Rescorla Centre
The home of Cornish culture in mid Cornwall.
Find us in the centre of the hamlet of Rescorla, near St Austell.
Please have a look at our events page to find out all that's happening at Rescorla.
Events 2024
On Sunday 24 November at 2pm the Rescorla Centre will be holding Para Yowynk: a musical afternoon for young Cornish performers. We are pleased to welcome Karenza Lily-May who is a young musician from Cornwall playing a mixture of Celtic, Cornish, Folk and Contemporary tunes. Playing instruments such as accordion and guitar, often accompanied by her voice. When she sings, she sings stories of people, land and sea. Some of these are familiar favourites but she also writes and performs her own. Look out for further information on this event and our talented team of performers over the next fortnight
Come along to hear music, song and poetry. Bring your own instrument to join in. There will be refreshments. All welcome. Donations gratefully received.
Nadelik Lowen! The Christmas Party will take the place of the usual meeting today. There will be food, music and stories on a festive theme. Start time of 10:30am and will run into the afternoon. In association with the Luxulyan Old Cornwall Society.
The next meeting of the Cornish Studies Circle at Rescorla will be on Saturday 16th November at 10:30am. The subject for discussion is rebellion in Cornish history. Contributors include Jake Bristow and Colin Short. All welcome
Come and celebrate Harvest at the Rescorla Centre. More details nearer the time. All welcome.
Cornish Story will hold its inaugural conference at the Rescorla Centre on Saturday 19th October fron 11 until 4. There will be a series of wide-ranging presentation on topics like archaeology, history, music and storytelling. Speakers include Bob Keys, Laura Miucci and Garry Tregidga. To register for this event please email G.H.Tregidga@exeter.ac.uk
Join the Group to discuss Mapping Methodism with a particular focus on Mid and East Cornwall. All welcome.
Come along to hear or join in with music, song , poetry. All welcome.
Join the group to discuss Cornish dialect. All welcome.
Music, song, readings and chat with refreshments. All welcome.
The Rescorla Festival runs over 3 days and is a mix of song, dance, a walk, author talk, writing workshop, history, food and much more. On the 19th , Literature day with Emily Ould and Paula Rooney will consist of an author talk and a writing workshop based on a sense of place. Local author Paula Rooney will give an author talk at 1:30pm, followed by a short break with refreshments, then Emily Ould will lead a writing workshop. Materials provided. All welcome. On the 20th there is a workshop at 10:30am looking at Cornish traditions and customs followed by a talk on Food in Cornish history. Then at 4:30pm Para Yowynk ( a cultural platform for Rescorla's younger generation) meets and at 6:30pm there is a Celtic session led by Ryb an Mor. On the 21st , traditional afternoon with music by Bagas Crowd, Bray Family, Ryb An Mor. There is no charge for events but we welcome donations.
Come along to Rescorla for tea, coffee and refreshments. Listen to music and singing, join in with community singing. All welcome.
Come along to Rescorla to play, join in, sing or listen to Cornsih music. All welcome.
Cornish Identity – what it is and what it does There is a lot of talk these days about ‘Cornish Identity’ but different people mean different things by the phrase. Richard Pearce’s session will look at how place identity operates in our minds and affects our behaviour, and sees several different ways in which we may claim Cornish identity. Dr Richard Pearce comes from a historically Cornish family. He has worked in international schools and has done research and written on how children adjust their cultural identity on moving to a new country. This has useful applications in Cornwall, where people have migrated inward and outward over many years.
Come along to the Cornish History Group to discuss another interesting topic. There will be refreshments. All welcome.
There will be music, song, readings and food. All welcome. There is no charge for this event, but donations are very welcome.
Kana Rescorla meets to sing and play Cornish songs and music. All welcome. The event is free but donations are appreciated.
David Michael will be leading the Celtic service. All welcome.
All welcome to come along and join in with the Cornish Music Session.
A Cornish Bestiary From “Pen Glas”, the horse skull hobby horse of West Penwith and the dragons of Helston’s Hal An Tow to Padstow’s “Obby Oss” and the “Beast of Bodmin” Cornwall is rich in mystical beasts. Dr Merv Davey will show that these beasts are part of Cornish Guize Dance tradition and have been well documented since the 19th century but what are their origins, meanings, and significance? Merv Davey completed a PhD with the Institute of Cornish Studies researching folk song dance and identity in Cornwall and has written a range of articles and books on Cornish folk tradition. He continues his research as an Associate of the Institute and a member of the Cornish National Music Archive team. All welcome. There is no charge for this event but donations are very welcome.
The theme for this session is 'What is Cornish Music?' Come along with your experiences of Cornish music - maybe bring an instrument to play! There will be refreshments. All welcome. There is no charge but donations are very welcome.
