Embedded Files
Hawkes Bay Group - 26 March 2026
Thirty-one members attended the lunch meeting at East Pier in Napier. Before eating we were treated to spectacular sight of a large cruise liner manoeuvring into the Port of Napier. We all very much look forward to our Cornish catch-ups and enjoying the hospitality at various local spots.
We looked at our Cornish map and enjoyed hearing of favourite places our members had visited and looking for different locations such as: Truro, The Eden Project, The Lost gardens of Halligan, Rick Stein's fish and chips in Padstow, The yearly yacht race in Falmouth Harbour, Bude and the Fowey ferry across the river from Bodinnick.
Heather reading us a version of the "Legend of St Piran"
Christchurch Cornish Association - 14 March 2026
Twelve members spent a lovely time celebrating St Piran’s Day in our part of the world. Thanks must go to Heather, Nadine and Celia for the enjoyable programme they put together.
Led by Heather we sang the Smugglers song and The Sweet Nightingale.
Celia set a quiz, which was focused on St Piran - we all did well
since most of the information had been in Heather's tale.
Years ago, past president of the Christchurch Association, the late Val Moore used to encourage us at each meeting to try to speak some phrases in Cornish. Someone suggested we revive this, so Heather led the pronunciation practice, keeping us all laughing along the way.
Gool Peran Lowen – Happy St Piran’s Day
Onen Hag All – One and All
Kernow Bys Vyken – Cornwall Forever
The musical programme continued with Nadine who sang a solo item “Habanera”. We are so blessed to have Nadine's input and it's always a delight to listen to her. Finally, as a group we then sang very heartily, Hail to the Homeland and Trelawney.
Cornish kitchen recipe sheets were prepared and shared by Heather – Cornish Fairings and Fuggan meat pie.
Our afternoon tea was delicious - we purchased some Cornish Pasties (made in Auckland) from a local shop, enjoyed scones and other delights.
A really enjoyable time - thanks everyone for your input.
Lots of laughs from Adrienne and Barbara. Was it something to do with the Cornish lesson?
Yumm - Cornish Fairings
Fuggan Meat Pie
St Piran's Day online meeting
There were two presentations made to the St Piran's Day (5 March 2026) meeting. These buttons will open the slides in a new tab.
Christchurch Cornish Association - 14 February 2026
Twelve members met at the Mitre 10 cafe for an informal get together to discuss ideas for this year's programme. Next month (March) will be focused on St Piran (Patron Saint of Cornwall) and eating pasties and scones, with the cream on top!
NEWLYN
MEVAGISSEY
Hawkes Bay Cornish Group - 12 February 2026
Twenty one Hawkes Bay members met at the Puketapu pub for lunch. A lovely venue and a quiet restaurant where we could talk about our beloved Cornwall. In 2023 the Puketapu area was one of many Hawkes Bay areas to be hit by hurricane Gabriel. The pub was flooded and it took a year or so for it to be restored back to its former glory.
After a lovely lunch we had our Cornish maps in front of us as we looked where the major commercial fishing ports were in Cornwall.
1 - Newlyn
2 - Mevagissey
3 - Padstow
We looked at 8 other ports in Cornwall. Many smaller Cornish harbours continue to support commercial livelihoods, primarily through potting (crab and lobster) and hand-lining.
Value: In 2021, over £43 million worth of fish was landed in Cornish ports.
Our next function is on the 26th March at East Pier. The subject is "Memories of Cornish places you have visited."
PADSTOW
St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount
Historic castle, garden & island found off the coast of Marazion (12-17th century)
Historic castle, garden & island found off the coast of Marazion (12-17th century)
Pengersick Castle
Situated above the golden sweep of Praa Sands on Mount’s Bay. Reputed to be the most haunted castle in Britain.
Launceston Castle
Launceston was the gateway to Cornwall at the River Tamar and the first official capital of Cornwall.
Hawkes Bay Cornish Group - 11 December 2025
Twenty-five members enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the end of year function at The Thirsty Whale in Napier.
The theme for this meeting was “Castles in Cornwall” – did you know there are 21 castles’ in Cornwall? Of these 21, many have little or nothing that remains, including Bossiney, Bottreaux, Cardinham, Chun, Helston, Liskeard, Penstowe and Upton castles.
