The Lamorna Society Plans for 2021

The Lamorna Society Committee met 12 January with a view to discussing dates for our Summer and AGM weekends.When we set the date for the meeting, well before Christmas, things were looming promising and we had every hope of being able to organise a weekend event, even if the format had to be a little different from usual. Unfortunately, that was not to happen. By the time the Committee meeting took place, the whole country was once again under lockdown. There is no indication of how long this might last, which rendered it impossible for us to make firm plans. When lockdown is finally lifted, it is very likely that there will be rules in place about the size of gathering and social distancing.

A couple of positive things did come out of the meeting, however. One being that if necessary we could combine the two weekends into one, to be held on a date near to the usual date of out AGM. If we take that route, we will try to include a visit to the Laura Knight Exhibition at Penlee House Gallery, which if things go according to plan, will run from 28 April to 11 September. Our other positive decision is to investigate the possibility of offering a Zoomed talk on a subject that might have normally been included at one of our weekends. Should it prove possible, details will be sent nearer the time.

In the meantime, if you have any suggestions of activities or visits that you would like to see included in any of our future weekend events, please do let me know.

I know some of you will have already been vaccinated, and more to follow, so let us hope there is soon a change for the better and we can meet once again.

I wish you all the best for 2021 from the Committee and myself.

Jenny Williamson

Chairman

AGM Weekend - CANCELLED

We regret to announce the cancellation of our AGM Weekend, which was due to take place 2-4 October 2020. This is in accordance with current lock down restrictions on numbers for social gatherings and social distancing. It is not currently possible to book venues for larger groups from many households at the present time.

The Lamorna Society Committee hope you are managing to cope with the restrictions and that they prove effective in arresting the spread of the virus. Keep yourselves safe and well.

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AGM Weekend September 2019

Birch Anniversary in Lamorna, Summer Weekend, June 2019

1-3 Paul Cemetery

4-7 Visit to Lamorna Archive, Boathouse, Newlyn

8-9 Friday Evening Meal at The Sound Pantry, Newlyn

10-12 Saturday morning walk to Carn Barges

13-17 Picnic at The Millenium Triangle, Lamorna

17. Saturday Evening Meal at The Smugglers Restaurant, Newlyn

18. Sunday morning talk by John Beresford

Spring Weekend in Dedham 2019

1. Relaxing in the Holiday Inn, Dedham

2. In the grounds at Castle House, Munnings Museum Dedham Essex

3. Enjoying lunch at the Garden Cafe, Castle House

4. Meeting for the Saturday Evening Meal at The Boathouse, Dedham

5-12. Following the Art Trail at Flatford Mill

1-3. Enjoying the grounds at Castle House, Munnings Museum, Dedham Essex

4-11. Private Tour of Castle House, led by Curator Jenny Hand & Curatorial Associate

         Marcia Whiting

12-15. Tour of Sir Alfred Munnings Studio

16-17. David Evans' talk at the Duchy Barn, Dedham

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 Archive Open Days 2020

The Open Days are held at Trinity Centre, Chywoone Hill, Newlyn, in the main hall where there is an exhibition and other material to review related to the theme of the exhibition.

Friend of the Archive, Maurice Bishop holding large fish at the Fish Market

21 March 2020 postponed to 21 March 2020

Trades to do with Fishing

Once, the main occupation in Newlyn was fishing. As well as working on the fishing boats, fishing provided jobs for many men and women on shore. In this exhibition of archive material we look at what happened to the fish when it was brought into Port. It was the job of the fish dealers to distribute the catch. For many this was an unpredictable occupation and there was much poverty amongst the jousters and fish wives who helped deal with the catch in the early days. The main dealers were better off and had premises in the harbour and contracts for the export of their fish, but even these were subject to the weather and if the catch was too large or too small there was hardship. 

The Fish Market was an important hub of activity for the fish dealers and the improvement of the harbour facilities through time was important to the commercial success of the fish business. One important trade was exporting pilchards to Italy on the famous Bird Boats. About 30 of these were run by the General Steam Navigation Company and many called at Newlyn with names like Stork, Heron, Albatross, Raven and Lapwing. This trade also supported the many fish cellars in Newlyn where the women of the family could find jobs. There were also some factories associated with the fish trade. Who remembers Shippam's Pilchard and Tomato paste which was produced in Newlyn? Come and find out more or come and add to our information. 

