Gool Peran Lowen! St Piran’s Day and March in Cornwall

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Bewnans Kernow, Choral Singing, cider, Cornwall, Cornwall Community Foundation, Cornwall Today, Eden Project, Fisherman's Friends, Folk Music, Gool Peran Lowen, Heritage, Jon Cleave, Kernow bys vykken, music, National Trust, Pasties, Penzance, Poldark, Singing, St Austell Brewery, St Michael's Mount, St Piran's Day, The Eden Project, The Story Republic, Trelawny Shout, Truro, Truro Cathedral

St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall from Marazion

Spring is a magical time in Cornwall, and this year with Easter arriving in late March we can expect our seasonal holidaymakers just that little bit earlier. We can all look forward to seeing hedgerows clothed in the gold of the beautiful daffodils and gorse of which Cornwall is so proud, and there are so many events in our Duchy this month I hardly know where to start.

March is a busy time in the traditional calendar in the UK; the Welsh have St David’s Day, the Irish have St Patrick’s Day but here in Cornwall we celebrate St Piran’s Day as our national day on 5 March. St Piran is the patron saint of Cornwall. Believed to have been an Irish saint who floated over to Cornwall on a mill stone, he is now celebrated with Perrandide (the week before St Piran’s Day), St Piran’s Day parades in Truro, Falmouth, Redruth and Bodmin, the St Piran’s Play at Perranporth and a major role in the Hal-An-Tow play that takes place on Helston Flora Day in May.

St Piran’s Day Parade 2015, Truro, Cornwall

Last year I had the joy of being in the centre of Truro on St Piran’s Day. The city came to a standstill as children from local schools paraded through towns with costumes, musical instruments, banners and proud renditions of the Cornish national anthem “Song of the Western Men”, or as it’s better known, “Trelawny”. This theme continued into the night with the inaugural “Trelawny Shout”. Held across pubs all over Cornwall, the idea was to get as many people as possible singing “Trelawny” at 9:00pm in an effort to raise money for the local charity, the Cornwall Community Foundation. I went to the Golden Lion pub in Port Isaac, from where BBC Radio Cornwall did a live broadcast with the Fisherman’s Friends, of whom I am an unashamed groupie. It such a fun night, though for anyone planning to go this year, I’ll offer this tip: don’t ever, ever try to keep up with Cornishmen drinking cider; it will always end in tears, and a very bad hangover.

Trelawney Shout with the Fisherman’s Friends 2015, Port Isaac, Cornwall

My charming cider-drinking companions from Port Isaac, drink with them at your peril!

This year I’ll be with my family at the Eden Project, celebrating the World Pasty Championships and hopefully catching up with the Fisherman’s Friends too.

Spectacular spring display at the Eden Project

The day after St Piran’s Day is Mothering Sunday, and what more could any of us mums wish for but lunch Cornish country pub? As you’d expect, you’ll be spoilt for choice, but if this doesn’t fit the bill there’s another more unusual lunch venue on offer this year. The Bodmin Jail has its own restaurant in the Jail’s converted Chapel and this year they’re hosting a Mother’s Day lunch accompanied by the Ronnie Jones Jazz Quartet. So if you like your Sunday lunch flavoured with a little history and some fine jazz, this could be just the thing.

The St Piran Play always takes place in Perranporth on the nearest Sunday to St Piran’s Day – this year, it’s the same day as Mother’s Day, 6^th March. It was at Perranporth that, according to legend, St Piran washed up on his journey from Ireland. The starting point will be at Piran Point, and at 2:00pm the grand procession let by the Falmouth Marine Band to St Piran’s Oratory and Church will take place. An update will be given on the recent re-excavation of the Oratory and the audience will be invited to sing along with invited choirs. Hundreds of people gather dressed in the black, white and gold of Cornwall carrying the Cornish flag of a white cross on a black background. Spectators are invited to enjoy the play in which dozens of actors portray the stages of St Piran’s life from his early days in Ireland, his journey to Cornwall, his miraculous discovery of tin and his Christian ministry. Just remember to dress up warm, the wind whips around those sand dunes and the spring sunshine can be deceptive – cast a clout as they say!