Four members took up the challenge to research a Cornish castle and speak of their findings: -
Judith, St Micheals Mount
Ian, Launceston Castle
Barry, Pengersick Castle
Richard, St Mawes & Pendennis Castles
Cornish Castles...
Caerhays Castle, St Michael Caerhays
Carn Brea Castle, Carn Brea Hill
Doyden Castle, folly castle, Port Isaac
Ince Castle, near Saltash
Restormel Castle, Lostwithiel
St Catherine’s Castle, near Fowey
Tintagel Castle, Tintagel
Trematon Castle, Saltash
L-R St Mawes & Pendennis
Close to Falmouth is part of the chain of coastal defences built during the reign of King Henry VIII to protect against an invasion threat from Catholic France and Spain after establishing the Church of England.
Newlyn Christmas Lights
L-R: Jeanette, branch president, Lynne & Heather
Christchurch Branch - 6 December 2025
Fifteen members were present for a lovely afternoon gathering. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Les (91years) a very valued member of our group. He was presented with a cake which was placed on the afternoon tea table for all to enjoy.
Jeanette read Christmas greetings from the NZ Cornish Association president Judy Wright.
Heather was joined by Nadine and Ivy for our Christmas musical entertainment. They entertained us with the "Merry Christmas Polka," "The Sans Day Carol" followed by "The Carnal and the Crane."
Les talked to us about The Witches of Cornwall.
The music continued: Ivy played a Finnish Polka followed aby an Italian piece “Olice Blossoms. Nadine sang “Mary Did you Know” and “The Wassail Kernow”
We took a brief break from our musical programme for a fun game of bingo – thank you Celia for organising this.
This was followed by singing more Christmas carols “O Holy Night,” “O Come All Yee Faithful” and Tom Bawcocks Eve. Finishing with “We Wish you a Merry Christmas”
We then scratched our 'scratchies' to see who had won the surprise Christmas parcels that Barbara had kindly put together. Donations of Christmasy items had been brought to meetings over the last 3 months. Thank you, Barbara, for all you do.
Our final meeting of 2025 finished with a lavash afternoon tea.
We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Nadelik Lowen ha Bledhen Nowyth Da
Although hundreds of women (and men) have been accused of witchcraft in Cornwall over the past few hundred years there is a list of just a few who’s stories became infamous. These are the women we know actually stood trial for being a witch in Cornwall before the law that made this a crime punishable by death was repealed in 1736. Their names and the dates of their court cases were as follows:
Anne Piers – 1581
Ann Jeffries – 1645
Mary Clarkson – 1676
Jane Noal – 1686
Betty Seeze – 1686
Mary Guy – 1695
May Daye - 1696
Enjoying the afternoons programme
Heather played a recording of her choir singing Trelawney
Christchurch Branch - 8 November 2025
Fifteen people attended our latest meeting.
Our news from Cornwall revolved around Frankie the flamingo escaping from a wildlife park near Hayle.
Both Celia and Les had prepared a quiz: one was a musical quiz, the other general knowledge.
Heather led us in "Johnny Bucca", accompanied by the piano accordion.
All of this adds up to a very enjoyable time.
Photo Credit: Mickael Belliot, taken on the 10th November 2025 at Goulven, near Plage de Keremma, Brittany, France
Frankie Update
Curator David Woolcock from Paradise Park explained that when the confirmed sighting of Frankie was brought to the attention of Paradise Park, it knew that it would be unlikely that Frankie would be returned to the park. Due to logistics of capturing the bird and storing the flamingo at a French institution to be health screened, as part of the UK importation process, it has been decided that Frankie will live as a "wild" bird.
Ian McGregor
Hawkes Bay Cornish Group - 30 October 2025
The Hawkes Bay Cornish group held their October lunch time meeting at “Off the Track” in Havelock North with 22 members attending. Places of interest this month were Prussia Cove, Gweek, Bude, Cadgwith and Ruan Minor.
Member Ian McGregor showed us his Cornish map, mapping his ancestors locations in the Duchy. Total ancestors traced to date 103, with wonderful Cornish surnames such as Trevithick Tresise, Trelil and Tredinnick
Many Cornish names with the prefix "Tre-" derive from the Cornish word for "homestead" or "farm".
The group welcomed new members Helen Rowe and Elaine Yolland
Kresen Kernow (Cornwall Centre) is home to the world's largest collection of documents, books, maps and photographs related to Cornwall's history.
