Tam Kernewek, and We‘Re Indebted to Her for Continuing on in the Position of 2Nd Vice President/Editor
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Tam Kernewek “ A bit of Cornish” Volume 29 Issue 3 Fall 2011 16th Gathering at Mineral Point President’s Message dent, Thomas Rusch. Tom is very proud of his Cornish blood and the son of Marvin and Fran Rusch, two pio- The 16th Gathering of Cornish Cousins is behind us neers in the founding and maintaining of the CAHS and but fresh in our minds are many great memories. the Cornish Society of Greater Milwaukee. He has been The wide varieties of topics presented in small group exposed to ―Cornishness‖ for most of his life. Tom lives sessions were interesting and thought provoking. in Watertown, WI where he teaches German, Spanish The newly renovated Opera House provided a won- and some French, and he has also taught Swedish and derful venue for the evening events. Esperanto. At this Gathering he presented ―Cornish Language 101‖ giving The Cry of Tin performed by an ensemble of the Basics on how to get started in learning the Cornish lan- Grass Valley Male Voice Choir and their director guage. Bard Eleanor Kenitzer was enthusiastically received by the audience. We‘re grateful to these great folks I‘ve known Tom for many years and am confident he will from California who put heart, soul and voice into the be an excellent president. presentation, and to Mike O‘Connor and all of the Cornwall Songwriters for permission to present this Also new to our roster of officers is Jackie powerful musical drama at our Gathering. Marrone of Denver, Colorado who has agreed to serve as secretary. Jackie, too, has a firm sense of her Cor- IONA – an outstanding Celtic band from the East nish heritage and has been a long-time member of coast – was greeted with much enthusiasm as well. CAHS and active in the Colorado Cornish as well. As always there were reunions with family, extended Please welcome these new officers! family and Cornish friends from across the continent and new friends and connections made in daily ses- Continuing as 1st Vice President is Nancy Heydt of Flori- sions, around dining tables and at all the events dur- da who is a past officer of CAHS with many years of ing the four days of the Gathering. For many cousins experience. Dick Baker of Wisconsin will continue as lodging at the Quality Inn the visiting often began at 6 historian and add materials such as newsletters to our AM over coffee and breakfast and went on all day! library and Archives held at U W – Platteville. The hard working committee who put this all together We are fortunate to have Ron Carbis continuing as Treasurer/ Membership Chairman. Ron is the guy who Cornish American Heritage Society American Heritage Cornish are unwinding and relaxing - with satisfaction in a job well done. keeps our www.cousinjack.org website up to date as well. We‘re grateful to Ron for the many jobs he does For me this was the culmination of my term as presi- and does well! He has recently completed adding dent of the Cornish American Heritage Society. I many more issues of Tam Kernewek to the Members thank you all for your support and many kindnesses. Only section of the website to make it as complete as I am happy now to introduce to you the new presi- possible. continued next page 41 President’s message con’t: A great way to review what has gone on in CAHS through the years and for new members to acquaint themselves with information about Cornwall as well. If you have questions or suggestions for the website, contact Ron. Carolyn Haines lends continuity to the quarterly newsletter, Tam Kernewek, and we‘re indebted to her for continuing on in the position of 2nd Vice President/Editor. Submit your suggestions and articles to Carolyn for possible inclusion in the newsletter. Please send them via e-mail as much as possible; it makes the editor‘s job much easier and moves produc- tion along. Oll an gwella – all the best wishes, Tommi Photo courtesy of Judy Powell. Tommi - Tom Past - Present ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Petition Calls on Government to Recognise under a European Charter, while people were able to describe themselves Cornish as a Minority as Cornish in this year‘s census. By Graeme Demianyk, London Editor The petition states: ‗There has been a policy for hundreds of years of ‗sweeping under the carpet‘ the Cornish issue. ―This petition calls for signa- Campaigners want to force the Government to officially recognize Cor- tures to raise the issue of the ‗Cornish Identity‘ in Parliament and aims to nish identity by harnessing support through a controversial ‗e-petition‘. have Cornwall recognized as a national minority.