Come along to Rescorla to meet Liz Hurley who writes under the name of Anna Penrose. Liz will be telling us about her inspiration for her novels and the process of writing them. A cream tea will also be provided! This event is free but any donations are gratefully received as all money raised goes into the running of the centre.
Come along to the Saturday Kitchen for tea, coffee, cake and chat. There will also be music and song. All welcome.
Celtic Service by David Michael. Followed by tea, coffee and refreshments. All welcome.
Come along to the Celtic Music Session at Rescorla. There will be music and song from the Rescorla musicians but bring your own instrument to join in as well. All welcome.
The next session in our Cornish Study Day series at Rescorla in association with the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies will be held on Saturday 20th April at 2:30pm. Bob Keys, Director of Film Studies for Cornish Story, will talk about Cornwall and the British Documentary Film movement in the Middle Decades of the 20th century Join us for the afternoon session. You are also welcome to join us for a discussion of Cornish architects & architecture in the morning at 1030am and a Celtic music session at 7:30pm
The Cornish Study Group will be looking at Architects and Iconic Cornish Buildings. There will be refreshments. All welcome.
This month there will be a French theme to the global kitchen. There will be croissants and French accordion music. All welcome.
Celtic Service led by David Michael. All welcome.
The first session with Tracy Pithie will look at literature with a focus on how Du Maurier creates a sense of place in three of her novels: Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel and Frenchman’s Creek. In all three cases the landscape and coast of Cornwall play important roles – often reflecting and enhancing the moods of the characters. By exploring this aspect of her writing, we will hopefully develop an even greater understanding and love of her novels. All welcome. You don't have to be familiar with any of the above 3 books in order to join in - or just listen - to this talk.
This month we will be looking at Communities and Settlements. There will be refreshments. All welcome.
Come along to Rescorla to see another film set in Cornwall. This month we are showing 'Saving Grace' certificate 15. Set in Port Issac. Brenda Blethyn as Grace Trevethyn, a newly widowed middle-aged woman who is faced with the prospect of financial ruin and turns to growing a cash crop that will solve all her problems! All welcome.
This month our global kitchen theme takes us to Germany! Come along for German food. There will also be music. All welcome.
Celtic service led by David Michael. All welcome.
Come along to the Cornish Studies Group here at Rescorla where we will be looking at Cornish festivals. We will look at the Rescorla Festival and the snail creep with the opportunity to hear the music for the dance played on the accordion. Please bring along any photos, artefacts etc that you have relating to festivals. You will have the opportunity to share these and your memories. All welcome. There will be refreshments.
Come along to Rescorla to see the unofficial premier of a film by Vicki Jenner. More details to come. All welcome.
Come along to celebrate Hogmanay here at Rescorla. There will be food, music and song. All welcome.
As part of the Cornish Studies Group we will be looking at Winter Traditions. This will form part of our 'Nadelik Lowen' Christmas celebrations. Maryanne will be holding a workshop as part of that. There will be storytelling, including Picrous by Malcolm, and Christmas songs and food as well. All welcome.
Rescorla's monthly Cornish Film Club returns on Friday 8th December at 7pm with 'Kayleigh's Story' . The film explores issues of identity in the Tamar Valley and was originally produced in 2007. There will also be a showing of the 1936 classic The saving of Bill Blewitt'. Come along for an evening of Cornish film.
Our global theme continues and this month it's on an Irish Theme. There will be Irish food such as soda bread and Irish music. All welcome.
Helen Luther (Fowey Museum) will be talking about 'Trouble and Strife of a Miner's Wife' followed by a general discussion on 'Women in Cornish History'. All welcome.
Come along to Rescorla for our film night when we will be showing 'My Cousin Rachel'. There will be delicious refreshements! All welcome. This event is free but any donations are gratefully received.
Celebrate the Celtic Harvest at Rescorla. There will be a shared lunch followed by the Harvest Auction and Celtic music and storytelling. David Michael will be the auctioneer. We are looking forward to another lively and enjoyable harvest! All welcome.
Come along to this corn dolly making workshop run by Hazel Mark. Instructions and materials provided. There will also be refreshments. All welcome. Donations gratefully received.
Film and Cornwall with the emphasis on World War II with a presentation by Lucy Ann Harrow. All welcome.
Saturday Kitchen is on a global theme beginning with a Welsh Theme. There will be Welsh cakes, bara brith, music by Ryb An Mor. All welcome.
Party Time with music and chat. Ryb an Mor will be joining us. If you would like to perform or just listen you are very welcome.
Last session we focused on the pasty but this session we will be looking at foods like saffron cake in the past and present. Come along to share some food and stories. All welcome.
Today the group will be looking at Cornish Food and Culture. There will be refreshments. All welcome.
