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Promoted by Golowan Community Arts as part of the ongoing Newlyn Heritage
Trail Project, people packed into St Peter's Church Hall for the launch
of local author Michael Sagar-Fenton's "The Rosebud and the Newlyn
Clearances". As someone said: "Ab'm seen so many Buccas in one
place for years!" It would seem that interest in, and feelings about,
all that happened in and to pre-war Newlyn has never been higher. Indeed,
having been one of the displaced persons, a member of one of the families
"cleared out" of the Fradgan, coupled with seeing, in one of
the fascinating short films shown as part of the programme, the "Twilight",
the fishing boat on which my grandfather died with his sea boots on in
the same year as the "Rosebud" sailed up the Thames, it is impossible
for me to be objective and I must declare an interest.
Although the story of the voyage of the "Rosebud", PZ 87, from
Newlyn to London almost exactly 66 years ago, "to help save the village
from wanton destruction", has been told before in various books,
magazines and newspapers, the reasons for and the background to such an
epic event have never explored and expounded upon as comprehensively as
Michael Sagar-Fenton has now done. He is to be congratulated upon not
only unravelling a surprisingly complex issue - one involving councillors
and politicians, not to mention emotions and prejudices - but also upon
making his account of all that was involved so readable.
As well as detailing the machinations of the then Borough Council and
its love of Compulsory Purchase Orders, and describing the heavy-handed
approach of the then government and its total indifference to the needs
and wishes of people (nothing changes), he also reveals the amount of
discord which prevailed within Newlyn itself at the time.
While the "Rosebud's" voyage is often acclaimed as representing
public opinion in Newlyn, the manifestation of the wishes of the whole
village, nothing could be further from the truth. Although united in their
dislike and suspicion of anyone and anything that came out of Penzance,
there was considerable disunity and disagreement about the problems facing
them, and not only among the three communities that made up Newlyn at
large - Newlyn Town, the Fradgan and Tolcarne - but even among families.
In my own family, for instance, my mother was all for moving out of the
Fradgan, my father was against it, while I was more concerned with Cowboys
and Indians than councillors or clearances, and didn't mind whether we
stayed or left as long as I had somewhere to play!
But, whether one was for or against the clearances, whatever side of
the fence one happened to be - and particularly when seen in hindsight
- there can be no denying either the romance or the reality of the "Rosebud's"
voyage to Westminster. While the Second World War helped enormously in
putting the proposed wholesale destruction of Newlyn on hold, the part
played by the "Rosebud", powered by Methodism as much as anything
else, was immensely important. As Michael Sagar-Fenton points out: "The
huge wave of publicity which followed the efforts of its crew put a full
stop to the more extravagant notions of the Penzance visionaries."
It should be inserted here, thanks be to the Marquise de Verdieres and
her kindred artistic spirits who blew up such a storm against the proposed
clearances.
It is worth remembering, too, what a debt Mousehole owed to the "Rosebud".
Destined to be destroyed, the village owed its survival to "the stiff
resistance put up by Newlyn . . . The Medical Officer of Health and his
merry men did not even set foot in the village, and the proposal for the
giant highway and the demolition of around three hundred houses was never
taken up."
The "Rosebud" may not have saved Newlyn from vandalism altogether
but it must be fair to say its voyage did save part of it and so was ultimately
victorious. The only sad note in the story of PZ 87 is struck by the fact
that, despite "various schemes for her restoration". instead
of being preserved for posterity as she should have been, the "Rosebud"
was allowed to rot away, her last resting place being Dynamite Quay at
Lelant.
Thoroughly researched, well illustrated, and even better written, a piece
of living history, recommended and required reading for all - and not
only "Buccas" - with an interest in the past, present and future
of Cornwall, "The Rosebud and the Newlyn Clearances" by Michael
Sagar-Fenton, published by Truran at £7.99, is available at local
bookshops. If you haven't already bought a copy, then run out and buy
one now!
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN
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