HOME
SHOP
CALENDAR
Contact
----------------------------------
Welcome
Cornish
Anthem
What
we stand for
About
the Societies
Contacting
a Society
And
News
from the Societies
Journals
& Booklets
Index
to Journals
Societies
Published
Books
Recent
Events
Protecting
& Reviving Traditions
Cornish
Castles Gazetteer
Culture
The Fun
Pages
Christmas
Pages
Notes
& Queries Forum
From
the archives
Terry's
Teaser
 Bits
& Pieces
Old
Postcards
Museums
in Cornwall
Do
you know Cornwall?
Crossword
Puzzles
Old
Postcard Jigsaws
Send
a Cornish E-card
Dialect
Tales & Yarns
Dialect
Quiz No.1
Dialect
Quiz No.2
Dialect
Quiz No.3
Poetry
Page
Chough
Jokes
Cartoons
Family
History Links
The Links Page
|
|
Recent Events
Banners parade at the 2007 Winter festival held at
Wadebridge.
Summer Gathering at Penzance 2006. Photo by Glyn
Richards
Federation
Summer Festival 2006
By Frank Ruhrmund
Thanks
to Frank Ruhrmund and The Cornishman for permission to reprint this
article
With
banners held high, members of Old Cornwall Societies from all parts of
the county, from Saltash to St Just, 35 in total, packed St John's Hall,
Penzance, for the annual assembly of the Federation of Old Cornwall
Societies. Hosted by Ludgvan, Madron, Penzance, St Buryan and St Just
societies the federation was welcomed to the town by the mayor, Dennis
Axford, and the chairman of Penwith District Council, Irene Bailey.
A minute's silence was held in memory of the many
men from Cornwall who, 90 years ago, had fallen during the battles of
the Somme in the First World War.
This was followed by an address in Cornish and
English by the Grand Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd, Rod Lyon, who, while
bravely admitting that he is not actually a member of an OCS, praised
the activities of the federation and, at the same time, urged them to go
out into the field and help preserve those features of the county that
are in danger of disappearing.
Also speaking in Cornish and English, the
president of the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, the Rev Brian
Coombes, proudly carrying a chough, albeit a plastic one, congratulated
Penzance OCS on having reached its 80th birthday and drew attention to
the recently published Looking at Penzance, by Margaret Perry, which, on
the day, was on offer at a specially reduced price.
Pointing out the special role played by the Old
Cornwall Societies in preserving Cornish culture, he emphasised the need
for defending Cornish integrity, for promoting and nurturing its present
role as well as its past, and of the importance of its place in the
world, referring to the fact there were representatives present from the
Cornish Associations of London, Torbay and New South Wales, Australia.
The local Old Cornwall Societies presented an
absorbing archival exhibition of people and places in Penwith - from a
picture of Geevor's Mine Moggies, Basil and Skraggs, to the Georgian
Theatre in Penzance: from the Levant Mine disaster of 1919 when 31 men
lost their lives, to a look at Lamorna's Maids of the Mills with their
brother Sampson who had a wooden leg: from local historian Jim Hosking
photographed with film stars Dustin Hoffman and Susan George during the
shooting of Straw Dogs at St Buryan to the restoration of Tregellast
Well by Ludgvan OCS.
They also organised a series of pilgrimages, by
coach and with historical commentaries, to St Buryan, St Just and Zennor,
and long and short walks around Penzance, plus a slide show in St John's
Hall by Margaret Orchard of photographs of old Penzance and Penwith.
With pasties, saffron buns and "cups of tay",
on the menu, not forgetting the singing of Trelawny at tea-time, this
colourful, good-humoured, all-Cornish day served as a reminder of the
tremendous amount of valuable work carried out in the county by the
various Old Cornwall Societies.
When the first OCS was founded, 86 years ago at St
Ives, it adopted as its motto, "Kyntelleugh an brewyon es gesys, na
vo kellys travyth" - "Gather ye the fragments that are left,
that nothing be lost."
It should be remembered that the Old Cornwall
Societies are still gathering those fragments and are still eager to
ensure that nothing gets lost.
To further their work new members are needed, in
particular, young ones - the "old" in their title refers to
Cornwall and not to their members.
|
bravenet.com