All welcome at the Saturday Kitchen. There will be music, song and refreshments.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of our chapel building at Rescorla. As a result we will be having a series of events from 8th July until 16th July as part of the Rescorla Festival.. This will include what promises to be a lovely Cornish musical evening with Harry Glasson in association with David Oates and our friends from Proper Job. Starts at 6pm. Further details to follow. The Rescorla Festival takes place over the third weekend in July - however this year we are having a longer celebration to mark the 150th anniversary of chapel. There will be a flower festival, guided walk, demonstration of Cornish Wrestling, the Cornish Studies group, workshops, music by Fable, Ryb an Mor, Ilow Rescorla and Bagas Crowd. There will be others, to be confirmed nearer the time. There will be the traditional Tea Treat on the final sunday afternoon. All welcome. More details will be on the website and Facebook page nearer the time.
Rescorla Festival 2023 This year marks the 150th anniversary of the old chapel so we will be celebrating with a week of activities including a performance by Harry Glasson on 8th July
Music, song, poetry, dialect readings, chat and good food at the Saturday Kitchen. All welcome.
David Michael will lead the Celtic Service at Rescorla. All welcome.
The Cornish family is the theme for discussion at the Cornish Studies Group and Luxulyan and District Old Cornwall Society meeting at Rescorla on Saturday 17 June at 1030am. It will be led by Dan Gordon who will look at the subject of coincidences in family history. Come along and join in the discussion.
Music, song, poetry, dialect readings and delicious food all at the Saturday Kitchen. All welcome.
Celtic Service led by David Michael. All welcome.
This month the group will look at 'Nineteenth Century Cornwall' led by Garry Tregidga. there will be refreshments. All welcome.
Music, song, poetry, dialect readings and delicious food at the Satuday Kitchen. All welcome.
Celtic Service led by David Michael. All welcome.
The Cornish Studies Group will look at 'Tin Streaming' led by Craig Truscott. There will be refreshments. All welcome.
The Hurdy Gurdies are delighted to return to The Rescorla Centre to play a fundraiser for this amazing community project. Entry by donation. The Hurdy Gurdies play authentic music from the 60s.
A celebration to mark the 150th anniversary of Rescorla. Come along to an evening of entertainment with music from Ilow Rescorla and song by Kana Rescorla. All welcome.
Accordion Fest at Rescorla on Saturday 25th March at 2.00pm. Different styles and instruments from the accordion family are welcome. All welcome. there will be refreshments.
Celtic service with David Michael. All welcome.
Come along to the Sawles Arms and join in with the music and song. All welcome.
The Cornish Studies Group meeting at the Rescorla Centre this coming Saturday will focus on the subject of Cornish byways. What is their story? What can they tell us about the economic landscape of the past? A good example is the route in the photo which was part of the pre-1830s road from St Austell to Bodmin before a new route through modern Bugle led to new housing development close to the expanding clay industry. This particular session will start at 230 instead of the normal time of 1030am
Come along for music, song, poetry, dialect readings. Refreshemnts provided. All welcome.
Celtic Service with David Michael. All welcome.
Music session with Kana Rescorla and Ilow Rescorla at the Sawles Arms. All welcome.
In association with Luxulyan Old Cornwall Society. Trever Smitheram will talk about Rick Rescorla and this will be followed by a general discussion on the Cornish diaspora. Refreshments will be provided. All welcome.
This month we are discussing 'Frenchman's Creek' by Daphne Du Maurier. Refreshments provided.
If you can speak some Cornish join us at this free event on Saturday 28th January 2.30-4.30 Rescorla Centre, a great opportunity to practise your conversation and have some fun. Book your tickets now through Eventbrite. Please see our Facebook page for details.
Come along to the Saturday Kitchen to enjoy good company, food ,traditional Cornish music and song and dialect readings. All welcome.
Come along to the Sawles Arms to hear Kana Rescorla sing traditional Cornish songs, feel free to join in. We will aslo be suported by Ryb an Mor. It promises to be a lively and enjoyable evening! All welcome.
The topic for discussion this month is transport. Please bring along your memories and any artefacts that you have eg. photos. Refreshments will be provided. All welcome.
Come along to the Winter Festival here at Rescorla. In the morning we will be finding out about Cornish Christmas traditions. Then the festival will continue in the afternooon witha Christmas party with music, song and seasonal refreshments. All welcome.
Come along to the Saturday Kitchen where there will be music and song. Opportunities for people to contribute music, song and story as well. All welcome.
Kana Rescorla will be singing at the Sawles Arms. All welcome to come along to listen or join in.
The topic for discussion this month is female Cornish writers. All welcome.
Ever thought about learning Cornish or just want to find out more about it? Then come along to this taster session run by Kim Hopewell, our Cornish Language Officer. There will be refreshments. All welcome.
Come along to the Celtic Harvest here at Rescorla. It will start with a harvest lunch, (price £7:50 and let Enid Rose or Garry know if you would like lunch) At 2pm the traditional harvest auction will be presented by David Michael. There will be music by Fable and Ilow Rescorla. There will be Welsh song from Maryanne Thomas and the Lord's Prayer in Irish by Griffith Collins. It's always an enjoyable occassion! Donations for the harvest auction are gratefully received.