‖ Other petitions include The Government is hosting petitions on an official web-site and those the creation of a devolved government for Cornwall and reopening closed gaining more than 100,000 signatures could be debated in the House railroad lines in the South West. of Commons. Other suggested debates include keeping all Formula One races on terres- A petition entitled ‗Recognition of Cornwall as a National Minority‘ has trial television, leaving the European Union and a lower voting age. attracted 537 signatures since being published last week. Ministers have warned MP‘s not to ‗ignore‘ the public‘s suggestions. Any The ‗e-petition‘ concept has courted controversy as the return of the petition signed by more than 100,000 UK citizens goes to the cross-party death penalty headed the list of demands within hours of its launch Commons backbench business committee, which will decide whether it is earlier this month. It prompted a counter petition to halt the revival of worthy of debate. capital punishment for serious offences. This does not mean any parliamentary bills will be tabled as a result, simply The Cornish motion, submitted by Martin Noye, comes after campaign- that the matter will be discussed. ers submitted a report to ministers in June demanding Cornwall‘s dis- Leader of the House of Commons, Sir George Young, has said the thresh- tinctive culture and identity be officially recognized. old for debating an e-petition could be raised if too many reached the sig- The last Labour government refused to acknowledge the Cornish as a natures target. He said, ‗We do want to monitor it to see if we‘ve got the ‗national minority‘. This was despite signing up to a Council of Europe threshold either too high or too low.‘ convention specifically designed to protect, and promote cultural diver- The petitions can be viewed at : sity. Since that decision more than a decade ago, the case has been E-petitions.direct.gov.uk strengthened with the Cornish language being granted official status From Western Morning News, Cornwall 42 CORNISH BARDS RETURN TO BOSCAWEN-U’N By Colin Roberts (Mab Sen Kolomm) 83 years ago the Modern Cornish Gorsedd was established at the ancient stone circle at Boscawen-U’n in far West Cornwall. On Sunday 26 June 2011, the nearest Sunday to mid-summer this year, Bards again assembled to celebrate a new observance, the Mid Summer Awen ceremony. The Awen is the symbol for the Cornish Gorsedd, as it is for the Welsh and Gorseddhau and represents three rays descending to the earth. Forty-two Bards and a similar number of supporters travelled to Bos- cawen-U’n, a sacred site to the Cornish, to celebrate a new Bardic ceremony with a 3-fold aim - to return to our ancient roots, to demon- strate the position of Gorsedh Kernow in fostering and promoting Cornish Culture, and to reinforce the links of the Awen through man- kind (represented by body, heart and spirit), planet Earth (land, sea and air) and the interaction between the two (wisdom, truth and love). An gewer o Splann! The weather was splendid! Grand Bard, Mick Paynter (Skogynn Pryv), spoke profoundly in Cornish Language, calling for peace and reciting the Gorsedd Prayer with the Bards, reinforcing the im- portance of Love, Nature and Goodness. Next, invoking the voices of the forefathers, he summoned those present to be true to Cornwall. Then, two elders and two young from the local community entered the stone circle whereby the spirit of the Awen was invoked as a carved wooden 'Book of Life' was passed from the elders to the young, symbolising the passing on of wisdom and knowledge. The Gorsedd Hymn, Bro Goth Agan Tasow, was sung by all and again calls went up from Bardh Meur for peace before the Bards processed from the circle. Bards and supporters later met at the St Buryan Village Hall for traditional pasty and tea. All agreed that this new ceremony had been a great success and will be continued annually at Mid Summer. The resonance of language was due to the input of language poets, on invitation from Bardh Meur. Howard Curnow (Kernow) was acknowledged for having the inspiration for creating the ceremony and organis- ing the event. Also Rod Lyon (Tewennow) for shaping the cere- mony and Bardh Meur for conducting it with such dignity. Each year it is planned to move the ceremony around Cornwall, as with the main Gorsedd Ceremony. However this first one had to back where it started 83 years ago – at Boscawen-U’n. 43 Correspondence from Societies and Received from the Welsh Lady, Cheryl Cousin Jack Website Mitchell [email protected] myCornwall Specials Go online, enter www.myCornwall.tv, enter HOME at the left, Photo belonged to the and you may see a series of TV 5-minute programs about the late Ted Chapman. It chough‘s 10-year anniversary of having returned to Cornwall was probably taken in with lots of lovely pictures, a lesson in Cornish, a Falmouth Fes- Wales in the 1960‘s.