The Cornwall Lecture was established in 1995. It is a child of In Pursuit of Excellence (IPE) an initiative which aimed to change the perception of Cornwall as a place for a holiday but not for work. Adair Turner, then Director General of the CBI called the initiative “one that provoked the biggest favourable shift in one’s impression”. IPE sought to do this in a very simple way – by highlighting achievement and success rather than problems and failure.

The Project Director of IPE Keith Hambly-Staite now leads the team delivering The Cornwall Lecture. Internationally known speakers are invited to talk on issues of current social or economic importance to Cornwall..

Past lectures have made significant contributions to the county’s thinking and challenged the way it thinks. Simon Jenkins challenged Cornwall. You think you are special and warned that everyone thinks they are special too. It is therefore vital that Cornwall puts in place policies that secure it’s difference for the future. Adair Turner emphasized the need to keep on marketing and never letting up; marketing in a way which tells a story of confidence, which overcomes the perception and awareness problems of peripheral location, and which projects a story of modern knowledge based business which nevertheless builds on a heritage from the past.

The Lecture format is constantly evolving. The innovation for 2002 was The Cornwall Lecture Waste Management Awards, sponsored by the County Environmental Trust. The Awards were announced by Jonathon Porritt at The Cornwall Lecture and launched a scheme set in Cornish Primary Schools. Teachers and students undertook a waste audit which subsequently led to eight schools undertaking a range of projects addressing the issues around waste management. Projects included the first ‘Big Book’ on recycling waste in the country produced by Menheniot and Fourlanesend Primary School (available on this site).

Since its inception The Cornwall Lecture has always been treated as an ‘event’ and promotes different aspects of Cornwall’s culture each year. Cornwall has a considerable history and a very rich cultural life including theatre, art, craft, music, and dance.

Past occasions have seen performances by the Duchy Opera, St Keverne Junior Brass Band and Award winning young musicians from the Hall for Cornwall’s Annual Musician of the Year competition. In 2002 the Lecture opened with a Cornish based band using instruments entirely made out of waste materials and in 2003 Jenny Agutter read a poem commissioned from Caroline Carver (Poet of the Year 2001) illustrated with photographs by Fredericka Blair Turner taken during their journey through North Cornwall.

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