An upbeat music seesion. All welcome. £1:50 charge. Refreshments provided.
Music session led by Ilow Rescorla but all welcome to participate. Contact Garry if you would like to be involved. See the details on our Facebook page.
We will be looking again at Cornish personalities. There will also be refreshments. All welcome.
Kana Rescorla meets every Monday at Rescorla at 7pm. Please come along if you would like to join in. No auditions. Refreshments provided.
At the Saturday Kitchen we welcome members of the Bodmin Youth Band. Thanks to Alice Margetts for arranging this. There will also be the usual opportunities for people to contribute music, song and story. All welcome.
The topic for discussion is Personalities in Cornwall's Past. All welcome.
This month we will be discussing 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' by Rachel Joyce. All welcome. Refreshments provided.
Cornish Studies Group will be looking at personalities of Cornish history. Refreshments provided. All welcome.
Thursday 18 August: Roche, Coldvreath, Trezaise and Roche Rock. Meet outside St Gomonda’s Church (SW 98806 59793) at 6pm.
Come and join in with the Roots Music group wher 'upbeat' music is played. All welcome. £1:50 per session.
We are looking forward to the Rescorla Festival which will take place over the weekend of the 16th and 17th July. On Saturday 16th there will be a guided walk in the morning with Malcolm Gould. Meet at 10am at Drinnick Yard in Nanpean for a 'clay country walk'. The walk will finish back at Drinnick Yard at approx 12:30 where you can have a pasty for lunch in the cafe. From 2pm there will be an exhibition based on the series of walks: 'Walking The Higher Quarter'. The Cornish Studies group will also be meeting - all welcome to come along. There will also be a demonstration and talk on Cornish wrestling with Simon Margetts. Refreshments will be available during the afternoon. On Sunday 17th from 2pm there will be music by Ryb an Mor, Bagas Crowd, Maryanne Thomas and Frank Bigham and the Rescorla Band. The famous Snail Creep dance and processsion will take place. There will be a BBQ during the afternoon. It's going to be a great weekend! All welcome. There is no charge but donations are gratefully received.
On Monday 11th July between 1 and 7pm as part of Rescorla's 'Walking the Higher Quarter' project there will be an opportunity to portray through weaving your impression of the nature, colours and memories of the area. Nicola Builder from Wayward Weaves will be bringing her looms and you can try your hand at Saori weaving, a freehand style that is easy to learn and do. The results will be exhibited at the Rescorla Festival on July 16 & 17th.
A series of evening walks exploring Clay Country Walking the Higher Quarter For further details, please see either the Luxulyan and District Old Cornwall Society or the Rescorla Centre face book page or visit website https://rescorlacentre.site123.me/, You can also contact the secretary on 07929 747397 Thursday 7 July: Carloggas Downs, formerly Singlerose. Meet at the car park at the foot of the access road off the A391 (SX 01410 56528) at 6 pm. Thursday 21 July: Treskilling, Resugga and Lantern. Meet at the Rescorla Centre (SX 02726 57502) at 6 pm. Thursday 18 August: Roche, Coldvreath, Trezaise and Roche Rock. Meet outside St Gomonda’s Church (SW 98806 59793) at 6pm. All are welcome to join these walks, there is no charge.
Celtic Service at 6pm. Refreshments afterwards. All welcome.
Come along to Rescorla to enjoy a High Tea and listen to music to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. All welcome.
Come and enjoy delicious food, chat and music at the Saturday Kitchen. Listen to music by our special guests this month - 'Ryb An Mor' and 'Fable'. All welcome.
The Cornish Studies Group will be looking at 'Roman Cornwall' with Tash Fulbrook. There will be refreshments. All welcome.
Celtic Service at Rescorla. Followed by tea and refreshments. All welcome.
Meet at the Rescorla Centre at 2:30pm for a guided walk of the local area. Garry will be leading the walk. Remember to bring a bottle of water with you.
Come along to Rescorla for an entertaining, musical evening with the Hurdy Gurdies! Refreshments will be provided. Entry by donation.
Come along to the Saturday Kitchen where you can enjoy a chat, delicious food and music. Our guest for this month is Mo Keast who will be singing and using dialect for story telling! All welcome.
The group will be discussing Cornish entertainment from Plen an Gwari to magic lanterns. All welcome. Refreshemnts provided.
The Celtic Service for Easter with David Michael will take place at Rescorla. However please note that building work to the interior walls will have started. There will be scaffolding in the building, however it will be placed to one side so that the service can take place.
This session will be on Methodist Heritage - buildings, customs etc. There will be refreshemnts. All welcome.
This month we are discussing 'The Trouble With Goats and Sheep' by Joanna Cannon. There will be refreshments.
Come along to the Film Night where films about Cornwall are presented by Malcolm Gould. There will be refreshments. All welcome.