In the February edition of CT we looked at the work of the Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network (CASPN), and one of the events that CASPN has revived in recent years is the Fenton Bebibel “dolly dunking” ceremony held in West Cornwall. Now a combination of an opportunity to clear up a difficult-to-find site and the bringing back of an old custom, it’s held each year on Good Friday.   Generations ago, children would take their dolls to holy wells on Good Friday to give them a sort of dolly “baptism”. Now it’s a wonderful way to engage the local community and it’s always followed up with saffron buns – none of these hot cross buns for proper Cornish people – though they may be allowed if you bring your gardening gloves and help out with the clean up first.

CASPN – Fenton Bebibell Dolly Dunking

While the egg has always symbolized new life and it is easy to see why it fits with spring rituals, in medieval times it was also a much-needed food item at a time when there was little else about to eat. In other parts of the UK there were house-visiting customs where children would go from door to door at Easter time begging for eggs. Now for most of us the Easter egg is still given to children but in the chocolate variety. Combined with the traditional central European Easter Hare, which was taken to the USA by German immigrants where it became tremendously popular before being exported back to the UK as the Easter Bunny, for many contemporary Easter experience is almost wholly secular. But in Kernow there are still traditional events, both sacred and secular, to enjoy at this lovely time of year.

I have a friend, Alex, who enjoys the Easter Day service at Truro Cathedral so much that she makes a pilgrimage there from Plymouth every year, booking accommodation for her and her family and making a weekend of it. When asked why, she said, “It is the whole atmosphere of the Cathedral; partly the music, which is glorious, and the choral quality is just sublime, but the sense of occasion and liturgy are just part of my religious DNA. When I’m sitting in the Cathedral on Easter Day I feel uplifted, fulfilled and very much at home. My boys love the “theatrics” of the service, especially when the Holy water is shaken over the congregation, and afterwards we felt warmly welcomed and thoroughly enjoyed our sherry!”

Interior of Truro Cathedral, Cornwall

This Easter’s services at Truro Cathedral will not disappoint. There is so much to enjoy; from a performance of Bach’s St John’s Passion by the St Mary’s Singers on the evening of 20 March, to a 5:30am liturgy on Easter Day (sung by lay vicars and choral scholars), or any of the numerous other services as part of Easter week, they are not to be missed. And of course this year we now have the girls of the Truro Cathedral choir singing for the first time along with the boys and the lay vicars so do go along and give them your support. But don’t be caught out – this year British Summer Time starts on Easter Day (27 March) so make sure you’ve turned your clocks back, it would be a shame to arrive an hour late!

Last year on Easter Sunday our family made a pilgrimage of its own to one of our favourite places – St Michael’s Mount. It was such an adventure: we travelled to Penzance by train, which my children absolutely loved (me too); nothing compares to the excitement of seeing St Michael’s Mount reveal itself as the train nears Penzance. We took a taxi to Marazion, but when we got past Long Rock, the traffic was at a standstill. The taxi driver said that in forty years of driving taxis in Penzance, he’d never seen it so busy, such was the number of people trying to get to the Mount. Maybe it was the Poldark Effect, or just because it was a gloriously sunny spring Sunday, but it was an extraordinary sight. So we got out and walked the last mile to Marazion, and before we knew it we’d made it over the Causeway and were up and into the Castle. We enjoyed our picnic looking over the spectacular view back across Mount’s Bay while our children scarpered around exploring. Later we treated ourselves to an ice cream at the Café with some friends from Penzance and had dinner at the welcoming Godolphin Arms before reluctantly heading back to the train station, tired but very, very happy. This Easter the Story Republic will be performing at the Mount; these talented storytellers are renowned for engaging audiences across Cornwall and they’ll be delighting audiences in the Village between 11am and 3:00pm.

