Compassionate Cornwall

July 2020

ABOUT CORNWALL

Cornwall is a peninsular county in South West England, bordered to the North and West by the Celtic Sea, to the South by the English Channel, and to the East by the county of Devon, with its border at the River Tamar. Cornwall is the Westernmost point of Great Britain.

1 File:Cornwall UK locator map 2010.svg
2 Crowns engine houses, perched on the cliff at Botallack.

3.Porthcurno Beach from the path at Minack Theatre - Cerulean Sea

Cornwall is an area of outstanding natural beauty, with beautiful beaches, forests and moorland, a spectacular coastline and dramatic cliffs. It has a vibrant history and has for many decades attracted artists and people seeking an escape from the “rat race”.

There are hundreds of small towns and villages in Cornwall, often with long stretches in between that are barely inhabited. Its capital is Truro, a small city with a population of under 19,000. Historically Cornwall was a country (like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) separate from England, and a significant number of Cornish people would like to have this independence reinstated.

Cornwall is a popular holiday destination and tourism plays a major part in its economy. You can learn more about this unique part of the UK here. https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/

COMPASSIONATE CORNWALL

Compassionate Cornwall was originally launched in November 2014 with a spectacular event at the Eden Project, where the Charter for Compassion was signed by significant local community members and leaders.

The document they physically signed is the Charter for Compassion for Cornwall, an adaptation of the original Charter for Compassion, which includes some additional conditions relevant to our local campaign. http://www.hopeintheheart.org/. All who signed this also agreed to the entire text of the international Charter for Compassion.

After Compassinate Cornwall was initially registered with the Charter, in August 2014, the huge swell of interest, mainly from Voluntary and Community organisations (NGOs) in Cornwall exceeded all expectations. Around 35 organisations registered within three months, and sufficient local leaders and significant community members were willing to sign the charter for us to decide to have a signing at the launch on 14th November (during International Compassion Week).

At that time local NGO Hope in the Heart cic was the lead organisation, with others pledging to share the development of the Charter within Cornwall.

Over several months, discussions took place among Hope in the Heart and some of the larger partner organisations about the possibility of the latter project managing and administrating the movement, and helping to obtain funding, but these did not bear fruit.

Eventually it was decided to form a steering group consisting of people who felt passionately about the ethos of the Charter and aims of the community movement, even though capacity for evolving it was minimal. This worked effectively, on a small scale, until Hope in the Heart relocated to Devon in August 2016. Since then Compassionate Cornwall has been largely inactive.

This summer, due to the Coronavirus pandemic and a small grant to unite women across counties, Hope in the Heart has been able to reconnect via Zoom with previous CC supporters across the border in Cornwall, and is currently facilitating a revitalisation of Compassionate Cornwall, starting with a small group of compassion activists in the Penzance area working at grass roots level. Watch this space to see what evolves!

At last count, Compassionate Cornwall had over 40 partner organisations (listed here:http://www.hopeintheheart.org/compassionate-cornwallcharter-for-compassion-international-partners.html). While there has been little Charter-based cohesion between the partners in recent years, each continues with its valuable compassionate work within Cornwall.

Cornwall also has several compassionate schools and a great deal of autonomous, and often unacknowleged, compassionate action takes place in it many small communities.

Current members and roles are as follows:

Victoria (Torr) MacFarlane - Current lead for Compassionate Cornwall