St. Ives celebrated the return of May Month in a traditional way, a tradition which has its roots in the mists of time. In times past, the Celts celebrated Beltane: May 1st. Local folk in St Ives have revived the celebration after taking advice from older inhabitants.

The Grand Bard and Deputy Grand Bard were there to join the Town Mayor and the Chair of Penwith Council in choosing (with great difficulty!) a May Queen, May King, May Princess and May Prince and judging the May Sticks, before walking in the wonderful Procession.

Visit By Gorseth Secretary To Australia

The Bardic gathering and Cornish Festival at Ballarat was a major feature for the Gorseth Secretary during her month long visit to Cornish Associations in Australia in March 2008. For more pictures please click here.

Kemysk Kernewek DVD

This is a 55 minute DVD of Padstow Obby Oss, Helston Furry, Cornish Wrestling, Trevithick Day (Cambron), Hurling (Sen Columb), Murdoch Day (Redruth), AnGof (St Keverne), St Day Feast, Golowan (Pensans), and Bodmin Riding.

The price is £7 plus UK p&p £1. It was produced by Susan Davey / Cares Enevales and is in the European PAL format.  Profits of course go to the Gorseth.

For further information on content and how to order please contact Enquiries

The Cornish Gorsedd appoints an Administrator

On May 6th, Colin Roberts began his post as part-time Adminstrator to Gorseth Kernow. Colin was working as a Senior Adminstrator in Australia and he has an Advanced Diploma in Business Management. He is skilled in IT, so we are hoping that he will streamline our systems and work with our volunteers to move forward. Colin is a proud Cornishman and supports Cornish Culture enthusiastically, especially Cornish Wrestling.

We are sad to hear that Ray Edwards (Map Mercya) is dead. He was a kind and learned man, a good writer and a worker of renown for the language, above all with 'Cornish by letter'. We give thanks for his life. For more details click here

What does the Grand Bard do?

Life for the Grand Bard is busy but interesting. One of the great things about it is getting to meet so many people, of all ages and from all walks of life. Firstly, there are Council meetings to chair, and as many of the meetings of the seven sub-committees to attend as is practicable. There is the Gorseth Kernow ceremony to lead. In addition, many community events ask the Grand Bard to attend, especially at St. Pirantide, but also those such as the Montol Festival and St Ives Feast celebrations. Also, committees and boards, especially if there is a cultural element, ask a representative from the Gorseth to take part, often the Grand Bard. Groups ask for talks on Cornish topics, and last, but not least, there is the chance to visit Cornish Descendants overseas, and Celtic Cousins in Wales and Brittany.

Welcome on all Roads

Left to Right: CoClrs Joyce Mepsted & Bryan Preston, Grand Bard Vanessa Beeman,
David List (Bridge Manager), CoClr & Bard Bert Biscoe.

Splendid News! At last, in their own language the people of Cornwall are able to say - Welcome to CORNWALL - 'KERNOW a'gas dynergh'  on all 10 entry roads, plus the Tamar Bridge.

Cornwall Highways staff proudly erecting the new sign on the Tamar Bridge.

St Newlyn East - Eglosnywylen


Kehelland - Kelly Henlan

The photo at this link is of the 31 Bards (27 from Australia and 4 from Cornwall) who took part in the Australian Assembly on Saturday 15 March 2008 at Brown Hill, Ballarat, Australia - during the Victorian Cornish Festival.

Meeting with Culture South West

Gorseth Kernow/The Cornish Gorseth have had their long-awaited meeting with Peter Boyden and Pippa Warin of Culture South West. They have assured us that Cornwall will not be split up for cultural planning. Their remit is to get as much funding as possible from Brussels and Westminster for cultural activities, and it looks hopeful that some of this will be channelled into Cornwall’s indigenous culture when this has been achieved. It is hoped that CSW and Gorseth Kernow can work together in the future.

Tribute to Gwenc’hlan

Gwenc’hlan Ar Skouezeg 5th Grand Druid of the Breton Gorsedd deceased on the 6th of February 2008 at Brasparts.

He passed away peacefully in the country below an apple tree and a clump of mistletoe. He was 78 years old.

He had been at the head of the Gorsedd since 1980. Under his leadership, the Gorsedd became "the Fraternity of Druids, Bards and Ovates in Brittany" in other words Gwenc’hlan made deep changes in the spirit of his druidic society.

He stood in favour of the defence of human rights and against racism as early as 1988, proclaiming Gorsedd’s support to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

He was a prolific writer on the Breton field and one of his latest publications is a  book in three volumes about the history of Druids and druidic philosophy throughout the ages.

Ra vo gwenn e ved en tu all d’ar mor don!
(May he be happy on the other side of the deep sea!).

The Cornwall we love

Libby Luke of Melbourne has produced a DVD with a slide show of beautiful pictures of Cornwall. It is a tribute to our Cornish heritage from compatriots in Australia. In the UK it is being distributed by Gorseth Kernow which receives all the profits.

Available at £4 plus p&p £1. Click here.

The Ad-hoc group set up to work with the Arbiter on a Standard Written Form for Cornish met again on the 13th and 14th December.

We are pleased to announce that the representatives of the Cornish language groups and orthographies achieved an agreement by the end of the meeting on the principles for a standard written form of Cornish.

Details will be available from the MAGA  web site.

Kernewek Lowender AGM December 2007

Three rather special bards at the Lowender AGM held recently at Kadina on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.

Bard Richard Hancock - Patron of Kernewek Lowender, Lillian James Cornish Language Bard and foundation president of the Cornish Association of South Australia Yorke Peninsula Branch with Mayor of the Copper Coast and President of Kernewek Lowender, Bard Paul Thomas.

A photo of three bards still working hard for the glory of Cornwall.

Gorseth Conference 2007

The Gorseth Conference was held on Saturday 13th October in St. Ives.

The theme was the Life and Work of Robert Morton Nance, Mordon, to celebrate a new book published on behalf of the Gorseth, and the day began with two papers from Derek Williams and Peter Thomas on the Celtic Congress of 1926 and Mordon's Spirituality.

After that, there were five readings from his work by Peter Thomas, Mick Paynter, Roy Phillips, Ann Trevenen Jenkin and Tamsin Donaldson (Mordon's Grand-daughter).

In the afternoon, two groups visited St Ives Museum and St Ives Archives in turn. We are grateful to everyone who helped.

Entries are invited for this annual Gorseth Award, which includes seven preliminary sections, plus two major overall awards, for prestigious publications on Cornwall or Cornish themes, from the calendar year 2007 only.

Full details are available from:

Ann Trevenen Jenkin, tel 01736 850 332 or email

Penzance Gorsedd

A fine, dry day, superb organization and a local team of helpers all helped to make the 2007 Gorseth a wonderful experience.

The afternoon procession, led by the Golowan band followed a route decorated with dozens of black and gold banners.

A packed St Johns Hall appreciated the 3 choirs, a play in Cornish by children from St Hilary school, and a feast of talent.

For the speech by the Grand Bard please click here and photographs click here.

The 2008 Gorseth Kernow competitions are now under way. There are classes for both adults and young people in poetry, prose, Cornish studies, music (in English or Cornish), art and photography.

Full details of the classes and rules for entry are now available on this site. The closing date is 31st March 2008 and the awards will be presented by the Grand Bard at the Open Gorseth in Looe on the first Saturday in September 2008.

For full details click here for adults, and here for young people.

For Gorseth and other Cornish video clips please visit www.golowva.headweb.co.uk.