Taranaki Branch - 18 October 2025
At our October meeting we had 11 of our members present. Discussion included asking for support for arranging events, ideas to stimulate interest internally and externally. Unfortunately, no-one present was able to assist with the organisation of events and while there were some suggestions of activities, mobility issues and cost was a deterrent for some of our members.
Elaine James and Judith Hellyar shared with us some of their adventures on recent travels to the UK and Cornwall.
Judith was able to deliver 3kg weight of photos of historic Cornish churches to Kresen Kernow (Cornwall Centre) in Redruth and spent her time in Cornwall meeting up with friends and family, going to various locations in Cornwall. Judith travels back to Cornwall in September each year and is passionate about all things Cornish.
Elaine and Judith travelled to Heathrow together. Elaine celebrated her 80th birthday on board with Singapore Airlines. Got 2 celebrations on board due to time differences in transit, special food and champagne even. She went on to Sussex and Wales to meet up with family. She was amazed with the landscape and architecture in Sussex. While in Ealing she visited a local pub, where there was displayed a Tiki, Emblem and photos of men from the 35th Bomber Squadron. An emotional moment as Elaine had a family connection with the Squadron.
Christchurch Branch - 11 October 2025
Our programme began with us learning a new song to add to our repertoire - “The tale of the Grenadier and the Fair Maid”
Les's Legend was the Reverend Robert Stephen Hawker, described as the famous poet, eccentric and vicar of Morwenstow. He was born in December 1804 and died in 1875.
Among his peculiarities is an account of him sitting on a rock at Bude stark naked impersonating a mermaid singing and screaming to attract attention.
He invented the modern Harvest Festival, he always wore purple, dressed as a mermaid, excommunicated his cat, became addicted to morphine and, according to one writer, was even responsible for hanging a mouse.
Oh yes, and he believed that birds were the “thoughts of God”.
He should go down in the annals of history for writing what is basically the national anthem of Cornwall, the Song of the Western Men (Trelawny) that rousing chorus of ‘And shall Trelawny live? Or shall Trelawny die? Here's twenty thousand Cornish men, Will know the reason why!’
If you want about know more about the life of the Reverend Hawker, please click on the link below:-
Robert Stephen Hawker – His life and writings
Marlene Smith shared part two of her family genealogy. She is an excellent speaker and we all enjoyed hearing of her family.
We have recently watched and enjoyed Michael Portillo travels in Cornwall and Devon and this week we watched his hike in The Pyrenees
Reverend Robert Stephen Hawker Morwenstow Church
Our walk around the garden led by our host Stuart Gibson
Hawkes Bay Group - 18 September 2025
This is the third occasion that the Hawkes Bay Cornish group have visited the Gwavas Garden and Homestead. The property is family owned and set amongst 20 acres of woodland garden in rural Hawkes’s Bay.
Twenty members braved the windy weather and managed to negotiate their cars round a large tree that had fallen, partly blocking the drive. Two of our members pulled up their sleeves and helped clear the road of fallen branches.
Arriving in good time before lunch we took the opportunity to have a walk in the gardens, however the wind and some light rain curtailed our walk.
The members enjoyed a wonderful lunch prepared by our host Phyllida Gibson. Her husband Stuart spoke about the history of Gwavas and the strong association it has with Cornwall.
After the lunch and house tour it was second time lucky for a walk around the garden led by Stuart.
The group was joined by new member Carolyn Adams from Hamilton who enjoyed her first Hawkes Bay Cornish group meeting.
Heading back, with a wonderful view of Gwavas Homestead through the trees
Christchurch pirates from L-R Celia, Mikki and Heather
Les, cutting the birthday cake
Marlene sharing the story of her forebears
Christchurch Branch 13 September 2025
Our president Jeanette welcomed 14 members to a pirate themed meeting and to celebrate 58 years of the founding of the Christchurch Cornish Association.
Heather led us singing “The Cadgwith Anthem and The Cornish Smugglers” song.
Les's legend with more true tales of piracy/smuggling around the Cornish coast - Fowey and Looe being amongst the landing places. He mentioned that everyone was involved, including gentry (who of course denied it) and the presence of Moroccan pirates well known for capturing shipping off of the Barbary Coast but who also ventured up to Cornwall and kidnapped the locals. One night 280 people were taken from Penzance to be enslaved.
Celia entertained us with a two-part pirate themed quiz, after which she presented us with a pirate lootbag.
Marleen then shared a very detailed genealogy of her Cornish forebears.
