Cornish language events

Full programme now online
http://theacornpenzance.com/festival-kernewek/

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Thatā€™s really cool, thanks, Shaun! :smiley: I will be in Penzance for the first few days of the festival (Iā€™m attending the Union Hotel weekend that I posted about earlier), so Iā€™ll see if I can go to some of those activities. Really looking forward to it!

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Just thinking, I should also mention the ā€œotherā€ Cornish language weekend ā€” the one run by Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek, Friday 7 - Sunday 9 April in Newquay ā€” is also approaching and application forms (available here) need to be sent in by the end of February. Iā€™ll be going and hope to see lots of others there too! :grinning:

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Though from what I gather from past experience of speaking with Tony Hak (who receives the forms or at least used to do so), nobody will be turned away even if the forms show up later!

Iā€™m sure it helps planning enormously to know in advance how many people will be turning up, but it seems to be a fact of life that many people will send them up late, sometimes the morning of the day they are arrivingā€¦

So while you might make Tony sigh a bit more than needed, if you donā€™t remember quite in time but still want a weekend with lots of Cornish spoken, do still sign up and pay!

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Thereā€™s also the ā€œother otherā€ Cornish language weekend, the one run by Agan Tavas.

But I think that one has kind of run out of steam; Iā€™m not sure whether theyā€™ve had it in the past several years. When I sent them a message once asking whether they would do it again, I think they said something about rising costs having made attendances so low that they discontinued them.

My impression is that the Kowethas one is where itā€™s at these days.

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Oh yes, Tony does still receive the forms. I agree, I donā€™t believe he would ever turn anyone away even if they are a last-minute applicant, but Iā€™m sure those who get their forms in on time (or reasonably close) hold a special place in his heartā€¦ :wink: Itā€™s also a lot easier for the hotel too (thereā€™s a separate form to send to them) if they have peopleā€™s bookings well in advance, Iā€™m sure. There are plenty of other places to stay in Newquay, but last year I found it was really good to be based at the hotel itself where everythingā€™s happening, as of course most other participants were staying there and one got to know them better.

Ah, see, I hadnā€™t even heard about that one, but Iā€™ve only been involved with the language for the past couple of years. I hope the new one (in Penzance) will be a success and both it and the Kowethas one will continue. Certainly the Kowethas weekend last year was very well attended, so thatā€™s hopeful.

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I agree :slight_smile:

Indeed.

For the same reason, if you can afford it, Iā€™ve found it to be really useful to take your meals at the hotel, because thatā€™s several minutes more spent socialising (and perhaps even practising Cornish!) over food or while waiting for your chosen meal to arrive.

If you go into town and make your own sandwiches to eat outside the dining room, that cuts into time spent with the others ā€“ but of course for some itā€™s the only way to make the weekend possible at all, whether for dietary or monetary reasons.

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Very true ā€” and I recall the food at the hotel last year was pretty good. :slight_smile: There is the option, on the application form, for participants to book meals at the hotel even if theyā€™re not staying there. Mind you, being at the dining table with a load of other Kernewegoryon is no guarantee that everyone there will actually be practising their Kernewekā€¦ :wink:

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Heb mar :slight_smile:

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I sent mine in late last year, guilty as charged! :joy:

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And see, they still let you in. :wink:

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Just got an email reminding us to

Please get the forms to us by the end of this month - in the next week or so!

We know some of you like to tease us by sending the forms a week before the event.

Or surprise us by turning up unannounced (youā€™re always very welcome, butā€¦)

And that one or two of you with a honed sense of humour send in the forms after the event.

But it really helps us to organise the sessions if we know numbers in advance, so please get those forms off now.

Ā 

For those of you that put the originals in a very safe place and now canā€™t remember where that was, the forms are attached to this email.

Pennseythun2017.pdf (99.6 KB)

I like their wry sense of humourā€¦.

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Thatā€™s probably Tony Hak. :wink:

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Saw this on Facebook, Itā€™s Cornish Shout day (09/05/17)at the The Three Tuns,Bristol,8pm. Please feel free to bring any May songs you want to sing (thanks, Alison, for the suggestion). Thatā€™s May as in ā€œA-welcome in the summer-oā€, not the other May on the minds of folk at the moment - letā€™s keep this cheerful! As ever, look out for the table with the flag. If you are around the bristol area they are also setting up Cornish lessons hereā€™s the Facebook post , Our lessons in Beginnersā€™ Cornish are going to go ahead. The initial proposal is for two or three hours, every other Saturday morning with optional, informal practice sessions in between without the tutor, but none of this is yet set in stone - discussion welcome. Cost should be minimal if we can find a free venue. Keep watching for further announcements. If your on Facebook like the page Kernow yn Bristol ha Bath

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Also this new project funded by Cornwall council Prag na? (Why not?) it seems to be only on Facebook at the moment but if a website appears Iā€™ll update this post, search for Prag na? On fb.
ā€˜PRAG NA?ā€™: The new project that aims to support and grow social opportunities for Cornish speaking.