Celebrate St Piran's Day! Come to St Austell Church in the centre of St Austell where a programme of talks and demonstrations will be taking place throughout the day starting at 11:30 am and continuing until 3:00pm.
A warm welcome awaits you at the Saturday Kitchen. Special guest his month is Luna the Harp. Come along to hear music, song and dialect readings.
Come along to the Celtic Service by David Michael. Refreshments provided afterwards.
Come along to Rescorla to discuss an area of interest in Cornish history and culture. Refreshments will be provided.
Film night presented by Malcolm Gould. Refreshments will be provided.
Celtic Service held by David Michael. Refreshments afterwards. All welcome.
We will be looking at Cornish family names. Refreshemtns will be provided. All welcome.
Yule Celtic Service followed by lunch. There is no charge for lunch but please book in. Please book your lunch and advise of any dietary requirements. Contact: 07886734492
Meet at Rescorla at 4pm to go Carol singing around the village! There will be mulled wine and mince pies afterwards!
At this session we will be looking at Cornish place names. There will be refreshments. All welcome.
We will be loking at Cornish family names. Refreshments will be provided. All welcome.
Cornish Carol Service on 10th December at 7pm. Come along to a Cornish Carol Service, arranged by David Michael, supported by the Red River Singers from Redruth. There will be many old Cornish Carols including those by Merritt, Broad and Nicholas.
Come and enjoy a Christmas meal (with vegetarian option) on Saturday 4th December. At 2pm the Washaway Choir will be singing traditional Cornish Christmas Carols. A wonderful festive occassion! The Christmas meal, with tea and coffee and mice pies is £8:00. Places are limited to 30 this year so please reserve your place before the end of November.
Richard Trethewey will be our guest performer for the November Saturday Kitchen session. There will also be readings, performances, singing and the Rescorla Band. Delicious breakfast baps by Enid. All welcome.
Come and join us at the Cornish Studies Group when today we will be looking at and discussing paintings, pictures and photos of Cornwall. Come along and discuss your favourite picture of Cornwall and what it means to you. There will be refreshments too!
It's our first anniversary! We will be discussing "Into Danger" by Kate Adie. We will also discuss which one of the books that we have read over the year has made a lasting impression. There will be refreshments and cake! All welcome.
Join us from 10:30am to celebrate the Celtic Harvest. Our special guest today is Kathy Wallis who will be story telling and singing. There will be an open session for people to play music either individually or together and there will be music from the Rescorla Band. There will be music from The Isle of Man and Scotland, Gaelic singing and singing in Breton. We will have readings and poetry as well. We will have a pasty lunch (there will be a vegetarian option) and homemade cakes. All donations of cakes gratefully received! We are looking forward to a wonderful Celtic celebration. All welcome.
This month we will be discussing 'Heat and Dust' by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
Celtic service of healing and celebration will be hosted by David Michael. There will be refreshments afterwards. All welcome.
We will be discussing film in Cornwall. All welcome.
Come along and enjoy breakfast baps by Enid, enjoy music and poetry. Our guests today are Alison and Merv Davey.
Today we will be looking at the landscape of the Clay Country. What does the Clay Country mean to you?
Saturday Kitchen returns! Come along to chat, listen to music, poetry, dialect readings. There will be an invited guest to share their music with us. There's no charge for this, but donations are gratefully received.
The next meeting of the Cornish Studies Group will look at myths and legends and the landscape of the local area. Please come along with a myth or legend to share with the group.
Rescorla Festival Saturday 24th/Sunday 25th July 2021 The annual Snail Creep Festival returns with a weekend programme of music, words, dance and heritage. It will be opened by Liz Carne, Grand Bard of Gorsedh Kernow, on Saturday 24th at 1030am and will be followed that day with music from: Bagas Crowd Lamorna Spry and John Carter Kiera Smitheram Rescorla Band and others Snail Creep will be performed during the day and all are welcome. Food and refreshments will be available but any contributions to the tea treat table will be welcome. On Sunday 25th July at 1030am Doug Carpenter, Larry Mclaughlin, Audrey Caust and other friends will continue the entertainment in true Rescorla style. Malcolm Gould will then lead us on a heritage walk in the Carclaze area at 230pm. All welcome: contact us for further details. No charge but donations welcome Further details from: Rescorla Festival Office, 10 Hallaze Road, Penwithick, St Austell, Kernow PL26 8UT. Tel: 07714210966. See our Facebook site (Rescorla Centre) or check out our website for news of the festival and our other activities - www.rescorlacentre.site123.me/
At the next meeting of the Book Group we will discuss 'The Go Between' by LP Hartley. Refreshments will be provided and the next book will be available, with thanks to St Austell Library. If you would like to come along please get in touch with Tracy on 07761443733.
Celtic Service to celebrate Lent at the Rescorla Centre. This will be followed by pancakes. All welcome.
