Tam Kernewek “ A bit of Cornish” Kevrol (Volume) 33 Dyllans (Issue) 4 Gwav (Winter) 2015 Trelawney Choir Toronto, Canada Cornish American Heritage Society Cornish American Heritage 61 Messach an Lewydh (Message from President) Winter, 2015, Greetings. This message no doubt will find you thinking of, perhaps deep into, the month’s holidays. Though most of us are thoroughly Americanized with our family practices, we would hope for room and time to strengthen tradi- tion by “doing Cornish”. I would refer you once again to that wonderful website, www.cornishculture.co.uk. There you can access information about Cornish carols, decorations and other traditions which tie us to our an- cestors. My challenge would be for us, as a service to our families, to emphasize at least one purely Cornish story, play, hymn (Charles Wesley or Thomas Merritt), food, or other practice. Keep and pass on our heritage! The excitement is building for the DVD of “TIN – THE MOVIE”, now available at http://www.tinmovie.com/. Originally produced by Miracle Theatre, established in 1979 as a touring company in Cornwall, “Tin” is a ‘rollicking good scandal…’ according to myCornwall magazine’s April/May 2015 issue. It stars several famil- iar faces…Jenny Agutter and Ben Luxon, to name two…and is the story of the politics of tin production and speculation in Cornwall during the turn of the last century. Selling for GBP16 on its website (be sure to choose the version which is playable for your region of the world), a copy is well within the reach of each of us or our local Cornish societies. It might make an excellent program for our St. Piran’s Day celebrations. Wouldn’t it be lovely to think of all of us in our corners of the planet watching this film together? Let me know if you decide to do so. Nadelik Lowen Ha Bledhen Nowyth Da (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year) Kathryn Herman From WMNS words of wisdom sent by Susan Little 62 Correspondence from Societies Friends of St Breaca Church in Breage and Cousin Jack Website The Friends of St Breaca Church, founded in 2015, unites all, far and near, who feel a connection with the medieval Church of St Doris Berryman Keeler writes that she has family Breaca in the village of Breage, in the county of Cornwall. members in St Ives. In earlier days the family farm Funds raised by and for the Friends are used for the restoration, was in Zennor right on the coastal path. She enjoys repair, upkeep and insurance of the fabric of the church and its trips to the “Olde Country”. contents. Thus, the Friends play an important role in ensuring that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ future generations can enjoy all that St Breaca Church has to of- The Toronto society is very busy with festivals and fer. they report that their booth at the Beaches Celtic Fes- As well as keeping the tival was successful with many people asking about building (e.g. the roof and Cornwall and their association. They report that all the pinnacles) in good their brochures were given out. repair, the Friends help In October they also participated in the Zoomer conserve the church's many treasures such as Show and British Isles Show. the Medieval Wall Paint- Editor: We all need to follow the example of a TCA ings. member who got the price of a booth from $1200 to For more information check the website: $100 just by asking for a reduction as a non profit http://www.breagechurchfriends.org.uk organization. *************************************************************************** Lowender Peran YouTube Link Toronto Cornish Association Newsletter = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = https://youtu.be/Pm8Q8G8PKso Poldark Mine to Get 'Facelift' by Cornwall College Students From Susan Little via email A mine, which has been made popular again by the re- _______________________________________________ cent BBC series Poldark, is to get a "facelift". Machinery that used to be "the heart" of Poldark Mine is Essie Nelson from New Zealand, Mark Laity BBC to be restored by Cornwall College engineering students. (England) war correspondent, Fran Rusch from Wis- The tin mine, which is open to the public, is one of the consin at The Great Laity Gathering '98 held in Corn- oldest industrial structures in the UK. wall at Rosudgeon, Marazion, Penzance, and Perra- It is believed that the renovation project on the mine at Wendron near Helston could take several years to com- nuthnoe. This picture was taken at Rosudgeon after plete. The machinery onsite has suffered after 14 years of an afternoon program of speakers including Moira little or no investment. Tangye, David Laity of South Crofty, Russell Laity of However the recent television series has prompted the need for it to be rejuvenated. Indiana, Dorothy Beckwith of Wisconsin, and MC Mark Laity. Ballarat Branch newsletter of Cornish Assoc. of Victoria ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cornish Dictionary - Free - By Tom Perry This may be of interest to those with an iPad or iPhone - an app for a Cornish Dictionary for free. At the moment it is short but I think more will be added. Welcome to the first FREE Cornish Dictionary on the App Store! Have fun while learning new words and sayings in the Kernewek language. Learn the numbers 1-10, days of the week, the colours and many more in Cornish! