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Beyond the Lighthouse Much of the news content that flows through the Cornish press centres
around stories that are very local; there's the occasional item on sustainable
energy or how many under age drinkers have fallen off cliffs at Newquay
but It's mostly photographs of elderly gentlemen hugging huge marrows,
crimped and primped ladies proudly draping handmade patchwork quilts around
church halls or the presentation of cheques to the many charities that
can only succeed through local fundraising events.
It's the middle of July,
and an item has been reported on which I would like to comment. A
stretch of beach, overlooking a lighthouse in West Penwith, believed to
have inspired Virginia Woolf to write her iconic novel, "To the Lighthouse',
was sold at auction for £80,000. The 76 acre Upton Towans at Gwithian,
overlooks the lighthouse on the headland of nearby Godrevy Island. This
stunningly beautiful beach has been owned by Dennis Arbon for 19 years,
who is a trustee of the Hall
for Cornwall, a performing arts venue in
Truro. He donated the beach to the Hall so that it could raise funds
for the theatre; it was bought by an anonymous bidder, who is a Cornishman,
based in London.
Now, this is going to pigeon-hole me; but I confess to being in a Book
Club! The kind of response this brings from my family is encapsulated by
my son, who's opinion is summed with the words, 'The first rule of Book
Club is not to talk about Book Club"... I doubt if he'll read this,
so I'll ignore him!, The news of the sale of Upton Towans coincided with
my gaggle of girlfriends having read, 'To the Lighthouse' and we concluded
that the book was a reflection of life, both tragic and miraculous, written
in a style which is fluent and lyrical, full of subtle nuances with the
plot secondary to philosophical introspection. Should you think 'what a
pompous cow', our deliberations take about five minutes after several bottles
of merlot, loads of gossip and discussions as erudite as, ' Isn't it awful
that Arlene Philips got chucked off "Strictly"' .
A lighthouse is a powerful
symbol; it reaches out and yet draws you in with a equilibrium of
safety and danger. The title of the novel suggest
a brilliance that reaches into the dark void, while that light emits from
a dangerous, unsafe place. Does this represent the author's instability
and mental state or is does it represent the intellectual freedom of the
Bloomsbury
Set, a group of artists, writers and philosophers trying
to understand a world full of chaos, straddling uncertain times between
two world wars and the great depression and written before all women had
the vote.
The giving of the beach for auction was a truly altruistic action; it
must remain public and planning rules means it cannot be on or excavated
for minerals. Today, the beach is unchanged since Virginia Woolf's family
holidays in the 1920's apart from the line-up of wetsuit clad surfers waiting
to ride the next wave into the stretch of curving golden sand. Ironically,
and with slightly dubious logic, this weave of connections will support
Cornwall's only theatrical venue for the future.
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