President Secretary & Treasurer Val Moore Nick Bartle 53 Philpotts Road 88 Weka Street Mairehau Miramar Christchurch 8052 Wellington 6022 Ph: (03) 386 1313 Ph: (04) 388 1958 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Web Site: https://sites.google.com/site/nzcornish/home N EWSLETTER L y t h e r - n o w o d h o w Cornish wrestling Nadelik lowen Cornish wrestling – or wrasslin’ – has a long Merry Christmas history that can be traced back to the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 when the Cornish fighting Christmas pasties men carried banners depicting wrestlers. I’m used to be traditional in my tastes, especially Today it is a fully recognised sport managed by when it came to pasties. There are two ways to the Cornish Wrestling Association (CWA) make a proper Cornish pasty: the right way or the affiliated to the British Wrestling Association. wrong way! Being black and white about such The motto of the CWA is “Gwary whek yu gwary things is simply being true to the Cornish flag. tek”: good play is fair play. However, I have had to soften my outlook and Cornish wrestling is mainly an outdoor summer adopt a more liberal approach. Having a sport. Bouts of 10 minutes vegetarian partner means I have had to come up 7 are held on grass in 6 metre with substitutes for the steak and kidney. I have circular rings. The object is been forced to consider marinated tofu (soy bean to score a “back” by throwing 201 curd) and I have to admit that with some your opponent from a judicious seasoning you can hardly tell it’s not standing position onto his meat. Even in the meaty version a generous back so that at least 3 of the shower of white pepper works well with the taities four pins hit the ground at and swede. the same time. The “pins” Commercial pasty makers have pushed the are the shoulders and hips. K e v a r d h u envelope for some time, coming up with all sorts The competitors wear shorts of “gourmet” creations. In my new broad-minded and a strong but loose canvas jacket. outlook I am willing to consider adopting a pasty / m i s Generally they are barefoot or wear socks. A format to use up Christmas leftovers. Why not bout begins with a gentlemanly handshake and Du get the best of both worlds and fill your usual the opponents grasp each other’s jackets by shortcrust circle with cooked Brussel sprouts, collar, lapel or sleeves in what is called a some stuffing and turkey as well as the traditional ‘hitch’. They are not allowed to grip any part of m i s potato, onion and swede? A dollop of cranberry the body. Fair play and adherence to the rules – sauce would add some moisture. Fold up, crimp is enforced by three ‘sticklers’ who are often 5 as usual and bake – Christmas dinner in a pasty! retired wrestlers. They carry walking sticks to 3 You could even make a cheese and cranberry 4 enforce the rules. version for the vegetarians in your life. – There are many different techniques and Why stop at the contents? My Mum had a trick to throws used. Crooks and heaves are among b e r keep track of whose pasty was whose. They were the most popular, crooks being variations of all made to personal specifications; some people trip to catch your adversary unawares, while don’t like parsley, for instance. She would prick heaves are often used by heavier, more steam holes in the pastry in the shape of their powerful wrestlers to lift the opposition up in D e c e m initial. The more artistic amongst us could create / the air and fling him down on his back. This a star shape or do conjures images of dangerous spear tackle what Philps (pasty style manoeuvres that would definitely not makers from Hayle) meet today’s rugby tackle rules! If any part of e m b e r do – stick a pastry the body except the feet touches the ground, shape on the the hitch ends and the bout must restart. outside. N o v The bout ends if one of the competitors scores a tried to protect their cargo. The law in those back. If the time for the bout is up without either days made it illegal to claim salvage from a player achieving a ‘back’ the sticklers decide the wrecked ship if anyone on board was alive so winner based on points (points are scored for survivors were all but condemned. throws that result in less than three pins touching The way it was supposed to work was for locals ground – one point per pin) or on their to set lights on the Cornish clifftops. Large assessment of the players’ performance. There beacons would have been required to be seen is the traditional courtesy of the handshake prior from any distance out to sea on dark and to each hitch and at the end of the contest. stormy nights. The intention was to make In hard times at home Cornish miners emigrated unsuspecting passing