Branch secretary Sharron, acknowledged on behalf of all the members their grateful thanks to Heather, Les and Celia for all their contributions in making this an enjoyable meeting; and not forgetting Barbara who purchased the pirate related items and making sure we all had a pirate hat!! - Thanks to you all.
Pirates ye be warned
St Ewe (Cornish: Lannewa) is a civil parish and village in mid-Cornwall. The villiage is situated approximately five mile (8km) southwest of St Austell.
Altarnun church and just some of the beautiful carved pew ends
Heather with her table full of treasured memories
Christchurch Branch - 9 August 2025
Twelve of us met on a funny old winter's day (7deg!!) - sun streaming in the windows of the hall one minute, then rain
Several members shared their stories of Cornwall
Barbara spoke about plague stones at Zenna and Mousehole. Where holes were dug and filled with vinegar. Money that changed hands between villagers and outsiders would be placed in the vinegar and consequently disinfected and could be used in exchange for food.
Celia shared a modern-day story of smuggling off the coast of Cornwall. With the help of the coast guard, police and locals, four men were caught and jailed, (with a total jail time of 81yrs/3mths) for conspiring to smuggle about 18million pounds worth of cocaine into the UK.
Michael a first-time visitor to the branch was welcomed and he told us of his relatives who came from St Ewe and his great, great grandmother Elizabeth, born in 1814 had immigrated to NZ in 1863 living in Cambridge. He had been back to St Ewe in recent years.
Don talked about the Norman church at Altarnun. It is mentioned in the Doomsday Book - the original church was built in the 12th century, replaced by the current one in the 15th century. It is built from unquarried stone (moorstone) from Bodmin Moor. It is very ornate inside - the pew ends are beautifully carved. John Wesley spent some time in the village and the surrounding district. If you are in this area Alternun is well worth a visit - I'm biased, my nanas relatives emigrated from there in 1864.
Heather shared that as a result of the carvings, Cornish bagpipes were able to be replicated.
Les recounted a true story (Les’s legend): He and his sister Heather lived in Port Gaverne during the war. The sea between Ireland and Britain was swarming with mines - word got out that one had come to visit their little bay. It bobbed around the rocks dangerously before it washed up onto the beach, rolling around in the swell. The local policeman accompanied by the coast guard came down the hill watched by the locals. Before anyone else did anything about it a man named Joe Honey came down with two ropes which he wrapped around the mine (trying not to detonate it). He went to fetch a 3rd rope and securely fastened it. When the tide went down the mine lay on the beach. The next morning on his way to school Les made a detour to the beach, the navy were disposing of the mine and the policeman was shooing the children off to school. There was no recognition for Joe from anyone of importance for his quick thinking and bravery. Les hopes in time that he will be recognised as a legend in the future
Heather had a show and tell of treasured memories of her and Les's childhood Christmas presents: bears, books, a little projector with a wrap around film. They reminisced about Christmas's past.
Heather's also led the singing contributions this month with The Cornish Smugglers Song and Lamorna.
All too quickly our time together past
Examples of Plague Stones in Mousehole and Zennor
Les and his war time memories of Port Gaverne
Port Gaverne Beach
Hawkes Bay Group - 7th August 2025
The Hawkes Bay group enjoyed a wonderful lunch at East Pier in Napier. Twenty-four members met up to enjoy the opportunity to share their interest and stories of Cornwall.
The theme for the meeting was “talk about a village or town in Cornwall.” A contribution was sent by Judy our NZ Cornish Association president, who wrote an article about the village of St Erth. Short talks were also given about Phillack, near Hayle, Bude, Polperro and Mount Edgcumbe.
A welcome was given to new member Joy Kennerley and guest Sharon Butler who has now joined our group.
Behind the scenes Richard Bayley is working on a spreadsheet compiling a list of those members with Cornish ancestors and where they lived in Cornwall. Look forward to seeing the results in due course.
Postcard Views: L-R
Mount Edgcumbe House & Country Park, St Erth village, Polperro
Middle: Bude
Bottom right: Phillack
Christchurch Branch - 14 July 2025
The Christchurch branch had a change of venue for their July meeting to celebrate mid-winter. Sixteen members attended the lunch at Columbus Café in Papanui, and by the smiles on their faces, a good time was enjoyed by all.
