Hello!
Spring has finally arrived here in Cornwall, and we’ve been really enjoying the longer days this week. It feels such a tonic after the long dark winter. It’s hard to believe but it's nearly THREE years (!) since we had our first ever Stone Club at The Social and well, we are delighted that in a few weeks we’ll be back there for the first time this year…
Events
It’s going to be a packed evening of talks and conversation. We’re delighted that Oliver Smith author of This Holy Island will be joining us, as well as Sophie Pierce and Alex Murdin authors of Rock Idols, the artist and activist Lorna Rees and the artist and dj Pete Fowler.
There are still a few tickets available here
We will then be headed home to Cornwall and are delighted to be sitting on a panel at a conference Dr Amy Hale is organising on the work of Ithell Colquhoun entitled Colquhoun’s Cornish Context: A Day of Conversation. It will take place on April 30th, you can sign up here for in person or virtual tickets!
Then on May 3rd Lally will be at Tate St Ives for the closing weekend of Ithell Colquhoun Between Worlds. You can join her in the Dream Room on Saturday and re-create your dreams with collage and words. More info here.
We are then headed to Dartmoor Tors Festival, which has an incredible line-up. Matthew will be speaking on this panel about his photography and seeking out stones!
Members News:
Common/Wealth is pleased to be welcoming artist duo Crab & Bee to our home at Llanrumney Hall to celebrate the release of their new book, Crab & Bee’s Matter of Britain.
Matter of Britain is a collection of folk stories gathered from their travels across the UK, including our own St Mellons. These aren’t the familiar tales of medieval manuscripts but stories alive in place – overheard in pubs, found on village noticeboards, and whispered through the landscape itself.
Phil says: ‘these are stories we have been carrying around in our heads and bodies, some for a few months, some for decades. They are always changing, with new bits attaching themselves all the time. This has been our chance to get them down on paper, and now we are going to lift them off the page and set them travelling again.”
Llanrumney Hall is steeped in myth and legend - from Captain Morgan to the headless remains of Llewellyn the Last. We can’t wait to hear Crab & Bee’s stories in the midst of our rich history.
Common/Wealth have previously collaborated with Crab & Bee on our Everyone Is An Artist workshop series, where they encouraged participants to connect with the landscape and stories of East Cardiff in a new way. We’re thrilled to be welcoming Crab & Bee back to Cardiff to raise a glass to Matter of Britain!
Please do join us! We’d also like to welcome all poets, storytellers and dreamers to share something of their own work on the night in a relaxed and informal open-mic setting.
The Essentials:
Date: Monday May 12th - 6pm- 7:30pm.
Location: Llanrumney Hall, Ball Road, CF3 4JJ.
Parking is available, and the hall is easily accessible on the 49 & 50 buses.
Reserve your spot here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-an-evening-to-celebrate-crab-bees-matter-of-britain-tickets-1277450772649.
Stone of the Month:
Piskie’s Hall / Trewardreva Fogou
This month’s site is one that holds strong memories for us both. The first time we attempted a visit, I (Lally) never quite made it to the entrance because a small army of cows roamed the field. Matthew was braver and leapt over the gate and made his way towards the fogou. He made it inside…just. The thunder of hundreds of hooves followed him, and he found himself trapped. I then had to run to the gate at the other side of the field and jump around so they’d run to me so that Matthew could tip toe out and escape over the hedge. The tale however, does not end there. Having managed to leap over the hedge, he then found himself in a field with a bull. To cut a long story Matthew finally, after about an hour of scoping out an exit found himself safely back in the car.
This time we were much luckier - not only were there no cows (hurrah) but we visited with some friends and were able to share the wonder of this incredible underground structure. The outside of it is very overgrown so it’s barely visible other than being a strange hummock in an otherwise flat field. Inside it smells wonderfully dank, and there are glimmers of dragon’s gold moss, and HUGE spiders. There’s much contention over what fogous were used for: grain storage (probably not, bit damp and soggy!), rebirthing (maybe!), some unknown ritual purpose (probably!) We all agree that when we re-entere the light from the gloom of this cavernous space that we do feel reborn; the grass looks greener, the sky bluer, the wind colder. Quick time for the pub!
