Support For Local Charities

Christmas does seem like a long time ago, especially since the choir’s Christmas concert. It was lovely to be able to have the restored east window as a backdrop to this wonderful and special occasion. Each year the choir identifies two charities which benefit from the proceeds of this concert. For the 2018 concert the choir gave their support to the Solomon Browne Memorial Hall in the village and The Breakfast Project in Penzance. The choir are very pleased to announce that the concert raised £2,000 which was shared between those two worthy charities.

The first of the two charities to benefit is the Churches Together In Penzance Area (CTIPA) Breakfast Project. They are active in supporting homeless, vulnerable people in the local community and have been since 1999. The Breakfast Project operates a five day a week facility and are based in St Petroc’s Building, Bread Street, Penzance. They serve breakfast to homeless clients between 8am and 9am with an average attendance of twelve per day. The success of the project lies with the thirty plus dedicated volunteers, of which three per day serve the clients as cook, server or receptionist.

The second charity is one much closer to home, The Solomon Browne Memorial Hall. Named in permanent memory of The “Solomon Browne” lifeboat which was tragically lost with all hands on 19th December 1981 when going to the support of the coaster “Union Star”. All eight of the the lifeboat’s crew came from Mousehole and were all tragically lost. The Charity’s key objective is to bring people together as a community. It is a fantastic, stylish and communal space used by locals and visitors alike, officially opened by the Duke of Kent on the 3rd April 2017. The hall is a renovated old Net Loft in the heart of Mousehole and is a central point for the community to meet, and also learn about the village’s unique heritage. The hall itself is literally situated opposite where the choir first formed in 1909 and many of those early members would have been familiar with the hall when it was a net loft.

Today there are still links between the Hall and the choir with choir members and family members involved in the day to day running of the charity and the hall. Equally, members of the choir and family members are also involved with the Breakfast Project. Both charities very much rely on the generosity of donations, funding bids and fund-raising events and it was therefore a great privilege to support both of these projects.

Tim James presenting a cheque to the Chair of the Solomon Browne Trustees, Richard Hockin

Second Tenor and deputy choir secretary, Vance Webster presenting the cheque to the Breakfast Project’s coordinator, Ivor Abbot