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Lyther Nowodhow - Newsletter - of the Cornish Association of NSW - No. 377 - November / December, 2018 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Committee News:. 'Renumber Clause 16 as 176 Bank account at 31/10/18 bal: $9,046.37 If you wish to have another copy of the Rules “It was great to have 23 members and friends prior to the meeting, the document is available at our lunch on 21 November! I wish all our to print or download from our web site at: members, and their families, a very Australian & Cornish Christmas and now look forward to h p:11members.optusnet.com.au10evrenor1 seeing you at our AGM and St Piran’s lunch on canswrul.pdf 2 March. Please keep the date free!“ Joy Dunkerley, President You and your ideas are always welcome Our Lending & Research Library Committee Meeting held 5 November: Most Our librarian, Eddie Lyon, has stepped down nd of us met, for the 2 time in 2018 and from the role due to a pending tree-change discussion covered: minutes and move. The material has been relocated, and we correspondence, reports from the office bearers will bring you more information later. (incl. a provisional financial report for the year), discussion on the future program, including the AGM and St Piran’s Lunch and on a proposal from the Secretary for Rule changes. NOTICE OF AGM The full listing of books has been on the CANSW web site for some time. The direct page link to Members are hereby informed that our Annual view is: General Meeting will be held on Saturday 2 http://members.optusnet.com.au/~kevrenor/ March, 2019, at Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, canswlib5_alpha.xls Ryedale Road West Ryde. [To ensure that the booked time is not Past Events exceeded, the meeting will commence sharp at 10:30 - shortly after the club opens for entry at Visit of Howard Curnow, Bard 10am]. In October, our old friend Howard Curnow The agenda includes minutes from 2018, receipt visited Sydney as part of a trip to Australia and and acceptance of reports of Officers for the NZ. He and his wife Elizabeth caught up with Committee, election of new Committee, and Betty Bevins and her daughter Jacqui Grogan Celtic Council reps, proposals for consideration, (below). members forum (if time). Proposals for consideration must be with the Committee no later than one calendar month prior to the AGM. One proposal has already been received – from the Secretary. The proposal for consideration is: “Suggested rule changes for consideration by the AGM ... "Amend Clause 4.3: The minimum number shall be [insert four (4) in place of nine (9 )]" [note this refers to the Commi ee elected, and maximum stays at 12 and power to coopt remains]. 'Insert New clause 16: 'Notwithstanding all End of year / Christmas Lunch previous clauses . communica/on with members, 21 November mee/ngs, and other ac/vi/es may be underta0en Twenty three (23) members and friends met using current electronic, digital, audio and1or visual together for lunch together at Circular Quay. communica/ons2 and in dispersed loca/ons3." Page 2 No. 377 – November / December, 2018 Lyther Nowodhow - Newsletter - of the Cornish Association of NSW - No. 377 - November / December, 2018 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ There certainly was no shortage of chat, and the food seemed to go down well. Lovely to see our most senior – Betty Bevins, and Lorna Stephens along. Thanks to those who brought them as well. Eddie & Elieen Lyon MEMBERS MILESTONES VALE Ernie Blewett who passed away on 21 June 2018. A regular attender with his wife Ethel at our functions, it is sad to lose another of our lovely members. Condolences to ‘Ettie’, and to all his family and friends. Velda and Harvey Langford Best wishes to a number of members who Keith & Libby Gray, and of course Betty Bevins have had reported health problems or medical procedures recently. Congratulations to all those with birthdays during November or December. Mentions for Angeline Emery , and Eileen Lyon. Special mention of Lorna Stephens’ 94th birthday on 26th November. Please let us know of your good news, special events, or of those who are ill. QUOTE “Launceston was of course one of the most Joy Dunkerley (with her own hair), Lorna Stephens, Robin Appleton important places on the North Cornwall line, the froner town between Englandand Cornwall, with a sense of division about it – here the Celc Page 3 No. 377 – November / December, 2018 Lyther Nowodhow - Newsletter - of the Cornish Association of NSW - No. 377 - November / December, 2018 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ land really began, here lush Devon was le behind and austere Cornwall lay ahead The fact that the GWR had a terminus here accentated this – it had reached the foreighn land but could go no further % - TWE Roche, The Withered Arm, Reminisicensesof the Souther Lines west of Exeter’, 1966 SOME CORNISH SURNAMES – a series Polmear / Polmeer – From pol-mur, large pool. (see