Calling Mike Fishwick

Mike Fishwick we are trying to respond to your email about the witch mirror but the emails are bouncing back. Please send us your postal address and we will send you a dvd that will interest you!

Graham

YHA open

Just wanted to let you kow that the Youth Hostel in Boscastle has reopened. The official opening is in October some time but people are staying there at the moment so if you fancy some inexpensive accommodation here you should check it out.

By the way, thanks to everyone for their supportive comments re my last blog. Perhaps it would be a good idea to make some of the comments a tad less personal though. (It may get us into trouble.)

Born Again Harrassment

Some Born Again Christian dancers and preachers decided to set up outside the museum yesterday afternoon.
It never ceases to amaze me how arrogant and provocative these people can be.
They had no permission to perform, they did not have the courtesy to ask if we objected and they were noisy - electric pre-recorded music, etc.
When told that they were spoiling the peace and quiet of Boscastle they simply didn't understand or even listen.
Not a good example of Christianity! According to the leaflets they continue to litter the harbour with, even yoga is satanic! What planet are these people from?

WEBCAM ALERT!!

Well many have asked for it & now it's a reality! Graham has set up a very basic webcam trained on the front of the museum. No, it is not to spy on who comes through the door (although that could be interesting hmmmmm). The main reason is to keep a log of the works that will be going on in front of the museum over the coming months. Further flood defense works will be carried out on the river & the bridge will be moved. A sewage pumping station will also be placed underground outside the museum so there will be a lot of action to keep up with.

As I said, the webcam at this stage is fairly basic just while Graham gets used to the running of it. He will upgrade when he feels he can cope with the advanced technology. Thanks to Max, our local village computer whizzkid, for helping with the webcam setup. The webcam can be reached by clicking here & I will also put it on the blog links section if I can remember how to do that. Let us know what you think. It'll be fairly drab before the action starts but should get a bit more interesting as time passes.

Award for Graham

Graham was most surprised and extremely pleased this week when Rhiannon & Martin Williams from the Pagan Association arrived at the museum with an award for Graham. This was the first ever award given by the Association for Outstanding Contribution to the Pagan Community.

Rhiannon said 'Graham has done such a brilliant job portraying a non-sensationalist view of witchcraft and paganism to the general public that we thought he deserved this award. The museum provides a much-needed centre for serious research about the subject and gives a positive view of paganism.' Martin also said that Graham should get the award because 'he's such a nice chap.'

The lovely carved red granite award is now sitting proudly in the shrine and the wine will be saved for a special occasion (like dinner). Thanks very much from Graham to the Pagan Association for this honour. Information about the Pagan Association can be found at www.paganassociation.co.uk .

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.

New Sign

Numbers of visitors have been down recently & we believe it to be due to the building works being carried out around the museum & the harbor in general. Other shops in the village are apparently doing well. So Graham has commissioned a sign to face outward towards the river, hopefully catching the eye of passing visitors. It seems to be helping somewhat, along with our lovely flower boxes, which are making our corner of the harbor look a little more festive. Our window display smells rather fab too. The sprigs of rosemary we put there are warming up & giving off a lovely aroma. It might help people remember the museum as well!

Chinese carving expert knowledge required

Calling all experts in Chinese carvings! Since the flood we've been working our way through the storeroom, identifying & cataloguing artifacts that have long lay in wait of some attention. We have rediscovered a Chinese carving of an idol that was donated to the museum several years ago. The owners thought it was bad luck (thanks very much) so they passed it on to us. We like to think that it helped to protect us during the flood. Is that just wishful thinking? So here's where you come in. If any of you can identify the carving could you please let us know. Is it a Chinese deity? Is it Chinese? Is it Japanese? Any information would be graciously received.

The Times likes MOW

In today's The Knowledge magazine in The Times, The Museum of Witchcraft has been put at number two of the top museums in the country. High praise indeed. Thank you Tim Teeman (he made the selection). Number one was the Black British Style exhibit at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Spruce up

Due to the mammoth building works outside the museum (they're rebuilding the Youth Hostel, christian shop & harbour Restaurant) visitor numbers have been down as the whole place looks like a building site. If you didn't know the museum's there you'd miss it. So rather than be dejected & depressed we've decided to spruce up the front area directly outside the museum to make it more appealing & attractive. Graham has made some plant boxes, beautifully routed with a pentacle of course, and we've planted some vibrant flowers. The nasturtiums are having a field day & really enjoying the sunny location, as well as the geraniums which have added to the instant colour. We've also built up a rock planter & placed a gunnerah in there as it's very damp. All plants seem to be doing really well & the whole area is starting to look much more appealing.

On the weekend I thought it was time something was done to the window display. We've taken the flood information boards out. Don't worry they've been moved inside for people who are interested to see the pictures. I found a recipe* for cleaning copper on the internet & polished up one of Cecil Williamson's copper dishes and it is now shining away beautifully and full of fresh rosemary & bay leaves in the window. All the dried herbs have been removed & replaced with fresh ones. An altar using ritual items from the museum has been set up in place of the flood boards.

We think it's looking much better so hopefully more people will notice us & come to visit.

New Owl

Well, we'll keep trying. The lovely black cat statue which we had placed in the niche of the witch post outside the front door was recently wrenched from its home and smashed. So, on my recent visit to Crete, I bought a lovely bronze statue of an owl which Graham has firmly affixed in the space. Let's hope this one stays in place. I think it looks rather nice, don't you?

Sticks R Us

Sometimes the magical things that happen around the museum surprise even us. Graham has recently been researching stangs for a new display. The dictionary tells us that in non witchy circles, a stang is simply a stick.
I have always said that Graham has the ability to simply think about something and it will appear and sure enough Steve Patterson soon appeared with two lovely stangs for the new display. This was the first of an extraordinary sequence of stick donations.
The next stick to appear was Cecil Williamson’s old stick ‘Sticky’ which was bequeathed to us after the passing of Brownie. Cecil took his magic stick with him everywhere and Brownie inherited it after Cecil's death. Sticky is now on display near the shrine and above the obituaries of both Brownie and Cecil.
Shortly after that a chap walked into the museum with a present for Graham – you guessed it, yet another stick. This time a beautifully hand carved flying witch headed stick. Graham had told the man how much he admired his hand crafted stick last year when he visited the museum. He went away, made Graham a ‘witch stick’ and delivered it a couple of weeks ago. What a lovely thing to do.

Last week yet another donation arrived. By now we should have known it would be another stick but we never guessed that it would be such a special one. This was one of the rare glass sticks that were made C1800 in Nailsea. They were often placed near a bed as it was said that they attracted the evil spirits that caused illness. It was of course vital that they were cleaned every day to remove the ‘evil.’ Oh, and then Carole fell down the steps, injuring her foot & was on sticks for a week. But she's ok now.
What could all these sticks mean? Maybe the spirits are demonstrating how much support we have?

I have put photos of the witch headed stick, the glass stick & one of Steve Patterson's stangs.