Film night at Rescorla. Starts at 7pm. Tonight's film is 'Stocker's Copper' - a film about the 1913 strike at a Cornish clay pit and the tensions that arise when Welsh police are sent in to keep order. Light refreshments provided. Film Night is free however all donations made are gratefully received and go towards the funding of events at Rescorla.
Come along for the Saturday Kitchen. Good food, join in with some Cornish songs, music provided by Kana Rescorla, listen to dialect readings, meet friends. There's no charge for any of the events at Rescorla however all donations are gratefully received. All the money goes towards funding the events at Rescorla.
Come along to Rescorla for the film night with old films on the theme of Coastal Cornwall by Bob Keys and Malcolm Gould. Light refreshments provided. There's no charge for any of the events at Rescorla, however all donations are gratefully received. All money donated goes towards the funding of the events.
Come along to Rescorla for a Cornish Hogmanay! There will be hog's pudding, haggis and a vegetarian option. Music and song provided by Kana Rescorla. All events at Rescorla are free however donations are gratefully received. All the money goes towards funding the events.
Picrous Celebration at the Kings Arms, Bridges from 8 pm
Enjoy a traditional Christmas lunch at Rescorla. This is very popular so please ensure to book - final date to book is Saturday 30th November. Contact us via the email on the contact page.
Enjoy delicious food - please bring something to share if you can, it will be greatly appreciated, listen to music by Kana Rescorla, hear dialect readings and join in with singing traditional Cornish songs.
Come along to a service held in the Cornish Language. The service will be followed by a traditional Cornish tea.
Luxulyan and District Old Cornwall Society Talk by Roger Smith “Protecting Luxulyan’s Heritage”, Luxulyan Memorial Institute, 7 pm
Film Night - an opportunity to see a selection of short films about the history and culture of mid Cornwall. The film that we will be showing is by Johnny Frenchman filmed in Mevagissey in the 1940s. It's a lovely film that looks at fishing and the relations with the Breton fishermen. Light refreshments are provided and a warm welcome awaits. The Rescorla Centre is a charity. There is no charge to any of the events but donations are gratefully received. All money raised goes towards the charity and funding future events.
Come along to Rescorla for a traditional Celtic Harvest. There will be music by Kana Rescorla, delicious food - please bring along something to share if you can - a harvest auction and 'Crying the Neck'. This is a Cornish tradition to give thanks for the harvest and to look forward to next year's harvest. The Celtic Harvest at Rescorla is a wonderful celebration! We look forward to seeing you!
Come along to Rescorla for a Harvest Celebration as part of the Saturday Kitchen. Delicious food will be provided by Enid - please bring something to share if you can, it would be greatly appreciated. Make corn dollies with Jo Tagney. Listen to the wonderful singing of Kescana and music provided by Kana Rescorla. Also if you have any donations for the Harvest auction, which will take place on Sunday 27th October, please bring them along with you. A wonderful morning awaits!
Luxulyan and District Old Cornwall Society Talk by Hazel Harradence “The Home Front in the Great War”, Luxulyan Memorial Institute, 7 pm
Enjoy delicious food, listen to music by Kana Rescorla, hear dialect readings and chat with friends.
Crying the Neck, a Cornish tradition to celebrate harvest, followed by a Harvest supper at Gunwen Chapel.
Come along to Rescorla for a one-off workshop about working with clay. Zenna Tagney is leading the workshop, in association with the White Gold Festival. Light refreshments form the Cornish kitchen will be provided by Enid. There is no charge for this workshop, but donations would be gratefully received.
Enjoy great food, listen to music by Kana Rescorla, hear dialect readings and chat with friends.
Guided Walk to Castilly Henge.
This is a free community lunch. Booking essential. Please contact David Michael.
Saturday Kitchen - Kegin dy'Sadorn.
Saturday Kitchen - Kegin dy'Sadorn.
Come along to Rescorla on the last Saturday of every month from 10:30am to 12:30pm for the Saturday Kitchen.
Enjoy delicious food, please bring something to share if you can - it would be greatly appreciated, however please label incase of allergies, chat with friends, hear dialect stories and readings, listen to music by Kana Rescorla and join in with the singing. We will also have a special guest each month.
There's no charge for any of the events at Rescorla, however donations are greatly appreciated. All money goes towards funding the events and maintaining the building.
Cornish Studies Group
The Cornish Studies group meets at Rescorla. The aim is to record people's personal histories of Cornwall and to move on to looking at cultural and historical aspects of Cornwall.
We meet on the 3rd Saturday of the month at 10:30am. Refreshments will be provided. All welcome.
At our first meeting we began by looking at personal objects that tell a story. The stories were recorded and will be broadcast in a podcast at a later date.
If you feel this is something you'd like to be involved in, please get in touch either via the email on the website or via the facebook page.
