Planning the next stage at Cornwall Records Office

Always great to see spare folders on offer at the Cornwall Records Office (this isn't the first time we've made use of them - see here - every saving counts!) They're particularly useful as we start plans for the next stage of Heart of Conflict, our project marking the centenary of World War One in west Cornwall. We hope to take the work already started much further - to other parts of the county.

Skateboards on the move

It was great to be reunited with the Whatever It Takes skateboards the other week. They've been on display at Penrice College, St Austell, and Jason Wood, Head of Year 11, kindly took some time out of a busy day to bid farewell to them!
We're just making plans for their future display.
In the meantime, Nick Jensen's board  - which was inspired by an arrowhead at the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro - is still on display there. Nick helped to develop this project, which started with a competition for a Cornish skateboard. The idea: to give keen skateboarders in Cornwall the chance to express something about their identity.

Funds needed for Paul Church WWI memorial window

Came across this leaflet about a series of fundraising lectures at Paul Church, near Mousehole, Cornwall, to spread the word and raise funds for the restoration of the extraordinary World War One memorial window there.

A campaign to raise £150,000 towards its restoration has started: here's an article in The Cornishman. 

We featured the window on our Heart of Conflict website which gathers together local history and facts about the legacy of World War One in Cornwall. Click here for more. 

The vicar at Paul, Andrew Yates, is an old friend of Bridging Arts and is totally tireless in his work across Cornwall.

The leaflet is labelled summer and some of us may feel summer is long gone! 

But there are two lectures to go - one on 29 September and the other on 13 October. They're not specifically about the window (one about seals, the other about lifeboats!). They will take place in the church at 730pm. Tickets cost £5 on the door and will include a glass of wine and some snackes. Afterwards, people will be able to chat to the lecturers and raise any questions.  This is a totally worthwhile project to support. The window is thought to be one of the most significant in the south west.

A war memorial in Bologna, Italy

Ever since we've been working on Heart of Conflict (our project in west Cornwall looking at the legacy of World War One) I've been very conscious of war memorials.

This one - spotted in central Bologna last Sunday - is particularly poignant. It's a memorial to those who died in World War Two, particularly resistance fighters.
The photos and names are lined up in a grid: there are many women.
It made me wonder how Cornish war memorials would look - were there pictures.

Heart of Conflict events planned for November

Redruth Boys Brigade visits Helston Museum to learn more about WW1 

We're moving on with our Heart of Conflict project, looking at the legacy of World War One in the Camborne/Redruth area of Cornwall. We are working with local groups to collect personal stories, objects and photographs, These went on on display at the Cornish Studies Library, Redruth, in February 2015  - and we'll be staging three 'pop up' events in the autumn to mark Remembrance Day this year. Local Guides and youth groups will be involved, and we’ll invite everyone who was involved in the February exhibition as well.
Entry is free: please do let us know if you'd like to be involved. The events are:

• an evening at Penponds Church looking at the War Memorial there on Friday 6^th November at 7pm
• a ‘pop up exhibition’ at Redruth Wesleyan Chapel on Saturday 30 October from 10am to 4pm
• a similar event at the Donald Thomas Centre, Camborne, on Saturday 7^th November from 10am to 4pm.