You are here:
Notes From The Frith Files.
Names from left to right are Siah Longmade, Tommy Cloak, Bill Mills, Wilbur Hunkin, Harold Barber, Dick Nicholls, B. Over, Bill Joe Robbins, Jimmy Dunn and last Jim Bullen. Bill Hunkin is standing holding the little girls hand. By the wall, the man with the pipe is Willie Dyer and Cliff Nicholls is behind him.
Memories Links
See more memories of Mevagissey
Add a Memory for another place
Tips & Ideas
How has this scene changed?
Do you know who lived or worked here?
Why is this photo significant to you?
Particular points of interest - transport, architecture, fashions etc.
Comments
2 comments have been shared so far in response to the memory "Notes From The Frith Files.".
Why not get involved and post your comments using the comment form below.
Comments
RE: RE: Notes From The Frith Files.
The man in the foreground is "Will Hunkin" and the little girl is his daughter Kathleen.
Comment from Anna Russell on Friday, 20th October 2006.
RE: RE: Notes From The Frith Files.
The old men (mostly retired fishermen) would sit on the bench seat and discuss the weather, fishing and local 'politics'. Their keen eyes never missed anything that happened on the harbour. Thus the seat was known as 'Mevagissey Parliament'.
My grandfather, Claud Hunkin, owned the house the old men are leaning against in the photo. In 1954 he wanted motorcycle access to the doorway so he cut a hinged flap in the seat. Outraged, the Mevagissey Harbour Trust sought to renew the bench at grandfather's expense.
It went to court and was defended by the Harbour Clerk, Miss Effie Hunkin (distant relation!). Judge P.L.E. Rawlins at the Liskeard County Court found that grandfather had a right to access to his property and that the seat could, indeed, be adapted for this purpose.
Judge Rawlins then went on to say that the "Members of Parliament" were not a limited ascertainable class and he could not say how they were elected: whether it was by right, age, force of arms or verbocity.
"All I can find is that if anyone not a member sits on the seat, it is likely to lead to dire consequences." he commented.
Judge Rawlins pointed out that he had not "dissolved Parliament" never to be recalled.
"Parliament continues, but like so many ancient institutions it must adapt itself to changed circumstances."
Quotes from The Western Morning News, 9th April 1954.
P.S. The washing in the background (probably belonging to my aunty May Clark) reminds me:- on poor drying days the old women in the village would comment, "There id'n no dryth in the air today!"
Comment from Roland Deighton on Wednesday, 25th October 2006.