26/06/2026
During a recent workshop on our Community Learning programme with the Wednesday Wanderers, one of the participants, Elizabeth, was recalling memories of the French crabber boats which would come to St Ives.
There are stories of the French fishermen befriending the fishermen of St Ives, and there are photographs from August 1902 of a regatta sailing race between them. Members of the Wednesday Wanderers were remembering tales of the French fishermen walking around the hedgerows of St Ives looking for snails.
And so, here is a plate which tells the story of these memories. The group made a crabber boat, snails, crabs and barnacles to decorate the plate. Here you see it drying in the sun, and we will update you with photos of the fired and glazed outcome in time.
"...Mr Pazolt arranged a race between the Grace Veal and a crew from the three French crabbers anchored in the bay. The foreigners were greatly delighted with the prospect of a race, manned one of the St Ives gigs and stripped for the encounter. That they pulled well cannot be denied, but they were not sufficiently expert for the St Ives fishermen, who took the lead and held it to the finish." — A report of the race in the St Ives Weekly Summary in 1902.
The Wednesday Wanderers are a collaboration between the Leach Pottery and the Sensory Trust, for people living with dementia and their carers in the St Ives area.
