Laying a wreath on Dr Blackwood's grave in Camborne

 

Remembrance Sunday 2020: laying a wreath on the grave of Dr William Blackwood in Camborne - a World War One hero by anyone's standards.  Click here to watch.

In 1914 Dr Blackwood led a group of local miners out to the Western Front. They served throughout the war in the 25th Field Ambulance (Royal Army Medical Corps). Dr Blackwood ended the war as a Lieutenant Colonel and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) with a bar. In WW1, 9,881 DSOs were awarded but only 768 with an extra bar.

We researched Dr Blackwood and Cornish World War One history as part of our project Heart of Conflict.

Remembering great bravery

A local doctor made a passionate speech on a cold winter’s day in December 1920 when the War Memorial was unveiled in the village of Praze, west Cornwall, in memory of the 23 young men from the parish of Crowan who died in World War One. 

This was Dr. William Blackwood of Camborne who had led a party of local men to the Western Front in 1914 and served there in the Royal Army Medical Corps throughout the four years of war. With his men he saw the most terrible battles of a terrible war – including Neuve Chapelle, the Somme and Passchendaele.
Blackwood urged the large crowd in Praze on 15 December 1920 to remember the sacrifice of those from Crowan who had fallen. He would have been wearing his Distinguished Service Order (DSO) with a Bar. In the whole of World War One, 9,881 DSOs were awarded but only 768 with a Bar.
Blackwood ended the war as a Lieutenant Colonel. But despite these significant military honours, he went straight back to his practice as a doctor in Camborne when the conflict ended.



His modest grave is in Camborne graveyard, a simple inscription on the headstone: ‘His Duty Done’.
In the church hangs the banner of the Old Contemptibles (WW1 veterans) branch he founded.

This Remembrance Day, poppies will be laid on his grave in memory of his great bravery and inspirational leadership by the grandchildren of some of the men he led to France and Belgium.

Social justice work in Diocese of Truro

Good to see I PACKED THIS MYSELF featuring in the Diocese of Truro's Social Responsibility briefing this month. Thank you to Andrew Yates, vicar of Paul Church, for helping to make this happen.  Click here to read.

Skateboard reunion

It was great to see artist Pete Kirby last week (27 September 2020) for the first time for some years. Pete  - now lecturing at Falmouth University -  came to collect the wonderful deck he created for WHATEVER IT TAKES, our skateboard design competition in 2012.

For more details of Pete's board, click here.

For images from the 2012 exhibition, click here.

A selection of the skateboards (which have been touring Cornwall ever since) are now on display at Camborne Library.

Camborne World War One veterans' banner

 

Very many thanks to David Thomas, of Kresen Kernow (Cornwall’s archives) in Redruth, for letting me know that an historic banner, belonging to Camborne Old Contemptibles, is hanging in Camborne Church.

Camborne had an active branch of the Old Contemptibles, an organisation set up across the country in the years after World War One to support war veterans.

The name ‘Old Contemptibles’ was inspired by a phrase first used by Emperor Wilhelm 11 of Germany just after war broke out. He issued an order on 19 August 1914 just after war broke out to ‘exterminate the treacherous English and walk over General French’s contemptible little army’.

Camborne and surrounding districts had seen hundreds of men join the forces. Many sadly never returned from service: those who did often found it hard to adjust to everyday life back at home. What we would now call ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’ was not then recognised.

The opening meeting of the Camborne branch of the Old Contemptibles was held in the local library in May 1936. It was led by Dr William Blackwood. He was a popular local figure who had led a group of St John Ambulance men from local mines out to serve in the 25th Field Ambulance on the Western Front.

Blackwood, then aged 58, said that men who had fought in the War had felt the need for an association for some time.

“Their numbers were diminishing; twenty-two years had passed since the beginning of the last war, although it did not seem so long when they looked back,” said The Cornishman, reporting his speech. “Those years, added to the ages of many of them when the war broke out, made some of them grey-haired.”

“They wanted to get together occasionally and recall the times they had had together. Some of those times were very silly and they had throughly enjoyed themselves ,” Dr Blackwood went on. “In the distance, they forgot the bad times and thought of the jolly times…”

The St John Ambulance men he had led out to France and Belgium had certainly seen some tough times. They had been at the Somme in 1916, Passchendaele in the following year. Many had ended up as Prisoners of War after the German Spring Offensive in 1918.

They named their branch, based in Camborne, the ‘West Cornwall’ branch and the association certainly provided company. It also helped members to get jobs, secure surgical applicances and medical attention for wounds suffered in action.

The Camborne-based group continued for many years, poignantly marking the funerals of members who one by one died over the years by parading this very banner.

Our World War One project Heart of Conflict has told many of their stories.

Our new migration map

Searching the world for work .... Our new map for schools, community groups and churches is ready to go.  The very first place that it's on display is at St Mary's Church, Penzance. This church already had a map there encouraging visitors to mark their countries of origin with a pin.

Our new map takes things a step further. Each continent presents the story of a Cornishman who left home and travelled there in the hope of finding work. 

Why? To show that we are all on the move and have been throughout history.  Migration is not a recent phenomenon.

This is part of our project I PACKED THIS MYSELF with Cornwall Council and the Diocese of Truro. It's aimed at increasing understanding of people from overseas who play a vital role in the Cornish economy.

Here Keno Toriello, the Chilean-born administrator at St Mary's, helps to put up the map there. Keno has been working with us on the project for the past 12 months.

Young Trustees Movement Champion

Every small charity depends on the dynamism of its Trustees and we're lucky to have Leonora Rae on the team at Bridging Arts.

Leonora, who works in Charity Business Development at EdenTree Investment Management, joined the Board last year and has brought her insights and experience of the sector to our meetings.

Leonora is also a Trustee of St Andrew's Society. Here's an article about what inspired her and how she finds the experience of being a Trustee - why she enjoys it and what she wishes she knew when she started.