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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:32 pm

KEEPING THE FAITH: http://www.thisisnotcornwall.co.uk/index.html

Following St Pirans day the Western Morning news carried this editorial in the Duchy.

06:59 - 07 March 2006

To some he is a religious figure, while to others he symbolises a political ambition. But to most people in Cornwall today, St Piran represents a cohesive bond that says: we are different, we are confident and we will not be subsumed into a bogus region for which we have no allegiance and no love.

That was the message of the thousand of people across Cornwall and around the world who marched in peace at the weekend to express their own allegiance and love for Cornwall.

The number of parades, meetings, dinners and other public and private expressions of Cornishness increased again this year.

The weekend kicked off on Friday morning with a procession through Bodmin, Cornwall's ancient capital. Led by piper Merv Davey, three huge black and white flags and the Irish tricolour to represent St Piran's origins, the marchers, including many of the town's primary school children, made their way from the town hall and through the main street to gather at Mount Folly.

In bright sunshine and under a clear blue sky, there was just enough breeze to lift the flags, and ruffle the banners of schools, the Old Cornwall Society and the Celtic League. A carnival atmosphere was created as shopkeepers and shoppers lined the street to wave their support.

Once at Mount Folly, a number of speakers told the crowd what St Piran's Day meant to them.

Bodmin mayor Lance Kennedy said it was the "spirit of Cornwall" that mattered most, while North Cornwall District Council chairman and Cornwall County Council vice-chairman Colin Brewer urged everyone to resist central government attempts to push Cornwall into an "artificial and unwanted South West region".

"Our nationality is Cornish," said Mr Brewer. "We are different. We may no longer be able to distinguish people from Lanivet and people from Bodmin by their accents, but we Cornish are distinguished by our history, our fiercely independent character and our stubborn nature."

Grand Bard of the Gorsedd, Rod Lyon, said he was "thrilled" to be taking part in the Bodmin parade.

"On occasions such as this, where we are celebrating Cornwall and all it has to offer, the sight of so many local children, proudly carrying their flags, gives me great hope for the future. Without them, there will be no Cornwall as we know it.

"It is so heartening in this day and age, when life is being ever more ruled by a bland, faceless television culture, to see the teachers in our Cornish schools prepared to introduce their children to Cornwall, its rich culture and heritage, and encouraging them to take part in an occasion such as this.

"We must now all work together to ensure that these same children - and those coming along after them - are officially taught Cornish history and culture as part of their school curriculum."

The Bodmin ceremony closed with a blessing by the Reverend Graham Miners and the singing of Trelawny, Bro Goth Agan Tasow, and Cornwall's alternative national anthem, Kenneth Pelmear's Hail To The Homeland.

At a rally in Truro on Saturday, the Grand Bard returned to the theme of struggle and the attempts of some elements in Cornish society to dilute its culture.

"How thrilled St Piran himself would be if he were here now and saw the host of stout Cornish men and woman proudly carrying his flag through the streets of the city," said Mr Lyon.

"But parades and celebrations are all very well. They may be a 'showpiece' in which we can publicly display our feelings and loyalty to Cornwall, but the real work has to be done in less attractive surroundings and conditions. And this is where I would like to pay tribute to all those staunch and tireless workers who over the years have been struggling - and continue to struggle - against the odds to ensure that Cornwall is not trampled underfoot and is here to be respected in the minds of people who unfortunately appear to rule our destiny from afar.

"This work in Cornwall goes on relentlessly - the protection of our unique culture and way of life, our independent spirit and our language - in spite of the ceaseless efforts of a small but vociferous handful of columnists and scribblers employed by the less reputable element of a self-styled 'local press'. But all their anti-Cornish propaganda is not in any way destroying the resolve of those who fight for Cornwall and its people, but is, much to their annoyance I know, strengthening it. Cornwall is here for ever - they are not."

Sunday saw around a thousand pilgrims making their way across Gear Sands above Perranporth. Along the way, the legend of St Piran was narrated by local headteacher Brian Odgers and re-enacted by a cast of promenading actors led as usual by Perran Tremewan, of Perranporth, in the title role and supported by a group of pub minstrels, The Perraners.