also Polmear) Polwhele – From either pol-(g)wel, pool in an open field, or pol-whyl, pool of beetles. Place name Polwhele, St Clement. The well is enclosed behind metal railings and Pool, Poole, Pooley – Probably from Pol, consists of a small stone-lined recess in the pool. Placename Pool in Kerrier. hedge with a granite capstone, and a copious Powell – from map (welsh also ie. mab) supply of clear, cool water. Adjacent is a slate Howel (male personal name), son of Howel. slab with the words ‘Alsia Well’ carved on it. Found in mid, s.e. and north Cornwall. Although by no means impressive, this is a Praed – from pras, meadow charming little well, especially when seen in Preece / Price / Pryce - From map – Rees Spring or early Summer when surrounded by (personal name, which comes from res, ford)) wild flowers. Prideaux – Possibly from pry-tyas , clay A cross is supposed to have once stood nearby covered, or Norman French. Placename and the water is reputed to have cured rickets, Prideaux, Luxulyan (spelt Prydias 1249). Found particularly in children. It has also been used as in s.e and north Cornwall. a divining well by girls, the number of bubbles Prisk – From prysk, bushes, brushwood. rising from a pebble or pin when dropped in Placename Prisk, Mullion. Found in mid west signifying the number of years before a lover Cornwall. would be found. Prowse, Prouse – From map-ros, son of the heath. Found throughout Cornwall. SOME NOTED FOLK OF CORNWALL – a Prout – From nickname prowt, proud or series puffed up. Ben Luxon - Redruth singer who became one Prynne / Prinn - from map-ryn, son of the of the world’s greatest opera stars. Benjamin hillside or slope, or son of Rynne (personal Matthew Luxon CBE was born on 24th name). Found in mid, s.e & north Cornwall. March 1937 in Redruth, Cornwall. He studied with Walther Gruner at the HOLY WELLS OF CORNWALL (a series) Guildhall School of Music and Drama and established an international reputation as a Alsia Well singer when he won a third prize at the 1961 Alsia Well is situated at the spring Lower Alsia ARD International Music Competition in Farm near St Buryan, west Penwith. It is at the Munich. Soon afterward he joined composer lower end of a field, in a hedge, a short distance Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group and on south-west of a public right of way from Alsia to their tour of the Soviet Union in 1963 sang the Bosfranken – the old church path to St Buryan. roles of Sid and Tarquinius in, respectively, Britten's operas Albert Herring and The Rape of Lucretia. In 1971, Britten composed the title role of his television opera Owen Wingrave specifically for Luxon's voice. Page 4 No. 377 – November / December, 2018 Lyther Nowodhow - Newsletter - of the Cornish Association of NSW - No. 377 - November / December, 2018 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The following year, 1972, Luxon made his début British songwriting and folksong arrangements at both the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden by composers such as Britten, George – creating the role of the Jester in Peter Butterworth, Percy Grainger, Ivor Gurney, Maxwell Davies' opera Taverner – and at the Roger Quilter, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gerald Glyndebourne Opera Festival, where he sang Finzi and Peter Warlock. His regular the title role in Raymond Leppard's realization accompanist between 1961 and 1999 was the of Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria. pianist David Willison. Thereafter he became a frequent guest at both venues and also at Tanglewood in Luxon was appointed a Commander of the Massachusetts, USA. Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1986 Queen's Birthday Honours. In 1974, Luxon began his long association with the English National Opera which culminated in Starting around 1990, Luxon began to be his appearance in the title role of Verdi's troubled by hearing loss. Though he explored a Falstaff in 1992. He made his Metropolitan variety of conventional and 'alternative' Opera début (as Eugene Onegin) in 1980, his La treatments, continued fluctuation and Scala début in 1986 and his Los Angeles début deterioration in his hearing forced him to end (as Wozzeck) in 1988. He sang in most of the his singing career by the end of the decade. major European opera houses and made Since then, however, Luxon has developed a frequent appearances in Munich (Bayerische career as a narrator and poetry reader whilst Staatsoper) and Vienna (Wiener Staatsoper). continuing to give master classes and direct opera. He currently lives in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, USA. FAMILY HISTORY BREAK Having done most of my family history research during the 1980s and 90s, in the days of microfiche and writing off with a cheque for certificates; when I recently turned my attention to breaking through some walls – my mother’s Cornish Johns family and my dad’s Lancashire Dunkerley family – I found I had some new tools.