Helena Sanders née Charles (16 April 1911 – 14 June 1997) was a Cornish humanitarian, cultural activist, politician and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

. Sanders was the founder of the political party,

Mebyon Kernow Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall (, MK; Cornish for ''Sons of Cornwall'') is a Cornish nationalist, centre-left political party in Cornwall, in southwestern Britain. It currently has five elected councillors on Cornwall Council, and s ...

, in 1951. She was also well known for her feline welfare efforts in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

Biography

Sanders was born in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. Her mother died when she was three. In the 1920s she worked in the slums of

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, she joined the

London Ambulance Service The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS) is an NHS trust responsible for operating ambulances and answering and responding to urgent and emergency medical situations within the London region of England. The service responds to 999 phone cal ...

. She organised assistance for displaced members of the population of

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

and also Jewish refugees during and after the war. She graduated from Oxford in 1948 and by 1949 she became the Cornish representative on the Central Committee of European Communities and Regions. In 1950, she organised a group of actors to perform the play '' Bewnans Meriasek'' in Cornish at the Celtic Congress. It was performed in several places in Cornwall and was Cornwall's entry to the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

. Sanders was the first leader of the Cornish political party

(MK), founded by herself in January 1951. Sanders felt that

Cornish culture The culture of Cornwall ( kw, Gonisogeth Kernow) forms part of the culture of the United Kingdom, but has distinct customs, traditions and peculiarities. Cornwall has many strong local traditions. After many years of decline, Cornish culture h ...

was being destroyed. She went on to lead the party for four years. Sanders was the also the first person to put MK policies to the electorate when she won a seat on Camborne–Redruth Urban District Council in 1953. Her slogan was 'A Square Deal for the Cornish.' Sanders had a more "separatist" agenda than others in the party, which led to divisions within the group. She was succeeded as Chairman of MK by Major Cecil Beer in 1957. Bernard Deacon, Dick Cole,

Garry Tregidga Garry Harcourt Tregidga is a Cornish academic, director of the Institute of Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall, UK, and editor of the journal '' Cornish Studies''. He lives in Bugle, near St Austell, an ...

, ''Mebyon Kernow and Cornish Nationalism'', Welsh Academic Press, 2003. Sanders also founded and served as editor for ''New Cornwall'', a monthly magazine effectively serving as the voice of Mebyon Kernow. She was interested in the governing structure of the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

as a potential model for Cornwall and sympathized with other Celtic nationalist and separatist movements. She became a member of

Gorseth Kernow Gorsedh Kernow (Cornish Gorsedd) is a non-political Cornish organisation, based in Cornwall, United Kingdom, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall. It is based on the Welsh-based Gorsedd, which was founded by Iolo Morg ...

under the Bardic name of ''Maghteth Boudycca'' ('Daughter of Boudicca') at Trethevy Quoit in 1953. She organised residential courses in the Cornish language, where

Richard Gendall Professor Richard Roscow Morris "Dick" Gendall (12 April 1924 – 12 September 2017) was a British expert on the Cornish language. He was the founder of "Modern Cornish"/''Curnoack Nowedga'', which split off during the 1980s. Whereas Ken George ma ...

and Tony Snell met and wrote

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

in the language. She married sculptor, Guy Sanders, in 1959. She went to

in 1964 and, saddened by the large number of emaciated stray cats in the city she co-founded the Dingo charity to work for the

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

of the feral cats. The name of the charity came from co-founder, Mabel Raymonde Hawkin's dog, who was also named Dingo. Their work in Venice wasn't always understood, with some Venetians misunderstanding their intentions. Eventually, Sanders and Hawkins were able to educate residents about the cats and how to improve their living conditions. Some strays were killed due to health issues and others were

neutered Neutering, from the Latin ''neuter'' ('of neither sex'), is the removal of an animal's reproductive organ, either all of it or a considerably large part. The male-specific term is castration, while spaying is usually reserved for female animals. C ...

with the consent of Venetian authorities. Sanders and Hawkins were the first people in Italy to use the process of trap-neuter-return (TNR) to control cat populations. Her husband, Guy, became a licensed

gondolier The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, ...

to help raise money for Dingo. Sanders also founded the Cornwall Christian Fellowship for Animals and the Cornwall Cat Rescue Group. For her work in Venice she was made a Knight of St Mark. When her husband died in 1985, she moved to Haddenham. She worked on her autobiography towards the end of her life and died on 14 June 1997.

Legacy

A television show about Sanders' efforts to rescue cats in

aired on the Discovery Channel. A book, by Frank Wintle, ''Helena Sanders and the Cats of Venice: The Story of a Remarkable Woman'' was published in 1989. The Dingo charity continued to look after colonies of cats in Venice after Sanders' death. Dingo has helped bring the number of stray cats in Venice down from 12,000 to 2,000.

Publications

*''What is home rule?'' (New Cornwall pamphlet No.1) Redruth: New Cornwall, a. 1953*''New Cornwall'' - a political magazine. Founded by Richard Gendall in 1952; edited by Helena Charles; from 1956 edited by Richard and Ann Jenkin

References

External links

Elderly Women Rescue Cats in Venice (1960s video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Helena 1911 births 1997 deaths Bards of Gorsedh Kernow Cornish-speaking people Cornish language Politicians from Cornwall Cornish nationalists Cornish language activists Mebyon Kernow politicians Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom 20th-century English politicians Alumni of the University of Oxford People from Kolkata 20th-century English poets English humanitarians Women humanitarians British founders Italian women company founders Founders of charities Animal welfare workers 20th-century British women writers British political party founders