Kernowans Project asks Falmouth for the stories never written down

Some of Falmouth’s best stories have only ever been told across a kitchen table or a bar. A group of local women wants to get them on tape before they’re lost.

The oral history project, run by community interest company RAW Falmouth CIC with community radio station Source FM, holds its big launch at Falmouth Rugby Club on Friday 20 November from 7pm. It’s also the start of fundraising for the project.

It began life as the Falmouth and Surrounding Areas Oral History Project. That name is on its way out. From now on it will be known as The Kernowans Project.

Why it started

Dr Victoria May, who founded RAW Falmouth with Catherine Williams, came back to her home town a year ago after 25 years away.

“I realised that my ‘home’ was very much changed,” she said. “Whilst change is inevitable, I recognised as a researcher that not only is Cornwall under researched as a space, its people, culture, and history is even less known about and celebrated.”

“We have specific experiences and needs as a rural/coastal area and given my Nan and Mum have been gone for a long time I wanted to know more about my home.”

After talking to people in other towns around Cornwall, the team decided the project could and should grow beyond Falmouth. Hence the new name, and a bigger goal of building an oral archive for the whole county.

Whose stories they want

The aim is to capture voices that don’t usually make it into the history books. The project’s proposal lists older residents who have lived in the area for decades, women, dock and fisheries workers, RNLI crews, farmers, veterans and Merchant Navy personnel, care and frontline workers, artists and craftspeople, LGBTQ+ residents, community groups, and schools and young people.

The team wants to hear about childhood, working life, family, the shops that have disappeared, the characters everyone knew and the traditions that brought neighbours together.

Victoria says being local has opened doors. “We have found that our local connections have meant folk unlikely to connect with more formal research processes are happy to engage,” she said.

Their first group session was with the Falmouth Marine Band. “It was wonderful,” she added.

📷The poster for the launch night at Falmouth Rugby Club

The launch night

The launch at Falmouth Rugby Club starts at 7pm on Friday 20 November. There will be music, line-dancing, food, and stories from the original Falmouth Marine Band.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite, on the door, and from pubs and clubs around Falmouth.

A volunteer will be on hand on the night to take down details from anyone who wants to share their memories, and one of the team will then arrange a date to record them.

There is also a GoFundMe page for the oral history project for anyone who wants to support it.

How to share your story

If you can’t make the launch, you can get in touch by email at [email protected]. The team currently records on Wednesdays from 5pm at Source FM in Kimberley Park.

Updates are posted on the RAW Falmouth Oral History Project Facebook page, which will change its name to The Kernowans Project.

The team also hopes to involve local people in gathering the memories, with chances to learn interviewing, recording and storytelling skills along the way.

Who is behind it

RAW stands for Radically Authentic Women. The women-led organisation was set up by Victoria and Catherine, who were both born and raised in Falmouth, and its wider plans include workshops, mentoring and wellbeing support shaped by what local people say they need.

The team also makes Who Cares?, a show on Source FM about care and community wellbeing, which you can catch on the station’s listen again page.

As for the Falmouth Marine Band session, the recording is still being edited. Victoria says it will be ready “dreckly”.