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Federation
of Old Cornwall Societies Newsletter
No 3 Winter 2008 |
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Firstly,
we wish you all a very happy and successful 2008.
This, the third Federation Newsletter, contains news of a number of
important matters, and so we ask Secretaries to try to make sure that as
many members as possible have a chance to read it. The
Newsletter is produced in print in modest numbers, but Societies can
photocopy it produce as many copies as they wish, and those with access to
a computer with an internet connection can print it off from the
Federation’s website – www.oldcornwall.org .
For those who do not have a computer at home, remember that the
local Library Service offers a half-hour’s free use of its PCs and, if
you don’t happen to possess a handy child to help (!) there are ‘Study
Support Officers’ at some branches who can help you to get you started.
This
newsletter is where your Old Cornwall Society can let others in the
movement know what you are doing. So let us have your news for publication
in the next Newsletter, which will be published in the Summer. It is also
for keeping you informed about what the Federation is doing and planning
for the future. Our
thanks to those who have provided copy for this issue. Records and Recording
Stratton
Carols Exciting Find.
Audrey
Aylmer, Recorder of Bude, Stratton & District O.C.S.
tells us that as a result of a Cornish Christmas Evening, which included
carols and readings from the Societies, records two ladies have came
forward with two old Stratton carols which were unknown to her and others
in the Society. The Society were so pleased with the response to the
evening that they are planning to make it a regular event and hope to
include the two newly discovered carols in their next Christmas Evening. Folk
Songs and Music Recorder Mrs
Eileen Spry, who has worked so hard on the Federation’s behalf trying to
persuade members to ‘gather the fragments’ of our musical heritage,
decided not to seek re-election at the AGM.
Our sincere thanks and good wishes go to her.
Once
again we have been fortunate in that Mrs Barbara Baldock of the St Austell
OCS has offered to take on this office for the Federation, and we are
pleased to welcome her. Preservation
Work St Austell OCS members have recently completed work on the
restoration of Roche Well in co-operation with Cornwall Council’s
Historic Environment Service. A
full account of this will appear in the Spring 2008 Old
Cornwall. Events February: Hurling Bill
Glanville of St Columb Old Cornwall has asked us to
remind you that this year’s Hurling will take place on Shrove Tuesday, February
5th from about 4:00pm and again on Saturday 16th
February. St
Ives Hurling will take place the day before on Feast Monday, February 4th
commencing at 10:30am March:
The Federation Spring Meeting Our
President, Ron
Opie invites you all to come
along to the Spring meeting. This will take place at County Hall Truro, on
Saturday 1st March commencing at 2:00pm. Free parking is
available. March:
St Piran Celebrations Each
year the events to celebrate Cornwall’s patron Saint get better and
better and Ray
Helson, Secretary of Bodmin Old
Cornwall Society has sent a copy of their programme for the day.
This can be found on the St Piran page of the Federation web site. If
your Society is planning, or helping at an event please send details to
George Pritchard at 2, Penhalvean Cottages, Penhalvean, TR16 6TQ or by
e-mail to george(at)penhalvean.freeserve.co.uk
(replace (at) with @ in email address.) so that we can advertise it on the website. June: Royal Cornwall Show The
Federation will be ‘on show’ at the Show again in 2008.
Sharing a marquee with heritage and historical bodies like the
Cornwall Record Office, Cornwall Family History Society, and Cornwall
Heritage Trust, Old Cornwall will be doing its best to promote its aims
and objectives under the experienced eye of Bill Glanville. July: Summer Festival Callington
Old Cornwall Society has invited the Federation to hold its summer
gathering in the town on Saturday July 5th.
Secretary Barbara Shaw
tells us that the Society are looking forward to hosting the event and
that a programme will be provided on the Callington web page in due
course. September:
Gorseth One
of the spectacles of the event is the display of Old Cornwall Society
banners in the parade to and from the bardic circle.
The new “Banners” book reveals their splendour and it is an
excellent way to advertise our existence as an organisation.
