Our Work & Projects
Bewnans Kernow is in the process of establishing a new Cornish history and culture venue in Penzance - 'Cornish Heritage in Penzance'. Please click link for more details
Below we include some of our previous work strands of more recent years.
Bewnans Kernow (Cornish Heritage in Penzance) have been awarded funding for a new history project called ‘Old Knowledge Penzance’ and we are pleased to let you know that the project is just about to begin.
‘Old Knowledge Penzance’ is a project to celebrate the families who have lived in Penzance for generations and their knowledge of the town. Guided by input from long-standing residents the project will seek to fill gaps in the understanding to what it was like to live in Penzance during the 20th century as well as in earlier times. The aim is to build up a picture that can be shared more widely across Penzance and be handed down to younger generations.
The project is asking residents who are interested in the history of Penzance to become involved. It is particularly keen to hear from people who grew up in the town. If you are not from Penzance but would still like to be involved please get in touch as we intend to put together a project support team.
The first stage of the project will build this knowledge by asking questions such as:
- Who is the oldest person from Penzance you can remember speaking to when you were a child?
- How did your life growing up in Penzance differ from those of your parent/s when they were a child?
- On a map, in which parts of Penzance did different families live?
The project launched with two inaugural meetings - Monday, January 12th at 2.30pm and Thursday, January 15th both at Cornish Heritage in Penzance, 62, Morrab Road, Penzance
The aim is to build up a picture of Penzance in earlier years through informal and interesting discussion. At the first meetings we discussed the old families of Penzance, looked at some old newspaper cuttings and talked about the primary schools in Penzance throughout the twentieth century.
There have been lively discussion about earlier times in Penzance looking at traditional or family sayings and remembering childhood presents - both those given and received. There will also be presentations including about Penzance from 1820-1840.
The project had very good news as the project was awarded funding from Penzance Town Council to put on exhibitions using the information from the 'Old Knowledge Penzance' project. We are really grateful for this - thank you Penzance Town Council!
'Old Knowledge Penzance' is a project to celebrate the families who have lived in Penzance for generations, and to value their knowledge of the town. It is funded by the National Lottery Awards for All fund.
Please come along to the meetings or get in touch if you and your family are from Penzance, and please pass news of this project on to other people who are!
The project has been made possible thanks to a successful bid to the National Lottery ‘Awards for All’ programme.
Projects
The Penwith Points of View Project
The Bewnans Kernow Penwith Points of View Project took place between February 2014 and February 2016 in Madron near Penzance. The project was funded by the People's Health Trust and was designed and delivered by Jane Howells to celebrate and develop Cornish culture, heritage and identity, local history, and community well-being. The project had two main parts - weekly local history meetings for people from Madron and a series of 16 Cornish culture courses.
What participants thought:
“The project has brought us so many interesting speakers and given us such comradeship. It has been great”
Madron
The history of Madron parish was an important part of the project. From prehistoric sites to influental residents and from distinctive cultural traditions to engineering excellence, the vast and fascinating history of Madron was always interesting to participants.
Weekly 'Points of View' meetings
From April 2014 to March 2016 nearly 100 weekly local history meetings were held for people from Madron Parish with over 50 individual speakers plus films, debates and discussions. The subject was always Madron Parish - its history and its people past & present.
Cornish Culture Courses
Many Cornish cultural organisations, academics and specialists provided a series of courses on Cornish culture and history. The courses were free to attend and were a substantial learning experience for those attending.
The course topics were:
- Cornish Culture
- Cornish Language
- Cornish Mining
- Cornish Wrestling (x 2)
- Cornwall's Maritime History
- Traditional Cornish Pub Singing
- Cornish Surnames
- Cornish Comedy
- Cornish History
- Farming in Cornwall
- Running a Cornish Heritage Project
- The Plen an Gwari
- Guided walk to Mulfra Quoit and Bodrifty
- Medieval Cornish Churches
Film
An important series of 4K films recording many of Madron's long-standing residents were made as part of the project by local film-maker Orson Cornick.
School resources
The project provided St Maddern's School with:
- A series of Cornish language lessons
- A Cornish language resource pack
- Cornish Wrestling training
- A Cornish culture costume making workshop
- A series of artist-led workshops to make mosaics based on historic local sites
Research Group
A small group of volunteers met regularly throughout the project to research the history of the parish and prepare publications.
Events
The Penwith Points of View project held a number of events including a busy Open Day, anniversary dinners for members and joint meetings with the Carfury Antiquarians.
Training and Networking Project 2012-2013
This was a 12-month project to provide a series of one-day training courses for Cornish cultural organisations delivered by sector specialists. The courses were:
- Fundraising
- Governance
- Copy writing and Report writing
- Communications and social media
- Project management and event management
The project also organised networking events across Cornwall for Cornish cultural practitioners and provided online resources
Click link to see - The Penwith Points of View Project - Through Images
Reports
Bewnans Kernow has published a number of reports relating to the recognition of the Cornish under the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). These include:
Reports include:
- Bewnans Kernow Preliminary Report on the Cornwall Council Core Strategy
- Bewnans Kernow Report on Cornwall Council Local Plan
- Shadow Report on the UK Government Fourth State Report under the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
- The FCNM and the 'Cornish Distinctiveness Report'
- Report on Disparities and Cornish Ethnicity
Consultation
Bewnans Kernow has close connections with Cornish cultural practitioners and, when views are needed, has organised consultation events on matters of Cornish culture, heritage and identity, often in conjunction with the charity Cornish Quest.