Until 1995 domain names were free and there were many companies
offering free website hosting, most of these sites no longer exist with this in mind the ensuing anecdotes have
context.
During the early 90's my friend Ken Freer was a
founder of the Bolingey September Fayre and the Bolingey Troyl Band,
I produced some publicity material for both, & participated in several roles.
During this time with the band we represented Cornwall in Britany, Eire,
Isle of Man and Wales. Eileen Carter asked me to produce a website for "St Piran" in
the early 90's, it was eventually taken over by the St Piran's Trust. For
many years as percussionist for the Bolingey Troyl Band I lead
the St Piran procession, with a bass drum, to the Oratory at Gear Park on the nearest Sunday to
5th March, St Piran's Day*. This was a procession across the dunes ahead
of a performance of a play of St Piran's life. The last year that I took
part was when leading the procession I tripped in a rabbit
hole and fell
head over "drum", like a Catherine wheel for several rotations. Thereafter
the procession has been lead by a snare drum and bodhrans, to facilitate a
clearer view for the drummers path. St Piran’s Oratory is an historically
significant and culturally iconic site for Cornwall. It is an early Christian chapel and
cemetery, tradition claims it was built by St Piran sometime in the 5 th
or 6 th century and is the oldest four-walled Christian edifice on mainland
in Britain. The Late 90's saw Bert Biscoe approach me to create a website
to promote the "Cornish Minority Report". The "Cornish Minority Report"
refers to a 1999 document arguing for the recognition of Cornish people as a
national minority under the European Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities. In 2011 Cornish Minority Report 2 was put forward
and in
2014 the UK government recognized the Cornish as a national minority,
granting them similar status to the Welsh, Scottish and Irish. At the turn of the century Mike Davis asked me to create a website to represent Cornish Miners and their heritage.
The website ran for many years but I'd noticed that it was no more. I felt
that it would be a shame for the material to be gone forever so I recycled
what I still had and published it here.
* Is our
anniversary, my first date with Barbara was at the Ponsmere Hotel 5th March
1999, I was the
sound man for the Bolingey Troyl Band at their performance during Gol Sen
Peran, the rest as they say is history.
upper right photo of Tony Silvey and me
as fairy queen by Cliff Jones, lower left photo 2004 St Pirans Procession by
Colin Brewer
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