Cornwall Events Guide – February 2011

Our Cornish resorts offer superb luxury accommodation and spa facilities. Both Club La Costa Resorts, Hustyns and Trenython Manor, are ideally situated in the heart of Cornwall, providing guests easy access to the numerous events and activities on offer. When visiting Club La Costa’s Cornish resorts, make sure you check out the vast array of local cultural events and activities taking place throughout the year. Our staff has put together the following events guide to keep you informed about the upcoming happenings in Cornwall.

The Taste of Wild Cornwall at Fifteen, Cornwall (Jamie Oliver’s)

5th Jan – 18th Feb

From 5th January to 18th February, Monday to Friday, we’re taking a walk on the wild side with a special three-course lunch menu for just £19.95. If you know where to look, Cornwall has an abundance of wild food on land and in the sea and air. We’ll be making the most of winter’s fare with hearty, traditional game, like roast wild Cornish pheasant; some of the county’s beautiful, lesser known varieties of fish; and delicious edible wild plants and fruit from Cornwall’s coastline and moorlands, such as wild fennel and samphire. Let Wild Cornwall introduce you to some of the best in wild and wonderful, Italian-inspired dishes!
To book, please call the reservations team on 01637 861000

Hurling at St Ives, Cornwall

7th Feb

The annual St. Ives hurling match happens on Feast Monday each February (the feast is on the Sunday nearest to February 3). The game starts at 10.30am when the silver ball is thrown from the wall of the Parish Church by the Mayor to the crowd below on the beach. The ball is passed from one to another on the beach and then up into the streets of St Ives. The final person in possession of the ball, when the clock strikes noon, then takes it to the Mayor at the Guildhall and receives the traditional reward of five shillings. At one time the game was played by the men of the village. These days it is played by the children.

St Ives Feast Day, Cornwall

7th Feb

St Ives Feast Day falls on Monday 7th February and begins with a civic procession at 9.30am from the Guildhall, led by the St Ives Guisers and featuring local schoolchildren and other organisations. The procession goes through the town for a blessing at St Ives Well and back to the Parish Church gardens, where the ancient hurling of the silver ball is re-enacted. The annual distribution of pennies takes place after the return of the silver ball at noon.

St Columb Hurling (Silver Ball), Cornwall

15th Feb

On Shrove Tuesday and the second Saturday following, a much rougher and traditional version of the hurling game played at St. Ives takes place. The game starts when the ball is thrown to the crowd at the Market Square. The objective of the game is to control its possession with deliberate passing and tackling. The game involves a physical battle on the streets and in the surrounding countryside, between the “Townsmen” and “Countrymen” of the parish, with the shops in the town protecting their windows and doors from accidental damage. The ‘winner of the ball’ (that is, the hurler that goals the ball or carries it over the boundary) is carried on the shoulders of two team-mates back to Market Square, to strains of the hurling “song”. Here he calls up the ball, declaring “Town Ball” or “Country Ball”, depending on the side to which he belongs.