For further details email:
G.H.Tregidga@exeter.ac.uk
Rescorla Festival
Follow this page for updates nearer the time.
All welcome.
As you know there's no charge for any of the events, but donations are greatly appreciated.
Rescorla Book Club
We don't have a date for our next meeting yet, but it will be in the new year. Watch this space for details!
Book Club Newsletter
July 24
Lovely to see everyone again!
We had another lively and interesting discussion about the book ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ by Sebastian Faulks. Some of us enjoyed the book more than others. We had mixed views about the characters and their motivations. We felt the book was very well written and captured the era very well. We discussed how the story took place over the course of one year, and we were left to speculate about what would happen next – a variety of opinions on that were expressed!
Here’s a review of the book:
Tourist tale
Sebastian Faulks goes to the US in On Green Dolphin Street, but he can't do the lingo, says Jay Parini
Sat 28 Apr 2001
Sebastian Faulks has become an international sensation, attracting countless readers to his entertaining French trio, The Girl at the Lion d'Or , Birdsong and Charlotte Gray . The last - which details the adventures in France of Faulks's eponymous heroine, Miss Gray, during the second world war - will soon be a film, directed by Gillian Armstrong. This adaptation may propel the novel itself to the level of Birdsong , which can only be called a phenomenon. Now, with a surprising shift of novelistic scene, comes On Green Dolphin Street , set mostly in the United States in 1959.
It is not wonderful, though I found the story oddly compelling at certain points. Rather as you do with a decent television drama, I turned happily enough to the book every night for several days, wondering what would happen next. My hunch is that this is where the secret of Faulks's success with readers lies: he makes one interested in his characters and their fates, however stereotyped. He does this by dwelling on their vulnerabilities, while hinting at their secret strengths. There is a powerful tendency to "identify" with such characters, as all gifted storytellers know - especially those who focus on genre fiction.
On Green Dolphin Street rises several steps above the cheap romance novel. The plot, certainly, would be familiar to devotees of that genre: a bored housewife, married to a charming but neurotic drunk, with two lovely children, falls for a divorced newspaper reporter. She has a surreptitious affair with him, hiding her activities, more or less successfully, until the end. The husband cracks up from drink and depression. Out of pity more than love, she goes back to him, sacrificing her new-found happiness because, well, she must. It's the right thing to do.
There is more, of course, and that's where Faulks lays claim to being a genuinely interesting writer. As he showed rather triumphantly in Birdsong , he can summon a particular time and place with considerable skill, deftly relating individual stories to a broader historical scene. Although he often relies on period clichés -as when evoking life in the muddy trenches of the first world war - he understands their power and milks the drama in them for what it is worth. His flashes forward to the 1970s in Birdsong seemed pale and tedious by comparison, and one longed to get back to the trenches.
On Green Dolphin Street is another attempt to call forth a period in history, and a special place. As the novel opens, it is 1959 in Washington. Charlie van der Linden is a British diplomat, an expert in American politics with supposedly close ties to the Kennedy entourage. (The presidential primaries and the election campaign form a backdrop to the novel's progress, culminating in the famous television debate between the candidates.) The novel's heroine is Mary van der Linden, a model diplomatic wife who reluctantly packs off her children to boarding schools in Britain. Her husband is a high-flyer in the diplomatic corps who enjoys making up fake quotations from Wallace Stevens and Emily Dickinson; he also smokes and drinks with suicidal abandon. Frank Renzo, who becomes Mary's lover, is described as a "tall, lean man, his cropped hair showing the first dust of grey; his accent was from the urban midwest". I'm an American, married to a woman from the urban midwest, but I would not recognise such an accent.
Mary is nicely drawn, and the flashbacks to her first love affair during the war with a man later killed in action are memorable. Charlie, whose alcoholism is wrenchingly dramatised, lingers in the mind as a vivid character. Mary's dying mother and grieving father in London are movingly portrayed, too. The problem comes with the novelist's portrait of America and Americans. I found myself so distracted by minor errors that my involvement in the plot was frequently interrupted, and I began to doubt that any of the details were right. For example, Charlie is often seen gulping Tylenols to soothe a hangover, though anyone who lived through that era knows that Tylenols didn't exist then. Faulks appears to believe that John Kennedy went to law school (as did his brothers, Robert and Ted), and that the man who moderated the Nixon-Kennedy debate was called Howard Smith, when - as every American knows - this famous television presenter was always referred to as Howard K Smith. (I'm not being petty: to call him Howard Smith is like referring to FDR as FR.) I could multiply examples, but won't bother.