Be aware that St Michael’s Mount is not open on Saturdays and remember to check tide times before you go. For the uninitiated, St Michael’s Mount is a tidal island, reached via a cobbled Causeway at low tide but only by boat at high tide. On our return to the mainland last year, we got caught behind a group of slow-processing, photo-taking tourists and found ourselves sloshing through the quickly rising water with five small, increasingly nervous children. Fortunately we got to the other side unscathed apart from our soaked footwear but it’s not something I’d recommend – leave plenty of time and again, check the tide times online via the website (see below).

Whether you’re a local or down for the Easter holidays, I hope you enjoy all that Cornwall has to offer this month, and let’s all cross our fingers for sunshine.

 

At a glance

Bodmin Jail

www.bodminjail.org

St Piran’s Day Celebrations

www.visitcornwall.com

Trelawny Shout

www.cornwallfoundation.com

The Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network

www.cornishancientsites.com

Truro Cathedral

www.trurocathedral.org.uk

St Michael’s Mount

www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk

The Story Republic

www.thestoryrepublic.co.uk

© Sally Bell 2016

Originally published in Cornwall Today

http://www.cornwalltoday.co.uk

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Preserving our heritage – the Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network (CASPN)

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Australia, BBC Spotlight, Bewnans Kernow, CASPN, Cheryl Straffon, Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network, Cornish Association of Victoria, Cornwall, Cornwall Archaeological Society, Cornwall Community Fund, Cornwall Today, Eden Project, Effervescent Social Alchemy, English Heritage, Festivals, Fisherman's Friends, Gool Peran Lowen, Heritage Lottery Fund, Kernow bys vykken, National Trust, Pasties, Penwith Landscape Partnership, Plymouth, Radiant Gallery, Revived tradition, Shout Kernow, Singing, St Austell Brewery, St Piran's Day, The Cold Truth, Trelawney Shout, World Pasty Championships

Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network – Chynhalls Point clear-up

It’s been a massively busy year so far and I’m afraid I’m behind on posting my monthly articles from Cornwall Today here on my blog.  The first couple of months of 2016 were exciting and chaotic as I prepared the media launch for a show that I was part of in my “other” job as Communications Lead for the arts organisation, Effervescent.  It’s called The Cold Truth, and it’s a groundbreaking work curated and created by a group of young people who have lived experience of child sexual exploitation, and it’s on at Radiant Gallery in Plymouth until 29 April, 2016, do go and see it if you can.

Just after that, I flew to Australia for two weeks to celebrate my Mum’s 70th birthday and visit family and friends.  It was a family affair – my husband, our eldest daughter Daisy and our 5-year-old twins, Freddie and Clemmie – and no mean feat – but we’re very glad we made the effort!  I was especially pleased to have the opportunity to attend the monthly meeting of the Cornish Association of Victoria – which was down to luck rather than good planning on my behalf!  I had the opportunity to address the group about what I do in Cornwall and some of what’s happening in the Duchy and also to meet some of the delightful members of the group.  Thank you to everyone for the warm reception and more about this later.  Upon our return, the transition from 41 degrees in Melbourne to 3 degrees in the South West was a bit of a shock to the system but we hit the ground running and we’re now looking forward to Spring showing its face very soon.

But back to the business of the day – Gool Peran Lowen!  It’s St Piran’s Day today, and as a special treat for the Cornish National Day I’m posting two of my articles from Cornwall Today today!  I’m really looking forward to the celebrations today – I’ll be at the Eden Project with my family where we’ll be enjoying the World Pasty Championships and catching up with our mates the incomparable Fisherman’s Friends. It was great to see them on our local news, BBC Spotlight last night and we’re also looking forward to hearing how this year’s Trelawny Shout goes.  As the memory of the hangover I had from the last one is still quite painful, I think I’ll lay low tonight but if you can get to one of the pubs that it’s being held at (there are many, here’s a list), do try – it’s great fun and raises really important funds for the Cornwall Community Fund.

