Penzance shares £17,000 in grants as Montol gets go-ahead

Sunburn and ice cream feel a world away from masks, lanterns and the longest night of the year. But while Cornwall bakes in the summer heat, the countdown to Penzance’s biggest winter solstice celebration has quietly begun. Montol Festival has been given the green light for 2026 after securing funding from Penzance Council earlier this month.

The town council recently awarded more than £17,000 in grant funding to three local community organisations. Alongside Montol, the popular mid-winter festival, councillors resolved to support two other applications for ongoing projects. One is the restoration of a historic building in Newlyn’s old harbour. The other is a year-long family wellbeing project supporting children and families facing poverty, food insecurity and social isolation in Penzance.

Penzance Council provides grants to local community groups and charities working to benefit the residents and environment of the area. In 2025/2026, the council awarded £70,000 in grant funding to directly benefit the local community. That money supported organisations and projects including Growing Links, Newlyn Harbour Lights, Penzance Community Flora Group, Friends of Mousehole Rockpool, West Cornwall Women’s Aid and many more.

To keep funding available throughout the financial year, there are five defined grant windows that spread the budget across the year. For this second grant window of 2026/2027, a total of £17,452.44 was awarded between Montol Festival, Trelya and the Cornish Maritime Trust.

📷Montol Festival in Penzance on Sunday 21 December 2025. Photo by Penzance Council

Montol Festival 2026

Montol Festival is an annual arts and community celebration held in Penzance on the shortest day of the year, 21 December. Over the past three years it has grown into a celebration recognised across Cornwall and beyond. Rooted in Cornish folklore and midwinter traditions, Montol brings together music, performance and craft to mark the solstice in a way that is vibrant, inclusive and deeply connected to local heritage.

A grant of £7,470 from Penzance Council will help expand this year’s programme with parades, performances and cultural workshops in traditional crafts and customs, such as mask-making, guise dancing, Cornish carol singing and lantern making. The council’s support has also helped Montol strengthen its operational framework, introducing comprehensive safety and security measures, medical care provision and strategic road closures to keep the festival both accessible and safe.

Taking to social media after the council’s decision, the festival organisers wrote: “Team Montol is very happy and very relieved to report that Penzance Council has once again seen fit to support the most ancient business of driving out the darkness with masks, music, mischief and magic … and a touch of madness.

“Montol is on. This year’s Montol promises to be the most magical yet. The Cold and the Dark don’t stand a chance.”

Trelya – Nurture & Nourish Penzance

Based at the Lescudjack Centre in Treneere, Penzance, Trelya is an award-winning charity working to improve health and wellbeing while enabling positive change in West Cornwall’s most under-resourced communities.

Running until July 2027, Nurture & Nourish Penzance is a year-long family wellbeing project supporting children and families experiencing poverty, food insecurity and social isolation in Penzance. It will provide practical food and nutrition education through healthy eating activities, cooking workshops, family nutrition sessions, healthy weaning support and infant feeding guidance.

With the help of a Penzance Council grant of £5,000, activities will be delivered through Trelya’s community family hub and wider family support programmes, giving families a welcoming, non-stigmatising environment to develop skills, confidence and knowledge around healthy eating and affordable meal preparation. The project will place particular emphasis on supporting families facing multiple disadvantages, including poverty, domestic abuse, poor mental health, social isolation and the effects of adverse childhood experiences.

Co-Executive Director of Trelya, Crin Whelan, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded this grant, which will enable us to launch Nurture and Nourish Penzance. This project is about giving families the practical knowledge, skills and confidence they need to make healthy food choices from the very beginning of a child’s life.

“Through healthy eating activities, cooking workshops, family nutrition sessions, healthy weaning support and infant feeding guidance, we will help families build positive routines, improve wellbeing and develop lifelong healthy habits.

“By making nutrition education accessible and supportive, we hope to reduce health inequalities and give every family in Penzance the opportunity to thrive. We are incredibly grateful for this funding, which will allow us to make a meaningful difference to the lives of local families.”

📷Boats on the Beach event at Newlyn Old Harbour on Thursday 2 July, organised by The Cornish Maritime Trust. Photo by Penzance Council

The Cornish Maritime Trust – Fisherman’s Rest

The Cornish Maritime Trust preserves and sails four heritage vessels, two of them based in Newlyn’s Old Harbour: the 1881 St Ives dipping lugger Barnabas and Silver Stream, a replica 1893 Sennen Cove crabber.

Working with the Newlyn Old Harbour Restoration Project, trust volunteers have played an active role in restoring the Old Quay. Now, with the help of £4,982.44 in grant funding from Penzance Council, the trust plans to transform the Fisherman’s Rest, a 1960s single-block structure on the historic quay, into a maritime community education hub.

Artists, local history groups, and retired fishermen and sailors will have opportunities to connect with heritage, share skills and reduce isolation. The hub will also work with local schools and is expected to draw wider audiences, including an estimated 3,000 or more annual visitors to Newlyn Old Quay. Future plans include digital and analogue displays of local maritime history, creating a versatile multi-use space for visiting groups such as local schools, choirs and artist groups.

Trustee of the Cornish Maritime Trust, Rob McDowell, explained: “Our ‘Boats on the Beach’ event showed just how much enthusiasm there is in the community for these beautiful old Cornish working boats. So many people asked how they could get involved and this generous grant to restore the Rest will help us turn that interest into lasting engagement.

“Once renovated, the Rest will become a year-round welcoming hub, a place where folk can join our multi-generational team of volunteers to explore their maritime heritage and learn the traditional skills needed to preserve and sail these remarkable boats.

“The Cornish Maritime Trust is immensely grateful to Penzance Council for this vital funding and the personal encouragement that the Council team has shown us as we work to keep our maritime heritage alive for generations to come.”

How to apply

The next grant window of 2026/2027 opens on 17 August 2026. Local community groups and charities can find out more about how to apply on the Penzance Council grants page, or by contacting the council offices on 01736 363405 or by email at [email protected].

📷Montol Festival in Penzance on Sunday 21 December 2025. Photo by Penzance Council

📷Boats on the Beach event at Newlyn Old Harbour on Thursday 2 July, organised by The Cornish Maritime Trust. Photo by Penzance Council

📷Montol Festival in Penzance on Sunday 21 December 2025. Photo by Penzance Council

📷Montol Festival in Penzance on Sunday 21 December 2025. Photo by Penzance Council