Welcome
to Cornwall
A worldwide link
for all those who
love Cornwall both at home and abroad.
Welcome
to Cornwallcast! The FOCS is delighted to bring you a new venture
by two of Cornwall’s most experiencedbroadcasters.
Sounds
- Voices - Events - they're all here on this exciting new page –
listen to a flavour of home direct to your computer, wherever you are!
The
offerings that follow are a small part of a huge audio archive – the
joint collections of Cornish Bards Ted Gundry and Chris Blount whose
broadcasts were regularly heard between 1970 and 2003. In some cases,
the material has not been broadcast, so you’re hearing it first here
on Cornwallcast! Some of the content forms part of the broadcasters’
productions which are available for purchase and an appropriate link
is provided.
Be
sure to tune in regularly – Cornwallcast will be updated every few
weeks. Audio files will be replaced by different pieces, or added to,
without prior notice!
Please
let us know if you would like to hear a particular subject, be it
dialect, certain events, or whatever. There’s a very good chance we
will have them gathering dust on our shelves and just dagging to be
listened to again!
What’s more…
Ted
and Chris regularly give talks to Old Cornwall Societies and others.
Here are their contact details:
Click on photo to send Ted an e-mail
Click on photo to send Chris an e-mail
From
the Chris Blount Collection
July 2010
"God's
Wonderful Railway"
This year marks the 175th anniversary of the
Great Western Railway - here we have extracts from a programme Chris
Blount made to celebrate the 150th in 1985....
Arthur Anstis on the crowds who used the
trains, Reg Hawker on the catering arrangements at Newquay, Michael
Craddick on his father's job at Liskeard and Stephen Jeffery,
Stationmaster at Chacewater...
The following video has been
loaded up to You Tube by Alan of "Steamclips" and below are
his comments that go with the film. My thanks to him for allowing me to
embed it on this site.Editor.
Proving what good teamwork can achieve in the right hands, 5029, 6024
and their crews put on a show to be proud of through Cornwall &
Devon on the return leg of this GWR celebration tour. As the warm summer
weather continues, the signal technician does me a big favour by closing
the down line at Wainsford in the Glynn valley. A new day (and a new
coal supply?) seems to have made all the difference as the pair charge
up the climb from Bodmin Parkway to Liskeard with 271 miles still to go.
After an on-time arrival and water stop at Plymouth, Hemerdon is tackled
in similar positive fashion, clothing the gallery on the bridge with a
fine covering of clag for good measure! Finally, in very difficult light
conditions and summer heat haze we see that these two wonders of GWR
design are not just climbers, but sprinters as they hit maximum
permitted speed through Stoke Canon after the Exeter stop-over. Two days
of great filming opportunities in unbelievable weather and something to
really celebrate! Thanks to all involved.
May 2010
"Obby Oss &
Flora"
Lets
us welcome in the summer with a visit to Padstow for "Obby
Oss".
Music
Charlie Bate of Padstow
sings the Morning song 25/09/ 2007
Merv Davey and Rescorla Workshop
playing "Cock in Britches" the music for a dance that
describes the story of the harvest from sowing the seeds to thrashing
the corn.
Listen 1.16
Merv Davey Collection
Music
Merv Davey and Rescorla Workshop
playing "The Broom Dance"
April is the month that we in Cornwall
celebrate the life of Richard Trevithick. The main event takes place
in Camborne on the week-end of the 24th and 25th. Below we add
our bit to the celebration with a documentary made by Chris Blount in
1989. We hope you enjoy it.
The Horses Stood Still.....(A
documentary on the life of Richard Trevithick, broadcast 29/4/89)
This
documentary was made by Chris Blount for Trevithick Day in 1989. It
includes acted scenarios written by the producer and voiced by amateur
actors and children from Penponds School.
Documentary
The Life of
Richard Trevithick Part One
Children
from Rosemellin School, Camborne and Penponds School.
Holman
Climax Male Voice Choir
History
of early steam engines before Trevithick.Boulton & Watt rivalry.
The
following three tapes are from the Ted Gundry collection with the
first being an examples of the Cornish dialect and humour in the
St Just / Pendeen area. The second item is from Mevagissey in the East
of Cornwall and the third was recorded at Delabole in the North.
Reminiscences
"The
Miners Boots"
Willie
Warren and Billie Walters of Pendeen talk about miners’ boots.Thick
accents and very entertaining!
Each
month we will feature Music from musicians / singers who live
and work in Cornwall. This month Ian Marshall from Liskeard has given
permission to place four pieces from his CD's for you to listen to.
Ian
has a number of CD's featuring mainly traditional Cornish music and some of
his own compositions and you can find them on his web site.
Music
April 24th sees the
Trevithick Celebrations in Camborne. This song sung by Ian Marshall
tells the story of the first car journey in the world. It is called
"Camborne Hill" and is taken from Ian's 24 Traditional Cornish
Songs CD.
This forth piece
was written by our Folksong and Music Recorder Merv Davey.
The work was for a Folk
Play called "Hard Rock Miner" toured by the Cornish Folk
Dance Group Cam Kernewek to the Celtic Festivals in the late 1980s -
telling the story of Hard Rock mining in Cornwall through
the medium of folk song and dance.
The
video below compliments the Trevithick tapes from Chris. Hopefully
some of you will be able to make it to Camborne for the celebrations
of the 24th of April. This video gives you a taste of what has become
a very successful event.
Documentary
Trevithick
200th anniversary celebrations in Camborne 2001
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