February 2024
On January 15th, group members Jenny Dearlove, Linda Camidge and Susan Soyinka presented a 45-minute illustrated talk to Penzance U3A and their guests. Improving Lives – Uplifting Stories from Historic Penwith gave a brief account of three ways in which life in the Penzance area had been improved over the past 1000 years.
The first speaker, Jenny Dearlove, spoke about the introduction of trial by jury, and how it had replaced some eye-watering ordeals of the past with a recognisable forerunner of the present day justice system.
Medieval crime could be bad enough – but the punishments were often worse…
The other ‘uplifting stories’ were more recent. Linda Camidge spoke about the coming of the railway and its development to a high point at the beginning of the 20th century, when London could already be reached by train in six and a half hours.
The opening of the first Penzance railway station
“Opening of the West Cornwall Railway Station, Penzance.
Copy of a sketch from a book,” Morrab Library Photographic Archive, accessed February 26, 2024, https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/4239.
Susan Soyinka brought us up to the present day, with an event still within living memory – the post-war evacuation of Dutch children to the area in 1945-1946, which helped them to overcome the trauma of wartime occupation.
Staying with the ‘live presentations’ theme, group member Linda Camidge and her theatrical colleague Jak Stringer performed The Laughter of Friends - their show about two local journalists who befriended Dylan Thomas in the late 1930s, based on an unpublished memoir – for Madron WI in January. There will be another chance to see it at the Union Hotel, Penzance on Friday April 5th.
And looking ahead a bit, we are delighted to have been accepted for a spot at Penzance Literary Festival in the first week of July.
More details in our next update, and programmes will as usual be hitting the streets by the beginning of June.
And several of members are also working away quietly on their own publishing projects –not to mention our next PLHG book. The titles and publication dates are still under wraps, but we’ll be sure to keep you informed.
PLHG publications can be purchased online here or perused in the Morrab Library.
Penwith Local History Group
Edited by
Sally Corbet
price £10
plus p&p
Photo Glyn Richards