Agan Tavas
It seems that the UK goverment does not consider Cornish culture and identity worth protecting like that of the Welsh under the terms of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. On 10 March 2005 in a meeting with Cornish campaigning group CharterWatch they said that "very few Cornish cultural bids are deemed acceptable for funding" even though they signed an agreement in 2002 with the Council of Europe to protect minority languages in the UK and "take resolute action to promote the Cornish language" [Article 7(1)c]." Instead of this millions of pounds worth of Priority Five Cornish distinctiveness funds are being re-allocated to tourism projects.
If you think Cornish culture and identity should be protected like that of the Welsh by the UK government under the terms of the treaty produced by the council of europe called the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities then please write or e-mail the UK home office and the Council of Europe Directorate General of Human Rights, Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. So far the Ulster-Scots have been awarded £4.2 million to promote their language yet Cornish - one of the oldest languages in Europe - has been allocated only £5,000 a year.
Council of Europe
Directorate General of Human Rights
Secretariat of the Framework Convention
for the Protection of National Minorities
F-67075 Strasbourg-Cedex
nicola.markes-goerlach@coe.int
Or:- The UK Home Office department for constitutional affairs.
general.queries@dca.gsi.gov.uk
See also:-
http://www.cornwall24.co.uk/article210.htm
http://www.coe.int/T/E/human_rights/minorities/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2410383.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/connected/stories/new_cornwall_language.shtml
Passionating discussion at :
http://www.antimoon.com/forum/posts/6801.htm.
CORNWALL is unique in England. I say "in England" because, technically, it IS part of present day England.....there is absolutely no point in denying that. However, the character of Cornwall is very distinctive and this becomes apparent the moment you cross the very busy main entry point into it...the Tamar Bridge on the A38 highway. You leave the Devon city of Plymouth behind you, and once you cross over the River Tamar you also leave England behind you, and the sense of difference is quite palpable.
The first Cornish town is there, right at the end of the bridge...Saltash, and then you see the first flags of St Piran, the patron Cornish saint. The place names have started to change as well...and they look strange to many people who have just crossed over "from England". Exactly the same thing happens when you cross over the border from England ito Wales. Another part of the UK Celtic fringe.
You've passed through English sounding place names in Devon on your way down to Cornwall.....Exeter, Newton Abbot, Bovey Tracey, Kingsteignton, Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Ivybridge, Plympton and finally Plymouth itself (bypassing the City of course...every English ..and Scottish for that matter!...town is now bypassed by main roads!) but once you cross into Cornwall and pass through the English sounding Saltash you find yourself going past places like Trevelmond, Doublebois, Trebudannon, Tregoss, Perranworthal, Prospidnick, Relubbus and Trescowe. They don't sound English at all..and that's because they are not English....they are Cornish.
Note the "Tre-" prefix in many of those names.....truly Celtic. It means a small town or settlement, and you find places with exactly the same prefix in Wales, not all that far away....Tredegar, Tremadoc, Trefriw, Treharris etc etc. Both Cornwall and Wales are littered with hundreds of "Tres" all over the shop. This illustrates the strong link they have under the Celtic branch they share.
Cornwall also "looks" different from Devon. Devon is beautiful in its own way..luscious green rolling hills of pasture and meadow and woods and quaint towns and villages with thatched rose covered cottages and majestic church towers. The soil of Devon is red sandstone. Cornwall turns out to be more open and exposed, with two very rocky and fantastic coastlines north and south separated by the narrow peninsula that is Cornwall itself, so that each Cornish coastline is never more than about 40km from each other at its widest point. Mostly it's about 20km. Devon has Dartmoor and Exmoor (shares with Somerset) to interrupt the gentle nature of it's countryside while Cornwall has Bodmin Moor..windswept and wild and subject to many romantic novels not least of all by a late local lady of Cornwall...Daphne du Maurier. Even her name doesn't sound English does it!
I went with a mate to Cornwall recently and it was my first time down there, and I tell you what..it won't be my last. The beaches on the coves and bays among the rocks are fantastic and the huge Atlantic rollers make for great surfing and the Cornish inns and pubs and food are brilliant. The whole atmosphere of Cornwall is Celtic.....it takes one to know one.
As for the Cornish Language.....apart from the placenames I mentioned, and the distinct Cornish accent (examples have been made available on audio in this Forum) I was so disappointed not to hear it apart from a few odd words here and there when we prompted some of the cool people we met. But the Cornish identity is very strong and the local people are proud of their Cornish heritage. Of course many of the people who live in Cornwall do not have a Cornish accent at all...most have a sort of standard Southern English one, even if they were born and bred in Cornwall. It's also an area where people migrate to because of it's mild climate, and the tourist industry as well as service and high tech stuff have taken over from the former occupations such as tin mining. When that finished unemployment was a problem in Cornwall and until recently young people had to leave for job in a foreign country...England.
It's a bit of a problem for the UK Government when it comes to dealing with the Cornish Language issue. As I say, we found nobody down there who could speak the Language or even understand it....except for several people who knew a few basic words. Until that changes and there is a perceptible upsurge in interest in the Language among the Cornish people themselves then there is not a great deal the Westminster based Government can do it seems.
Cornwall is very accessible, with great road links (and great traffic loads in the summer season!) and direct train services from Penzance ....(right down there in the toe of Cornwall close to Land's End..aptly named because that's where mainland UK ends and the great Atlantic begins).... and London and all points in between.
At Land's End itself there is a signpost pointing west and it says "New York" with the distance in miles (I forget what it is exactly..3000 something).
You don't have the same spirit as the Geals you Britons!
If you really were serious you'd rise up and tell the English NO! But you haven't got the courage!
FIRSTLY You may have a distinct language from English BUT if it wasn't for the Anflo-Saxons and company ALL of England would STILL be speaking one form or other of Brythonic, of which your language Cornish would have been little more than a dialect!
SECONDLY
You imply that you are somehow different from the rest of the English when you talk loosely about "minority" this and "minority" that!
The English people indeed the Britis people as a whole are for the most part British "P" Celts so studies of DNA analysis have evinced!
Conclusion
I'm a Celt, you're a Celt, We're ALL Celts (at least BIOLOGICALLY)
So what's your point Greg? You behave as though you're an endangered tribe from Outer Mongolia that somehow got washed up on the Cornish coast LOLLLLLLLLLLLL