Howard Curnow, of St Hilary, who had the idea for an annual pilgrimage back in 1991, said: "It is fantastic to see the support. It is spreading and it is wonderful to see."

All over Cornwall people celebrated. There was music and dancing at Colliford Lake Park, a Mebyon Kernow fete at Troon, a parade involving 600 schoolchildren in Penzance, St Just's first-ever procession, Gol St Piran at Perranporth, flag-raising at Porthleven, piping the flag at Launceston Castle, and St Piran's Feast in Newquay, plus many more events.

St Ivers Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George used the occasion to express a belief that the coming year could present Cornwall with a golden opportunity. He said: "Cornwall should be ambitious. The Government has already lost its way and is now losing confidence in its failed attempt to create regional assemblies and to reform local government. In the evident vacuum, there is a golden opportunity for Cornwall to be bold and ambitious, and to stand up for itself.

"It is clear that the Government's forthcoming consultation on the future of local government will merely offer local authorities the opportunity to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic of local councils. But there is no point in having politicians at a local level if there are no policy decisions to be taken.

"In Cornwall, we have known for years what the best solution is. But Government Ministers have been deaf to us. Those who have campaigned for a Cornish Assembly should now prepare themselves and become ambitious. In the climate of uncertainty and the policy vacuum which exists at the centre of government, Cornwall could set a blueprint for the country.

"We now have the opportunity to take our case to the Government. Cornwall has the opportunity to harness its strength of identity, culture and diversity; to galvanise our community and to tell the Government to hand powers over to us. After all, we couldn't make a worse job of it than they are now."

Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole expanded on the theme of devolution in his St Piran's Day address to party members and supporters. Mr Cole issued a challenge to Local Government Minister David Miliband to deliver meaningful "Double Devolution" to Cornwall.

"Double Devolution would mean the decentralisation of regional powers, with the creation of a powerful Cornish Assembly, which could then be followed by a rationalisation of local government and decisions taken locally," said Mr Cole. "I urge David Miliband not to tinker with local government but to deliver real democracy for Cornwall. Now is the time for us all to stand up for Cornwall and demand a better deal for our democracy."

Finally, it is perhaps worth recording that a scornful intake of breath swept through the crowd when Bodmin's town crier referred to Cornwall as a "county". It was a thoughtless error on such a day, particularly in view of the dozens of national flags being proudly held aloft around the town square.

For the record, only a country is worthy of such a flag. Clear, unambiguous evidence - as well as ancient maps - support the assertion that Cornwall is indeed a country and has never been a county of England. No one in Bodmin or anywhere else was saying that there is anything wrong with being a county of England - if that is what an area happens to be. It is just that Cornwall is not - and much of what St Piran's Day is about is the desire to communicate that very fact.

Kernow bys vyken - Cornwall for ever.

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/d...entPK=14140133&folderPk=83401

A recommendation by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the ‘concept of nation’ has been backed by the European Parliament regional and minority language Intergroup.
The PACE recommendation stated that, “Everyone should be free to define themselves as a member of a cultural “nation”, irrespective of their citizenship”. In response, the Intergroup commented that ‘Council of Europe member states should avoid defining themselves in exclusively ethnic terms, and should do their utmost to help their minorities, a source of enrichment, to flourish’. Today, both the French and the British Governments still deny people from some of the Celtic countries to legally describe themselves in terms of their Celtic national identities in all areas of life. This is particularly the case where Brittany is concerned, where the French Government have been repeatedly condemned by international organisations and other bodies, for their denial of these basic human rights to the Breton people.

Intergroup leader Mr Csaba Tabajdi, Member of the European Parliament, said that, This recommendation is of utter importance, representing a paradigm change in the protection of minorities in Europe. It contains a new, elaborate concept of nation.

The recommendation states that: The term “nation” is deeply rooted in peoples, culture and history and incorporates fundamental elements of their identity. “It is also closely linked to political ideologies, which have exploited it and adulterated its original meaning. Furthermore, in view of the diversity of languages spoken in European countries, a concept such as nation is quite simply not translatable in many countries where, at best, only rough translations are to be found in certain national languages

Full text of the recommendation: http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?...nts/AdoptedText/ta06/EREC1735.htm
The nations: http://www.eurominority.org/version/maps/map-nations2.asp

Site Admin Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 28

Thanks for that Cornubian. It is good that the Cornish people are exerting their identity and are not being browbeaten into thinking themselves as living in some artificial South West Region. Perhaps the people of Somerset and other counties will demonstrate their feelings after a similar fashion (at least I hope they do! Very Happy

). We could do with a few more Cornish folk on here to give their advice.

