There was glorious sunshine for The Ladder opening party in the garden we helped to create last Saturday. The old library is coming back to life and in the most imaginative and exciting way. Click on any photo for a larger view and the caption.
Beautifully restored windows with clouds
The cloud motif in the entrance hall
Leading to the map room
Leaving messages in little bottles to be planted with the Rowan tree.
My wish in a bottle
The band setting up on the stage with the newly planted garden behind
A view from one of the windows of Carn Brea, the castle and the monument.
This evening we have been to listen to Angeline Morrison who was playing in the amphitheatre at the Eco park – a beautiful voice and person in a beautiful setting.
Our Dear Friend, Ti, is 104 years old today and we visited to take her a card, a posy of Lily of the Valley from the garden and some Butterfly Buns in her choice of flavour, Victoria Sponge. We also took a recording made by the choir yesterday of ‘Voice of Change,’ a song written by our choir leader and sung by the choir on the beach for Ti’s 100th birthday. Listen to the words – they become more important as every day goes by.
Click here to see the post of the party on the beach. . Click on this link to see the BBC report on her beach birthday. Do check them out. She’s a wonderful climate activist and is an example to us all. .
Happy 104th birthday to Ti who reads my blog every day on her iPad. xxx
Today is a special day for remembering my very dear friend, Kath, in whose memory I write this blog. Kath loved France and we spent some happy times there with her and C. If we were together on May 1st she would give me a little bunch of Lily-of-the-Valley. If we weren’t, she would send me a card to celebrate La Fete du Muguet. You can read about its significance here.
For the past week I have been working with our lovely neighbour, helping with the making of a ‘ship.’ I haven’t shown you as my photos have been bitty but today I watched it leave home for the parade later today.
Going to the parade
I wrote about Hellfire Kernow last year (you can catch the post here). Do enjoy the gallery so full of colour and the craziness that makes up festivals in Cornwall!
The Saints Kryw in preparations
The Saints’ band
The Angels Kryw
The Saints won the tournament last year and so have the ‘ball’
The Dragon belonging to The Demons’ Kryw
The band of the Tormentors’ Kryw
Demons
I worked on the sail, the wavy boat and the gold bits!
Our wonderful audience raised £720 for our three charities. Here we are singing the wonderful last song, “We Shall Be Known” by Karisha Longaker of MaMuse.
Today is the bicentennial of the birth of John Passmore Edwards who was born near Redruth in Blackwater, in 1823, He was a chartist and philanthropist, and a life-long champion of the working classes and is remembered as a generous benefactor.
Over the relatively short space of 14 years, 70 major buildings were established in Cornwall, London and other places in the UK, for the benefit of local communities. One of these is the old Redruth Library building on Clinton Road – now re-opened as The Ladder and today we joined a wonderful celebration, the Human Book Chain!
The library is now nearer to the town and about 100 people including children from two local schools formed a chain between the two buildings and passed books along. Everyone looked at the titles as the books were passed from hand to hand.
Part of the human chain passing books along, photo taken by Ladder photographer
Puppet Passmore Edwards on his way back to The Ladder
The following poem and film were shown at The Ladder and are a wonderful tribute to a remarkable man. Your Space and Mine – A Passmore Edwards Poem by Ben Rowswell.
I loved today’s writing workshop and especially the activity that came in little eggs! Each egg contained the traditional words for starting a story from various countries around the world – ours being “Once upon a time…….” From that start we each wrote a story for 10 mins and I have never known time fly by quite so quickly. Mine was the Irish beginning. I shall ask our Ukrainian friends for the story beginning they use.
