, as regular visitors to would set up a charity to raise money for Cyprus, when we visited again we visited these operations, and we did. Cats in the cats at the orchard. This is how we Need, Cyprus, a UK registered charity, met Mary as she told us that Malcolm had was born in 1993, to help any cat in Cyreturned to the UK because of failing prus that needed our help. We knew that health and she had agreed with Malcolm just feeding and accepting cat after cat to that she would continue to care for his precious cats. We got to know Mary and helped her at the sanctuary, feeding, washing and basic DIY to improve the conditions for the cats. We knew that she was surviving on her pension and collected food each morning from local restaurants, who gave her the leftover meat from the previous evening, and then Mary spent Mary at the old sanctuary

4 the orchard was not going to cure the problem of too many cats everywhere and we needed to tackle the cause of the population, by humane trapping and a good spay/neuter/ release programme.

Mary helped us with our plans as we decided that we were going to catch as many cats as possible as this should ultimately reduce the numbers The original gang at the orchard – L to R: Trish, Sylvia, Antonio, being dumped on Sue, Judy, Malcolm, Jayne, Mary, Helen, Sam and Jamie Mary. We started at It was never established who or why this the Molos seafront area of Limassol and had been done, but it was clear that the Mary arranged what now seemed like a cats were not safe and a new home had clandestine meeting at Kolossi castle, to be found. The Committee eventually where we would be introduced to Chrisfound the land that is now the sanctuary tine of Paphiakos. Christine had driven and Cats In Need paid the majority of through in her 4WD and we had captured funds to build the new sanctuary, around about a dozen cats. We handed over the £30,000. cats and off they went to Paphos for their operations. They came back a day later A new sanctuary and we returned them to where we had found them and they lived for many years The cats took a while to get used to their afterwards. They each had their ear new home and regular trips had to be tipped so that it was obvious that they had made to the old sanctuary to pick up any been spayed or neutered. escapees who had managed to get out and walk the couple of miles down the road to the orchard. The cats are not as A committee free in the new place, but at least they are In the meantime we continued to help safer.

Mary and meet the other members who had volunteered their assistance, Frank, Mary continued to help Jayne and me Judy and Malcolm, Sam and Helen and catch cats and she introduced us to a others. A committee was formed and variety of vets whom we took cats to and Mary was getting the assistance and supthen released back afterwards. We had port she needed. become great friends and we had many a breakfast, lunch and supper on Mary’s The orchard grew in numbers of cats over terrace in Kolossi. There was never a the years until one morning there was the shortage of beer, wine and laughter. most terrible incident. Judy turned up to do her feed to find as many as 50 cats We often had supper in Limassol or a were dead. Someone had poisoned them. village taverna near to Kolossi and always

5 had fun. Mary would drive in and then home afterwards, but would always be on time, and always enjoyed her food.

Mary loved to travel and she loved Africa and America and she enthralled us with her tales of adventure and the things she had done as a young girl. She had a real sparkle in her eye and a real joy of life.

Mary met Virginia McKenna of the Born Free Foundation at a lunch in Cyprus and you could tell how proud Mary was of this. She had visits from Joy Leney, who was the CEO of WSPA at the time and friends with Dr Kate Horne of SNIP, Islington.

Susie Gale, the lovely wife of Roger Gale MP, organised an event with Liverpool University Veterinary School, and over a period of about a week, a large number of cats were caught, taken to the airbase, where they were operated on by the undergraduates, and then released back.

Mary assisted Susie in the planning of this as a number of permissions had to be granted and the Cyprus government’s veterinary approval had to be sought.

Jayne and I helped with the trapping and releasing and are proud to have been associated with this.

Mary retires from MCPS Not all the times at the sanctuary were good and eventually Mary retired so a new regime could make the changes they wanted. It was sad to see Mary discarded the way that she was and it was sad to see so many arguments and unnecessary changes.

Mary at feeding time As the original members of the Committee had all left, they started up again in various ventures that still help the cats in Cyprus. Cat Snip carries on in a similar way to what Jayne and I started all those years ago and they have spayed/neutered well over 1000 cats now, thanks to Pauline, Len, Mandy and Russell. Judy, Shirley and Mary looked after the Dassoudi beach cats amongst others.