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id981245842?mt=8 Cornish Assoc. of Victoria, Ballarat Branch newsletter Contributed by Dorothy Beckwith 63 Correspondence con’t: First batch of whiskey made in Cornwall in 300 years: The Telegraph reported recently that Cornwall has joined the ranks This year's Open Gorsedth ceremony was held in St Austell, of modern whiskey-making regions like Scotland and Ireland, in mid Cornwall, on the St Austell FC playing field at Poltaire with the first batch of the fiery spirit made in the area for 300 on Saturday 5 September. Along with the ceremony there years. At £150 for a half-litre bottle, the limited-edition Hicks & Hea- was a Conference, a Bards from St Austell book launch, and ley Cornish Single Malt seven-year-old Whiskey is perhaps an Esethvos (Eistedfodd) with a range of cultural events and beyond the reach of the average high street drinker but has been activities. rated by expert Jim Murray, author of the best-selling Whisky The Conference was held on the Friday, at the Cornwall Bible, as ''among the best debut bottlings of the last decade''. Council offices, on the subject of the inclusion of the Cornish The 61.3 per cent alcohol brew, which has gone on sale, is pro- duced jointly by the St Austell Brewery and Healey's Cyder people under the Council of Europe’s Framework Conven- Farm - better known for Cornish Rattler cider. tion for the Protection of National Minorities. David Healey, the founder of the cyder farm, said: ''It's taken 300 years to craft Cornwall's first premium whiskey, and seven years to age it - and it's well worth the wait.'' From the newsletter of Cornish Assoc. of South Australia _________________________________________________________ NEW SERIES OF POLDARK (photo - Google images) Grand Bard with the Australians that were in Cornwall The cast and crew of Poldark have returned to Corn- wall to start filming the second series of the BBC From Cornish Association of New South Wales newsletter drama. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Work began after it was reported that a deal worth an estimated £50 million had been agreed which will VISIT TO TARNDWARNCOORT see the remake of the Seventies' series remain on TV screens until 2020. Twenty-eight Ballarat members travelled by small coach Film crews have been spotted transforming locations (driven by member Jim Hocking) and in one car, joined such as Botallack mine and Nampara, Poldark's cot- members from Geelong and Melbourne in a wonderful day tage in St Breward. out on Saturday 24 October in the western District. The popular series won Best New Drama at the TV Choice Awards in London and was also nominated The Dennis family have farmed in this area since 1840 and for Best Drama overall. have been responsible for the development of the Polwarth Poldark actor Aiden Turner and his co-star Eleanor breed of sheep. It was great to meet with the current owners Tomlinson, who plays Demelza Poldark, were also and tour their lovely home and garden in perfect weather – nominated for Best Actor and Actress respectively. a warm, sunny day with blue skies and no wind. Fans across Cornwall took to social media to convey their excitement that approximately six months of From the Cornish Association of Victoria newsletter filming in Cornwall and Bristol has begun. Season two is set to have ten episodes, two more than the first series which aired at the start of the year. The first series amassed an average of 8.1 mil- lion viewers in the UK. CAV—Ballarat Branch newsletter 64 Correspondence con’t: The disk weighs 2.2 kilograms (nearly 5 pounds), so it's a good sized chunk of metal. In addition to being made with Cornish Gold and Nebra Sky Disc Cornish gold, Cornish tin was used to manufacture the Since I was trained as a chemist - long ago - and spent my bronze used for the disk backing. Since 1600 B.C. is career in the petrochemicals industry, my weekly reading roughly one millennium before the Celts arrived in Cornwall, this remarkable artifact provides good evidence that the includes Chemical & Engineering News, a publication of the early Briton people - the original inhabitants of Cornwall - American Chemical Society. On rare occasions, the maga- zine contains some sort of reference to Cornwall. The follow- knew all about the mineral wealth of their land.