Another Successful Open Day

The Photograph shows Jean Lodge with new member Bob Mason and archivist Pam Lomax looking at some of the duplicate archive material being offered to Friends in exchange for a donation. The Open Day ‘Newlyn Art Industries’ attracted 152 people and was a huge success. Apart from the usual informative display of text and photographs telling the story of Newlyn’s art industries there were also some private collections on display including Newlyn Copper from Betty and Goff Johns, and from Mike Richards, jewellery and enamel from Red Simpson, and pottery from Ann Pilcher.

Chairman’s Report

David Tredinnick, Newlyn Archive chairman gave his report to Friends at the Newlyn Archive AGM, held on Saturday after the Open Day. He noted the increase of archive holding over the year and welcomed the increased coverage made available by the new Lamorna section of the archive. He reported that the four open days held in 2013 had made the archive available to 697 visitors. The Open Days had been very popular, he said, and explained that there are no charges for admission, so that it is available to anyone who might want to come. ‘We prefer to rely for funds on the people who become Friends of the Archive at £5 per year, and on the sale of our books, Newlyn at War (of which there are only a few left) and Newlyn at School. We will be producing another book next year, Newlyn at Play and we hope that everyone will buy a copy of this.’ He ended his report by asking Friends if they had any cine film or video material of events at Newlyn or Lamorna, for the archive to copy as it now had a technical officer whose skills enabled the transfer of audio tape to CD, and old films and videos to DVD. David ended by thanking other committee members for all their hard work, Jerry and his staff at the Centre for their support and all Friends of the Archive for their crucial annual £5 and for their donations of material that made the archive so interesting and worthwhile.

Saturday Night Out

‘The tales captivated the audience, whose appreciation was reflected in a steady stream of laughter and rapturous applause’. This is what Andrew Gordon said in his review of the annual Newlyn Archive entertainment that took place at the Newlyn Art Gallery on the Saturday evening of the Open Day. Members of Lowen Group entertained Friends of the Archive with dramatised readings of two Cornish stories written by Randle Hurley, adapted by Goff Johns, and introduced by Les Bailey.

CWOP was a delightfully amusing tale exploring the social etiquette surrounding the prospect of earning a ‘divi’ at the local Co op. The expectations of new customer Jacka (David Tredinnick) egged-on by his wife (Betty Johns) and aunt (Liz Harman) were soon dashed when Jacka failed to use the correct membership number and his divi was paid into the account of his snobbish neighbour (Diane Tredinnick). Cwop shop staff included butcher (Jerry Drew) and cashier (Margaret Williams).

In Romance the challenges of pursuing a courtship were highlighted when an aging spinster (Liz Harman), aided by her friend and confidante (Betty Johns) set out to trap a ‘good’ man (Jerry Drew), aided by his close friend (David Tredinnick).