All of the people mentioned did what they did to help Mary. She was a lady in a million, totally dedicated to helping animals she said she didn’t even like. She often said, “I am a dog person, not really keen on cats.”

Mary had a number of gorgeous little dogs and her dog went everywhere with her. Time after time her dogs were killed by poisoning, even in her own garden.

This was so hard for Mary as she adored them, particularly Susie (2) who was her companion for a few years.

Return to the UK Jayne and I knew she was returning to the UK and we flew over from our home in the Isle of Man to see her on 17th April

6 this year. We were worried what we might find, but to us Mary looked remarkably well. We had heard that she became very tired so expected that we would stay an hour at most. Mary was having none of this, and we sat with her for 4 hours, laughing and chatting about the things that we used to get up to and the fun we had. In hindsight I believe that Mary didn’t want us to know the full extent of her illness and kept a lot of her pain to herself.

Mary is no longer with us as she died on 30th June 2012, quietly and in peace. Of all the people I have ever met Mary is one of the most inspirational and motivational of them all. Before I met Mary I didn’t have a clue (or even a real inclination) to want to rescue and help the world’s animals. I certainly didn’t know how to set up a UK registered charity and raise funds.

Mary changed this in me and we laughed when we saw her in April, and blamed her that it is her fault that I cannot walk by an animal anywhere that needs my help.

Mary laughed and chuckled as she knew exactly what she had done.

Mary was the saviour to countless cats and dogs, and this will continue. It will continue in me as I will always continue to help cats in Cyprus through Cats in Need; it will continue in Cyprus with Cat Snip and the MCPS, and I daresay in others who met her.

Mary’s work will go on through the others that she has inspired and I hope she is sitting up there with a large glass of Thisbe in her hand with a sparkle in her eye. It was an honour to have known you Mary, and been your friend. Thank you!

Pauline from Catsnip adds her tribute Mary was tireless in her work to improve the lives of so many feral cats in Cyprus. Without her the Malcolm Cat Sanctuary would not exist in the healthy state it is now. When a group of us decided to be more pro-active and start CATSNIP, Mary was happy to join us and help with fundraising to neuter the feral cats of Limassol. Nearly 3,000 have now been neutered. She will be sadly missed by us and the cats.

Mary with the editors and members of Catsnip in the Episkopi Village Inn l to r - Russell, Valerie, Pauline, Mary, Len, Mandy, David

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A walk on Curium Beach A chance meeting with Mary changed Judy Barnes’s life for ever

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rom a distance I heard a voice calling, ‘Wait for me Susie, I’m not as young as I used to be!’

doing, and it wasn’t an easy task.

I paused for a moment with my dogs and looked down at my feet to see a small black curly poodle wagging her tail. Eventually ‘the voice’ I heard came up to us and, with an exchange of greetings, we talked together as if we had known each other for ever.

Her tireless campaign to improve conditions and make life better for the strays never ceased. Her commitment was so apparent. To eventually see her efforts come into fruition must, indeed, have made her very proud.

That walk changed my life that day. It was the day I met Mary.

Caring for strays It wasn’t long before the topic of conversation was cats. It had to be. It was obvious she devoted her time and channelled all her energies into caring for the strays.

She explained about the role she had taken from her predecessor Malcolm. I could see she was proud of what she was

I couldn’t wait to meet those cats.

Stars of the sanctuary The two stars of the sanctuary, Buster and Gris Gris, were testimony to the devotion and care that was given. It was ‘thank you’ to Mary, who, in the very beginning, kept going and never gave up hope. Those two special cats lived long and happy lives in the company of other little strays who called the place home.

I will always have fond memories of Mary and our friendship that was to last almost twenty years. I shall remember those happy fundraising events and the social evenings. I shall remember the delighted look upon her face at her birthday parties. I feel privileged to have known her and to witness her loyalty, dedication and the integral part she played in establishing the Malcolm Cat Sanctuary.

If only I could turn back time. I would walk along Curium Beach and meet Susie once again followed by Mary and hear her friendly, well spoken voice calling out to me, ‘Hello there.’

Judy with Mary in 2005

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My memories of Mary

By Jayne Sanderson Jayne travelled to Cyprus many times with Sue, and helped her to set up Cats in Need. This is her tribute.