Ed

Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:14 pm

No problem Ed and thank for the welcome.

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:15 pm

I am a Penryn born Cornishman and I have been raised by a family and community that has endowed me with what can be best described as a Cornish national identity, another way to look at it would be of Cornish ethnicity.

The Cornish are a Celtic ethnic group and nation of the southwest of Great Britain. We have our own lesser used Celtic language (Cornish), sports, festivals, cuisine, music, dance, history and identity. Cornwall also has a distinct constitutional history as a Duchy with an autonomous stannary parliament. This Celtic Cornish identity was recognised and described in the April 2006 edition of National Geographic.

The results from the 2001 UK population census show over thirty seven thousand people hold a Cornish identity instead of English or British. On this census, to claim to be Cornish, you had to deny being British, by crossing out the British option and then write Cornish in the others box. Additionally the decision to collect information on Cornish identity was extremely badly publicised.
Expressions of Cornish identity can be found in everything, from a campaign for an international Cornish sports team (like Scotland England and Wales) - http://home.btconnect.com/graham-hart/ccga.htm - through the campaign for a disestablished church of Cornwall - http://www.freethespirit.org.uk/indexr.htm - to the campaign for devolved autonomous government - http://www.cornishassembly.org/.

How many more would have described themselves as Cornish if they did not have to deny being British or if there had been a Cornish tick box? How many people knew that it was an option? How many ticked British but feel themselves to be Cornish British?

Cornwall Council’s Feb 2003 MORI Poll showed 55% in favour of a democratically-elected, fully-devolved regional assembly for Cornwall, (this was an increase from 46% in favour in a 2002 poll). Many English and other nationalities who have settled in Cornwall wish to see an assembly as some of these people identify closely with Cornwall and actually feel ‘Cornish’. London, Wales and Scotland have devolved assemblies and are still part of the United Kingdom as well as the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey - why not Cornwall ? The Cornish Assembly petition was signed by 50,000 people, which is the largest expression of popular support for devolved power in the whole of the United Kingdom and possibly Europe.

In July 2000 Mebyon Kernow launched the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly campaign which some three months later led to the creation of The Cornish Constitutional Convention with the objective of establishing a devolved Assembly for Cornwall. In less than two years, it had won the support of over 50,000 people, which equates to more than 10% of the Cornish electorate. A delegation led by the West Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George and representatives of the Cornish Constitutional Convention (Bert Biscoe, Richard Ford, Dick Cole, David Fieldsend and Andrew Climo Thompson) presented 50,000 declarations to 10 Downing Street on Wednesday 12th December 2001 calling for a Cornish Assembly. This was an opportunity to give the people of Cornwall the chance to demand greater control over their own future.

Some links about the Cornish nation (and more) to study.

The Cornish and the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities http://www.geecee.co.uk/CNMR/

An Burow, the Cornish Language News Website
http://www.cornish-language-news.org/

An Daras - Cornwall’s distinctive Culture at your fingertips
http://www.an-daras.com/

Real Cornwall Site with sections on Food & Drink, People & Places, Sports & Games and Arts & Media
http://www.realcornwall.net/

The Cornish: A Neglected Nation? from the BBC by Mark Stoyle
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/brit..._seapower/cornish_nation_01.shtml

Tyr-Gwyr-Gweryn, Cornish history, identity and constitution.
http://www.kernowtgg.co.uk/

The Cornish Stannary Parliament, a Cornish civil rights group
http://cornishstannaryparliament.org/

Mebyon Kernow
http://www.mebyonkernow.org/Public/Stories/89-1.shtml

Eurominority
http://www.eurominority.org/version/eng/

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 3:48 pm

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Recognize the authority of the Duchy of Cornwall as a separate state within the UK

Cornwall is a Duchy and should be clearly recognised as such.