Hawkes Bay Group - 26 June 2025
The Hawkes Bay group gathered at the Puketapu Pub for their June lunch meeting. The pub and restaurant in the centre of the village, on the outskirts of Napier, was badly flooded during Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023. The pub is now back to normal service, and with just our group of 24 members in the restaurant area, we were able to have some good dialog. The discussion for this meeting was “Your favourite Cornish story”.
Hawkes Bay coordinator, Richard Bayley showing off his Cornish pint!!
A selection of dishes to share
Taranaki Branch - 21 June 2025
Fifteen members attended a potluck lunch. All members contributing towards a veritable feast of good food and fun as the photos will show.
We are truly blessed to be able to use Telford Retirement Village's Hall for our meetings. They are so comfortable and well equipped with a full kitchen and all the technology apart from WiFi which can be challenging.
Plenty of laughter and friendship
Celia presenting her talk on the Minerals of Cornwall"
PEWTER, is an alloy. It's a mixture of tin, copper and sometimes other metals like antimony or lead.
The abundance of tin in Cornwall made it a major centre for pewter production., and Cornish tin was highly valued
Christchurch Branch - 14 June 2025
Thirteen of us gathered together to sit in a sun-drenched room for our meeting after a (long) period of either rainy days or cloudy ones.
Once again, a busy and varied programme was organised for members. A message was read from Judy Wright, President of the NZ Cornish Association, and we acknowledged the passing of a former member of our group, Sister Deirdre who recently died in Nelson.
Heather led us singing “Camborne Hill” which we have a lot of fun singing robustly. Followed by “Cornish Lads” a poignant song. It was composed by Roger Bryant in 1994 and inspired by closure of the last tin mines in Cornwall.
This was followed by a very well presented and informative talk by Celia about the Minerals of Cornwall. She brought along examples of family items made of the minerals - A pewter mug which was her dad’s 21st birthday present, a small serpentine bowel with a lid which her mum used as a face powder container, tin brooch and a china clay cup and saucer. Thank you, Celia - the personalized touch made it very interesting.
We finished the afternoon meeting with one final song “The Flora Dance” while we waited for the raffle to be drawn and then enjoyed the afternoon tea.
The July meeting will be a change of venue. To celebrate mid-winter the members with heading off to Columbus Café, located at Mitre 10, 54 Harewood Rd, Papanui @ 12 o’clock.
CHINA CLAY
Biennial General Meeting
Hawkes Bay
Thursday 15 May 2025
Thanks must go to Paddy & Richard Bayley, coordinators of the Hawkes Bay group for organising the BGM at the Thirsty Whale in Napier. A private room located off from the main bar area was made available with 30 people attending. Before lunch and the official business of the BGM, time was made available to meet and greet members and to hear the wonderful stories of their personal connections to Cornwall.
Judy and Nick did a presentation about Historic and community festivals that take place in Cornwall during May month, featuring – Obby Oss Day (Padstow) May Horns (Penzance) Bolster Day (St Agnes), Black Prince Flower Boat Festival (Rame Peninsular) and Flora Day (Helston)
The meeting ended with the unofficial Cornish national anthem, The Song of the Western Men, better known as Trelawney.
L-R: Treasurer- Mikki, President - Jeanette, Secretary Sharron
Helston Flora Day
This annual celebration in Helston marks the arrival of spring and sees mass dances through the streets of the town.
The midday dance known as the Furry Dance is perhaps the best known and was traditionally the dance of the gentry of the town.
Christchurch Branch - 10 May 2025
The AGM took place and all officers remain the same. Thanks go to all those members happy to continue in these roles.
The theme of the afternoons meeting was VE day related; however Cornish May month celebrations were not forgotten. Heather explained the Obby Oss tradition and we sang the “Morning Song” that is customarily sung during the day's celebration.
Nadine on the tuba and Heather on her piano accordion played The Floral Day dance with Jeanette and Celia, the only two brave souls to dance.
We were further entertained by Ivy - a 13year old who will be competing in a musical competition in Auckland soon. She has already won several competitions playing her piano accordion. She is very talented and was a delight to listen too.
Les spent about 5 minutes reminiscing about his VE day memories 80 years ago. The local policeman came up to the school to tell the children, a lot of whom were war evacuees that it was over. That night the streetlights came on, blackout curtains were no longer needed. A lot of Les's knowledge of what was going on during the war was learned at the Wadebridge movie theatre via the newsreels.