20 June 2020

Women Artists of the Early colony at Newlyn and Lamorna  

Which women artists associated with Newlyn appear in the Art Archive? We look at the women artists born between 1800-1879 (Artists 1) and 1880-1919 (Artists 2). There are few in the first category, but we include Elizabeth Forbes 1859-1912, Caroline Gotch 1854-1945, Laura Knight 1877-1970 and Isabel Leader. There are more women artists in the second category, due to many of them being students at the Forbes School of Painting. Here we have  Ithell Colquhoun 1906-1998, Madge Fawkes 1881-1932, Jill Garnier 18901966, Hannah Gluckstein 1895-1978, EM Handyside, Eleanor Hughes 1882-1959, Mornie Kerr 1904-1990, Marlow Moss 1889-1958, Maudie Palmer, Dod Procter 1890-1972 and Ruth Simpson 1889-1964. We look at where these artists lived, what they painted and who modelled for them. 

26 September 2020

Trades other than those associated with Fishing

In this Open Day we look at various shops and businesses that give an indication of the many trades that were associated with Newlyn but not directly with fishing such as barrels, pots, baskets, ropes, bottle tops and stonework.

Historically, Boat building was an important trade, and there were a number of well-known Boatbuilders like Peake operating from Newlyn. Quarrying was also well established. Stone was used for local purposes but was also exported. This gave business to the Harbour, which was well known for  the Stoneboats, with names often ending in ‘Brooke’ such as Devonbrooke, Dorsetbrooke, Warwickbrooke and Leicesterbrooke.   The harbour was also involved in shipping many other materials like cement blocks and clay. Also boats would discharge their cargos in the harbour including flowers.

Because Newlyn has always been associated with arts and crafts, these provided trades. Cryséde once had its headquarters in Newlyn. Pottery was also a lively trade and Newlyn had some of the finest potteries of its time associated with names like Brough, Celtic, Lane, Leach, Leaper, Picard, Tremaen and Troika.  Mining was important historically. Many Newlyn men worked in the mines at St Just. There were also once local mines like Wheal Betsy, Wheal Henry and the mine at Wherry town. Many trades survived mining to do with copper and tin as part of the work of the Newlyn Industrial Classes which were started by the early artists to alleviate local hardship. 

          Stone boat being loaded at the South Pier. Photo from Pete Joseph.

21 September 2019

Great Voyages that started at Newlyn

2020 will be the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower to America in 1620. Did she stop at Newlyn to pick up fresh water because there was cholera in Plymouth? John Pollard of Newlyn kept a Journal from 1794-1795, when his voyage aboard The Lark was rudely interrupted by the 44 gun Permoney and he was taken prisoner by the French. Henry Lelynack also kept a personal log of his voyage, on the schooner Queen of the West, from Penzance to BUenos Aires in 1851-1852. There is an account of 'crossing the line' when the cook 'slimmed the cuppers' and found himself 'in the latitude of pea soup and salt water'. Two years later in 1854, the Mystery left Newlyn for Australia, reaching Melbourne on 14 March 1855 after a journey of 11,800 nautical miles (21.900 km).

15 June 2019

The Shops that have Come and Gone

23 March 2019

From the Balcony to the Lighthouse

21 September 2019

Great Voyages that started at Newlyn

12 October 2019

The Sports that put Newlyn into the Limelight

Saturday 13 October 10.00am - 3.00pm

'Families that were the Backbone of Our Town' 

It has been very difficult to select material to feature in this Newlyn Archive Open Day Exhibition because so many families have been the backbone of our towns, Newlyn and Lamorna. We have selected material from large collections that have been given to the archive about particular families. Thanks go to the donors of this material.

Alongside the exhibition there will be our collection of family files for you to look at and our family expert Diane Donohue to consult. You can also see the remarkable film sequences that Brian Newton has put together for this occasion about family life and community. Roger Nowel will feature along with the Le Grice family, a wedding in the Cornish language, and much more. You can also listen to some of the tapes we have in the archive made by people featured in the Exhibition. All this is possible because of the new equipment that the archive has been able to purchase through the generosity of the Cooperative Society who have raised a remarkable £2000+ for us.

