Will in sewage

I found it at last. Here is a picture of Will helping us out just after the flood. He is covered in sewage & worked like a trouper along with the rest of his family. Please support him if you can. (See previous post.)

Hurrah

Thanks to everyone for your kind messages re the broken witches. Graham has managed to mend them with some superglue & a lot of patience. Hurrah. They look (almost) as good as new.

Will's challenge

One of the first people to help clean out the mud in the museum was Will Sharp & his family. (When I can find a photo of him in his lovely overalls I'll put it on the blog). Now Will is undertaking a challenge of his own. He's planning to climb the seven tallest summits on the world before his 20th birthday making him the youngest person to achieve this. He's doing it to raise money for his charity the NSPCC. If you'd like to help someone who helped us, or just keep an eye on his progress, check out his website by clicking here: WILL ( and I'll keep searching for that photo)

Broken Witch

Some artefacts that managed to survive the 2004 flood have been unable to withstand the actions of a visitor to the museum who has damaged and partially destroyed two of our witches. The two witches in question live in the area where we collect for the Cornwall Air Ambulance. The hanging witch had been half wrenched from her chain and her arms and legs broken off. The other is a large pottery statue and the rim of her hat has been snapped off. Graham is trying to repair the more severely damaged of the artefacts but we are unable to locate the missing brim of the hat. Such a shame that people can be so vile. Luckily 99.9% of visitors are wonderful.

Cat's Eye

As I write we have a wonderful group of Morris Dancers giving an impromptu performance outside the museum. They are Cat's Eye Morris from the Tamar Valley and they have been an injection of excitement on this slightly overcast & gloomy afternoon.
Here they are reaching for the sky in one of their dances, and some of the crowd enjoying the performance.

Richel Prints in Glastonbury

Some of our wonderful prints from the Dutch Richel Collection are now available at "Witchcraft" in Glastonbury. Owners Trevor & Liz visited the museum last week and were so impressed with the prints they asked if they could sell them in their store. They have both the large prints and the smaller size so if you're visiting Glastonbury pop in & say hello & let us know what you think. The prints are copyright the Museum of Witchcraft and are available in the Museum or online from www.theoccultartcompany.co.uk . Here's an example of one of the prints. The original dates from 1837 & she's unusual as her broomstick is also a stang.

Witchcraft Podcast

I recently entered the next stage of the 21st century and did a podcast for Karagan of the "Witchcrafting Podcast". I'm attaching the link for those who would like to have a listen. I hope it works: PODCAST
Thanks to Karagan in Portugal for the interview. We love the music by the way.

Flood Anniversary

Well we seem to have survived the second anniversary of the flood without too much trouble. We recently had a comment from a reader which I insert here:
"I wish you all well, but I do wish Boscastle as a whole would move on from the floods - it's all we visitors ever hear about! There are still large poster signs up about it down the harbour. It really is time to move on ...Good luck for the season."
I can just say that we would like to get over it too but we are still only halfway through the reconstruction & still have another year of flood defense works and rebuilding. The majority of tourists who visit Boscastle ask questions and are still very interested in what happened on the 16th August 2004 and are keen to know what the next steps in the rebuild are.
When a 30 foot wall of water sweeps through one's tiny village carrying over 80 cars with it and destroying homes and businesses, it takes more than just a few days to recover. Sorry if we're boring you but thanks for the kind wishes.

Return of the Snowshill chest

Some of you may remember the beautiful wooden chest that sat in the last corridor of the museum before the flood. The chest came from the 'secret room' in Snowshill Manor in Gloucestershire which was once owned by Mr Charles Wade. The chest was badly damaged in the flood and has spent the months since being restored. Unfortunately the box itself was beyond repair but luckily the front panel, which was the most interesting part, has been saved. It is now on display in the upstairs gallery along with a few other items from the Manor. Note the amazing carved faces.