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The officers of the Madron Society are:-

President: Mr Donald Liddicoat

Hon. Chairman Mr. R Matthews

Vice Chairman: Mrs A Jenkin

Hon. Secretary / Treasurer Mrs. M Mannering 

e-mail : rosevean2[at]btinternet.com  replace [at] with @

Programme Secretary Mrs Hilary Bawden

e-mail jeanhilary[at]hotmail.com  replace [at] with @

Recorder Mr. Roy Blewett

Dialect recorder: Hilary Bawden

Press & Publicity Tom Herbert - Pz 350977 

Committee

Vice Presidents Mrs. E Green

Publications 

Hon. Life Member

General & Refreshments: Mrs Davy, and her team.

Past Presidents:

Archie Richards 2004 -2006, John Uren 2008 - 2010,

Rev Philip Williams 2010 - 2012.

85th birthday celebrations

Members of St Buryan, St Just, Penzance, Ludgvan, Hayle, Redruth and St Agnes societies, together with the New Honorary President Terry Knight and his wife, Anne, joined us for our 85th Birthday Party.

  The picture shows our Honorary President, John Uren, being helped to cut the celebration cake  by ex-Honorary Presidents Archie Richards and Pat Snow.

Mrs Margaret Orchard, Myrgh Maddern, was made an Honorary Member of the Society and we were entertained with Cornish music by the Matthews Family of Heamoor who had everybody's feet tapping with a marvellous melody of music.  Ken Cargeeg had us in fits of laughter with his so called true stories of some of the society.

Of course, being Madron, we had a pasty supper and a pile of chatter before the Rev Tim Hawkins brought the evening to a close with a vote of thanks and a blessing.

Crying The Neck - A Harvest Celebration

Click to see photos

On Friday the 1st September at  6.30pm the Madron Old Cornwall Society held a "Crying the Neck" ceremony at Boswarthen Farm, Madron. The banners of both Madron (Doreen King) and Penzance (Burt Prigg) Societies were paraded. 

The M.C. was Don Liddicoat, Vice Chairman of Madron Old Cornwall Society and the hymns were accompanied by Penzance Silver Band. 

The first hymn was "Praise the Lord! Ye heavens adore him".

This was followed by a prayer which Pat Snow read in Cornish with the English translation being read by Pastor Russell Buley of Trenere Chapel, Madron. 

Don Liddicoat then gave an explanation of the ceremony.

'The standing corn was then cut by Mr. Tony Jenkin. After the last cut was made Mr. Jenkin then gathered and bound the corn into shocks and then arranged them into stooks. 

The last of the shocks is called 'the neck' and this was raised on high by Tony Jenkin who cried:

"I hav'n; I hav'n; I hav'n."

Everyone then cried together:

"What  hav'ee; what hav'ee; what hav'ee?

Tony then replied:

"A neck; a neck, a neck." and the crowd gave three hearty cheers.

The ceremony was then repeated in Cornish.

Tony: "Ma genef; ma genef; ma genef. "

All present: "Pandr' us genes;  pandr' us genes; pandr' us genes? 

Tony: " Pedn yar; pend yar; pedn yar. "

All present gave three hearty cheers.

The final hymn was then sung "We plough the fields and scatter" followed by the closing prayer.

The ceremony was followed by a service in Madron Chapel with Pastor Russell Buley conducting the service and giving the lesson. 

This was in turn followed by a traditional pasty supper.

The ceremony was led by  (L.to R.) Pat Snow (Cornish Prayer), Tony Jenkin (Reaper), Don Liddicoat (M.C.) and Mr Russell Buley (English Prayer) 

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Photos by Sandra and George Pritchard

Click on one to see enlarged version.

All Gods Gifts

                      The last cut                 Tying the shock         Building the Stock

I hav'n 

Enjoyed by all the family.

Pasty supper enjoyed by all.

Thanks to all the backroom staff. only some of whom are in the photo.

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A revised booklet on the 'Crying The Neck' ceremony with a colour cover and the words of the celebration of harvesting the final sheath of corn for the season in both English and Cornish can be obtained from:

Publications Officer, F.O.C.S., Map Tewen, 6, The Terrace, Pentewan, St Austell, Cornwall, PL26 6DE.

Price £1. Please add £1-00. post & packing to each book in the U.K. Elsewhere price on request.

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