It would be wonderful indeed if every one of our Societies could be
represented at the Gorseth ‘flying the flag’.
How about it? October: AGM The
Federation’s AGM, which will be at County Hall, is open to all members
(although only two from any Society are entitled to vote).
This is another chance to meet friends, make new ones, and to learn
what the organisation has been and will be doing. November: Winter Festival After our spell of holding the Winter Festivals at
Wadebridge we have been invited by the Bodmin OCS to hold this year’s
celebrations at Bodmin Community College, Lostwithiel Road, Bodmin. It
will take place on Saturday 1st November starting at 2-0pm.
There will be lots of space to park free of charge.
Incidentally, the
remarks about the banners in the Gorseth paragraph above apply equally
here, and it is so disappointing in the role call of Societies when a
Society is called and no one is present.
Remember, all members are welcome. Note.
In the Old Cornwall Journal No.5
(April 1927) A report on the 1927 Winter Festival held in January says:
“The most notable feature of this was perhaps the performance of some
dialect plays that were specially written for the occasion.” In Journal
No.9 there is an article on a Cornish Three Men’s Song, which says that it was performed in
Cornish by members of the St Ives OCS at the Winter Festival, which had
been held in Penzance. Publications Honorary
Publications Officer The
last Newsletter reported the resignation of Robert Evans after 20 year’s
loyal service with our publications.
Fortunately Mrs Anne Knight, wife of the Federation’s Deputy
President, offered to take on the role and she was elected to that office
at the AGM in October. Mrs
Knight will be known to regular users of the Courtney Library at the Royal
Institution of Cornwall, where she works as a Cataloguer two days per
week. Anne
can be contacted at Wingfield, 5 British Road, St Agnes, TR5 0TX; tel
01872-552921. New
Publications One
of the most significant events of late 2007 for Old Cornwall members was
the appearance of Banners of the Old
Cornwall Societies, researched and written by David Stark, the
Chairman of St Austell Old Cornwall Society, with ample assistance from
his wife Carol (who is Secretary of the Society) and published by the
Federation. This
wonderful record of our emblems has been nicely produced with good colour
illustrations of every banner. It sells for the ludicrously low price of
£3.00 so that every member can obtain a copy without undue financial
strain. It is
obtainable from the Hon. Publications Officer but NOT through shops (they
take 40% and the distributor 22.5%). In
the Autumn Michael Tangye, Archaeological Recorder for the Federation and
Recorder of Redruth Old Cornwall Society produced his splendid new book
about Cadgwith and Poltesco, “Once ‘twas serpentine and fish”.
It was published by the Federation and is selling well.
It can be obtained through the local book trade, and is priced at
just £7.95 - another bargain price.
Like the Banners book, it can be obtained by members from Mrs
Knight. Online
Bookshop A
very recent innovation is the facility to buy the Federation’s
publications online with the establishment of our own ‘shop’ – www.shop.oldcornwall.org
(also linked from the main website, address above). So supporters and members, whether resident in
Cornwall or not, can purchase from us (with PayPal or credit card
payments). We
hope that it will generate income to support our publications programme,
an integral part of our objectives as a charitable organisation. Old
Cornwall members and their publications The
Federation is offering members who have published their own books but who
do not have an agreement with a commercial distributor the opportunity to
sell them via the Federation.
It usually runs a stall at its Summer and Winter Festivals, the
Royal Cornwall Show, and the Gorseth in September, and is hoping to do so
at other suitable events. More significantly perhaps, its online shop
offers an outlet not so easily available to individual member-publishers.
The Federation would expect to receive just 20% of the cover price
(which will be added to its publications fund), considerably less than the
trade requires. The
online shop will offer books, journals, CDs of older FOCS publications,
leaflets, badges, and other items for sale as well as back issues of the
journal. If
you are interested, please contact Mrs Knight. NB.
