Quiet week

Things have definitely quietened down after the Easter rush. Traders in Boscastle are saying this is the quietest they have seen it for some years. I must say the car park does look hideous with a huge monstrosity sitting by the entrance. A new toilet block is being built but unfortunately they got the plans a little wrong & it looks more like a half built skyscraper than anything else. Needless to say work has stopped on it while they (NCDC) try to sort the problem out so it looks extremely ugly. Maybe that's putting people off coming, who knows.

Despite this, museum visitors have been fairly steady and the retail side is not too bad. The new fridge magnets are proving a popular addition and I do believe some fun witchy key rings could be making an appearance soon. We've had some fabulous new books donated to the library so we're making the most of this quiet period with a lot of cataloguing and covering. Joyce has also been busy cataloguing some Egyptian artifacts which we've found in the store room. They will be displayed shortly.

The Boscastle Trading Co. is selling the museum t shirts and, by popular demand, we'll be adding some XXL ladies v necks to the mix. The small red v necks with black hazel pentacle are also available again. We'll be up at the Beltane Bash with the new CDs and t shirts so we might see you there.

Cauldron Review

First official review:
"A fantastic collection of magical and witchy British folk songs...Very highly recommended."
The Cauldron magazine

CD Selling Well

The new 'Songs of Witchcraft & Magic CD is selling really well so far. Orders have been flooding in www.theoccultartcompany.co.uk website from both the UK & the USA. Great to see our American fans have picked up on the CD so quickly.

New CD

The eagerly awaited new Museum of Witchcraft CD "Songs of Witchcraft and Magic" ( a collection of traditional British folk songs relating to witchcraft and magic) has arrived. The official launch is the 1st May but you can get a copy now in the museum, The Boscastle Trading Co. Store next door, or online at www.theoccultartcompany.co.uk

The CD is already selling well with many pre orders going out in the post. Watch out for news on reviews coming up in relevant magazines. It's a classy production with the words of each song included, as well as carefully researched notes.

A Bit of Fun

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that our New Yorker friend, Roger Pratt, would be appearing on The Dave Letterman Show. Here is the link to the YouTube site so you can have a watch - Roger on Letterman. He's on near the end. Handy for Portuguese readers that it has Portuguese subtitles.

New Shop

Well apologies for the break in transmission over the past couple of weeks. We've been totally frantic with some sudden developments. Those of you who have visited may remember the Cornish Goodies store next door to the museum. The National Trust bought this store in October and had planned to turn it into a tea shop. Unfortunately they could not get it happening in time so the shop was going to remain an empty shell for the season. Never one to miss an opportunity, Graham has managed to persuade the NT to rent us the shop for the season so we have, in 12 days, turned an empty room into a gallery and shop displaying local artist's and craftspeople's work and Fairtrade goods.We also have some of the museum's retail items as the space in the museum is somewhat limited. Currently you can buy MOW t shirts and the Richel collection prints. More will be coming over time. The shop is called The Boscastle Trading Co. so pop in and visit if you're coming down. I'll try to pop a photo in soon.

Pre alert for new CD

It's time to announce the upcoming launch of the new CD which is being produced by The Museum of Witchcraft and Wildgoose Records. I have mentioned it in a previous post but now I can officially reveal the CD cover and list of tracks - shown here. May 1st is the official launch date - if you would like to be one of the first to buy a copy you can pre-order one by emailing The Museum of Witchcraft. When it hits the shelves they will let you know and you can either send a cheque or buy one by visiting The Occult Art Company. Graham has a great love of traditional folk music and, with his connection to the museum, it seems obvious that he should combine his two interests and produce this collection of fascinating witchcraft related folk songs.

Donation

We're expanding our collection of witch-related advertising signs and paraphernalia so we were extremely excited to receive this fantastic sign from local Cornish sculptor Rory. We also picked up a fab original Pears soap ad from the 1920s featuring fortune tellers. It was in a charity shop in Lyme Regis. We are looking to replace another Pears soap ad which was lost in the flood. It features a witch flying on a broomstick. If anyone knows where we could get a copy please let us know.

