Cool Blogsite Discovery

I don't know how many of you have discovered this blogsite but it's definitely worth a look. It has some amazing advertising images collected by an Australian person (not that I'm biased but this makes it even more fabulous). We are obviously extremely jealous as it makes our own 'Images' collection look tiny by comparison. Check it out: Sexy Witch. What fun!

National Trust Activities

Negotiations have been ongoing with the National Trust re the re roofing of the building next door to the museum. As you may be aware the Trust bought the building around 2 years ago to turn into a tea room. They have only now decided to go ahead with the refurbishment of the property after leaving it vacant for this time. Conveniently, they decided to scaffold the entire building next week, along with the front of the museum - while we are still open. Graham has managed to negotiate a 2 week delay to this ill timed activity & they'll be starting work around the end of September instead. It is unclear why they are unable to wait until the end of October when we, & most other businesses here, are closed (especially as they have had 2 years, & 2 winters, to get their act together). Starlings are currently roosting in the ceiling so perhaps this will delay it further.

Baby Seal in the Harbour

Yesterday the seas were very rough around the coastline here which is possibly why a seal chose to have her baby within the confines of Boscastle Harbour. This lovely chap spent most of the day on the slipway soaking up what there was of the sun. There was some worry that the baby had been abandoned so experts were called just to keep an eye on the situation, but around 7:30 last night when the tide had come in sufficiently, the parents appeared and the family was reunited. The little one made a beeline for mum presumably after hearing her call. A most amazing sight. Graham managed to get some lovely shots of the new seal.

Kamikaze Doggle

Graham had a near miss last week when local potter Tim Little's dog Megan had a kamikaze moment & threw herself in front of Graham's motorbike. Luckily Graham was going very slowly as he was coming in to park but Megan, who is normally on her lead due to her insistence on chasing bikes, thought it was a good idea to attack the front wheel. Megan amazingly only has a gash on her leg & is recovering well. Graham, who fell off, has some minor knee damage. The bike has some minor damage as well. Megan is now trotting around the village looking very cute in her red leg bandage & plastic neck piece. Hopefully she'll think twice before launching herself at a moving vehicle again.

Wild Weather

We've had some rather massive seas over the last few days, particularly on Monday 18th August when we had some huge tides & big winds. One of the boats in the harbour was flipped over & another had its keel damaged. I've added a few photos of the wild watery event. The Coastguards were called out mainly to keep people away from the unpredictable seas. Waves were coming over the outer breakwater & up the slipways. Very atmospheric!

New Books Acquired

Graham has managed a couple of new literary acquisitions recently. Firstly is 'Pretended Inchantments' (sic), an account of a notable witchcraft trial in which Richard Hathaway (1696-1702) was tried for falsely accusing Sarah Moredike of bewitching him. He was found guilty. It includes extensive transcripts of the trial & represents the increasing scepticism about witchcraft that was held by judges at the beginning of the 18th century.

The next is 'Witches Frolic' (1888) by Thomas Ingoldsby which was mainly bought for the illustrations of Ernest M Jessop, copies of which we are hoping to use in the museum. Here are some examples.

We are hoping Friends of the Museum will be able to purchase them from Graham.

Donation of Artwork

Yesterday afternoon, we had a wonderful visit from artist Will Worthington who donated an original painting of Cernunnos and some prints of his paintings which were used for Phillip & Stephanie Carr-Gomm's Animal Oracle. This Cernunnos was originally painted for the Druid Oracle but a different image was finally used in the actual deck. I believe there is a new Plant Oracle coming out soon. The painting will be placed in the Horned God section as soon as it is catalogued & Graham has been keen to get a tarot display happening for some time - maybe this will spur him on.

Horsham Exhibition Video

I mentioned in a previous entry that there is an exhibition of witchcraft currently showing at The Horsham Museum organised by Jason Semmens. To have a look at a short video about the exhibition please click on the link County Times . As an extra treat you get a couple of flashes of Lionel Blair!! (who has nothing to do with the exhibition by the way). The Museum of Witchcraft has loaned a few items to Horsham for this show.

Museum Goes Fashionista

Well it was only a matter of time before the museum became an inspiration for the fashion crowd - who could forget Graham's array of desirable checked shirts & ill fitting Clarkson-esque jean collection after all. It seems Luella Bartley has been inspired & has based her Urban Outfitters collection on the inspiration she had during a visit to the museum - see the links http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/page/luella and

http://stylehighclub.wordpress.com/

Great to see the museum hitting the fashion pages at last.

Yew Tree Magic

Last year some of you may remember we had the shop next door to the museum to sell local art, music & fair trade goods. Local artist Belinda & her musician husband Martin had items in the shop so I just wanted to alert you to their new website Yew Tree Magic. The site has audio snippets of Martin's peaceful, meditative music and an on-line gallery of Belinda's paintings, both inspired by the magical landscape of North Cornwall, plus a further gallery showing some of the Cornish places that they have found particularly inspiring.
There are also plenty of links to further information about mysterious aspects of Cornwall, including of course one to the museum. The site is www.yewtreemagic.co.uk .