Saturday 16 June 2018 10.00am - 3.00pm

'Getting There and Getting Back'

The wide range of photographs showed how goods and people came and left Newlyn. There were some particularly fine photographs of the railway from the quarry to the South Pier taking the granite to the Stoneboats to be transported further (the quarry railway ceased operating in 1973). The North Pier, in contrast, was for the fish dealers; the fish (particularly pilchards) was brought there to be exported by the ‘Bird’ boats to Italy. In earlier days before the new piers were built, the Luggers had taken the fish to the traders on the beach. Many interesting photographs were on display of the fishwives, with their cowls, and the traders, with their horse and carts, on the beach ready to transport the fish further afield. There was also a board devoted to Stanhope Forbes recollections of first coming to Newlyn, with copies of relevant paintings from the art archive collection, and a board of ‘getting there and getting back’ to and from Lamorna that had details of the Good Friday walk, started in time immemorial. 

Saturday 24 March 10.00am-3.00pm

Rescue at Sea

This is an apt topic for the first Open Day of 2018, as the Archive's permanent home is in the Admiralty Boathouse, 23 The  Strand, Newlyn, which was built for the Admiralty in 1900, as a Coastguard's Boathouse. In fact, it seems it  was never used as a boathouse but became the home of the Rocket Wagon, which went to the rescue of the crews of boats in distress. At this Open Day we explore historic shipwrecks around West Cornwall, and particularly the involvement of the lifeboats which were stationed at Wherrytown, Penzance and Newlyn from 1865 until today.

Saturday 16 June 10.00am-3.00pm

Getting There and Back, transporting goods and people

This Open Day looks at the role of transport in enabling business to progress. How did the fish that was landed get to peoples' tables? How did the granite from the quarries at Newlyn and Lamorna reach the building sites and roads where it was used? How have our local forms of transport changed over the years? Who were the boats' captains, train and lorry drivers or men and women who pushed carts?

Saturday 13 October 10.00am-3.00pm

Families that were the backbone of our places

At this Open Day we look at the families that were behind the major developments in our local towns. In Newlyn the Legrice and Bolitho families were powerful land-owners and business people. Newlyn fishing boats often belonged to the same family for generations. Certain families provided sportsmen and women that have put Newlyn on that map.

We hope to draw on all three of our Archives on Newlyn, Lamorna and West Country Art to tell stories in these Open Days

The Lamorna Society 20th Anniversary AGM Weekend

Lamorna/Newlyn/Penzance

Friday 29 September - Sunday 1 October

29 September: David Tovey's Devonshire house to view his collection of Cornish pictures, followed by get together at the Tolcarne Inn, Newlyn.

30 September: A virtual exhibition of members images of Lamorna, at Lamorna Village Hall, followed by the 20th Anniversary AGM.  Visit to Penlee House Gallery and Museum to view the exhibition - John Armstrong:Dream and Reality. Then, 20th Anniversary Lamorna Society evening meal, Goldolphin Arms, Marazion.

1 October:  Launch of The Lamorna Artists' Trail in Lamorna Booklet, and walk around Lamorna led  by Robert Fishburn and Ron Hogg. 

The Lamorna Society Summer Weekend

Newlyn/Penzance/Lamorna 16-18 June

16 June: Reception at the Admiralty Boathouse, Newlyn, the new home of the Archive. Then meal at Italian Kitchen.

17 June: Archive Open Day, 'One Hundred Years Ago' . The Open Day focusses on events that happened one hundred years ago in 1917 and in the years of the Great War. It shows archive material about Newlyn and its people in 1917 and also tells the story of the artists from Newlyn and Lamorna (some too old to enlist) who played their part during the Great war and shows some of the pictures painted during the war.

Visit to Penlee House Gallery and Museum to view exhibition 'Stanhope forbes: Father of the Newlyn School'. Evening meal at the Smugglers Restaurant, Newlyn.