Continuing our war theme Nadine sang Land of Hope and Glory, then we joined her for The White Cliffs of Dover and We’ll Meet Again. Nadine then sang Lullaby of Birdland.
Our grateful thanks to Heather, Les, Nadine and Ivy for a great afternoon's entertainment.
Obby Oss Day - Padstow
"Unite and unite, and let us all unite, for summer is a-come unto day, and whiter we are going we all will unite, In the merry morning of May."
On the South West Coast Path, Michael follows the western shore of Cornwall’s biggest natural harbour Mount’s Bay. A sweeping 42-mile-long horseshoe-shaped shoreline. Pictured in the back ground St Micheals Mount.
L-R: Jeanette, Jennie, Barbara and Robyn enjoying afternoon tea.
Christchurch Branch -12 April 2025
Twelve members attended the meeting at St Pauls Church Hall on a beautiful sunny Christchurch day.
Our usual musical sing-along was put on hold as Heather, our musical director and her partner Mikki were away on an Alaskan cruise.
Les entertained up with a story from his teenage years in Cornwall.
Cornwall Snippets of news were shared and another episode of Michael Portillo’s Coastal Devon & Cornwall Walk was enjoyed by all.
This was followed by our raffle and afternoon tea.
A tail from Les: He was sent to do a plumbing job on a farm, the farmer had twin daughters who were not slow at introducing themselves to the 17year old Les. Not a lot of work got down due to chatter - by morning tea time Les felt comfortable enough to ask them to join him and his mate to the local fair that weekend. Their dad gave them permission to go but they had to be home by 10:30pm.
They duly went to the fair and then to the local Fish n Chip shop in Delabole. The fog rolled in and it began to 'mizzle' (a thick light rain). They were able to find their way towards the girls house. They were almost there when they heard the sound of horses hooves and chains - the girls fled home unaccompanied because the lads fled (on their bikes). On their minds was was that Squire Chaneys hunt? Squire Chaney was a local who used to hunt at night ( possibly foxes and deer). One illfated night in the mizzle he and his horse(s) went over a 600m cliff to their demise.
The next day Les and Bert went to check that the girls were OK, they were meet by the dad who insisted they apologize to the girls for not accompanying them to the door. He had been amused at the whole saga - but he had a logical explanation for the noise heard in the mizzle. Four horses with chains had been put into Tregear Round in readiness for a show the next weekend.
2019 - The Eden Project received 1,010,095 visitors. In the year ending March 31, 2024, it received 604,000 visitors and is struggling to regain pre pandemic levels
Hawkes Bay Group - 3 April 2025
Hygee Café, Clifton was the venue for the April meeting with 26 members attending. This included two visitors, Penny and Saffie, friends of member Carrie Greenwood, all the way from St Agnes.
After an enjoyable lunch, Cornish maps were handed out to accompany the theme for the meeting “facts and figures” about Cornwall.
After the meeting a number of us went to visit Colin Trevelyan's Camera Museum. A wonderful collection of cameras and other interesting artifacts plus some early 1900 cars.
The Branch is looking forward to hosting the NZ Cornish Association biennial general meeting on Thursday 15 May and meeting President, Judy Wright and National Secretary, Nick Bartle.
The Lost Garden of Heligan typically attract around 350,00 visitors annually. In the year ending 2024 figures had dropped to 300,000
There are nearly 400 types of plants in Cornwall, thanks to its warm climate and the Eden Project
Members in full singing voice at the March meeting
The entertainment continued with Nadine singing two songs accompanied on the piano by Craig
Adrienne & Jennie, our wonderful afternoon tea ladies
Christchurch Branch - 8 March 2025
Twelve people were present, including honorary members Nadine and Craig, both very talented musicians and Nadine a very talented singer.
We welcomed Catherine, who has recently come to appreciate her Cornish roots and acknowledged the passing of a very valued member Joyce Doney (92). In March 2024 Joyce shared with members her interesting life stories and Cornish connection.
With the meeting following on from Cornwall’s National Day – St Piran’s Day (5th March) Nadine led us in a rendition of “Hail to the Homeland” and Jeanette gave an outline of the life of Saint Piran, the Patron Saint of Cornwall.
We then continued singing more of our Cornish collection of songs – The White Rose and Cornwall My Home. Cornwall My Home is a particular favourite with members, who get very passionate singing this beautiful song.
