Kernow Goth

Written by Kate Neale, Padstow Old Cornwall Society/Federation of Old Cornwall Societies. Photos kindly supplied by Tim Neale.

Truro Cathedral rang to the sounds of Padstow carollers on Monday the 18th of December in a service celebrating the local historic singing tradition in Padstow.

The group of around 60 carollers, which includes at least one singer who has been singing the carols since the 1950s, are not a formal choir and meet only to sing the carols on the streets of Padstow at Christmas. They were invited by the Cathedral to sing in the latest in a series of carol services featuring local traditions. With a heart of Padstonians and drawing in singers who love the community tradition from surrounding villages, the group filled the Cathedral with four part harmonies of the seasonal songs so well loved in the Padstow community.

Organised between Padstow Old Cornwall Society, the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, and the Cathedral, with much assistance from Truro Old Cornwall Society President Bert Biscoe, the service was a resounding success and enjoyed by the many who attended. Guests included Nev Meek, President of the FOCS; Pol Hodge, Grand Bard of Gorsedh Kernow; Linda Taylor, Leader of Cornwall Council; Martin Alvey, Cornwall Council Portfolio holder for Environment and Climate Change; Dr Garry Tregidga, Co-director of the Institute of Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter; Ian Bell, Chairman of Cornwall Family History Society, and Jowdy Davey from Lowender. The service was livestreamed over YouTube by the Cathedral, reaching Cornish diaspora communities in the USA, Australia, and even further afield. The recording remains available to watch online (and is also embedded at the top of this page).

The Padstow carollers traditionally ‘strike sound’ every Advent Sunday, where they walk the streets to sing outside and inside pubs, visit people in their homes, and on Christmas Eve, visit the Prideaux-Brune family at their historic home at Prideaux Place. They also support seasonal community events and groups such as the Padstow Christmas lights switch-on. The Padstow carol book, titled Strike Sound, was published in 1971 and was republished by the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies in 2017, and is available through the Federation bookshop.

The service was introduced by the Revd. Canon Alan Bashforth, and the choir sang ten carols in blocks of two, including Padstow favourites such as ‘Zadoc’ (which in the Padstow tradition is pronounced to rhyme with Ladock), ‘Jesse’ and ‘Angels from the Realms of Glory’. The singing was interspersed with a history of the carol tradition and its meaning to the Padstow community, from Mike England, and a reading about Enys Tregarthen (a pseudonym of Victorian Padstow author Nellie Sloggett) read by Jenny Beare – both leaders of the carols. Bert Biscoe contributed a recently written poem titled ‘Whatever Happened To Carpentry’. After a closing blessing from Revd. Canon Bashforth, the service ended with a massed singing of ‘While Shepherds’ to the tune Lyngham, well known and loved in Cornwall, before tea and biscuits were kindly supplied by Cathdral volunteers.

President Nev Meek said “The whole project was hugely positive from all perspectives. It was really special that the Padstow carollers brought their street carol tradition to the Cathedral and shared those wonderful harmonies with the whole of Cornwall, and with our diaspora around the world.”

“It was also wonderful to see many Old Cornwall Society members turn out to enjoy support this wonderful event.”

The Federation bookstall was also present, partially staffed by members of Truro Old Cornwall Society, selling over £200 worth of books many of them local books of carols which have been republished by the Federation. These are also available on the Federation’s online bookshop.

Previous carol services supported by the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies have included the Redruth carols performed at St Andrews Church in 2022 which celebrated the centenaries of Redruth, Camborne and Truro Old Cornwall Societies, and featured the Red River Singers and Canoryon Troon. The year before, the Federation supported the centenary celebration of the St Ives Old Cornwall Society and the Old Cornwall Movement, featuring the St Ives Combined Chapels Choir, which took place in 2021 – a year after the official founding in 2020, due to restrictions in place the covid pandemic. In 2018, the Federation also contributed to the ‘Carols of the Diaspora’ service, which was the culmination of a project bringing together three community choirs to learn carols from Cornish diaspora communities in Australia and the USA, based on Kate Neale’s PhD research.

Alongside the FOCS, this service received funding through the generosity of FEAST, Cornwall Council, Arts Council England, Truro City Council, and through the generosity of Cllr Rob Nolan’s community chest.