But I digress… here’s my February column, which I wrote about the work of the Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network, an organisation I’m proud to represent as Voluntary Publicity Officer.  CASPN does incredible work protecting and maintaining precious sites in the Duchy; if you feel you’d like to support it you can join it’s support group FOCAS for a very reasonable sum and keep this important work going.  And don’t forget you can sign up now for CASPN’s “Pathways to the Past” weekend which happens at the end of May, 2016.

Happy St Piran’s Day to all – wherever you may be – and Kernow bys vykken!

Cornwall Today – February 2016

The word “unique” is frequently overused when it comes to describing landscapes, but when it comes to West Cornwall, the description is not only warranted but also very apt.

This granite land with its rugged coastline, spectacular moorland, industrial heritage and ancient sites is much loved and much-visited, but both the wildness of the landscape and its popularity present significant challenges when it comes to the maintenance and preservation of the area.

Cornwall has one of the most intensive prehistoric landscapes in Britain and the far west peninsula of Penwith has the highest concentration of ancient sites in the whole of Western Europe – there are several thousand in total.

While Historic England is the body responsible for individual ancient sites, and landowners have responsibility for maintaining access pathways to the sites, maintaining the sites as a coherent whole doesn’t fall under any statutory body or individual’s responsibility.

It was for this reason that in 1997 a group of passionate local people came together from a wide range of organizations with a shared concern for the protection of ancient sites. There had been some disturbing incidents including the attempted theft of one of the Merry Maidens stones and arson attacks on the iconic Men-an-Tol and Lanyon Quoit. But there were wider concerns about the ongoing maintenance and conservation of and access to the sites.

CASPN Clear up at Tregeseal Circle

And so the Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network – conveniently shortened to CASPN – was established and formed as a Registered Charitable Trust in 2000 and it has been protecting, preserving and promoting the cause of ancient sites in the Duchy ever since. CASPN’s board includes representatives from both mainstream organizations such as the National Trust, Cornwall Council’s Historic Environment Service, Cornwall Archaeological Society and English Heritage and also user groups such as the Madron Community Forum and the local Pagan Moot.

CASPN Clear-up – Madron Well clouties

Their aim is to educate the wider community about the local historic environment whilst encouraging the responsible use of the sites, as well as bringing people together to care for the sites with a shared sense of place and identity.

But with ever-increasing public sector and funding cuts and a decreasing volunteer pool to draw upon, CASPN has a massive challenge ahead.

CASPN is chaired by Cheryl Straffon, a Cornishwoman, writer, tour guide and magazine editor.   She explains, “CASPN came into being to fill the gap between statutory bodies and landowners, but as a Charitable Trust, we have very few resources at our disposal.  I think we punch quite a lot above our weight in terms of the resources we do have but we don’t have any regular or basic income and we’re not in receipt of any regular grant money. So we’re doing what we’re doing on a complete shoestring.”

CASPN organizes regular site clear-ups in which volunteers, co-ordinated by the Maintenance Co-ordinator, Dave Munday, make their way through gorse and brambles armed with gardening gloves, secateurs and strimmers to maintain ancient sites so that members of the public can safely and responsibly access them. They’ve also revived traditions, such as the Fenton Bebibell “dolly dunking” where generations ago, children would take their dolls to a well on Good Friday to enact a kind of dolly baptism. These days it’s preceded by a clear up of the area and followed by a feast of hot cross buns, but it’s another example of how CASPN is doing its best to not only look after these places but also involve the community.

CASPN Clear-up – Mulfra settlement

But the challenges of working in the charitable sector are huge, and finding new people who are able to help out is a constant battle. Dave Munday has been forced to retire from his position after ten years due to ill health, and CASPN is yet to find a replacement.