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have a lot of fond memories of Mary French, a thoroughly inspirational woman who worked tirelessly for the cats in Cyprus. I cannot remember exactly when I first met Mary; it was somewhere around 1990 at the old Malcolm Cat Sanctuary near Akrotiri RAF Base on the road to the Salt Lake. Sue and I were holidaying in Cyprus and we stumbled across this collection of cats being fed out of the back of a car by Mary. The cats

were all over her car, in the boot, on the roof, in the drivJayne cleaning a er’s seat. Up until kitten’s eyes that time I personally had never really had any experience of cats and I didn’t even think I liked them, so I refused to get out of the car. Mary thought this was highly amusing!

As time passed and we made more and more visits to the sanctuary, we got to know Mary better and realised how much time, effort and money Mary was giving so freely. Her whole life revolved around the cats, collecting leftover food from nearby restaurants, preparing food and feeding twice a day.

Fundraising

Mary with a clutch of kittens

After more holidays in Cyprus and more meetings with Mary, we started to fundraise for Mary to help with the financial support she needed for vet fees and repairs and improvements at the sanctuary.

I used to go to jumble sales to pick up bargains that I could sell at car boot sales and I had a specialist ‘book & stamp stall’ outside BHS in St Helier, Jersey once a month. At that time I was working in a bank and I used to take the empty envelopes from the mailroom home each evening and cut off the stamps. Being in Jersey, mail was received from some weird and wonderful places and I had a few regular customers at my BHS stall,

9 some of whom would spend hours searching through the box of stamps looking for ones of interest. I had a VW camper which was permanently loaded with my ‘goods for sale’ – as I had nowhere to store anything inside where I lived. I’m saying all this not because I want any thanks for what I did, but to show how inspirational Mary was. She was so very grateful for our help and support.

Catching the stray cats Many more trips to Cyprus happened during 1990’s and the ‘holidays’ turned more into cat-catching events with Mary, with very early morning catching of the stray cats along Limassol promenade and around the local hotels and restaurants and taking them in cages to the vets (sometimes in Paphos where we had a good price) to be neutered or spayed. We could manage to get up to 15 cats in the back of a jeep. I didn’t like to imagine what the car hire company used to think when they got the vehicle back full of cat

hair, cat biscuits and tuna.

We got to know Mary well over the years and had many an evening (after the cat feeding session of course) sitting on her terrace drinking Keo or Thisbe usually surrounded by a number of sick kittens she was caring for at home, and of course a dog that she’d rescued. Mary liked her Thisbe wine, and when we had a meals out at a restaurant she’d drive home sometimes after one glass too many!

For as long as she possibly could, Mary continued to work tirelessly for the cats and in the 20+ years I knew her she really didn’t seem to change much at all. She was always the same Mary. Even when we visited her in Worthing a couple of months ago, although she was very ill, she still had the same fighting spirit.

Knowing Mary has been an inspiration and I am so pleased to have shared some of her life. She will be so sadly missed by so many - humans and animals alike.

Mary, Jayne and Sue on one of their nights out

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A friend who will be sadly missed

By David Forster

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alerie and I have known Mary for about 15 years. We first learnt about her when an article about the Malcolm Cat Protection Society appeared in Elpida, the newsletter of the Greek Animal Welfare Society. We decided to go and look it up the next time we went to Cyprus, which we duly did. We took the service taxi from Larnaca to Limassol and

Mary was an effective chair of the society for many years, and built it up into a thriving organisation, which, in addition to looking after the welfare of the cats in its charge, has done wonders in educating the young people of Cyprus about animal welfare, and has slowly begun to bring about a change in popular attitudes towards them.

Working with Catsnip When she stepped down from her position in the society, this did not mean the end of her work for the welfare of the cats of Cyprus. She began working with Catsnip to trap and neuter the stray cats in the Limassol area, and also with Shirley and others to feed the many colonies of cats which live on the beaches of Limassol. She also had her own private menagerie of cats and dogs in the little bungalow she owned in Kolossi.

David, Mary and Valerie in the Old Stables, Episkopi in 2003 Mary picked us up and took us to the sanctuary, which in those days was in the old orchard on the Ladies’ Mile Road.

There were very few facilities, and no shade, and Mary worked tirelessly for the cats in very difficult conditions.

