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 2023
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.
Film and Cornwall with the emphasis on World War II with a presentation by Lucy Ann. All welcome.
Celebrate the Celtic Harvest at Rescorla. There will be a casserole meal followed by the Harvest Auction and Celtic music and storytelling. David Michael will be the auctioneer. Therer is a small charge for the meal of £8:00, please contact Garry or put a message on our facebook page to let us know if you'd like to come. All welcome.
History of Brewing in Cornwall by Maria Truscott. All welcome.
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.
Music, song, readings and a performance of Picrous. There will be food as well. All welcome.
Come along to celebrate Hogmanay here at Rescorla. There will be food, music and song. 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.
Art Group
All welcome.
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
Rescorla Book Club
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 1st November at 1:30pm at Rescorla when we'll be discussing 'One Day' by David Nicholls.
July's Newsletter:
July Book Club Newsletter
Hi Everyone,
It was so nice to see you at the book club in July, and if you couldn’t make it, we missed you and look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.
Once again we had a lively and interesting discussion about the book –‘My Cousin Rachel’. There were differing views on whether or not Rachel was guilty of scheming and manipulating Philip, or was it all in Philip’s mind. Also was Philip responsible for her death? We spent some time discussing this but didn’t come to a unanimous decision! We loved how Daphne Du Maurier can describe a place so that we could clearly picture it. Her skill at evoking a sense of place is remarkable. We enjoyed the book, we found the characters, descriptions and the plot interesting and entertaining.
Here’s a review of the book:
My Cousin Rachel: Daphne du Maurier's take on the sinister power of sex
Du Maurier’s novel is a tightly plotted, sinuous and undeniably feral piece of work that puts power in the hands of women
Julie Myerson
Sat 17 Jun 2017 12.00 BST
At first sight, the scene could not be more romantic. Philip Ashley, on the verge of coming into his inheritance, intends, in just a few hours, to tip the lot – vast Cornish estate, family jewels and his entire fortune – into the lap of his dead cousin’s widow Rachel, the older woman with whom he is besotted. He takes a euphoric late-night dip in the sea and strides back to the house where – though he does not know it yet – she is about to make him the happiest man alive. As he makes his way through the eerily moonlit woods and chooses the path which will lead him to his lover (and, it turns out, a lot more besides), an odour reaches his nostrils – a “rank vixen smell” which for a moment or two seems to stop him in his tracks.
Rank vixen smell.
I wonder if I even noticed these three brooding little words when I first read My Cousin Rachel as a teenager. Now though, rather like its protagonist, I am also stopped in my tracks. In fact, revisiting this fantastically well-wrought novel of suspicions and betrayals some four decades later – and watching Roger Michell’s startlingly honest new film, starring Rachel Weisz – they might as well be lit in blazing neon. I doubt there’s a phrase in the entire novel which better sums up what Daphne du Maurier is up to.
In some ways it is an age-old story, albeit with a trademark Du Maurier twist: sexually inexperienced 25-year-old becomes infatuated with someone 10 years older. Having already lost his heart, he is then (very willingly) initiated into sex, assuming all the time that marriage, or at least everlasting love, is on the cards. But no, he wakes next morning – ecstatic and feeling that “everything in life was now resolved” – to discover that the object of his affections is cool and distant, acting as if nothing much has happened.
Daphne du Maurier in New York, 1947. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images
Nothing new about this; it is after all a position in which women have found themselves for centuries. Only here Du Maurier artfully turns the tables, handing the power and control to the woman. The passionate tryst which Philip took to imply betrothal turns out, for his more experienced and worldly lover, to have been no more than friendship-with-benefits.
And though My Cousin Rachel – written in 1951 when Du Maurier was, arguably, at the height of her confidence and powers – might appear to be a simple did-she-didn’t-she thriller about Cornish estates and poisonings, it is absolutely and inescapably a novel about sex. Most specifically female sexuality: its ambiguity, its mystery and its potentially fatal – as perceived by men – power.