Cheryl says, “I was recently at the Volunteer Cornwall ceremony with Dave – he’d been highly commended for an environmental award. It was quite staggering to see how many sectors are now being run by local volunteers. There is a huge demand for voluntary work in our society and that’s one of the challenges for CASPN. Another challenge is always to maintain the things you want to do with people who are willing to make a big commitment. A lot of people will make a small commitment and that’s great but for something like CASPN to function to its full effect needs a big commitment from a lot of people. None of us is getting any younger and if the people on the CASPN board eventually retire or can’t go on any more – and David’s a good example – then you’re always on a knife-edge with it. My big fear for the future of CASPN is that there just won’t be the people there to maintain it in the future. It could very quickly move from being a successful effective, respected and fully functioning organization to one that simply can’t function any longer.

CASPN is supported by a membership organization “Friends of Cornwall’s Ancient Sites” (FOCAS) which anyone can join for the cost of a tenner a year. FOCAS members enjoy regular newsletters and free entry to the Pathways to the Past programme of guided walks and informative talks held in West Cornwall every May. But with membership numbers around 100, more help is needed. So what can you do?

“We’re very grateful for FOCAS because it provides our only income,” says Cheryl. “But most of the money from membership goes on paying every day running costs such as insurance. But without it we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. The people who become members do it not because of the newsletters or Pathways to the Past, they do it because they want to help us and that’s fantastic. They’re putting their money where their beliefs are.” And that’s what CASPN could do with more of. There’s strong interest – Facebook likes for the CASPN page number over 2,000, but those likes need to be translated into FOCAS membership and voluntary support.

But there has been some good news recently. It was announced late in 2015 that the Penwith Landscape Partnership bid for Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) money had been successful to the tune of £2.7million. CASPN is a lead partner with the Ancient Sites strand of this bid, and the award now means that CASPN may have the opportunity to do many of the things it’s wanted to do for years.

“What we’ve done up till now has really been reactive. We’ve tried to protect sites when they were under threat, we’ve tried to keep an eye on the state of the sites – we have very much a hands-on practical approach so if something happens we move in,” says Cheryl. “The HLF award will put us into a different league where we can become more proactive rather than reactive. It’s incredibly exciting. We can start to manifest our vision for a complete network of interconnections between the ancient sites, between the access to the sites and the visitors who visit them. It’s a delicate dividing line – we don’t want to over-promote these places so they just become another site on a tourist trail, but it would be really great to join up all the dots and create a coherent vision around promoting and presenting the sites so that they are good visitor experience.”

CASPN volunteers – Three Brothers clear-up

But there’s still a gap between now and when the Penwith Landscape Partnership puts the HLF money into practice in 2018. So if you’re at a loose end and you’d like to do something positive for the landscape of West Cornwall, join FOCAS, or better still, dig out your gardening gloves, have a look at the CASPN website and help out at one of their events, your efforts will be hugely appreciated and you might just enjoy yourself too.

At a glance

The Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network

www.cornishancientsites.com

© Sally Bell 2016

Originally published in Cornwall Today www.cornwalltoday.co.uk

With thanks to the CASPN for the use of images.

Singing, Sea Shanties and Shouts

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Caroline Cleave, Choral Singing, Cornwall, Cornwall Today, Eden Project, Fisherman's Friends, Folk Music, Jon Cleave, Lost In Song, music, Poldark, Port Eliot Festival, Port Isaac, RNLI, Shout Kernow, Singing, St Austell Brewery, St Paul's Cathedral Melbourne, The Gullery

One of the great joys of living in the South West has been discovering the wonderful culture of singing that exists here.  I sang at school and loved it, but it all ended with my last school speech night – and that was a long time ago.

Music was always a big part of family life as I was growing up. There was always music on in our house, whether on the radio, the car radio, a small transistor radio in the garden or for special occasions, Dad’s stereo in the “good room”.  I grew up listening to my parents records – Elton John, Boz Scaggs, ELO, the Bee Gees and ABBA – and knew all the tracks by heart.

