Gunnislake Festival seems to have gone well

For the last few years I have been Secretary of the annual Gunnislake Festival but at the AGM last November I decided to stand down as it was just getting too much when added to my other interests. Our Chairman and Treasurer both decided to resign from the committee at the same time - no animosity, just that we had all had a long stint at these jobs (all three of us are getting on a bit age wise!) and it was time for an injection of new blood. A couple of particularly stalwart members of the committee were prepared to continue and the presence of these two ladies I'm sure would have aided a fairly seamless transition in preparing for the 2009 Festival. And I honoured my promise of being available at the end of the phone should the new secretary want advice which understandably she did on one or two occasions.

This year's Festival, from Wednesday to Saturday last week, followed a well tried formula in the main. So we had the usual display from local artists in the Church Hall and Mandy's ever popular Local History Exhibition in the Public Hall. There are always lovely refreshments at the latter by the way and this year they bought in sponges from a cake maker in Tavistock. I treated myself to a slice and on a scale of 1 to 10 I would give it 11! It was amazing! As is usual with the local history I found myself going back there because there was so much to see. On the Wednesday evening there is normally a talk worth going to and this year we had Bernard doing his slide show on the railway between Tavistock and Kelly Bray via Bere Alston and of course Gunnislake. I've heard it two or three times before admittedly but never tire of it.

The car park in the centre of the village was closed to vehicles on the Saturday because it is given over to public entertainment throughout the afternoon. On this occasion the forecasters were spot on - after a wet morning the clouds parted at lunchtime. We tend to be lucky with the weather for this outdoor part of the Festival, although it has been known to be a little damp on occasion I can't recollect a time when it has been a total washout. There were the usual mix of stalls and live music and although some of the latter wasn't to my taste the amplification didn't seem to be quite so excessive as sometimes. An innovation this year was a chap demonstrating falconry with a Harris hawk which the crowd found interesting. At the end of my involvement with the Festival we had stopped the scarecrow competition; in the first few years we had gained an enviable reputation with this aspect of our Festival but it seemed to me and some others that it had run its course but to my surprise the scarecrows were back this year albeit with a small entry. I think it was a mistake to do that and of course July's wet weather hardly encouraged the making of scarecrows.

All in all I think that the committee has reason to congratulate itself. I'm certainly pleased that the Festival has continued and hope to go to the next AGM to see how things have panned out, from the financial point of view especially. But I'm quite definitely not rejoining the committee!

Volunteers needed for Festival Committee

On Wednesday evening we had our AGM for the Gunnislake Festival. I've been Secretary for this annual event for the last year or three and have decided that it is time to step down from this post. Similarly Bob and Nora, respectively Chairman and Treasurer, have retired from their positions. In Gill we now have a new Chairman for the Committee but no volunteers were forthcoming for either Secretary or Treasurer. So if you know of anyone who would be interested in taking these jobs on please get in touch..

There will be an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Wednesday 7th January when it is hoped that some folk will be prepared to come forward to keep this popular local Festival going.

Gunnislake Festival review

We held a variety of events in our village from Wednesday to Saturday last week and this is a summary then of this year's Gunnislake Festival ...

Throughout the four days there was a display of local professional art in the Church Hall, this was a very diverse mix of styles and well arranged as always by Ian. I have to admit that I'm not really into art and wouldn't feel an overwhelming need to hang pictures in my cottage. Having said this I am in awe of much of the work produced by the talented artists of the Tamar Valley and was very very impressed with the patience, imagination and attention to detail that so many of them show. So I know what I like but wouldn't want to purchase anything!

On the Wednesday evening we enjoyed our traditional local history talk of the festival. This year Brian took us on a virtual journey, courtesy of his laptop, of the walk local shipbuilder James Goss would have taken from Gunnislake to his shipyard across the river from Calstock. An excellent hour enjoyed by all who attended. Still on the local history front Mandy once again put on a really splendid exhibition, this year particularly highlighting the tremendous range of shops that used to operate in the village. Great nostalgia especially for the more senior citizens. I wish I could have spent more time viewing it.

Another exhibition was in the Church and related to some of the very old families in the village. This wasn't strictly part of the Festival but was organised by local residents Victor and Nancy as a further item of interest to coincide with the other events.

Saturday was the main Festival Day and the most demanding for yours truly. We closed one street (with previous approval of course!) and arranged for there to be live entertainment and stalls. This year one of our two delightful Japanese ladies living in the village, Tamani, was there to talk about sushi and had samples for sale but sadly I didn't get to try them. In addition to my post as secretary I had arranged the live music which kicked off at 12 o'clock with 'The Rubber Band' who amongst their more traditional repertoire featured 'Tico-Tico' (at my special request allegedly!), 'Mr Sandman' and 'Hernando's Hideaway'. These are all great tunes that have been around for a very long time but have a timeless appeal. In fact that phrase "timeless appeal" can be applied to the band itself I guess. The gospel singers and friends had a spot and it was good to have the return of Kerensa (hammered dulcimer) and Richard (fiddle) who together form 'Leski'. Stevie Mann rounded off the musical entertainment in the street although there was more music to come from the local pubs in the evening as indeed there had been on the three previous days.

A bouncy castle and face painting were provided for the many young children enjoying the day.

What turned out to be so lucky for us this year was the very narrow window of good weather on Saturday afternoon. On Friday and Sunday there were torrential downpours and Saturday morning itself didn't start off well weatherwise but as to the six hours of outside entertainment we didn't have a drop of rain! Someone up there was smiling on us.

Time to resume blogging

This blog has been very quiet lately. My excuse for this state of affairs is that I have been heavily involved in putting on the annual Gunnislake Festival. Not just me you understand but a very small committee of dedicated folk who pull the stops out each year to provide some exhibitions and entertainment for locals and visitors alike. I was going to make the 2007 event my last one but was persuaded to stay on against my better judgment! But I definitely am going to sever my connection with the committee from the next AGM, I'm involved with other things locally and this is now one committee too far. Time for fresh blood methinks (I'm not the only one to resign from the committee, one or two long serving members feel that they have done enough).

Hopefully now I can get back to more regular blogging although there are a lot of other 'catch-up' things to be done. A little more to say about our recent Festival in my next entry (perhaps).