Open Day 16 June 2018

There were 138 visitors to this open day, ‘Getting There and Getting Back’, and it was very enthusiastically received. Many conversations could be heard of people remembering times gone by and how things were ‘back then’. A number of people brought interesting material and information for the archive to add to its collection. As well as local visitors, it was good to see so many members of the Lamorna Society.

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. The Mousehole Archive had a fine display of different forms of transport, including early ones of Raymond’s Taxis and ones of the first bus, run by Hichens of Newlyn in 1920 (a single fare cost 6d.). As usual, Brian Newton showed films from the growing archive collection. Of particular interest was a silent GWR promotional film, probably made soon after 1912. There was also an interesting collection of old books about Newlyn for sale, collected by Diane and David Tredinnick to raise money for the archive.

Thanks are due to Pam Lomax and Sue Newton for their hard work in producing an impressive display, to the Mousehole archive, and to the many Friends of the Archive who contributed to the exhibition. Joy Keogh summed up the exhibition with her comment in the visitors’ book: ‘Absolutely fantastic to see the history of the place where you live. So many memories’.