Saturday, 18 July 2009

Buy my book!

Hi everyone! Well, I've got my feet under the table with HMS ALBION and am realising my life will not be the same for the next 18 months. This is a parish which moves about! However, we must make sure the Cowethas moves forward during this time.

One way you can help is by buying this book and lending it to your friends. It really encompasses why we are needed and what we are all about: a Cornish expression of Celtic Christian spirituality, but with a distinctively ecologically-responsible focus. It is available from Ray Chubb (ray@spyrys.org), Amazon and from Books Plus in Penzance. A snip at £8!

We may be 70 years behind the Iona Community, 15 yrs behind the Lindisfarne based Community of Aidan and Hilda, but I believe we have the right formula and message for this day. I believe Cornwall can and will catch up.

So let's get it out to people and make it happen!

Oll an gwella

Sunday, 5 July 2009

Newsletter 29

Dear friends

The members met yesterday to discuss progress and we agreed we would give various people areas of interest/responsibility. Peter Mitchell will take on pilgrim hospitality and publicity, Doreen Sparey-Delacassa is our Fresh Expressions link and John Nash is already doing stirling service as treasurer and CASPN representative. I will be asking others to take certain remits on – whatch this space!

Next (Lammas) Meeting This will be on Saturday 1st August at Lanlivery Church at 2pm after lunch in the Crown Inn there. Then we will visit the holy well of St Brevita nearby before walking to Helman Tor (about 2km). I will have a car prepositioned there to drive people back if needed. We will bless the coming harvest from the Tor – bring some vegetables you’ve grown to leave there!

Cornish Daily Prayer There is now a pronunciation CD to go with it. It and the book are on sale in Books Plus, Penzance and Baron’s newsagents in Newlyn as well as Epiphany House, Truro. St Peter’s Church, Newlyn uses our prayerbook!

Cornish Night Prayer Attached again – please pass on to your friends for publicity.

Chris Dunkerly Chris is an Australian bard and friend of CPS who is very interested in our work who is over here soon: “15 August (Sat) we arrive in Cornwall and will be staying in a large cabin at ‘Tehidy Park’, near Illogan. 22 August (Sat) we head off northwards. 29 August (Sat) we arrive back in Cornwall, and stay at Lighthouse Studio, Praa Sands, seeing more sights and catching up with as many people at we can.” If you would like to come with me to meet him, let me know. We are getting popular down there!

Oll an gwella (all the best)!

Andy

Saturday, 4 July 2009

Andy's back from sea (for a bit!)...

Well, I've had three weeks away at sea and boy it's been hard work and fun! The time before was very frustrating - I had to get the church library out of stores and back into the ship after its refit and find my way about. This was not easy as it is very complicated layout. As I didn't know Plymouth or the dockyard either I spent a lot of time wandering about looking lost.

A sense of being lost is a frustrating experience but one which one has to go through now and then - after a bereavement, retirement, redundancy, a stroke or heart attack etc. Ones familar world seems gone forever and a new one beckons.

Christians are fortunate in that we are not alone in all this - we have Jesus by our side for company and support and a map to guide us - the Bible. And we have the compass of the Holy Spirit to give us a sense of direction.

No wonder statistically Christians cope better with life's trials and tribulations than others.

Just wish I had a map of this ruddy ship though!

Sunday, 7 June 2009

Andy is all at sea....

I'm away now at sea until 1st July (ish) so don't expect any blogs until then (unless the MOD computer allows access to this site, which I doubt). The CPS members meet 4pm the first Saturday I get back (4th July)to talk of progress.

The Stringers’ Solstice Celebrations Do get along to their celebrations near Fowey Saturday 20th June if you can. It’s always fun I’m told! They’re on 01726 833334.

Mazy Day 27 June If you go to Penzance’s Golowan Mazy day, meet up by the Davy Statue at 11am as usual. (I’m away I’m sad to say). And wear your CPS polo shirts!

Cornish Night Prayer This is hot off the press and will be going on to our website with hyperlinks so you can hear Cornish and sing parts if you want. Please forward it to your friends as it is useful advertising. Idea is you print it, fold it and laminate it to make a prayer card. Clever, eh?!

News down under… The Australian May Cornish Convention had 60 people attend the Celtic Christianity workshop. They are having a follow up retreat, so we may have a branch there soon. We are starting to see keen interest in the USA now too.

