SNIPPET: In all his years, Edward HARVEY has never been able to resist the urge to trudge the shoreline and seek out whatever has been cast up; in fact, he is teased about his stoop from looking down at his feet for "treasures." Five generations ago his people were Cornish seafarers. In his schoolboy days, the early years of WW-II, he was evacuated with his London school en mass to Westward Ho in North Devon. There was an infinite possibility to roam the shore towards Clovelly and glean whatever floated in from the many ships being sunk in the Western Approaches. The U-Boats were enjoying their early successes in torpedoeing whatever ships they sighted. He and friend Mike NEWELL would cut school to spend an hour or two searching the shoreline. Apparently their none-too-observant, but brilliant and extremely kind, Welsh math teacher, Mr. THOMAS, never seemed to notice their absence and they would sneak back before the end of class. Despite all this they absorbed enough math f! or Mike NEWELL to later navigate the Spitfires, Vampires and Meteors which he later flew in the RAF, and Edward HARVEY served his years in the complexity of Airborne Radar. On that long expanse of beach they gathered all kinds of flotsam and jetsam, splintered wreckage, bits of aircraft. The most coveted of all prizes were the enormous bales of crude rubber, each weighing more than 100 pounds, from ships sunk in transit from Malaya (Malaysia). Each merited a bounty of 10 shillings from the Coastguard. That was ten weeks' pocket money! One find was a half-drowned dog whom they rescued and befriended. The truant beachcombing ended in 1943 and Mr. HARVEY's parents moved house to North Foreland in Kent after the war where Edward amassed a sizeable collection of fossils, mostly sea urchins of superb quality. They were driven out of the chalk cliffs by stormy seas in winter. His mother found fine examples of golden amber that were made into a ring still worn by his sister. When beachcombing the gleaming beaches in the West of Ireland and the shores of Connemara, he found magnificently created seashells. He searched for specimens of intensely mauve tropical violet-snail of family Janthinidae, a pelagic and specialised creature which lives on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean supported by a tiny raft of bubbles. He discovered pudding stones, small pebbles within larger pebbles, and he made necklaces from Connemara green marble, red jasper (a form of red quartz), and white quartz, and looked for rare "floating stones." When he had two he would rub them together in darkness to see mysterious, brilliant internal flashes of light. He found a piece of very rare Beryl in Galway, a flash of palest green that caught his eye; this prize became the cabochon stone which he fashioned for setting into a ring. In the summer of 1940, on a holiday in Wales, he and a friend rigged a crude mast and sail on a two-seater canoe. They sailed out to sea to scour the secluded and inaccessible coves of Dinas Head where they found an airman's life-vest. Donning it for the return journey proved to be a stroke of fate, as the wind picked up and the canoe capsized and they were flung into the sea, to swim half a mile to shore. -- Excerpts, Dublin's "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine/July-Aug 2002

I am planning a spring trip to England and Ireland and since my Phillips started in the Redruth area of Cornwall, I am planning to visit the area. Are there any suggestions as to particular beaches with spectacular views? I am really looking forward to the visit, having been to the West of Ireland and seen some awesome sunsets, I am sure Cornwall has them also. -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com

What months in spring do you intend to visit the area. The coastline can be spectacular as opposed to the landscape. Roads are narrow you need patience as a car driver if you are in a hurry. There is also the consideration of road conditions due to normal weather patterns for the time of year to bear in mind. Lots of ice mists etc. Fog can be a nightmare if travelling on the motor ways into/out the area especially in night conditions. I do not wish to frighten you off. These things can be all part of potentially great experience. . You will be travelling at a time which may be out side the tourist season which usually slowly kicks off at Easter which might restrict some of your ambitions. To enjoy the Cornwall coast line it really means walking and been windswept.The coast is lined with lots of old fishing villages and really wonderful bays and coves. Life is very laid back in these places and the villages reflect very much this aspect of life. On visits to these places there is not much to do other than enjoy the sights. If you are finding your way down to Redruth via London it is quite a journey and maybe worthwhile considering an overnight stop on route. ie if travelling from London stay overnight at Exeter You should look up the tourist board for the area on the internet via the Tourism Britain. You will have to go off main routes to get at specific coastal areas a lot of the time and this can be time costly The A30 road is the key to your travels in Cornwall. Falmouth and Truro These places are worth a visit if weather is bad a lot of things to do and see if opened. alongside Lizard Point and Lands End plus St Ives Bay Boswell Tintagel (King Arthur) for the Atlantic air. An important consideration which you need to think about are the general weather conditions you may encounter from day to day which could restrict your enjoyment of sight seeing etc. For a quick reference you should look at the BBC home page to read about the recent weather conditions. in Cornwall. ciaran colgan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Connors" <nymets11@pacbell.net> To: <IRISH-IN-UK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 5:12 PM Subject: Re: [UK-Irish] Beachcombing --England >I am planning a spring trip to England and Ireland and since my Phillips > started in the Redruth area of Cornwall, I am planning to visit the > area. Are there any suggestions as to particular beaches with > spectacular views? I am really looking forward to the visit, having > been to the West of Ireland and seen some awesome sunsets, I am sure > Cornwall has them also. > > -- > Pat Connors, Sacramento CA > http://www.connorsgenealogy.com > > > > ==== IRISH-IN-UK Mailing List ==== > The Irish-In-UK Mailing List Website: > http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/IrishUK/ > > ============================== > Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the > areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. > Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx > >