Thousands of unique stories and photographs, dating back to the 1920s, have already been donated to a new online digital archive on the traditional Cornish sport of pilot gig rowing.
Pulling Together the Past, led by the Cornish Pilot Gig Association (CPGA), was launched last June and aims to record irreplaceable historical data on pilot gig rowing for future generations.
The ambitious project was awarded £5,000 from the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group’s Community Fund – the biggest donation made by the fund to date. Now a team of 27 volunteers are working tirelessly to digitise the photos, videos, stories and artefacts that have been collected so far.
Project Manager Karen Beswetherick said: “We are very grateful to everyone who has donated already, but we feel we are only just scratching the surface of what is out there. We’d appeal to anyone out there with any documents relating to pilot gig rowing to get in touch so we can add it to the archive.”
Pilot gig rowing is a sport synonymous with the Isles of Scilly, with hundreds of rowers visiting the islands for the World Pilot Gig Championships each year in May.
The Steamship Company is a vital part of this history, transporting the gigs and passengers to the islands.
The Cornish Pilot Gig has played an important role in the working and social lives of communities across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly for generations. The vessels were used as lifeboats, for salvage, general work, and pilotage. Cornish Pilot Gigs were also raced in local regattas, often with substantial sums of money awarded to the winners, which is not the case today.
All Cornish gigs built today follow the lines of the gig Treffry, a 32ft pilot gig built in 1838.
Over the last 30 years the sport has exploded, growing from 12 boats to 200 CPGA registered gigs, and this rapid growth shows no signs of slowing. In the UK there are now around 8,000 active rowers aged from juniors to super vets, spread across 71 clubs in 10 UK counties – making it one of the fastest growing sports in the UK. Cornish Pilot Gig racing is also active in the Netherlands, USA, Bermuda, France, UAE and Kuwait.
Applications to the Community Fund are open to voluntary groups or charities, schools and education establishments, community clubs or societies, and individuals undertaking not-for-profit projects for the benefit of the wider community.
Full details, eligibility criteria and application forms are now available from the Steamship Group’s website. All projects are judged by members of an independent panel.
Oars Aloft! Pictured with the Treffry gig, which dates back to 1838, at the Men’s County Championships on Sunday, are Sharon Sandercock (right) from the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, and Karen Beswetherick from the CPGA.
Top photo: One of the oldest photos donated to the archive from John Bawden, showing a gig in Newquay in the 1920s.
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