Next Lammas Meeting This will be on Saturday 1st August at Lanlivery. We will visit the church and holy well after lunch in the Crown Inn there and then walk to Helman Tor (about 2km - see photo above). We will have two cars prepositioned there to drive people back if needed.

My latest book – An Forth Keltek (The Celtic Path) This is proving popular – if you want one ring Ray Chubb on 01209 842394. It’s £8 plus p &p. A snip!

Got to dash - ship to catch!

Saturday, 30 May 2009

Never play with fire - people may get burned...

I admit to being very worried about the European and local elections on Thursday. The collapse in confidence in the three main parties as a result of the financial greed of some of their MPs has opened the field dramatically to smaller parties not so implicated. In many ways this is a good thing as our political system denies representation of minority parties who consequently rarely receive any funding from the business world. But in some ways it is not.

We are likely to see an increase in votes for Celtic parties such as the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Mebyon Kernow in Celtic regions of the UK and UKIP in England – no problem there. However, the BNP too will most likely see a resurgence in England. The rise over the years of the BNP, paralleling that of English nationalistic identity, worries me greatly – it missed a Euro seat by a whisker last time and will certainly win seats this time. Heaven knows what will happen locally in places like Bradford Council where it already has eight council seats.

What also worries me too is the well-meaning naivety of churchmen who think it is fine every St George’s Day to fly his flag and say it is about time we started celebrating Englishness more (the Church of England does fly it all the time anyway of course). One prominent figure recently was the Archbishop of York, no less.

It is a small step from celebrating Englishness, to celebrating English national identity, to promoting English Nationalism; and as William Hague wisely said, English Nationalism is the most dangerous of them all. Why he said this, I don’t know, but there is something of the night in it for sure, something the BNP thrives on.

I received this from a good and wise friend who is English, but who has a deep understanding of such matters and empathy with us Celts:

I very much agree with you on this, Andy. I was in Stoke-on-Trent a couple of years ago at about that time of year [St George’s Day]. What with all the red and white flags I felt that the BNP had certainly got a grip there. I said to my host that if I were a young Muslim and thus aware of the flag's origin as a Crusader emblem, I would very much fear for my safety.

So English clergy - be like Hercules and do not listen to the siren voices that would draw you on to the rocks for the sake of cheap popularity. Stop up your ears, tie yourself to the mast and just sail serenely by. To do otherwise is to discredit Christ by playing with fire, and risking a lot of innocent people getting badly burned, perhaps literally….

Thursday, 14 May 2009

Have you ever noticed...?



Walking the Saints' Way last week reminded me of how Cornwall's Celtic heritage is literally written into our landscape: St Wenn was a daughter of the Welsh king St Brychan, at least 24 of which were to become missionaries, many of whom settled around Bodmin Moor; St Columb had a male admirer, but wanted to stay a celibate nun - so he chased her and cut her head off; St Austell was friends with St Mewan and both may have headed off to St Meen in France later, but that's all we know of him.

The sad thing is how little local people know about their saints, even if we have reliable information about them. However, they are learning more as time goes by - the excellent play about Piran acted out on the annual march to the oratory, for example, teaching those who come the main facts.

I have compiled on behalf of the Cowethas seventeen assembly/family service plans about Cornish saints which should soon be downloadable from the Cornish Language Partnership website. (The bait I used to get their support was to provide prayers in Cornish to start and end the assemblies!)

When I was a child growing up in Newlyn, I was not taught one word of Cornish and not one single thing about our Celtic heritage (any Cornish heritage for that matter).

But today, I and many others will ensure thhe same mistake is not made with a new generation of children. A shared pride in a common cultural identity is good for communities and good for individuals.

So let's learn more about those saints whose names litter Cornwall's landscape!

Sunday, 19 April 2009

Andy is away for a bit.....



Hi! I'm off on courses and holiday now until 13th of May. Do come to our next meeting at St Neot, Liskeard on Monday 4th May (my birthday) - Peter Mitchell will be leading proceedings. There is a bring and share lunch before in the St Neot Institute from 1230 onwards, then we meet at the prettiest church in Cornwall (has to be!)for 2pm for prayers and a talk by the vicar, Father Balfour. Finally, it's down to St Neot's holy well for a final blessing with its waters.You might got to the pub afterwards on the way back to your cars!

I have a new book out - An Forth Keltek (The Celtic Path), price £8. Peter will have a few copies to sell, but I have only a few at the moment for people to review etc. He'll take orders and money if you are not able to get one. It's good!