And at my grandparents house, it was the albums of 1950s and ’60s musical theatre – South Pacific, the King and I, Carousel, etc.  I loved listening to these records with the ceremony that was involved – opening the cabinet, turning the buttons on, carefully removing the vinyl from the sleeve, delicately placing the record on the turntable, cleaning the disk with a velvet brush, then, with great precision, putting the needle down on the record.  Incredibly, I have vivid memories of my grandmother holding me in her arms, dancing “cheek to cheek” to these wonderful songs, her singing to me as we swayed around the room.  Her favourite song for me was “Tie A Yellow Ribbon” by Perry Como, and to this day I can’t hear it without being stopped in my tracks and mentally transported to the art deco lounge in my grandparents ocean liner style home in the suburbs of Melbourne in the 1970s.

When we weren’t listening to records, my grandmother would let me sit on her lap as she played the piano.  She was an accomplished pianist, but couldn’t read music.  Although she grew up in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, her family was Cornish, her parents had met singing in the choir of the South Melbourne Methodist Chapel, and she had been brought up singing and playing the organ at Chapel.  Playing entirely by ear, she had an impressive repertoire of very beautiful music from the best of the twentieth century.  Occasionally we’d hear my grandfather pause at the door for a moment, then continue, whistling as he walked by.

Years later I was to discover that he’d been head choir boy at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, and had even sang a duet with Dame Nellie Melba.  At the Induction Service for my last year at school he told me that, incredibly, when I sang in the choir at St Paul’s that night, I had stood in “his” place in the choir stalls.  What incredible synergy and a very precious moment.  But my grandmother was the star musician in the house.

So when I moved to the UK, and stepped away from the massive work pressures that had dominated my life for years, I realised how much I not just wanted to sing, but needed to sing.  A chance meeting at the Port Eliot Festival with the extraordinary polymath Emma Mansfield – television producer, event producer, and now choir mistress, author and yoga teacher – yielded an invitation to “come and have a sing” at the newly formed Eden Project staff choir.  I was a ring-in – not a staff member, but I joyfully sang with the choir for the next three years.  It was a very relaxed but respectful experience, we rehearsed every week with the hugely talented Vicky Abbot – choir mistress par excellence – who used to drive up to St Austell from Penzance every week to coach us out of our reticence and get us to the point where we could perform in public.  We didn’t use music, just learned the words and the three-part harmonies from Vicky, who drilled us with a great sense of expectation and great humour at the same time.  I sang through my pregnancy with Daisy, performing at the Eden Project for Christmas celebrations and the Eden Sessions, and loved every minute.  Emma then created the Lostwithiel Community Choir, “Lost In Song“, and through these choirs I saw how singing can bring people together, give them a sense of purpose, confidence, community and connection.

Since then I’ve sung in live shows, with an Early Music choir (where I was pushed completely past my comfort zone but learned to absolutely love it), in pubs, in community events, in churches in spectacular parts of Devon and Cornwall; not forgetting the time I sang a full concert when eight months pregnant with twins.

Now I’m a member of the Plymouth University Choral Society, and love the feeling of expression that choral singing gives me.  I also love that I can go along to rehearsal and look at a piece of music and think “I’m never going to be able to sing that!”.  But after a few weeks of expert tuition from our dedicated Musical Director, Simon Ible, there we are, all singing something that really once seemed impossible.  It’s a huge sense of achievement and can be a really moving experience too.  Last Christmas I sang Handel’s Messiah with the Choir from a copy that had been given to my darling grandfather exactly 90 years before – it was the Music prize from the St Paul’s Choir School in 1924.

My grandfather’s Novello copy of The Messiah, by Handel

The inscription on My grandfather’s Novello copy of The Messiah, by Handel, awarded to him in 1924 by the St Paul’s Cathedral Choir School, Melbourne

Singing Handel’s Messiah in St Andrew’s Church, Plymouth, Christmas 2014

Then, earlier this year, I discovered a kind of singing that made me feel more connected to my heritage, the land I live in and my community than ever before.

