Palace Visit

Here is a not-very-good photo of Graham outside Buckingham Palace last Wednesday evening 15th February. A reception given by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth was held for UK Rescue Service men and women and Graham was lucky enough to be invited for his actions during the Boscastle flood. He had a really good time viewing the exquisite artwork and sampling the New Zealand wines on offer. Good to see the Palace still supporting the colonies! (I can say that because I'm Australian.) Graham actually met the Queen at the end of the evening but contrary to village gossip he has NOT been knighted. He's already a King after all.

Unfortunately I had to dash out of a waiting cab & quickly take this shot so it is not quite as dapper as the photo we have of Gerald Gardner entering the Palace Gates with his walking cane in hand.

We spent the next day at the British Museum checking out the fabulous Aztec turquoise mosaics. The masks are incredible as is the two headed snake. Have you ever checked them out? Highly recommended. They're in the Americas section.

So now we're back and work is continuing. We had a belated "Yule Do" at Trebarwith Mill pub (belated due to Hannah being slightly preoccupied with giving birth just before the original Xmas party date). It was an extremely pleasant evening with yummy food & put us all in the mood for a fabulous year ahead. A dry one we hope.

What's happening inside.....?

There's masses of building action outside but a lot of activity inside as well. "Protection" is coming along nicely and should be finished this week. The lovely chimney doll already has a new space in her own glass cabinet. There is much more space for aretfacts to be displayed. Graham has been working on the trench art section. These artefacts are from WWI and are mainly made from bullets and bits of schrapnel, and were carried as protection. They are previously unseen and were part of Cecil Williamson's collection. Here's a selection for your viewing pleasure.

Building site

This is what things are looking like outside the museum at the moment. Cranes, sheds, and dust are pretty much the norm most days. luckily the weather has been gorgeous down here which keeps the mud down. Lots of visitors to the village as well. We're having to queue for sandwiches in the Bakery already! Despite the "closed" sign on the museum door we have found people wandering aimlessly around inside. Quite incredible!

The museum will be opening around Easter. Watch this space as we will announce the exact opening date here.

Boscastle Gig Launch

Today Boscastle Harbour saw the launch of the Boscastle & Crackington Rowing Gig. The new gig, costing around £25,000, will soon be winning the international championships. The event was very well attended with the gig being blessed by the Rev Christine Musser before it took to the waves. The waves were rather too big so it came back in 5 minutes after launch! More photos later.

You probably won't notice ....

There's always a lot of work going on behind the scenes which nobody notices - recarpeting, painting, new lighting. As well as redoing the protection display, James, a young decorator, has been in repainting the walls. The flood has made them very damp and paint doesn't seem to want to stick for very long, so James has been removing the hideous flaky bits ready for some new special paints that hopefully will cling to the walls instead of falling to the floor. It's a messy job & masks must be worn to protect against the dust.

Graham is carpeting the area around "Protection" and he's been doing a nice job with the lighting. A horse skull has taken up residence in one of the cabinets for the time being. We've put a new cabinet downstairs which was donated by a Police Museum. It will house Good Luck charms including some trench art from the 1st World War. Here's a lovely photo of me pretending to hold up the cabinet. Exciting isn't it!

It's all happening

Work has started well & truly on the area opposite the museum. The National Trust has erected some buildings for their workers to base themselves from while they totally redo the Youth Hostel. Work is ongoing on the rebuild of the Harbour Lights building which was completely destroyed by the flood.

The view to the left is looking out from the museum towards the harbour. Not particularly attractive and it will be like this till around August.