Indeed, the sinister, devouring threat of the female – in the shape of black widow Rachel, who might as well be a spider for the patient way in which she watches and weaves and waits – is present almost from the first chapter. When he is orphaned as a baby, Philip is adopted by his kindly older cousin Ambrose. The household is a gruff male bastion – which has so far successfully protected itself in every possible way from the opposite sex. Even the servants and the dogs are male. So when “crusty cynical woman-hater” Ambrose writes home from Florence to say that he is to be married, the news is greeted with shock and bafflement – and a certain amount of resentment from his young charge. How could any female have managed to storm his battlements?
Rank vixen smell, indeed.
And when Ambrose dies in mysterious circumstances and we learn that the widow is on her way to see Philip, the odour only intensifies. His suspicions about his cousin’s death may be well-founded but they are also, you sense, at least partly driven by fear of this particular unknown. For here is a young man who has never been in close proximity with a woman. “It was a queer sensation having a woman in the pew beside me,” he says of his first outing to church with Rachel.
The queer sensation is to prove ever more intoxicating. In love with the sheer novelty of femaleness, Philip is easy prey – and Rachel does not hesitate to take advantage. Allowing him to glimpse her in various states of undress (pinning up her hair, leaving the door of her boudoir ajar while she dresses, putting flowers about the house), she employs her full arsenal. And Philip is naturally bewitched. “I think she had no knowledge what it did to me,” he declares with touching yet preposterous innocence, remarking on the way that she touches his head or his shoulder in passing.
In love with the sheer novelty of femaleness, Philip is easy prey – and Rachel does not hesitate to take advantage
Watching Rachel slowly land Philip is one of the chief pleasures of the novel – and Du Maurier makes sure it is done with a rhythm and honesty and even humour which cannot help but make us complicit. For although the story, tightly plotted with small clues slipping out here and there, encourages us to fear for Philip, we cannot help it: we want Rachel to have him.
In fact, and this is true of much of Du Maurier’s work, subtle humour is key. Without it, Rachel would be a much less interestingly complex and ambiguous character. With her eyes full of a “solemnity” which “spelt mischief”, we can’t help but warm to her. And neither can Philip, who is quick to forget that he ever suspected her of anything.
Back in 1975, when I first checked the book out of Nottingham Central Library in its polythene-covered yellow Gollancz jacket and read it in my nylon-quilted single bed, I think I believed Philip – 10 years older than I was, just as Rachel is another 10 years older than he is – to be a grown-up. I believed every word he said and I fell in love with Rachel through his eyes.
But I certainly feared for him as well. My strongest memories of the novel are of treading its pages alongside him – hanging on every word of this most plausibly reliable narrator, of being frightened and drawn in equal measure by those shadowy corridors and candlelit boudoirs, the ominous stashes of laburnum seeds and, most memorably of all, the rickety bridge strung up high over a sunken Cornish garden.
Danger, subterfuge and the possibility of falling. At 15, I was still an awkward few years away from kissing my first boy and Rachel’s world – a world of dizzy sexual heights – seemed quite literally frightening. “Was Rachel innocent or was she guilty?” wonders Philip in chapter one. Back then, suspecting that if you could seduce a man this effortlessly then you could also, surely, poison him, I don’t think I was in any doubt: she was guilty.
‘Danger, subterfuge and the possibility of falling’: Claflin and Weisz in the 2017 film.
Photograph: Allstar/Fox Searchlight Pictures
But what a difference four decades make.
One of the most likeable aspects of Michell’s wonderfully crunchy new film is that, though it leaves itself open to either verdict, still it tilts things – rightly I think – very slightly in Rachel’s favour. Though he sticks almost word-for-word to the plot, there are some nice new touches. An extra, faintly comical sex scene, only barely implied in the book, makes a satisfying kind of sense. There is also a strong suggestion that Rachel’s slippery friend Rainaldi, far from being some kind of a Machiavellian paramour (something which always felt troubling in the book) is in fact homosexual. Which again makes total sense. In fact, both additions make Rachel’s world seem more rather than less complicated – and also emotionally honest. Du Maurier would approve.
