Rinking: it’s already sweeping the nation, and now it can sweep Penzance.The old West of England Knitting Company in New Street has been transformed into “the People’s Palace”.

Frank Bodilly, the only Cornishman among the initial group of Newlyn artists, and scion of the old Penzance family of Bodilly was born to Thomas Hacker Bodilly and his wife Elizabeth on 5th December 1860.

It's 1902 and following a strike at the quarry James Runnalls has decided he needs more modern haulage to get his stone to Newlyn harbour.....

Penzance is looking to the future and Newquay is the competition. Strip lights on the prom, broadcasts concerts and to cap it all, an aerodrome, that'll do it!

Not every tragedy sees the light of day. For very good reasons the work of the Penzance Preventive and Rescue Society  was kept done out of the glare of publicity but it was recorded..... 

William Bolitho of Ponsandane has safely returned from his annual 6 week trip to the continent, whither he travelled with his doctor. In recent years he has handsomely endowed Gulval church. Is he perhaps feeling his years?

Major Davey, a man aquainted with the inner workins of the house of correction in Bodmin is back. He's a man who stirs up strong feelings.....

29th November 1813, the last time a bull was baited at Madron Feast.....

There a new cinema in Penzance and I predict it will be become on of the longest lived cinemas in the country!

St Michael's Mount is not normally associated with industry but it was one of the ports used for shipping copper ore to Wales and in 1812 William Jenkin paid the Mount a visit.....

Henric Kalmeter visited Penzance on 25th and 26th November 1724. He's often described a a spy, albeit of the industrial variety. Be that as it may, his journal provides detailed insights into a world which was undergoing some fairly big changes.

St Mary's church has been gradually taking shape on the Penzance skyline over the last three years and today, 25th November 1835, the first service in the new church takes place.

The flake plague has struck. The flake, or dogfish as it's widely known is a species of shark and has a particular liking for herring ...........

There's a war on you know! So the Mayor has set up a new fund for the wives and children of soldiers in South Africa.

Today is the anniversary of the death of John Mathews, the first Borough Surveyor of Penzance. Less well known than many, it's fair to say that John Matthews left a bigger mark on Penzance than almost anyone else.

Sir Rose Price - plantation owner, slave owner, gardener, agricultural improver, show-off, controversialist and dandy was baptised in Panzance in 1768.

It's 1839, coinage is gone in Penzance business is flourishing and professional men of the town need a new club in which to meet, one that rises above the humdrum everyday........

Unpredictable, that's fishing! On 19th November 1821 the St Ives boats went out after herring and they landed the biggest catch of pilchard known up to that time.

Depressed economic conditions can produce extreme reactions, as the Cornish diaspora bears witness. But among the tens of thousands leaving Cornwall's shores few did so in such dramatic fashion as the seven Newlyn fishermen who set sail for Australia on the 16 ton lugger Mystery on 18th November 1854. 

Between 1790 and 1830 a number of west Cornishmen were elected Fellows of the Royal Society including Humphry Davy, Joseph Carne, John Hawkins and on 17th November 1791, Davies Giddy, who would go on to become the Society's President.

The Furry Dance is "Helston's birthright"! If you want to see it the only place to go is Helston........

One of the Penzance banks has just gone out of business and not everyone is pleased with the way it's being handled.....

Today is the advent of a new era: no more red flags in front of motor cars and a new speed limit of 14 miles per hour. You have been warned!

Two days ago we covered the floods of 1894, torrential rains for weeks on end and torrents of water in Newlyn and St Ives. Today, just to show how variable our weather can be, we have record high pressure and clear skies.

Herring! Great numbers of herring, the like of which was scarce known before....