Walking through Penryn today, this beautiful Wisteria caught my eye.
Every season the mural changes outside the delightful shop, Just Delights, in Penryn. Elizabeth Perry is the artist.
This afternoon, Sue and I have worked on the Memory Boxes made by the young Mums we worked with some weeks ago. We added fairy lights and they look fabulous! They will be in the exhibition in St Euny Church to be seen after the production on Tuesday (preview) and then Thursday to Sunday. Book your tickets here. Choose your day and your start time for your magical walk!
Our lovely neighbour, Bill-next-door, left me something in his will and I am quite overwhelmed. I can’t find words tonight. Simply, here is my very special gift of an original Tinner’s Hound, known to us all locally as a Welly Dog, given to me by Bill.
I was in the Cornish Studies Library again today and thought that you might like to see another of the Tregellas tapestries, this one of some Cornish Festivals including Padstow’s Obby Oss which I wrote about recently. Others of the remarkable tapestries can be seen here and here.
Traditional Festivals
We have been delivering flyers to advertise the show, Until the Day Break, today. A face gate made me smile so here it is for you.
Lots of teeth and gold hair!
I went to Daisy Rain Vintage to find accessories for my costume for the show. No luck, sadly but I did find this delightful hat in a shop further down the hill.
Things are coming together for Perthi Kov’s production of ‘Until the Day Break’. Today the programmes were delivered and we collected the posters. Just showing you a little of one for now but when the show is done, I will show you all of them. They have been designed for us by the very talented Anna Oliver of Fresca Marketing using a painting by Sue Hill (programme) and images from St Euny Graveyard.
A little poem today for you:
An Epilogue by John Masefield.
I have seen flowers come in stony places And kind things done by men with ugly faces, And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races, So I trust, too.
It is less than two weeks to the start of our production of ‘Until the Day Break’! Today was a choir rehearsal with The Ingleheart Singers and The Red River Singers for the whole route, planning who should sing where – very exciting! There were small character rehearsals going on too so here is a gallery to give you a flavour of our beautiful afternoon. Click on any photo for more detail.
Trying out a small group on ‘Black and Gold’
One of our actors who will play Dmitri Nabokov
The May Carol being sung between the old and the new Churchyards
I decorated the Lime and Ginger Cheesecake for last night’s shared supper at the WildWake with Primroses from our garden which I had crystallised. The Rosemary is for remembrance.
This afternoon some of the cast were rehearsing in the graveyard. I am finding it so exciting seeing my vision coming to life.
On my way out of the Churchyard I noticed a Three Cornered Leek plant nestled in the fork of a tree.
Hundreds and hundreds of people came today to say goodbye to a much loved man. There was music and laughter, there were stories and tears, there were memories and tributes and there was an abundance of love. People met in the park, marched to a Cornish band up to the house where Bill was collected in his jewel like coffin and carried to the Church in the lee of Carn Brea, all accompanied by the band and a very lovely choir. The WildWake was in a marquee by the beach in a howling gale where the musicians continued to play and the laughter and tears continued to flow and a marvellous shared supper was enjoyed. I have been encouraged by Sue to show you the beautiful coffin, covered in paintings done by Bill’s friends, by Sue and one of Bill’s own pieces and to share the amazing procession with you.
One of Bill’s palettes
one side
Bill’s own painting
Other side
Flowers
Processing down the lane under the oak tree
Carrying the coffin down to St Euny Church
Crowds come to say goodbye
Our memories of our lovely neighbour – https://mybeautfulthings.com/2017/05/03/bill-mitchell-our-friend-next-door-2121951-1442017/
I was given a present this morning, just because! It is a set of slot together silicon panels to make any size, shape of cake so this afternoon I made a heart shaped Lemon Drizle cake for next door. Thank you, N, perfect present and excellent timing.xx
I forgot to take a photo of the cake!
On my walk this afternoon, the lane was full of richly coloured English Bluebells.
Daughter No Three is with us for Bill next door’s funeral tomorrow as she once worked with WildWorks on Babel. She has left her daughter with Daddy but LiveWire 4 sent her Bunny to keep Mummy company.
From the moment we came back to live in Cornwall in 2008 and serendipitously landednext door to Sue and Bill, we were made to feel welcome and loved. We were asked in for a drink even before we had moved in. On moving day, the pantechnicon couldn’t get up our drive, so next door’s fence came down and we moved in from their drive.
Breakfast in Charlotte’s Tea House, Truro
Bill’s big hugs were so lovely and happened sometimes out of the blue such as when we had gone to Plymouth to see Beautiful Journey or London to see Babel and suddenly there behind us was Bill and then came the hugs.