New Prices

Unlike most other museums the Museum of Witchcraft is privately owned and does not receive any grants whatsoever. Regular visitors will know that the entrance fee has always remained as low as possible but this year we need to slightly increase the entrance fee to cover increased costs. Adults entrance fee will now be £3.00 and children and elders £2.00. We feel these prices are still very reasonable. Here is a photo of Mike updating the door sign. You may also note a new 'DONATE' button on the front page of the website. We are also introducing new retail products to give this area a boost. The Occult Art Company has produced some fabulous posters which include the Witch from the Richel images and the ever-popular Wheel of the Year painted by Vivienne Shanley. They were launched at last weekend's Devon and Cornwall Pagan Federation Conference in Kilkhampton. The conference was a great success with record numbers of attendees. The museum opened on the Sunday especially for the conference goers and it was a fabulous day with friendly interested people coming to show their support. Our official opening day for this year is Saturday March 31st.

The Times

A question was recently sent in to The Times: ' Was anyone ever persecuted for witchcraft, and posthumously pardoned?' Our resident historian Joyce Froome answered the question which was printed in The Times on March 2nd. The only pre 20th century case apparently occurred after the Salem witchtrials. Joyce answers the question in slightly more detail. Fame at last for Joyce!!

Fame Again

How amusing! Being a (sadly) massive Trivial Pursuit fan I've just downloaded it to my computer and found that a question about the museum was on there. Something like 'Which Cornish village's famous Museum of Witchcraft was devastated by floods in 2004?' Lucky for me I was on a piece of pie and got the answer right. We were also sent an email last week telling us that the museum was mentioned on the new TV show 'Hotel Babylon.' Lots of good publicity there we hope. An article in The Guardian will be featuring the museum and some famous witches shortly. Our friend Cassandra Latham was interviewed for the article along with others well known in the field. Not sure when that one's coming out yet. Will let you know if we hear anything. If anyone sees the museum on any TV show or in the papers please let us know as we don't always have our fingers on the media pulse.

Boscastle weather cam

Just wanted to let you know that there is now a Boscastle Weather Cam. Due to complaints from a previous reader about the Dunn St webcam, it was removed by the operator and replaced by this weather cam. If you're coming to visit Boscastle you can now check out the weather situation as it happens. Hopefully Mark won't get any complaints from paranoid seagulls.

CD RELEASE ALERT

For all those with an interest in folk music (and witchcraft) I'd like to give preliminary notice of a new CD which is being compiled by Graham & Joyce (the museum's medieval specialist). Over the last year they have been researching and collecting traditional British folk songs that have a witchcraft theme. Graham has a long association with traditional English folk so he has an extremely good knowledge to draw on. The CD is being released in conjunction with Wildgoose Studios who are well known in the folk music industry. This will be the third of the museum's CDs. The last two chanting CDs were very popular and this one, though very different, is looking like being a great success, (going by the interest we've had aleady). The planned release date is May 1st so watch this space. It will be on sale in the museum and online. There is even a rumour that there will be a secret track performed by a special duo. Interesting!!

Oh, before I go,thanks to HR Mitchell for the positive feedback about the blog. It's nice to know we have your support.

Harbour Update

Thought I'd update you with what's been happening in the harbour as far as digging and building works go. The diggers have reached the bottom of the two pits outside the museum and the opposite side of the river. Around 7 metres (21 feet) down. The plan is to drill a horizontal connection underneath the river between to two pits. Unfortunately, the diggers hit a bit of a snag the other day when the drill bit came up against a large obstacle (probably an extremely hard piece of Cornish spar or quartz) and it has called a temporary halt to the proceedings. At least the constant pecking noise has stopped for a while. It has been driving Graham to distraction - lucky the workmen are so friendly and pleasant otherwise it could be extremely distressing. I'll put some recent pics of the works up soon.