Being an avid radio listener, I had followed with strong interest the journey of the Cornish “buoy” band, the Fisherman’s Friends, from discovery, to meteoric rise, to record deals and huge commercial success, then tragedy and subsequent resurrection.   I remember hearing them on BBC Radio Two, being interviewed and also singing, and had felt vicariously proud of this bunch of seemingly everyday Cornish blokes, who were all mates and through having a sing at the pub of an evening, had made it to the big time.

But it wasn’t until earlier this year when we took our children to the Family Fun Day for the Fowey Festival at Trenython Manor in South East Cornwall that I had my first close encounter with one of the afore-mentioned Fisherman’s Friends.

Jon Cleave is a born entertainer.  Larger-than-life, he fills up a room with his cheeky grin, sparkly eyes and iconic moustache.  He loves to tell a story, and it’s this natural ability that’s seen him take on the position of captivating leader of this band of fishy brothers from North Cornwall’s Port Isaac.  At Trenython Manor, he was in his guise of children’s author, and he charmed our children with stories of “Gully” the naughty seagull.  Jon was there with his wife Caroline, a well-respected artist of stunning talent, who paints artworks drawing inspiration from the natural world in and around.  Meeting Caroline was particularly handy for my husband, Matt, who instantly got several ideas for my impending birthday, and I am now the proud owner of several Caroline Cleave seasonal prints and a fantastic tray decorated with crabs, which is used in our home every day.

So as our youngest, Clemmie, listened to Jon tell tall, salty tales of life according to a seagull, Caroline helped our other children, Daisy and Freddie decorate fish and paint a colourful lobster on a canvas that she’d pre-painted to show the children an outline of where to use the paint.  Needless to say, we all fell under the “Cleave” spell, and decided to get to a Fisherman’s Friends performance whenever we next could.

Jon Cleave at Trenython Manor as part of the Fowey Festival, 2015, Cornwall

Caroline Cleave at Trenython Manor as part of the Fowey Festival, 2015, Cornwall

Jon Cleave and Clemmie at Trenython Manor as part of the Fowey Festival, 2015, Cornwall

Fortunately for us, as summer approaches the FF’s perform on the harbour at Port Isaac, known as the “Platt”, almost every Friday night, admirably always free of charge but making a collection for a local charity.  So a couple of weeks later, we packed a picnic and drove from Plymouth to North Cornwall and settled in for what was to become a memorable night.  The FF’s sang, under a marquee, with the tide lapping at their feet, to an appreciative, enthusiastic audience of all ages.  It was a completely interactive performance, with Jon playing the role of master of ceremonies, and the rest of the boys falling into line around him.  The musical roles are evenly shared, each of the men has the chance to sing their own solo with the others melodically wrapping around them in a seemingly effortless way.  They seem to appreciate the audience participation, even when it meant on that occasion, lots of interpretive dance from our Daisy right next to where they were performing.  We had such a fun evening, we all sang, laughed and smiled ’til our jaws hurt, and drove home tired and completely satisfied.

The Fisherman’s Friends perform in Port Isaac, Cornwall, June 2015

So much so that a couple of weeks later, we went again.  This time the boys had learned from the previous experience and were stationed at the top of the harbour, but with an equally voluminous and appreciative audience, and lots more interaction from the audience.  On this occasion, we picked up a copy of the new CD, “Proper Job”, which has been produced in association with St Austell Brewery and is appropriately named after one of their most popular beers.

We then went to see them at the outstanding Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival, where we met up with fellow groupie, and my Editor at Cornwall Today, Kirstie Newton.  Kirstie, like me, wasn’t born in Cornwall but her love of the Duchy is unquestionable and – almost – matches mine.  Her daughter was born two months after our twins and has been a massive FF’s fan for years.  So now our children are the band’s biggest – and potentially youngest – supporters and it’s hilarious (if not a little inappropriate) to see them bond over bawdy songs about floggings and drunken behaviour.  Our Freddie has taken to singing “Yo ho, heave ho” while waiting in the line to go into school most mornings, and Daisy is a great exponent of using a good “Phwoar” to punctuate the most delicate of songs.  Thanks Jon!

