Items for inclusion on this website relate, for the most part, exclusively to Newlyn but how can you look at the life of the village without discussing its relationship to neighbouring villages and the local market town?

The simple answer is that you can’t, and a new book shortly to be published by the Penwith Local History Group amply illustrates this point.

The thirteen contributors, several of them Newlyn residents, write on diverse topics but there are many references to Newlyn.  Iris Green looks at the history of Chirgwins, a much loved local business that flourished in Penzance in the first half of the 20th century and established branches in several of the surrounding villages including Newlyn.  Pam Lomax has contributed an article on her home, Wheal Betsy Cottage: an Arts and Crafts House in Newlyn. Glyn Richards currently has an exhibition of photographs at the Centre and his contribution to the book is illustrated with his photographs of West Penwith from the sea.  A native of Newlyn he worked as a Fishery Officer and did not waste any opportunity of taking pictures of the West Penwith coast. Miners and motors, farmers and pacifists, Christians and Corpus Christi Fair all are between the pages of this book.  Make sure that you see a copy, this is a book that you will want to own.

West Cornwall in the Twentieth Century  - Life in Penwith  is currently available at the pre-publication price of £9.95 for orders received by 27th October 2007, thereafter it will be available from local bookshops at £12.95. Cheques should be made out to Penwith Local History group and sent to the PLHG Secretary (Mrs D Walker) c/o Morrab Library, Penzance TR18 4DA.  Post & packing charges per book are shown below:

• Collected from the Morrab Library  nil
• UK (2nd class) £2.20
• Europe (by air) £4.30
• Rest of world (surface) £4.30

Margaret Perry