18 June: Talk by David Tovey - Warhorses, Ferrets, Moles and Other Mudlarks, by Crosbie Garstin. Afternoon walk in the Lamorna Valley.

The Lamorna Society Spring Weekend

Falmouth 5-7 May

A wonderful opportunity to celebrate the 20th year of Lamorna Society. The Society was created after the publication of A Painter Laureate Birch and his Circle, by Austin Wormleighton (1995), the exhibition at Falmouth Gallery of 88 paintings by Lamorna Birch in August (1997) and the guided Walk held at Lamorna by the artist Keith Gardiner, son of Stanley Gardiner (1997).

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24-26 June 2016

The Lamorna Society Literary Weekend, Cornwall

13-16 May 2016 

The Lamorna Society Liverpool and Birkenhead Weekend

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2-4 October 2015

The Lamorna Society AGM in Cornwall

1. Archive Open Day, Trinity Centre - Children from Newlyn Primary School involved in     art activity with Stephen Sedgeman,local artist

2. Lamorna Society members viewing Archive exhibition

3. Pam Lomax lecture- Where the Artists Lived in Lamorna and Newlyn

4. Evening meal at the Newlyn Italian Restaurant

5. Evening Meal at Lime Tree Restaurant,

    Dr Roo Gunzi gave Saturday lecture-Stanhope Forbes,  Painting Craft and

    Community

6. Jack Osborn  gave After Dinner Speech -10 January 2016 Jack celebrated his

    100th Birthday. Congratulations!

7. Sunday walk  - discovering the artists' houses in Lamorna

8. Sunday walk - discovering the artists' houses in Newlyn

 26-28 June 2015

The Lamorna Society Summer Weekend in Cornwall

June 2015

The Lamorna Summer Weekend in Lamorna & Newlyn

   1&2   Viewing the Archive at Wheal Betsy Annexe

    3-6   Socialising in the Wheal Betsy Garden

       7   Discovering the artists' houses in Newlyn

  8-13   Painting Day at Trewoofe, Lamorna

14&15  Evening Meal at The Smugglers Restaurant, Newlyn

16-19   Discovering the artists' houses in Lamorna

      20  Lunch at Borah Studio, Lamorna

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May 2015

The Lamorna Society Spring Weekend in Nottingham

1. Nottingham Castle

2. Willow sculpture of robin Hood in Nottingham Castle Gardens

3. Sarah Skinner, part-time curator showing us the stacks deep in the heart of Nottingham Castle

4. Viewing the early works of Laura Knight in the print room

5. 'Cornish Light The Nottingham 1894 Exhibition Revisited - 'Old Sea Dogs' painting by William Titcomb

6. Tour of exhibition by David Tovey

7. Wollaton Hall and Deer Park in the heart of the City of Nottingham

8. Prospect Room in Woolaton Hall with stunning architecture

9. High on the roof of Woolaton Hall with panoramic views of the expansive deer park, the City of Nottingham and beyond

Read the reports of The Lamorna Society Spring Weekend in Nottingham in The Flagstaff Issue No35 Summer 2015

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October 2014

The Lamorna Society AGM Weekend 2014

1. The Lamorna Society/Newlyn Archive Open Day

2. Evening meal at the Newlyn Italian Restaurant

3. AGM talk by Louise Connell, curator of Penlee House Gallery

4/5. Views of Lamorna Cove

6. Lunch at the Lamorna Cove Cafe

7. Dinner at the Lime tree Restaurant

8/9. Re-enactment of the Good Friday Walk to Lamorna

Read the reports of the Lamorna AGM Weekend 2014 in The Flagstaff Issue No 34 Winter 2014, p24-28. 

 May 2014

The Lamorna Society Spring Weekend in Whitby and Staithes

1. The Whitby Museum and Pennant Art Gallery

2. The Staithes Gallery

3. Inside the Staithes Gallery with owner, Al Milnes

4. Plaque dedicated to Laura Knight

5. Whitby artist Michael Pottas and his wife, Jane

6. Tour of Trevelyan College Durham University by Muriel Woodward, Emily Spencer and Brian Whitton

Read the reports of the very enjoyable May Weekend in Whitby and Staithes in The Flagstaff Issue No 33 Summer 2014, p16-19.