Apologies fro radio silence recently but things have been very hectic with new books, conferences, new job etc etc etc....... The Guardians of Cornish Magic 60th anniversary celebration day was a great success and we are hoping to hold something similar around May next year. I am currently in talks with Steve Patterson, the chief organiser, as to what we can plan for the agenda.
It was held on May 14th and around 60 people attended on the day to hear talks around the themes of those who had been influential in the Cornwall landscape when it comes to magic, art, and folk tradition. The first talk was on founder of the museum, Cecil Williamson. Kerriann Godwin and Joyce Froome took the audience through a whistle stop tour of this fascinating man's life - from his meetings with wisewomen in both the countryside and the East End of London as a child, his time in Rhodesia with witchdoctors, his life in the Secret Service during WWII, and the development of his museum from the Isle of Man to Boscastle.
Jason Semmens spoke on that interesting collector of Folk tales William Paynter, and Dr Amy Hale flew over from the US to speak on the art and magic of Ithell Colquhoun.
It was a fascinating day and the feedback from everyone was very positive.
We then kicked off the evening with the launch of
The Museum of Witchcraft ~ A Magical History - the 60th anniversary book edited by Kerriann Godwin. Thankfully it was a dry & sunny evening so we could all mingle outside the museum. I don't think everyone would have fit inside. It was great fun as everyone who bought a book was trying to get as many signatures as possible from the authors of each of the stories. Charlie & Sharon, a lovely couple who live in Boscastle, made us a gigantic cake with the Richel witch on the icing. It was extremely yummy!