The Fisherman’s Friends at the Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival, June 2015

Kirstie Newton and me at the Fisherman’s Friends at the Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival, June 2015

The children watching the Fisherman’s Friends at the Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival, June 2015

Knowing how much I have come to enjoy and appreciate the FF’s (and yes, become a bit of a groupie), Kirstie arranged an invitation for me to go to the official launch of the CD at the iconic St Austell Brewery last week.  It was a really hot late June evening and a cold pint (of cider, in my case), a pasty, a catch-up with a good friend and some great singing were just the ticket.

The Fisherman’s Friends at the launch of their new album, “Proper Job”, June 2015

Jon spoke on behalf of the group and made a point of thanking everyone who’d supported them through good times and bad.  He also made reference to the importance of singing and what it had meant to them, and the cultural tradition of the “Shout”.  As far as I’m aware, a “shout” can mean two things in Cornwall – either an emergency at sea, or a social gathering.  I know that from friends’ experience in the RNLI, when the emergency siren goes off it’s called a shout and all the volunteer RNLI members run to the station as quickly as they can to help whoever is in need.  Similarly, a shout can be an opportunity to get together for a sing, a drink, a chat and a good time.  Shout Kernow is an organisation that’s helping people get back to the spirit of Cornish community singing – primarily in pubs, hooray!  I’m hoping to get along to one of their events very soon.  In any case, both meanings of the word have the same sentiment – people from close communities coming together to support each other and connect in a meaningful way.

The boys delighted us with some of their best songs, old and new, and it was a very intimate gig.  The new album has some saucy renditions of old favourites like Sugar In The Hold, and Donkey Riding, but our family favourite has to be The Coast of High Barbary with its gory lyrics and excellent ghoulish laugh from Jon at the end.

The stalwarts of the band have been bolstered by some new blood in the form of Padstow-based Toby Lobb, whom Jon Cleave refers to as the band’s very own Ross Poldark.  Good-natured Toby even agreed to wear a tricorn hat at one of the performances, but that didn’t take away from the very solid role he performs in the band from both singing to playing the guitar and technical assistance.  It doesn’t hurt that he actually does look a bit like Ross Poldark either.

New band member, Toby Lobb, singing with the Fisherman’s Friends, June, 2015

The Fisherman’s Friends are giving new life to songs that may otherwise be consigned to the annals of history, and they’re doing it with great humour, style and harmony.  Throughout all the different types of singing I’ve done since living in the South West, it’s this style of community singing that I feel most connected to.  Being a Celtic spirit, I do feel very affected by both the experience of singing with other people, but also by the lyrics of songs.  In particular, I am always amazed at the enthusiasm, fondness and passion shown by massive groups of people here in the UK joining in to sing “South Australia” – it wouldn’t happen in Australia!  I also love “Cousin Jack”, which tells the story of the Cornish diaspora, those tens of thousands of Cornish people who left their homeland in search of a better life in Australia, the US, South Africa, Mexico and other places around the world.  I am deeply connected to this story through my ancestry and my entire being, and I’m rarely able to listen to the song without finding a tear or two welling up.  Not good when you’re at a lovely corporate gig like the “Proper Job” album release.  Sorry boys!

I love that my children find this music so accessible and that it connects us all with the great seafaring history of this land and the people associated with it.  We’re off to see them again tonight at Port Isaac and again at the Port Eliot Festival, and I think we can safely – and proudly – say that we’re FF groupies.  And, if in thirty or forty years time, my children have the same responses to hearing their music as I do hearing the music of my childhood, I’ll be very satisfied.

The Fisherman’s Friends album, Proper Job is released today.

www.thefishermansfriends.com

And on Fisherman’s Friends on Facebook

Shout Kernow

And Shout Kernow on Facebook

© Sally Bell 2015