New Addition to Museum Transport

Graham has recently acquired a new Enfield motorbike which has been custom labeled with a Museum of Witchcraft tag. It sits proudly outside the museum &, as he's now trying to be as green as possible, he is using it for short journeys around the local area. It has been attracting much attention from bike enthusiasts & adds that little extra something to the museum forecourt.

Whatever Happened to John & Francilla?

Many of our visitors enjoyed a lovely coffee & bit of home made cake at the Spinning Wheel cafe when John & Francilla owned it a couple of years ago. (You may remember them dangling from a rope underneath a helicopter during the flood in 2004) We have been asked on numerous occasions what has happened to them so I thought I'd let you know here. They are still in the village & Francilla has just taken over a lingerie store in Launceston called Sofia's Lingerie. They have moved to the Pillar House in Old Road & have recently converted the top part into a self catering holiday home. If anyone is coming to Boscastle & is interested in renting The Pillar House I'll attach some pics & details about the property:

Pillar House is a Grade II Listed, Georgian house set in the quiet, village street above the picturesque harbour of Boscastle. It is stylish, light and airy and combines period features with modern facilities. It has a roof terrace with views of the wooded Jordan Valley. The house is cosy enough for two people but spacious enough for five.

The accommodation consists of a well-fitted, modern kitchen, a comfortable lounge and a roof terrace on the lower floor and three bedrooms (2 double; 1 single), all with iron bedsteads, and a bathroom, with a bath and modern shower, upstairs. Non-smoking. No pets.

For further details, including availability, prices and discounts, email: thestillpoint@btinternet.com

Website Back on Track

Huge apologies to all as our website has been down for the last few days while we move it to a new host. We did not envisage it would take so long & I was unable to access the blog to give more info. The new host means we will be able to make some improvements to the site so watch this space for a new look web page in the near future. Graham and I will be designing a more user friendly & hopefully, a more attractive front page for your viewing pleasure.

Gweek Seal Sanctuary

Graham loved his photo of the seal so much he sent it down to the Seal Sanctuary in Gweek & they've now added it to their readers photo page click on the link to check it out. Gweek Seal Sanctuary is a great place to go if your in the area further down in the bowels of Cornwall.

Seals in the harbour

Graham was out on his kayak yesterday & had a wonderful experience. He'd caught a couple of pollock & in doing so had attracted the attentions of a young seal. I believe the seal's name is Jerry & he was very friendly, almost jumping into the kayak on occasions. Graham was lucky enough to snap a cool photo of the gregarious Jerry.

Articles, Events????

I've been doing some additions to The Occult Art Company website. As well as adding more museum products into the online museum shop I've set up a couple of pages for articles and events. If you have something you'd like published or an event coming up just email me at kg@theoccultartcompany.co.uk with the information & I'll put it on the site (as long as it's legal!!) I hope you like the new additions. Check it out at www.theoccultartcompany.co.uk . If there is a museum product that you'd like to get hold of from a distance but it's not there, send me an email & I'll try to get it for you.

Graham's photographic skills

I just wanted to pop a rather gorge photo on. Graham took this the other day - a cormorant sitting on the headland in Boscastle harbour.

It's been fairly quiet now that most of the diggers are gone & we are hoping that within a couple of weeks all the riverworks will be finished. I think South West Water still have some bits & pieces to complete around the harbour area & we're waiting for the grass to grow on the verges so that it looks attractive, but overall it looks like things are coming to completion. We had a pretty busy weekend but it is rather quiet compared to normal. The museum had a mention in The Observer yesterday as the co author of 'More Bollocks to Alton Towers, Joel Morris, mentioned it as his favourite museum. Fine praise indeed!

Antiques Roadshow

We're just back from Lanhydrock House near Bodmin where they have been filming Antiques Roadshow today. Graham was contacted by the show to see if there was anything of interest and they decided on a couple of Lenciewicz paintings. Luckily we were first to be filmed on the day (fabulous as the queues were getting longer & longer by the minute) & we were most amused that we had to go into 'makeup' before filming. Graham looks lovely with a bit of pancake around the edges of his beard! Anyway, I annoyingly forgot to take my camera but I've got some shots of Graham returning the paintings to the museum. There is no guarantee that the piece we did will actually end up being shown but we're hopeful as there is an increasing interest in the work of Lenkiewicz and of Boscastle itself. If it does make it to the screen we'll let you know the date (if they tell us) so you can check it out. And the value of the paintings will remain a secret until the show!

More accolades for New CD

Any Canadian readers out there?? In particular Canadian folk music aficionados? Well if you get hold of 'Canadian Folk Music' also known as 'Musique folklorique canadienne' Spring 2008 (a fine publication indeed) you will see a rather fab review of the CD 'Songs of Witchcraft & Magic'. "This is one of those recordings that in years to come is destined to become a folk classic.......Very highly recommended." It's great to get such positive feedback for a project we have undertaken with such enthusiasm and with so much work involved. Hoorah!

New T Shirts

The museum t shirts remain as popular as ever and we've added a couple of new colours to the range. How adventurous we are!! Dipping our toe into the world of 'fashionability', we've introduced a lime green v neck with either a white or purple pentagram and for chaps, a charcoal t with either white or black pentagram. They are available in medium or large at the moment but if they prove popular we will extend the sizes. If you are visiting the museum you can buy one there or if not they can be purchased online at the museum's official online retailer The Occult Art Company.