Iā€™ve just started as Project Lead for this one-year Cornwall Council funded project managed and led by An Rosweyth, the network of Cornish language organisations, and wanted to ask for your help in spreading the word, so please feel free to share this post with your friends!

ā€˜PRAG NA?ā€™, or ā€˜Why not?ā€™, has two main aims, both of which are about getting more people engaged with Kernewek and speaking it.

Firstly, to support and enhance existing social opportunities for speakers to meet and talk Kernewek together. This, of course, includes, Yeth an Werins throughout Cornwall and, naturally, beyond with the diaspora. As such, I intend to visit as many as I can and learn from them what works, what people enjoy and get the most from. Generally, I want to generate some key principles of best practice to help those that already exist to grow as well as develop some guidance to new startups.

The second aim is to develop a network of social activities that can be run as sessions with Kernewek at its core. They might be aimed at people with lots of Kernewek, just a little or, perhaps as importantly, no Kernewek at all. They might be aimed at adults, children and young people or families.These might be anything from pasty making to skydiving and all points in between! Again, I aim to generate templates and packs of activities that can be picked off the shelf for anyone to use.

This is an amazing opportunity to grow the language in areas that are, perhaps, in areas that we might not have been able to venture into before and make relationships that can be of massive help to the language community in the future.

So letā€™s cut to the chase- I need your help.

I need, in the first instance, to gather a small group of people who would be prepared, within their part of the world, to help bring activities together and support the delivery of activities. The degree of language skill is not the essential thing here- the main attributes you need are a passion and commitment to Kernewek and a pencil and notepad!

Iā€™m also looking for people who would be interested, keen and prepared to deliver sessions on something that theyā€™re passionate about, have a skill or interest in. No topic or interest is too weird or wacky- thereā€™s always someone else out there who will be interested!

So hereā€™s what I hope you can do. Firstly, please share this post. Iā€™ll be creating a Facebook group shortly to act as a focus for conversation and information and Iā€™ll be asking you to share that too.

However, most importantly, I hope that youā€™ll get in touch (you can message me if you want) and get involved. Thereā€™s a bit of a time schedule I need to keep to and Iā€™m putting a meeting or event together that will be held at the end of May / beginning of June to kick the project off. I hope that we can run this as centrally as possible, so if you have an idea for a free venue- we could link it with an existing event or activity, of course- and perhaps would like to host it. Please let me know. Thatā€™s also the first time to get those people together who would be willing to get involved with the project.

Iā€™m sorry for the length of this post and say keslowena to all of you whoā€™ve got to the end! Please help spread the word and help get the project off to a great start!

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Thanks, Shaun. I got the same message youā€™ve pasted there emailed to me today by Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek (the Cornish Language Fellowship); I expect itā€™s gone out to everyone whoā€™s a member of one or other of the main Cornish language groups. It comes from Brian Rogers, who was at the Cornish Language Weekend last month ā€” I remember it being announced there that heā€™d just been given the job of managing this new project for An Rosweyth, but we werenā€™t given any further details at the time. I would love to be involved somehow if possible (if they have any activities near London) and will be very interested to hear what happens.

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Iā€™m not sure if what heā€™s organising is cornwall based all not itā€™d be worth sending him an email I think :nerd_face:

Iā€™ve just seen Prag na? Being advertised on the yeth an werin Bristol so he probably is doing stuff outside of Cornwall

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Iā€™ve found a flyer for Prag Na? on the Kowethasā€™ Facebook page, which I check from time to time. Iā€™m not on Facebook myself, though, so Iā€™m not sure how well Iā€™ll be able to follow how the project is going. Hereā€™s the flyer, anyway ā€” for those who live near other Kernewegoryon or people who are interested, it might be worth sharing:

Prag Na A5 Poster May 2017.pdf (87.4 KB)

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While Iā€™m here, this isnā€™t an event as such, but just a point of interest. There are now a few bus routes in Cornwall (I think mainly in the west) that have signs in Kernewek inside and out, including pictures of various scenes (beach, pub, gallery etc.) with the names of things written in Kernewek. Iā€™ve just found the website that gives you the pronunciations of the various words and phrases: http://www.whatscornishfor.co.uk/ A good idea for catching peopleā€™s eye and getting them interested!

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