Faulks has an unfortunate tendency to rely on stereotypes to evoke an American scene. One example will suffice: Frank Renzo has supposedly been demoted at his newspaper for his coverage of a racist killing in Mississippi - the Emmett Till case, which is well known. In setting the scene, Faulks writes: "Frank noticed that almost all the local men seemed to be armed. Old boys in stray hats sitting on the verandah had shotguns across their knees; twin barrels poked from farm debris in the back of a pick-up truck; even in the grey brick courthouse, he saw more than one pearl handle sticking out from a straining waistband." What's wrong with this scene? For a start, it relies on every hackneyed image one could imagine. The "old boys" are not, as British readers might guess, Old Etonians. They are "good old boys". The pearl handles in the courthouse seem better suited to a Western than southern film.
Suffice it to say, no American reader will find this scene anything but parodic. Nor will they swallow many of the attempts at reproducing American vernacular, as when Charlie asks a couple of Americans what they are drinking and they reply "Martini", when they would say "Martinis". This is small stuff, but novels are made of small stuff like this. Faulks obviously needs to spend more time watching American television shows.
On the other hand, I frequently found myself writing "good!" in the margins, as when Mary's mother, Elizabeth, dies at home, and she and her father go into the sitting room to remember her. "They talked with a candour induced by the knowledge that there was nothing left to conceal; they remembered what Elizabeth had been like, what they had loved about her and what they had never understood, the mysterious motivations, the corrugations of her individual temperament. For long periods, they were quiet, exhausted, but with a sense that something had happened in its proper place; they were made silent by awe." It is in moments like this that Faulks does justice to his real talents, lifting the narrative into fresher, headier air.
Nobody will mistake On Green Dolphin Street for a work of art, but Mary's internal conflicts - in all their drab ordinariness - are tenderly embodied, while Charlie's existential despair, which alcohol amplifies more than soothes, is movingly rendered. Frank remains cardboard-thin beside the van der Lindens, and I never understood what Mary saw in him. Though entertained, I trolled these pages for those moments of extremely fine perception that make Faulks worth reading. Unfortunately, they were few and far between.
Hope you all have a lovely summer.
Happy reading,
Tracy.
Bagas Keskewsel Kernewek -Cornish conversation Group
If you would like to join please get in touch with Tracy on 07761443733.
Click on the link below to hear the interview with Jack Murley from BBC Radio Cornwall. Jack visited on Tuesday 23rd November 2021 and interviewed Kim Hopewell, Di Pomroy and Di Trudgeon.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0b68vy3
Kana Rescorla
If you're interested in joining please come along. There are no auditions.
Refreshments provided.
Rescorla Podcasts.
Walking The Higher Quarter
Higher Quarter is the old name for the northern part of the historic parish of St Austell. The aim of this innovative project supported by Arts Well in association with Cornwall Council is to develop a walking trail of heritage landmarks in this area of the Clay Country that will feature on digital platforms and on a website. Members of the public are invited to participate by a) walking the trail, b) exploring the history behind these sites and c) recording these landmarks through an artistic medium that appeals to you such as photography, drawings, paintings, poetry or music.
The use of mobile phones would be especially encouraged since we would provide ST20 Portable Selfie sticks that have 360 degree rotation and a tripod. Volunteers associated with ‘Walking the Higher Quarter’ can then make short videos that can be long the lines of the popular BBC series ???? Photographs, narratives and poems would also be collected in digital format and for a pamphlet. There would also be an exhibition of artistic work produced by members of the community at the Rescorla Centre.
The next walk is: Thursday 18 August: Roche, Coldvreath, Trezaise and Roche Rock.
Meet outside St Gomonda’s Church (SW 98806 59793) at 6pm.
Check out our website https://rescorlacentre.site123.me/, join our facebook group ‘Rescorla Centre’, email cornishstudies@exeter.ac.uk or telephone 07714210966.
Gallery
Things of Interest.
How many can you get right?
Ivan's memories, part 2.
An Eos Hweg (Sweet Nightingale in Cornish) sung by Noor accompanied by her dad Howard Tresidder Tonkin
ntroducing... #WhealMartynCreate! We challenge you to re-create our historic photographs. We will post new images each Monday and share our favourites througho... See more
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Ivan has recorded some of his memories. We will be playing them in installments. You can listen to the first installment of Ivan's memories now.
This week's Cornish language radio show - including a singing session like you would have at the Cornish language weekend. Agan towlen an seythen ma - hag ynni yma sesshyon kana kepar dell gevir dhe Bennseythen Gernewek.
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Cornish around the home.
More of Ivan's memories.
Cornish dance.
Cornish kilt in 1961.
Cornish story.
A week of 20 minute virtual talks.
A song by Viv.
More of Ivan's memories.
A new series on Cornish Story exploring the work of artists in mid Cornwall.
Another testimony film about the Gunwen area from the Institute's Tallys anTyr project by Sarah Trevillion.
Another cultural series on Cornish Story. In this case the legends and drolls of Cornwall's Wivelshire by Robert Burroughs Robert Burroughs explores the legends and drolls of Wivelshire in the introduction to a new series. South East Cornwall is often referred to as ‘Cornwall’s Forgotten Corner’ in part due to its geog…