What Else

As I've been talking about all the work that's been going on I should tell you what's been happening.Well all the fibre board ceiling panels have now been double plaster boarded, plastered and painted to comply with fire regulations. This has meant a lot of work and expense but we must keep up to date with health and safety regulations. We have a new window display, featuring the statue of the hare which was found in Cornwall a few years ago and donated to the museum. It's looking really fab in the window as visitors can now see both sides of this interesting sculpture, and it is accompanied by several examples from our witchball collection.

We've put some new wainscoting downstairs - made up from recycled timber - thanks to Dave for 'recovering' it in true Cornish style. We always try to use recycled materials where ever possible. Graham is currently working on a 'new' retail cabinet for the entrance. Stay tuned for more updates on some news regarding the retail part of the museum as well.

Drama in Poppet World

There's so much work going on at the museum at the moment it's no wonder a few accidents happen. As Graham was re panelling the walls in the upstairs gallery his drill slipped and went crashing onto one of the poppet cabinets. The glass shattered and I'm sure the ladies were not very impressed. We had planned to replace the glass with a toughened variety anyway so it just speeded up the process. It makes a rather dramatic photo don't you think?

Letterman

Anyone who watches The Dave Letterman Show in the US should look out for a friend of ours who is appearing on the show around Feb 28. Roger Pratt is well known in witchcraft circles in New York & the North East & has helped us out with information regarding artifacts we've had trouble researching. He has a wonderful photographic memory & a wide knowledge of magic and witchcraft which comes in handy for us occasionally. The big question is: will Roger be sporting the moustache & goatee or will he be nude of chin?? Only time will tell.

Notice of an Exravanganza of Words and Music

For all those interested in Cornwall, folklore, the museum, history, and music, let it be known that on March 30 and 31 2007 The Wellington Hotel in Boscastle will host a fabulous weekend that will satisfy all your interests and more. Steve Patterson has put together an extremely interesting programme. On Friday evening March 30, the Cornish band 3 Daft Monkeys will be playing in the bar. This band has recently been on tour with The Levellers and plays a wild mixture of Celtic, Balkan, Gypsy, Cornish World Music. I've seen them before and they are fabulously entertaining as well as extremely accomplished musicians. The Saturday programme of talks runs from 11am till 5 pm upstairs in the Wellington and will consist of the following:

Steve Patterson - Tales of the Museum which includes a history of the museum and a biography of Cecil Williamson
Alan Kent - Parallels in the folklore of Cornwall, Brittany and Galicia. Having just returned from Galicia I'll find this particularly relevant.
Paul Newman - Tales of Tregurthan, stories about the bohemian artist set in 1930's Cornwall including such people as Aleister Crowley and D.H.Lawrence. Paul has recently written a book about this subject.
Paul Bonnington - Ancient Sites in Relation to the Landscape Paul is the National Trust archaeologist and warden for West Penwith with a special interest in ancient sites.

Saturday evening's entertainment will include more music, puppetry, and storytelling.

Tickets for the day are £15.00 on the door and you can reserve a place by calling Steve Patterson on 07941 078975

We'd love to see you there

Pinky & Perky

For those of you who remember the museum's two headed pig, affectionately known as Pinky & Perky, you will now be able to see her/it/them on view at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. P & P is on loan for an exhibition of curiosities which will be held this year (dates to be confirmed). During the flood the Maritime Museum was particularly helpful to us especially in storing our collection of over 4,000 library books while we rebuilt the museum, so we wear happy to loan our piggy to them for this interesting exhibit.

New Year Update

Well, the month of January has flown by & all has been action stations at the museum. The new fireproof ceilings are all finished (thanks John & Martin) and the painting is almost complete. Here is a picture of Ron at his decorating best. He should be finished in a day or two. The drilling of the ever deeper hole continues outside. The National Trust ,who bought Cornish Goodies next door, have not done a thing to it all winter but plan to start work on it at the beginning of April. How thoughtful of them!!!!!!!!! Work on the car park opposite The Cobweb has been fast tracked so we're hoping it will be finished before Easter.