It was some time before we began to realise that both Bill and Sue were something rather special in the art and theatre world! Bill was such a modest individual but over drinks and mince pies at Christmas or over dinner, he would regale us with wonderful stories of his work in the theatre, his designs and his inspirations opening our minds to new worlds.
I loved hearing the gentle whirr of the hand pushed mower as Bill mowed the lawn next door.He was right, it did make for a lovelier lawn.
Bill nurtured everyone’s talents. He knew that I loved to knit for our Grandchildren and one day asked if I could knit something for him. WildWorks were working on a project in Kensington Palace and needed knitted Crown Jewels! Bill asked if I could make the orb. It took some ingenuity and several trials but I managed it and it was there in Kensington Palace! It was held by each person who sat in the knitted throne when they visited the installation.
A child holding the Orb that I knitted for the exhibition
Bill gave me a most precious gift the last time we were in the car with them. Somehow we were talking about names and I told him how I had always disliked my middle name only ever using my initial, H. He asked what it was and though I had told no-one for 50+ years, such was Bill that I did tell him. It’s Hilda (and this will come as news to many, many people!) Bill told me that the name means fighter and warrior and that it suited my nature and that I should be proud of it – so I have regained the name my Granny gave me and I can now wear the beautiful gold and tiny diamond H which I inherited from her. When I was a little girl my Granny told me that she would give the little H on a black ribbon if only I would say I liked my name. I was named after her – but I was a stubborn and rather horrid little girl and I wouldn’t say it. With Bill in mind, I will now own my name with pride and honour my Granny.
H for Hilda
Bill couldn’t eat onions, leeks or garlic so making a meal was sometimes a bit of a challenge. I don’t like lamb but the lovely Mr S does. On one occasion I cooked a herby roast chicken in our house and Sue cooked lamb with garlic in theirs. We took the chicken round and Bill and I enjoyed that while Sue and my Mr S loved the lamb dinner.
Latterly, when Bill was unwell, he fancied puddings more than a roast dinner. He put in a special request for Treacle Tart, Lemon Sponge and Syrup Sponge and told me when we met over the garden fence that the puddings were, ‘Nectar; pure ambrosia.”
It was Bill who introduced me to Claire Ingleheart in whose choirs I have been singing ever since and with whose choirs I took part in Heligan 100. It was Bill who introduced us to the magic of community and landscape theatre through his wonderful WildWorks productions and it is Bill we will say goodbye to on Friday 5th May along with the hundreds of others who loved him.
Mecanopsis, a blue Poppy
Sue told me recently that Bill thought blue was the colour of memory, the Underworld, the blue yonder, ‘into the blue…’ so this beautiful blue Poppy, from our garden, is for Bill, with love.
For those who would like to know more about Bill’s professional life, these obituaries and the video tell the story:
It was my first trip to Obby Oss Day in Padstow and I went with my lovely neighbour, Sue. Here I give you a gallery to give you a flavour of the evening. It had all been going on since just before midnight on 30th April and people were still full of the joys of Spring! The end where the ‘Osses are sung away for the year to the crowd singing “The Soldiers’ Farewell” was really moving and beautiful.
You can find out about the history here and from that WordPress website I have taken the description of what happens on the day. To give you a further flavour of the event, there is a video of a small section at the end.
Posters
Maypole – the dancing has moved on
All ages enjoy this day
Decorated drum
Crowds
Happy girls
Master of Ceremonies
So many accordions!
and more
Going to the home of the blue ‘oss
The harbour at dusk
Blue alley
Red alley
The Red ‘Oss
The dancer inside the Red ‘OSS
Maypole and Moon
Reassurance
Fun
“What Happens on the Day
Mayday in Padstow starts at midnight on April 30th, when its inhabitants sing to the landlord of the Golden Lion Inn. They then carry on singing as they move around the town until the early hours of the morning.
The next day some people are up early collecting flowers to display around the town. Tree branches are tied to lamposts and drainpipes. By around 8am children start to parade their obby oss’s in preparation for the main event. The maysong is played by accordianists and drummers while the supporters sing along.
The Blue Ribbon obby oss leaves the Padstow Institute at 10am to begin its tour of Padstow. Next the Old obby oss appears outside the Golden Lion Inn at 11am. The two oss’s dance round the streets followed by their supporters and at 12pm the old oss has reached Prideaux Place, where it dances outside in front of a large crowd, before it heads back to the Golden Lion Inn. The Blue Ribbon oss visits Prideaux Place later on in the day.
The obby oss outfits are worn by various members of each group throughout the event, and they also take in turns teasing the oss. The teaser waves their teaser club in the air, and dances around the oss while leading it through the streets of the town. The two obby oss’s carry out similar parades at 2pm and 6pm, ending their day around the maypole on Broad Street. Just before it gets dark they are returned to their stables. All the supporters then meet up once again around the maypole at midnight to sing once again.”