Band of helpers At the same time, she built up a dedicated band of helpers, and worked to secure a better, permanent site for the sanctuary.

She was able to secure a lease on a piece of forest land near Akrotiri, and the work began on the sanctuary we know now.

Highways and byways Over the years, we began to know Mary as a friend, and her extensive knowledge of the highways and byways of Cyprus was invaluable to us in our excursions on the island. She took us up little-known roads to hidden gems, waterfalls, villages, monasteries and wineries that we would never have found on our own. We have had many wonderful days out in the mountains and countryside around Limassol and Paphos, usually ending up in tavernas where she was on first name terms with the proprietor.

She was an intrepid adventurer, even in failing health in her later years, and was someone who lived life to the full. She will be sadly missed by all who knew her.

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Mary enriched all our lives Valerie has written this tribute to a very dear friend

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t was in 1997 that we first met Mary after reading about her in the Greek Animal Rescue magazine, as it was not just cats that Mary loved but all animals she wanted to help. The magazine had told of her work in Cyprus, so we decided to get in touch with her and that was how we met up. She saw at once that David had computer skills and she told us about Sue and Jane and asked him if he would be willing to put a magazine together, and in autumn 2005 she was on the front of edition of Cats’ Tales with two beautiful kittens.

Mary enriched our lives and when we went to Cyprus, she always took us to the orchard where the cats and kittens lived and she fed and cared for them, and was able to give her nursing skills to help the

cats. As the years went by, we went to see the site that was to be and now is the new sanctuary, and saw the foundations for the buildings going up.

Boundless knowledge We always met up with her whenever we went to Cyprus. When travelling, I sat in the back while Mary navigated and took us to remote villages and showed us all manner of interesting things. Her interests and knowledge were boundless. She knew the name of most of the trees, like the Judas tree, plants and birds and interesting facts about Cyprus, and she told us about her family life, which I enjoyed listening to as I sat in the back. She had a very happy family life with her mother and father. It was rich in the things that matter, and was full of love.

I really loved Mary. She was someone you could trust and rely on, her skills and knowledge knew no bounds, and the world has lost someone very special.

God bless you, Mary. She is sadly missed by all who knew her.

Valerie

Mary looks on as Valerie presents the cat traps from Cats in Need to Cat Snip in 2006

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Memories of Mary From Frank Garrod

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nthea and I first met Mary through our common interest in conservation and archaeology. On retiring to Cyprus, Mary initially lived in Paphos, but soon moved to Limni Mines near Polis. Despite the travel distance she would still come all the way to Episkopi to attend the monthly archaeological lectures. She loved to travel, especially to archaeological sites, and of course the annual overseas trips by the WSBA Archaeological Society were an absolute must for her. There are few countries around the Mediterranean which she has not visited. She served many years in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps, achieving the rank

of Major, and was justly proud of being selected to train prospective nursing sisters and matrons. Her medical experience made her a vital member of any trip overseas, and she was indeed our medical guru. I remember on the Egypt trip, that one of the group badly gashed her leg on a sarcophagus, right in the very depths of a pyramid. Doubts about medical care and the safety of blood transfusions abounded, but Mary stepped in and quickly took control. She personally went with the casualty to hospital and, when a blood transfusion was required, lay down on the adjacent bed to donate her own blood.

Frank and Mary with Sue and Jayne making a donation

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A passion for sea turtles

The old sanctuary

Whilst living near Polis, Mary discovered yet another passion, sea turtles, and she became a dedicated volunteer to try to save this endangered species. When Mary moved to Episkopi, she continued this passion by becoming a volunteer for Turtlewatch Akrotiri. This involved walking the beaches all night at Akrotiri during the laying season and helping out during the hatching period. Anthea quickly became her beach walking partner and of course I was eventually roped into joining the Turtlewatch Committee, thus beginning our own passions for Turtlewatch.

It would be wrong to think that the old cat sanctuary was anything like the splendid one we have today. It was in a quarter of an overgrown orchard, which we were not permitted to fence. It had no electricity, no water. No permanent buildings were permitted apart from a small derelict shed.

The group had no money and the monthly rent itself for the orchard was significant.

There were at least 100 cats/kittens and many more kittens expected either from our own cats or from being dumped.

MCPS then consisted of only about 8 feeders, some on a once-a-month basis.

