Visitors
arriving at the Memory Cafe choose to begin the afternoon in a number of ways –
many like to meet up with friends for a chat, whilst others are keen to browse
the latest edition of ‘Sparkle’ magazine, which has been generously sponsored
for another year by ‘The Bowgie Inn’ at West Pentire. We also have a number who
enjoy a word-search challenge or like to tackle a quiz.
At
our mid-February cafe there was time for all of those activities before Richard
introduced a good friend of ours, David Eyles, who had come along to talk about
life at West Pentire, the little ‘outpost’ of Crantock where several
generations of his family have lived and worked. With the aid of a fascinating slide-show,
David told us stories about the origins of the former Crantock Bay Hotel and of
some of the families who have lived in the hamlet over many years: from
painters and smugglers to farmers and quarry workers. 
We learnt how the houses had changed and evolved with the times and heard about the way in which the dunes behind Crantock Beach have developed and altered with tides and storms.All these interesting facts and many more were illustrated with photos old and
new – from snaps taken in the 1930s to a spectacular aerial view taken by
David’s grandson with the aid of a drone.
Everyone’s interest was held and we could hardly believe it when it was
time for tea!
The
final activity for the afternoon was a game of ‘musical bingo’, which entailed
identifying snippets of well-known melodies and matching them with the titles
on our bingo cards. This is always a
popular activity and we were delighted that David and his wife Brenda were able
to stay and enter into the fun and win a few chocolates in the process!
As
usual it was an interesting, lively and amusing afternoon and we look forward
to meeting up again on March 4th at Crantock Village Hall from 2pm –
4pm. New members are always welcome to come along with their carers and should
you require more information please contact Di on 01637 830544, Joan on 01637
831347 or visit our website crantockmemorycafe.org.ul
