Monday May 16th 2011

Hi Chicks, mother calling.
St.Ives OCS's final meeting included the AGM, where it was revealed that the sesson ended with 110 members and 30 visitors, a great result. A cup donated by the Gorseddh to the society for awarding to a worthy young person, was presented by Grand Bard Mick Paynter to 8 year old Rebecca Couch from the town, who wrote an impressive folio of work which will be displayed in the Library. William Barber has resigned after 7 years service as president, to be succeeded by Elaine Pearce with Mandy Boyd as Vice, while the committee was re-elected en bloc. Congratulations to a recent speaker, David Chapman, who has been named as International Garden Photographer of the Year. Best wishes to our sister societies who we hope are doing as well as us ----- so far ! Keep up the good work ! 
M.Q 

Monday April 18th 2011

Mother calling, hello chicks,

In spite of several other events taking place, the Society’s April meeting was well attended in fine weather. President William Barber referred to the planned outings, and the forthcoming May Day parade, which he hoped would be well supported by members. William then introduced the guest speaker, David Chapman, renowned photographer of wild life, and author of several books; he has received many awards for his work, the most recently published book describes a walk on the coastal footpath near the Lizard. Born in Blackpool, David removed to Cornwall as a teacher, but soon his life-long interest in wildlife meant that he devoted his time to it. After meeting his wife, the couple purchased a small holding near Townshend, 5 acres of land ideal for various habitats that eventually contained a small number of animals and bird hides, perfect for photographing all aspects of British wildlife and its surroundings. 
Developing his photographic skills has led David to capture intimate slides of animals and birds and their environments. The first slide showed running streams near Boscastle as David explained how these, allied to the river, became the disastrous flood that wrecked so much of the town. On the nearby cliffs many breeding birds are found, including guillemots and razor-bills, all very prone to oiling. Here also are fulmars, or foul-gulls, so called because of their defensive vomiting. Slides of all these were shown and explained, as were many ferns and butterflies. Pentires’s Rump Point is home to puffins, subject to raiding rats and skuars. One slide showed a puffin with a mouth full of fish being dragged by its tail from a burrow by a skua, until it dropped its catch in order to save its life. David explained that puffins first catch one fish, then has an anchoring method of arranging its jaws to enable it to secure a mouthful of fish one at a time At Minister Church, many rare horseshoebats , so called from the shapes of their mouths, eat dung beetles. At Pentire Headland, Polly Jock is the National Trusts’ cove of poppies, [three sorts ] flowers, snapdragons and mosses. 
On Gossmore, the Wildlife Trust protects the insect eating sundew on peaty ground as well as the marsh fritillary on the coast; here the dormouse sleeps from October to May , then hibernating lightly in between times, a wonderful shot of a curled up animal was shown. 
At Upton Towans, now safe from dynamite, butterflies and skylarks can be seen and heard , as well as herring gulls, turnstones and starlings, while along the coast are cormorants and seals. At Kynance cove with its serpentine, 5 species of Crane’s Bill can be found, while special breeds of wheatear are increasing.
This was a wonderful show of wildlife, with professional and intimate photography by a master of his craft. There were many wonderful shots all explained in detail to a very appreciative audience, with many questions answered by David, who used the minimum of notes. He was thanked by William, then went on to draw the raffle, followed by the singing of Trelawny. 
The last meeting of the present session will be on Monday October 17, the AGM, when Brian will continue his series of talks on ‘Gathering up the Fragments’. All are welcome 
M.Q 

Monday January 18th 2011

In spite of the tremendous downpour, a large audience of members and vistors helped to celebrate the Society’s 91^st birthday, beginning with the singing of Trelawny. President William Barber welcomed everyone, with special thanks to those who had donated such an abundance of food. Our invited guest was Andrew Langdon, former vice president of the Federation, now its Archaeology Recorder.

As was appropriate on members’ night , it was a chance for them to present their party pieces. First on the programme was Emileen Williams with the dialect poem, ‘Chressmass Curls’ that brought memories of the old carols from local composers and their colourful references to the Nativity, sung mainly by choirs in the streets. Next, Mary Quick and Brian Stevens held a speculative dialect conversation written by Mary concerning the activities of ‘That Man Agen ’ and his seven wives based on the old rhyme, ‘As I Was Going to St.Ives’ . The number of kitts and catswas found to be 2774 ! The usual quiz was devised by Janet Axten; the theme was ‘shops’ and teams were formed to watch slides of very old premises, to answer where they were situated and what replaced them. This was a difficult test as many local shops change hands so quickly, but with 36 points at stake, the results were better than might have been expected. The winning group was ‘Linda’s Lovelies’ with a score of 22, and it was suitably rewarded, while other groups were not too far behind. After the marking, Janet showed slides of the modern day premises, causing some surprise and discussion.

Andrew Langdon, expert on Cornish Crosses, gave an interesting account of how over the years he has renovated, re-sited and discovered many of these. Instrumental in restoring the cross at Penbeagle a few years ago, he was recently responsible for the restoration, last December, of a hedge in Church Lane, Lelant where its cross was in danger of collapsing. All of his work demands much red tape, insisted upon by Societies that protect ancient monuments, and he was warmly thanked for such dedication.

Dee and Dave Brotherton brought their instruments along to cheer us with music and song. Dee sang a song in Kernewek, { Cornish language } of which she is a student, then a lament for the decline of mining and fishing, which left many Cornishmen without work ---- ‘What can Cornish lads do ?’, a song which is becoming popular. An amusing reading by Sheila Griffiths revealed a teacher’s experiences of 5 school Nativity plays ; with small children being so unpredictable, much laughter was aroused at some of the unscripted remarks ! Margaret Bates followed with a humorous tale concerning a modern day Noah who decided to build an ark in his back garden, even though it stood in a desert ! He then set about acquiring the animals needed, so much so that his neighbours were convinced that they had been robbed. His predicted flood duly arrived, and later, having made sure that it had safely receded, released his collection; which was as well, for it seems the inclusion of wood-worms meant they had already made inroads into the hull !

The last item was a poem from Elaine Pearce concerning her Granda who left his native Wales in search of work. Finding it in West Cornwall, he married a local lass and they raised a daughter, who after her own marriage took a trip to his birthplace, where he had been a choir boy. On a particular occasion he had orders to guard the church entrance, forbidding anyone to leave. However, Mrs. Moorshead, heeding nature’s call, pleaded to be let out at once, but was refused, so an unfortunate accident took place. Having heard the story, his daughter and her husband were keen to meet the lady, and calling at her small shop in the village made themselves known to the embarrassed owner. Acknowledging that she had known the gentleman, she said she wanted to give him a present, and if the couple returned next day, it would be ready for them. This they did, wondering what was in the package, as did Granda, who, upon opening it, found an unfortunate reminder -- a tin of Epsom Salts!

Andrew then drew the raffle, and William thanked all who had made this such a varied and memorable evening, which no doubt was much enjoyed by those attending, before inviting everyone to partake of the splendid amount of food on offer, which needed 2 large tables to accommodate it !

                                                                    Mary Quick