The bulk of the feeding task fell to Mary, who not only fed every morning 6 days a

Dog rescue Mary’s next interest of note was in dog rescue. She always described herself as a ‘dog person’ and soon was encouraging others to take on rescued dogs. Mary had one or two dogs herself, and we, with Mary’s cajoling, had three, so it was quite a doggie party when we all met for our daily walks at Curium or Akrotiri. Then of course there was her support for the Donkey Sanctuary at Vouni and a whole host of other animal charities.

Meeting with Malcolm Back in early 1994 Mary went to a cat sanctuary outside RAF Akrotiri to help an old man care for a load of cats he was feeding there on a daily basis. That old man was of course Malcolm C.P. Stevenson. Mary had only been helping for a couple of days when suddenly Malcolm announced that he was returning to the UK for health reasons and that the cats were now all Mary’s. Horrified, Mary turned to her friends for help. A support group was quickly formed and called itself MCPS so that the initials commemorated the original work started by Malcolm all those years before.

Mary with her dog, Buster in 2008

14 She never shirked it, never passed the buck elsewhere but just did what had to be done.

Forming Cats in Need Through Mary the sanctuary came to the attention of Sue and Jayne, then initially in Jersey, but subsequently in the Isle of Man. They formed Cats In Need, Cyprus, and gave us invaluable financial support.

Water at the site was a major problem as every drop for either the cats themselves or for cleaning had to be brought on-site by the bottle load. No electricity meant no power for either tools or lighting. No fencing meant we could not prevent dogs, puppies, cats and kittens from being dumped.

Princess Gris-Gris – the all-time favourite week, but also took one of the weekend afternoon feeds. The rest of those afternoon feeds were done on a roster basis.

In those days a second feeder for any meal was a luxury we could not afford.

The veterinary aspects of the sanctuary relied very heavily upon the morning feeder. Any sick cats/kittens had to be spotted, caught and taken to the vets. Any medicines etc. had to be purchased and vet bills paid. Of course there was little money for any of it. At the height of the kitten season we would get about 400 kittens dumped, but less than a third were saveable. For any animal lover, the problem of deciding which could be saved and which needed to be put down is always very hard. Mary faced that terrible decision several times virtually every day, month in, month out over many years.

Gradually (and oh so slowly) things improved. We adapted an old metal container as a store/kitchen/office. We built compounds for sick cats, for nursing mums and for kittens. We attached a water tower to the container and Mary even persuaded the RAF Akrotiri Fire Brigade to carry out regular fire ‘practices’ at the sanctuary, which involved testing their hoses by filling our water tank. We found an old gas stove and so had the luxury of hot water. But disease continued. We no sooner cured one infection than another sick cat would be dumped and infection was rampant again. Some in the village started poisoning our cats or setting wild dogs loose in the sanctuary. For two months we mounted guards at dusk and dawn at the sanctuary to deter the attacks, but it was clear that we would have to find a new site. Once we let our intention to move be known, the attacks ceased.

A new site With the aid of the SBAA we found a new site and started to build a new sanctuary.

It took two years to build and over 2/3 of the funding came from ‘Cats In Need, Cyprus’. During this period we still had the

15 old sanctuary to run, but this had become so difficult that we were forced to move before the new one was complete. As a result disease moved with us and took several years to overcome. The new sanctuary has since blossomed and today is a sanctuary of which we can all be thoroughly proud.

Whilst there have been many who have contributed to MCPS over the years as feeders, helpers and supporters, there can be no doubt that without the selfless dedication of Mary, it would have fallen through many years ago. Not bad for a ‘dog person’!

Mary was one of the kindest and most helpful people that Anthea and I have ever known. In the QARANCs she dedicated herself to her patients and her fellow nurses. In retirement she dedicated her life to turtles, then dogs, then to cats and especially to MCPS. We were proud to have her as a friend and we will miss her terribly in the future.

Mary with her chicken breasts

My best friend Shirley Illingworth says Mary has done so much for the cats in Cyprus.

She was my best friend and I miss her but thank you for the cats’ sanctuary. She will never be forgotten.

Shirley and Mary holding kittens on Park Beach, Limassol in 2006.

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Mary holding kittens Mary celebrating her 77th birthday

Mary in the new sanctuary

Buster – one of Mary’s favourites