Thought it sould be highlighted: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/CornwallDuchy/

Site Admin Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 28

I think a major stumbling block that a lot of people have is differentiating between devolution and independence. A lot of people in favour of an English national parliament seem convinced that due to Scotland and Wales having limited self government, that this somehow means that the UK does not exist anymore and as they are now seperate countries from the UK.

I have in the past pointed out to such people that London too has devolution and a degree of self rule, but they don't for some reason class that as a seperate country. I suppose it must be because it is not a nation, is the capital city of England and the UK and is therefore central to the running of the UK, unlike Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which are seen as being somewhat peripheral.

At a guess I would say that outside of the South West you are unlikely to find many people who realise that Cornish people class themselves as a seperate nation, let alone want devolution and this could be the reason there is little sympathy for such a thing in England. I would also say that Cornwall's remoteness both geographically and politically and the centralised nature of the UK is the main contributing factor to this ignorance of Cornish aspirations rather than any state policy to 'ethnically cleanse' the Cornish as has been suggested by some.

I have even read claims to the effect that England has been waging some sort of genocidal war against Cornwall, presumably since the 8th century. One person on Cornwall24 insisted that hundreds of thousands of his ancestors had been exterminated when the Anglo-Saxons arrived and are buried under England and also that there was DNA evidence of 100 % population replacement in places. Theoretically this could only be accounted for if hundreds of thousands of Anglo-Saxons turned up almost overnight and there are vast numbers of bodies in mass graves that have somehow remained undiscovered for 1500 years or so. That would only be possible if a) the Anglo-Saxons had a huge fleet of ocean liners and b) no matter who has been in control of England for 1500 years they have surpressed the evidence of the mass graves: either that or the English are told on their mother's knee where the graves are and sworn to secrecy - I swear that never happened to me!

I note however that the important distinction between race and nationality is made on this thread and modern research suggests that Offa's Dyke and the Tamar do not form racial dividing lines at all. The further west one goes across Somerset, Devon and Cornwall the fewer and more scattered the Saxon remains are, so presumably there was less migration the further from the heartlands of Wessex you got. This is quite different from the traditional and popular version of a tidal wave of English sweeping up to the Tamar and driving all before them. The acendancy of the English language can probably be explained by the contemporary collapse of Rome and the redundancy of Latin (Rome never penetrated the far south west either) coinciding with the rise in North Sea trade between Germanic speaking countries and the formation of an English speaking aristocracy. As more people spoke English as a second, then first and then only language, the Cornish language would have shrunk westwards, the Tamar forming a natural boundary between the majority of the Cornish speakers and the lands controlled by the English speaking peoples.

I personally doubt that England is trying to will a Cornish nation out of existence by deliberately ignoring it, as what does England have to lose by recognising Cornwall as a nation? In days gone by it could've still received tin and China clay from Cornwall as it received coal from Wales and and at no point in time would Cornish Home Rule resulted in bankrupcy for England. It is a shame however that so little is said outside of Cornwall about this issue and I wish you the best in your efforts.

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:19 pm

We believe that Cornwall should have its own public holiday on the 5th March to commemorate St Piran’s day. Cornwall has been ignored in the establishment of regional assemblies and the black and white cross of St Piran’s flag, a well established symbol of the Cornish identity, is largely neglected by the rest of the country. St Piran's Day is very popular in Cornwall as a statement of regional identity. We do not understand or accept why our political leaders ignore Cornwall’s contribution to the cultural heritage of the British Isles, while giving such prominence to other regions. The granting of a public holiday to commemorate St Piran’s Day would demonstrate our leaders’ commitment to regional identity.

Create a Cornish Bank Holiday on 5th March to commemorate St Piran’s Day: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/St-Pirans-Day/

It is now apparent that both the District Councils and Cornwall County Council have taken different views of the local government structures, which would be most appropriate, were the existing structures to be modified or replaced. We the undersigned feel that, in a situation where opinion among councils and councillors appears to be so divided, the government should recognise that the people of Cornwall should be consulted in a referendum before a final decision, involving any change to the existing structures, is made.

Please sign and circulate to all friends etc: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Cornlocalgov/