sailing ships think that around the world taking their distinctive style of they were in a different position from their wrestling with them. Te Ara, the actual one and lure them Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, ashore to their doom. It then has an entry showing two Cornish was a matter of time for the men engaged in a hitch watched tide to deliver to shore the over by a rather dour old stickler cargo and materials of the during the 1902 New Year ship itself. Passing vessels Caledonian Games in Dunedin. carrying attractive treasures and products of distant, exotic In 1923 the Cornish Wrestling Association was places must have looked like easy targets for formed at Bodmin to provide a uniform set of the folk living on the Cornish coast. rules under which all could compete. Wrestlers became registered and an annual championship Wrecking reached its peak in the 18th century was held. Many Cornish towns and villages held as the volume of seaborne trade increased. tournaments, and hundreds would turn out to The authorities, Customs officers and militia watch the contests. The sport became a tradition tried hard to combat the illegal activity but and spanned generations with grandfathers, were always too slow to prevent groups of fathers and sons taking part. The most famous locals (sometimes in their hundreds) from competitor of his day was heavyweight champion stripping a ship. News of an impending wreck Francis Gregory of St Wenn. would spread like wild fire through the community and the men would mobilise Gregory had his first match at the age of 13 and quickly. There was also the complication that was youngest of the Cornishmen who showed many people in authority were not averse to their skills at London’s Palladium theatre in profiting from the spoils. 1927. Seven times from 1928 he represented Cornwall at the official Cornu-Breton Occasionally even the clergy were caught in the Championships: seven times he won, on four act. In December 1739 the Lady Lucy of occasions in Brittany. Later he moved north, Bordeaux, carrying a cargo of wine, brandy, changing his sport to play rugby league for Wigan coffee and indigo, was wrecked at Gunwalloe. and Warrington, and was capped for England. Charles Vyvyan, from one of Cornwall’s Taking up professional wrestling he became principal families, was still looking for the known as Francis St Clair Gregory and during contraband the following February and found November 1955 appeared in the first wrestling four casks of the wine in the possession of the match shown on British television. Rev. Thomas Whitford of the parish of Cury. Wreckers There was a further apocryphal story that Cornwall is famous for its smugglers and another member of the clergy, having his wreckers. Smuggling has a romance about it for Sunday service disrupted by news of a wreck, taking brave risks to avoid the urged the congregation to stay authorities and beat the system: a seated until he had removed his victimless crime. Wrecking has a less cassock “so that we can all start attractive reputation. The term can fair”. The advent of Methodism is be applied to range of activities from credited with improving the level scavenging flotsam from a wreck of ethics and conscience. If ever which was regarded as common it took place, and there is no real property (an element of legitimate proof that it is anything other salvage and “finders keepers”) to than legend, deliberate wrecking deliberately misleading a ship into danger for stopped and the people caught up in wrecks financial gain. The latter extreme would have were rescued before thought was given to the been tantamount to murder as passengers and salvage. crew could drown or even worse be killed if they We may think that in the present day wrecking 2 has ceased but has it? Many of the pieces of influence on New Zealand potters. The Lego in 1997 and bottles of household cleaner in intrinsic aesthetic pleasure to be gained from 2016 that washed up on Cornish beaches will using well-made hand potted ceramics was have made their way into local homes and is transported to New Zealand via Harry and May surely a modern day version of the wrecker. Old Davis. Their Cornish Crowan pottery habits die-hard!! transformed into Crewenna in Nelson. Tintagel controversy continues “Around the time of the Second World War, St At the end of October Cornwall Council’s strategic Ives once again provided shelter for a group of planning committee approved progressive painters and English Heritage’s plan to build a sculptors including Ben £4 million bridge joining the Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, medieval castle ruins to the Patrick Heron, Bryan Wynter and mainland at Tintagel.