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I NOT only declare an interest in, but also confess,
unequivocally and unashamedly, to being totally biased in favour of
John Cecil (Chirgwin) Jenkin's magnificent magnum opus, Newlyn: A View
From Street-An-Nowan.
To
be objective about it when I have so much in common with its author is
impossible, but this must be the jewel in the crown of books yet
written about Newlyn. I cannot praise it highly enough.
Like John Cecil Jenkin, I am a Bucca (Newlyn man) and, like him, I was born and bred in Street-an-Nowan.
His
mother and mine were pupils at the Wesleyan School under its headmaster
Henry Fleming, while his father and mine both worked at Penlee Quarry.
We
were born within three days of each other, shared the same chapel and
christening ceremony and later attended the same schools – Tolcarne,
where we sat in dread of its headmaster "Pa" Butler's savage cane "Dr
Sharp", and then Penzance County School for Boys where we made new
friends, some of them from as far away as St Just and St Ives.
We played in the same
streets and, if nothing else, such a shared childhood places me in the
position and grants me the privilege of being able, and without
prejudice, to confirm the veracity of all that John Cecil Jenkin says
about the Newlyn in which we grew up.
Far
from being "a quiet, pleasant community, lapped by gentle waves and
breathed upon by warm zephyrs, with sturdy weather-beaten but healthy
characters standing by picturesque white-washed cottages, flowers round
the door, everything fresh, clean and neat, all against a background of
brown-sailed boats and perennially blue skies", his portrait of the
place and its people – from Medicine For The Soul to People With Wooden
Noses – could not be more faithfully drawn.
The
village in which we were boys, the world within which we grew up, was
so small, so sequestered and parochial, even Newlyn itself boasted
three distinct areas, each of them almost a "no-go" area from the
other. There was Newlyntown, Tolcarne and Street-an-Nowan.
Yet,
while he subtitles his book as a view from the last-named, Cecil John
Jenkin's vision is far from narrow and he embraces just about every
aspect possible in all three areas to come up with a picture of the
village which could hardly be more accurate or rounded. This is how it
was – warts, smells and all.
It
sometimes seems that everyone in Newlyn, within the last century or so,
was either a fisherman or artist. And while it is true that its
fishermen and artists have played important roles in its story, it is
with some relief that he sets the record straight and includes all
those who have contributed to its development throughout the years. He
does not neglect "the butchers, bakers and candlestick makers: the
builders, school teachers, parsons and labourers".
As
informative as it is intriguing, he lifts his history lesson about
Newlyn beyond the ordinary to the extraordinary. A Bard of the Cornish
Gorsedd since 1960, he was actually received into Gorseth Kernow as a
disciple when only 11 years old. He was its secretary for several years
and enjoyed a long and distinguished career in education as a head
teacher in Cornwall. His book is worth having for his personal
reminiscences of the village in the 1930s alone, not to mention his
grandfather Edwin Chirgwin's memories of Newlyn in 1900.
From
the story of The Hulk, the ferro-concrete ship Cretehill which for
almost 30 years was an ugly presence in Newlyn harbour, to the full and
fascinating account of the refugees from Belgium, who spent the Second
World War years in Newlyn; from Newlyn's fondness for nicknames to
samples of the local dialect, it is all here.
Although
a cause for celebration, at the same time his book reminds us forcibly
that Newlyn in 1939 and Newlyn after 1945 were very different places
and that, for various reasons, it lost "the well-defined village
character and identity it once had".
Dedicated
to the memory of his late wife Dorinne, who contributed much to it but,
sadly, never saw the finished work, John Cecil Jenkin's Newlyn: A View
From Street-An-Nowan first saw the light of day in 2002 in a limited
edition of only 10 copies. The response was so favourable and the
requests for further copies so numerous that, together with the changes
that had happened in Newlyn since, plus the discovery of one or two
hitherto unknown pieces of village history, a reprint was inevitable.
Having
made the necessary changes, added even more photographs – at a guess
there must be about 150 of them now – and a more attractive cover, he
modestly hopes that the reprint "will be acceptable and enjoyable, not
only to native Buccas, now declining in numbers, but to anybody living
in Newlyn and interested in its story".
Simply
stunning and excellent value, a clinker of a book, not to say a classic
of its kind, which should not only be "acceptable and enjoyable" but
also on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in Cornwall in general.
Newlyn:
A View From Street-An-Nowan by John Cecil (Chirgwin) Jenkin is
published by the author and available at £26.50 plus £4.50 p&p from
him at Avalon, 6 Gilbert Road, Bodmin. PL31 2BY. Further information
concerning the book can also be obtained from him by phone on
01208-79115 or e-mail:
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article published by THE CORNISHMAN
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