For those wishing to display books on Federation bookstalls, please
make sure they are provided in advance, as only items received for sale
beforehand will be displayed. Society
requests for additional books, journals, etc Mrs
Knight asks Society Officers who wish to collect quantities of books,
journals, serviettes, badges etc from her at Festivals and other events to
contact her in good time before the event.
On the day, it can be too busy to be distracted writing invoices
which could have been prepared in advance and in any case extra stock may
have to be collected from storage. Storage
and the Federation Following
Mr Evans’s resignation, it became urgent to find storage for the books,
journals, laminator, sales gazebo and tables he had kindly stored during
his tenure. In
discussions it became clear that this was a matter for serious
consideration – Mr Andrew Langdon was also storing several hundred
books; and the Editor several hundred journals; and Mr Stark was storing
the Federation’s promotional A-frame. With the ambition of producing more books, the problem
looked likely to get worse.
It was also undesirable that Federation’s property should be held
by any one individual member without ready and free access to one or two
other named representatives. Additionally
the need for a secure and dry facility was paramount and a preferred
location in the Truro-Redruth area for the Hon. Publications Officer’s
convenience of regular access. Nevertheless
the fact that the cost of storage has to be met from Federation’s
resources is a matter for constant review.
If any member is in a position to offer free (or cheap!) storage
meeting the criteria mentioned above, then do please contact Mrs Knight
who can bring it to the Publication’s Sub-committee for consideration. Members’
Competition Members
will recall that the Federation used to hold an annual Essays Competition.
Enthusiasm for this waned and it ceased a few years ago.
We wish to try an alternative idea of a competitive project.
This is directed at Societies more than individuals (although no
one would be excluded) and we are hoping that, in line with our stated
objective to ‘gather the fragments’, this year teams of members will
work together to amass research and reminiscences on the theme of “The
War in Our Area” and produce a Project File which can be added to the
Federation’s collection at the Courtney Library.
The winning Society would hold the trophy for one year.
If suitable, publication of the results in part or whole would be a
possibility. More
information can be obtained from the website. The
Competition will run until Saturday 31st January 2009 and
entries should be submitted to: Mr
David Stark, Orchard Lodge, London Apprentice, St Austell, PL26 7AR:
Tel 01726-75423.
Harold Barriball Many Old Cornwall members will be distressed to learn that
the Federation’s former Treasurer, Harold Barriball, passed away just
after New Year. All who
knew him thought warmly of him and his work for Cornwall was unstinting,
especially through Wadebridge Old Cornwall Society of which he was
Chairman. This was
recognised by the Cornish Gorseth in 2006 when he was made a Bard – Map
Egloskerry. Summer
Newsletter Please send any items for inclusion in the next Newsletter to the FOCS Webmaster, George Pritchard, 2 Penhalvean Cottages, Penhalvean, Redruth, TR15 6TQ; email
george(at)penhalvean.freeserve.co.uk,
or to the Editor Terry Knight, Wingfield, 5 British Road, St Agnes, TR5
0TX; email
knight(at)wingfield5.fsnet.co.uk
. April: The Federation Spring Tour The 2008 Tour is to North Wales, from
27th April to 2nd May, staying at the All Seasons
Hotel, Llandudno – 6 days, 5 nights at hotel (half-board).
Price £295.00 per person, plus £15.00 travel insurance – if
required. The price
includes travel by luxury coach and services of an experienced
driver/courier. There is no supplement for single rooms but at present all
have been booked; there are
twins and doubles available (supplement payable for single
occupation of same). There
is a waiting list for single rooms if a cancellation occurs. Excursions
and visits include Beaumaris Castle (fee extra), National Slate Museum,
Llanberis, Plas Newydd (NT), day at leisure in Llandudno, The Marble
Church nr Rhyl, etc. Pick-up
points: Penzance, Truro, St
Columb, Bodmin, Liskeard, Saltash, Launceston.
Please
contact Terry Knight at knight(at)wingfield5.fsnet.co.uk
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