We all enjoyed another general knowledge quiz set by Heather. This was followed up by a show and tell from Adrienne, who brought a couple of her treasures from her time in Devon – a little tin plate purchased from Widdicombe on the Moor and a tea towel.
With Flora Day coming up on May 8th and not many of us capable of doing the Flora dance. Heather prepared us for the May meeting by leading us in some seated moves.
We finished the meeting by singing the Cornish national anthem, “Trelawney”, followed by the raffle draw and afternoon tea.
Guest speakers - Lynne & Gerald Griggs
Taranaki Branch - 22 February 2025
The Taranaki branch held their first meeting of the year that coincided with their AGM. Minutes of the previous AGM meeting were read and confirmed and Elaine James, president of the Taranaki branch read her report.
A minute’s silence was held in memory of vice president Major Terry Heese who passed away in December 2024
Thanks go to Elaine and Carol for continuing in their respective roles for another year – Elaine, president, Carol, secretary and treasurer. Thanks also go to long standing member Judith Hellyar who has agreed to take on the role of vice president.
Guest speakers Lynne and Gerald Griggs, national association members from Wellington, coincided their holiday plans to be with us and shared some animated conversation on their passion for all things Cornish. They brought with them some of their family tree information and various publications from Cornwall plus lots of memories of exploration during their trips back home to Cornwall. We were also treated to their home-made pasties which we devoured with great delight at afternoon tea.
The meeting concluded at 3.00pm followed by afternoon tea and social time.
Hawkes Bay Group - 20 February 2025
Crab Farm Winery and restaurant, located just out of Napier in Bay View was the location of the first “Cornish” outing for 2025, with twenty-three members attending.
After lunch several of those attending went to visit the Lemmon Trust Museum, just a few miles away in the Eskdale Hills. The group first visited back in October 24 but several members were unable to attend.
The Lemmon Trust Museum is a collection of historical items acquired by the late Les Lemmon. It is not just a range of memorabilia and farm equipment from the past, but some fabulous classic and vintage cars and motorcycles.
Branch member Bill Trewheellar, has some old encyclopedias which he didn’t want to dump and has donated them to the museum where they are happy to display them.
The Hawkes Bay Cornish association have planned a lunch/meeting every six weeks, making a total of eight for the year. They are very much looking forward to hosting the biennial general meeting of the New Zealand Cornish Association on Thursday 15 May and meeting for the first time, national secretary Nick Bartle and president, Judy Wright.
A big thank you to Judy for the special message she sends us before each of our meetings.
Celia showed us a family treasure that she inherited from her father, the late David King, who was a long-standing member of the association.
The serving tray made by the Copper Works in Newlyn has been in their family for many years.
A wonderful piece of Cornish history. Thank you Celia for bringing it in to share with the members
Anita, one of our visitors, entertained us with 3 lovely songs from the musical Fiddler on the Roof.
Christchurch Branch - 8 February 2025
Thirteen members attended the first meeting of 2025, including two visitors (friends of members).
Our musical contribution led by Heather was the Cadgwith Anthem “The Robbers Retreat”. We are slowly managing to pull all these songs we have been learning together – It is a lot of fun as well as learning the history behind them.
Les's Legend is very popular segment- this month was about a gentleman John Tregear born in 1625, who later became Lord Robartes residing at Lanhydrock.
We then enjoyed a quiz set by Heather on the topic of Cornish cuisine and wildlife. The winning team correctly answered 16/20.
Denise, one of our visitors, shared briefly about her life for the last 35 years spent in Hawaii.
The afternoon passed very quickly and it was time for our raffle and afternoon tea. Birthday greetings were sung in Kernewek and English to Barbara who celebrated her birthday today.
A full programme of activities made for an interesting first meeting of 2025
Newlyn Copper
In the late 19th century, the fishing industry in Cornwall was becoming unreliable as a source of income; bad weather and seasonal fluctuations brought enforced periods of inactivity. It was decided that an alternative means of employment could be gained by training the unemployed fishermen to produce items in copper. The school remained active for about thirty years after its establishment in 1890.
A permanent collection, representing much of the work of the original Newlyn School, is on view at the Penlee House Gallery and Museum in Penzance. Newlyn Copper is now highly valued by collectors. The Copper Works Newlyn was re-established by Michael Johnson in 2004.
Our current bards
Heather Mitchell-Gladstone - KERNEWES ILOWEK
Nick Bartle - DEN AN SOTH
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