Rachel is a woman who, at 35, has been married at least twice and clearly had other love affairs. She has miscarried a child – something which both book and film hint has taken an emotional toll. It is also strongly implied that she has suffered violence at the hands of more than one man. There have been hands at her throat, we are told. Rachel is a woman who has felt shame and fear as well as loss.
With her small hands – repeatedly described – and small narrow face, she is an undeniably exotic presence, but a vulnerable one, too. It is hard not to feel – and Du Maurier leaves plenty of room for such an interpretation – that it is in part her very vulnerability that makes her so terrifying to men.
It is easy to forget that the novel begins with a description not of love or sex, but of death. As Ambrose forces seven-year-old Philip to look at a body swinging from a Cornish gibbet, dead for four weeks, its “swollen limbs like pulpy paper”, he invites his young charge to be sick behind the hedge if necessary “and remember I have not seen you”. Witnessed or not, Philip barely makes it to the hedge.
Later, on his brief trip to Florence to attempt to rescue Ambrose, Philip encounters a young female beggar with an “ageless, haunting” face – a person who seems to have “contemplated life so long it had become indifferent to her”. The beggar’s face haunts the novel and seems in some way to be linked to the image of the corpse on the gibbet. I remember that this image troubled me as a teenager, and it is all credit to this most superlative of writers that even now all these years later, contemplating this tightly plotted, sinuous and undeniably feral piece of work, I am still trying to decide what I feel about it.
Julie Myerson’s latest novel is The Stopped Heart (Vintage). My Cousin Rachel is on general release.
Thank you to everyone who came to hear the author talk as part of the Rescorla Festival. John Ault was very entertaining and provided detailed insights into how and why he wrote his book. He has now said that he is seriously thinking of writing another book featuring the main character. This is thanks to the support and encouragement that he received at the author talk!
Once again, my apologies for the postponement of the film ‘My Cousin Rachel’. This will now be shown in October. There will be further details nearer the time. Thank you for being so understanding.
Here’s a few suggestions for summer reads, even though our summer appears to have been cancelled!
I recently went to see the film ‘Oppenheimer’. It is an utterly gripping movie. I really recommend it if you haven’t yet seen it. It’s based on the book:
This is a book I plan to read in the near future.
And finally, summer quotes, to remind us of what summer could be like!
“Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the tree house; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill.”
– Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”
– William Shakespeare, The Sonnets
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 1st November at 1:30pm at Rescorla when we’ll be discussing ‘One Day’ by David Nicholls.
Happy reading,
Tracy.
Celtic Services.
There will be a Celtic service of healing and celebration on the 3rd Sunday of the month at 6pm here at Rescorla. The services are hosted by David Michael.
Refreshments will be provided afterwards. All welcome.
Kana Rescorla
If you're interested in joining please come along. There are no auditions.
Refreshments provided.
Rescorla Festival
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
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.
The Rescorla Festival 2022 was another success! During the weekend there was a guided walk, the Cornish Studies Group met, there was a demonstration of Cornish wrestling, there was music and dancing and the traditional Snail Creep was performed! There was also a BBQ and cream tea.
Next year will be the 150th anniversary of the Rescorla chapel. Plans are already underway for an extra special celebration that will take place over the week.
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
Have a look at a Pathe Film from 1939 of St Enodoc on the coast. It was uncovered from sand by the 1860s.
Today's film is an excursion through Cornwall in 1916
If you are looking for something to do on the cultural front then read some of the articles on Cornish Story.
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.
A selection of Cornish songs with the words to sing-along to and some readings. Something to help break the boredom of the staying at home. Feel free to share. A collection of Cornish Songs to sing a long to with some Cornish readings too. Songs including Camborne Hill, Lamorna, Proper Job, Little Eyes, Hail to the ...
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…
