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| Bydh Parys! |
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Page 1 of 2 If you were to ask a Scout in the Penzance or Newlyn area what the Scout motto is, you’re now just as likely to get the answer Bydh Parys as well as the more obvious response Be Prepared. This is because the local Scout group recently approached MAGA, the Cornish Language Partnership, for translations of the Scout promise, law and motto into Cornish. Yet this was only the beginning… The leader of the Scout group then decided that it would be a good idea if a Cornish speaker could go in to talk to the group about Cornish and help them with the pronunciation of the translations. MAGA put the group in contact with local Cornish language teacher, John Parker, who visited them in December. Here’s how he got on.  Penzance-Newyln Scouts ready to put their Kernewek into use on one of their outings. John said: “I first gave a brief background to the history of the language, mentioning the fact that Newlyn was one of the last places in which Cornish was spoken. The Scouts knew about Dolly Pentreath, whose memorial is at Paul, just up the hill from Mousehole, but none of them knew the meaning of the name of the street in which the headquarters is situated, namely, Trewarveneth Street. “Then we studied the translations carefully, trying to match the Cornish to the English, and finally each of the 10 scouts present repeated each line after me, with the emphasis on the correct pronunciation. They seemed very enthusiastic about the whole venture. I am going back in the New Year to talk to the Scouts who were unable to be at the meeting in December. In future, whenever the occasion arises, the scouts will make their promise and recite the law first in English and then in Cornish.”  Rob Growse teaches Pol Hodge how to put his oar in. MAGA is now in discussion with Cornwall Scouts about introducing the translations to other Scout groups around Cornwall, and is also looking into the possibility of starting a similar project with Guide groups in Cornwall. [Picture called pz-newlyn-scouts – use if you like but it’s not a great shot] New Govynn Kernewek Film Underway At the Cornwall Film Festival held in Falmouth in November the winner of the 2008 Govynn Kernewek award was announced as Paul Farmer with his idea for a film about gig racing. We asked Paul to tell us a bit about his ideas behind the film and how it is progressing. |
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