Thursday, March 22, 1923

Nervous would-be pupils sat down at 10am for the entrance exam to Penzance’s County School for Boys (now Humphry Davy School) and County School for Girls (now part of Penwith College).  

Parents of successful girls aged under-13 would have to find £3 5s every term – and once pupils reached the older age group, the cost rose to £4 6s. 

The boys’ school was also advertising for a caretaker, with pay of up to £117 a year. The governors hoped to recruit a man whose wife would work as the school cook, and emphasised that she would be entitled to a wage packet all of her own.  

Friday, March 23, 1923

Meanwhile, the boys already at the County School were awaiting their annual cross-country race. 

Rain had made the senior course, which was over six miles long, a boggy and demanding run. Despite this, winner D G Olds covered the distance in under 45 minutes, setting a new record. The junior boys only had to run just over four miles, which cup winner R Nicholls managed in under 37 minutes. 

The runners represented the four ‘houses’ – Treneere (the winners), Godolphin, St Aubyn and – last but not least – Trelawney. 

On the same day, an exhibition of paintings headed for London’s Royal Academy opened at Newlyn. They included Stanhope Forbes’ ‘On Paul Hill’ and – for those who preferred a more up-to-date style – Ernest Proctor’s ‘Bather’ and three studies from up-and-coming Dod Proctor.  

Forbes also exhibited a number of paintings that showed features vanishing from the Penzance streetscape – such as the old Market House, which builders were busy altering into its current form, and the old horse-drawn cabs mixing with motor vehicles at the top of Market Jew Street. 

Lamorna Birch had also moved on –he had turned away from Cornish subjects and was now favouring more sombre colours. But plenty of other artists, such as Harold Harvey and T C Gotch, were still exploring the potential of local scenes.  

Saturday, March 31, 1923

After a series of ‘close but not quite close enough’ results against Camborne, Penzance’s rugby players at last defeated them at home, by a drop-goal and a try.  

The game was described as a ‘strenuous’ one with some hard tackling. 

During the first half both the wind and the slope favoured Penzance, and at half-time they already had seven points, with Camborne yet to score.  

Fans of the away team hoped that they would easily catch up – but this did not prove to be the case. 

True, Camborne were missing two of their best players – Hamblyn and Barker – but the Penzance players did not allow this to take the edge off their moment of triumph, and team and supporters alike agreed that it had been the best match of the season.