A Scillonian has been made Bard fo the Cornish Gorsedd for his 'energetic promotion of the Cornish language on the Isles of Scilly'. John Goody of St Mary’s was initiated in absentia because of family health reasons and will be presented to the Grand Bard in September 2021 when the Gorsedd meets in Bude. John's bardic name is Jan Penrose a Syllan, (aka “John Penrose of Scilly”), Penrose being a family name traceable in St Just and St Buryan to the earliest written records.
He joins shipwreck historian and author Richard Larn – bardic name Gonyas an Mor (‘Servant of the Sea’) – who was initiated in 2006, as the second living Scilly bard. John, 69, whose father was born in Newlyn, Cornwall and mother from St Buryan, said: “I’m over the moon. I knew about it back in February but there was an embargo on releasing the information.”He admits having worked hard for the distinction and looks on it as “a sort of lifetime achievement”.
He added: “It is the highest award Cornwall can give its own and means so much to me." His family came from Cornwall to Scilly in 1963 when his father Jesse – a renowned footballer – was appointed postmaster after a previous stint in the islands in the late 1950s.
John has been active over the past decade in the Cornish language sphere writing a Cornish-English dictionary and also a conjugated verb database. He is currently working on a dictionary for Mac computers. He was christened Penrose after his uncle who was a rear gunner in Lancaster bombers in the Second World War, surviving being shot down and incarceration in – and two escapes from – Stalag Luft 111, only to lose his life in a motorcycle crash at Newbridge while on his way to meet his girlfriend in St Just.