MERCH:
Crown of Violets is back!
We’ve bought back our spring perfume made by the brilliant Änd fragrances.
A combination of violet leaf and green tea absolutes; this is the fresh green of spring with floral nods to the early flowering Violet, hints of Jasmine and the rich dry down of Orris and Sandalwood.
Quoting from Sappho this is inspired by ‘many scented wreaths made from blossoms…’ to welcome the Spring equinox in a truly vernal tribute.
You can snap up a bottle here.
T-shirts:
Cornwall is our home and as a result we spend a lot of time plodding its moors in hunt of stones. Out of this adventuring @stonesofkernow was born. A sister project to Stone Club celebrating the stones of this ancient and mysterious land.
Here we have a t-shirt and a sweatshirt featuring everyone’s favourite Neolithic bus stop Lanyon Quoit as photographed by Matthew Shaw.
Sweatshirts available in pink and grey. Tees in black and white - (as seen on @slowdiveofficial !)
You can find them here
New Fieldnotes Notebooks & Pencils:
We’ve just made some new notebook and pencil sets. Perfect for recording your travels out and about seeing stones.
Record your Stone Club adventures in this A5 notebook with matching pencil!
It has plain pages so you can draw and write all your fieldnotes! The pencil is red with gold text that reads 'I'm in Stone Club'.
Perfect for penning poems, making notes about the weather, flora and fauna, and alignments or just as a notebook for snack lists!
We’d love to see your finished notebooks so please do share them using #stoneclubfieldnotes
You can find them here!
Hellebore
We’re delighted to have an article in the next issue of Hellebore on the healing properties of scared sites and stones.
You can find the pre-order link here.
Film of the month:
This month’s film of the month is the brilliant Penda’s Fen. It’s one of our top faves, so much so we couldn’t actually believe we’d never made it film of the month before. It’s mysterious, strange and full of beautiful shots of the Worcestershire countryside. Its a must see, and luckily you can watch this trailer:
and watch the full thing here.
Other news from Lally & Matthew:
Aside from his work as co-founder of Stone Club Matthew has also been putting together a fantastic programme of events for The Lost Gardens of Heligan and their new summer festival Homecoming.
The festival is happening across ten days in June - 15th-22nd and there are some incredible people coming to speak and perform.
On Sunday 15th there are talks from Jeremy Deller, Satish Kumar and Tim Taylor creator of Time Team! You can buy tickets for that day here (and it includes entry to the incredible gardens all day too!). In the evening Sam Lee with be playing supported by Daisy Rickman, tickets for this are available here.
The programme has many wonderful things happening but I also want to flag Thursday 19th when I’ll be launching The Lost Folk. Merlin Sheldrake, James Canton and Wyl Menmuir will also be speaking. You can nab tickets for that here (which again includes garden entry!) In the evening there will be music from Gwenno, supported by Angeline Morrison, tickets for that are here.
The Lost Folk:
The Lost Folk, Lally’s first book, is now available to pre-order from a variety of places. Faber have helpfully put together a list here. It comes out June 19th, and there are already a number of events in the works, and new ones will be added soon, you can keep your eyes on them here. (and of course if you’d like book us do get in touch!)
One last thing to say and that’s that we are finally getting a NEW badge machine! It’s been a while coming, so far all the badges have been made on a trusty machine that Lally has had since she was 16 (!) but its definitely done its service. The reason we mention this is there is a short delay on getting new memberships out and badges whilst we wait for the new one to arrive. So apologies if you’re waiting it shouldn’t be too long (hopefully all being well it’ll arrive this weekend!) To celebrate we’ll be launching a new membership badge and some new badge packs.
We hope you all have a brilliant April, we’ve got lots of things in the works so eyes peeled on your inboxes for more news soon.
Lally & Matthew
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