A List of Beginnings
Arabic: ‘There was, oh what there was (or there wasn’t) in the oldest of days and ages and
times…’
Armenian: ‘There was, there was not…’
‘Three apples fall from the sky/heaven. One for the writer, one for the storyteller, one for the
listener…’
Czech: ‘Beyond seven mountain ranges, beyond seven rivers…’
Esperanto: ‘In a time already long past, when it was still of use to cast a spell…’
Estonian: ‘Beyond seven lands and seas, there lived a…’
Filipino: ‘At the beginning of time’, or ‘At the first time…’
German: ‘Back in the days when it was still of help to wish for a thing…’
Gujarati: ‘This is an old story.’
Hungarian: ‘Once there was, where there wasn’t, there was a…’
Irish: ‘A long, long, long time ago it was (and there was a king in Galway)’
Japanese: ‘Long ago, long ago…’
Korean: ‘In the time when a tiger used to smoke…’
Koti (Mozambique): ‘Once upon a time, there was a truly great friendship…’
Lithuanian: ‘Beyond nine seas, beyond nine lagoons…’
Persian: ‘Someone was, someone wasn’t…’
Romanian: ‘There once was, (as never before), because if there wasn’t, it wouldn’t have been
told…’
Russian: ‘In some kingdom, in some land, there lived/there was…’
Slovak: ‘When the water was being strewn and the sand poured…’
Tanzania: ‘I remember something that our father told me, and that is this:’
Turkish: ‘There was/lived in an exotic land far, far away, a/an…’
Walking through town later, I came across two sign-writers, very carefully repainting our direction signs. They were happy for me to take their photo, found it a very funny request and I could hear them laughing all the way down the street!
Just back from a brilliant evening of remembering the amazing protest camp at Greenham Common, hearing from some women who were actually there and singing some of their songs. Here’s one. ‘Hey Sister, Don’t You Weep.’
The lovely Mr Smith’s birthday is today so his chosen trip was to St Ives and the Tate followed by lunch at his favourite place in Penzance, Mr Billy’s.
Porthminster Beach
Very tame and photogenic Robin on our walk into town
Fenced off sink-hole on Porthminster Beach
Looking over the wall towards St Ives and Harbour Beach, tide coming in
Looking over the wall towards St Ives, tide coming in
On the way through we called in at a new gallery, The Livingstone, and I totally fell for a wonderful pair of earrings. Sadly, they were being sold with a necklace that I didn’t want (and I couldn’t afford the whole set anyway).
About Ken Spooner, the artist
I loved this van belonging to a decorator, parked near the harbour.
Work going on at the Tate, Porthmeor Beach beyond
Tide in
It has been a very Happy birthday day – family phone calls, cards and presents and serendipitously bumping into good friends in Tate St Ives!
The Writers’ Block has moved to Redruth and is in the old Library, the building now known as The Ladder. Today was their opening day and lived up to expectations. It really is “an inspirational space with events and activities for all ages and abilities cultivating writing confidence, creativity and enjoyment.”
Enjoy the gallery and click on photos to read the explanatory captions. Do click on the website to read about Simon Armitage.
Bench outside celebrating people from Redruth
Keith Sparrow, actor, story teller and artist asking everyone for the name of a favourite book so that he could add it to the ‘bookshelf.’ Look carefully, the door has an adult opening and a small one for children. It’s a very beautiful thing.
My choice of book was one of my Dad’s, The Fate of Jeremy Visick. Hasn’t Keith made a lovely job!
Poster Neil Gaiman’s words
Word game being played by a family
Word posy
Amontillado – bottle of special Laureate sherry donated to Amanda and Anna by Simon Armitage
The back of the bottle. The poem can be read properly in the next photo
What a brilliant night that was of sharing Cornish and Ukrainian cultures in the most spontaneous way and everyone had such a lot of fun.
Please click on any photo for the caption.
Beginning to decorate the crypt under St Andrew’s Church with
Arrivals
The amazing feast, all brought in by the attendees
Will Coleman, Cornishman extraordinaire, starting proceedings with Cornish bagpipes
A group of Inglehearts enjoying their feast
Cheesecake being served
Party people
Pasha and Sam enjoying the Cornish song performed by Will Coleman
