On The Hill

In the second part of this season finale, Jewish Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker and his family secure passage on the S.S. Bodegraven alongside 258 refugees, some of which form part of the last Kindertransport to leave Europe and eventually land in the UK. Charlène von Sayer discusses the Goudstikker family’s escape, Jacques unfortunate death and how he came to be buried in Falmouth Cemetery and shares the process of reclaiming the Goudstikker Collection looted by the Nazis in World War II. How does Falmouth acknowledge the death of Jacques Goudstikker? What can we learn about war and displacement? What are the main lessons of season one of On The Hill? And what can we learn about creative responses to those who are buried in Falmouth Cemetery?

This episode is Part Two of the Episode 12, the season finale of On The Hill. We recommend you listen to Part One first.

On the 14th of May 1940 Jewish Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker and his family are trying to escape the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands by sea on the cargo ship S.S. Bodegraven. Jacques is carrying an inventory of the paintings and artwork from the legendary Goudstikker Collection. In Britain, Neville Chamberlain has lost his majority and resigns, leaving Winston Churchill in the post. The United Kingdom, alongside the Allies, are now directly involved in World War II. What was this crucial week like in May 1940s? How do minute decisions and their accrued recognition help a young Jewish family escape? What does Charlène von Sayer, Jacques’ granddaughter, say about the challenges her family has overcome? And who else was also trying to escape in the S.S. Bodegraven?

This episode is Part One of the Episode 12, the season finale of On The Hill.

In the 1920s and 1930s the town of Penryn, Conrwall, was renowned for its boxing scene. A young local boy, Roy Coote, pursued his interest in the sport to help support his family. He would go on to fight on over 70 contests and secure a life as a tugboat skipper and competitive sailor for his family in Falmouth. What were the 1920s in this part of Cornwall? How did the Open Spaces Act of 1906 affect Falmouth’s cemeteries? And how does a young Cornish man straddle the need for security with the demands of life in this time?

On May 1841 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Charles Napier Hemy is born. He would spend his early life trying to decide if his calling was in the church, at sea or in the service of art. By the time that he commits to painting, the British School was exploring nature and its evocative power, and gaining prominence across Europe. A renowned Falmouthian, Napier Hemy settles in the town and spends a lifetime capturing life by the coast and the sea. In this episode, we tell his story and weave the work of poet Sarah Cave through it, inspired by Charles Napier Hemy, his process and his art. We also examine the regulations of Falmouth Cemetery a little further. 

On November 1899, a man jumps off a yacht to save someone who has fallen into the water. His name was George Kerswell Sheaff, from Portwrinkle, Cornwall, and he had led a quiet, devout life with a long career in the navy. The last ship his served in was the HMS Ganges, which spent decades in moored in Mylor, training young men. What can we learn from the story of George Sheaff? What do we know of the HMS Ganges? And how did Falmouth Cemetery secure the consecration of part of its land?

On September 1933, the legendary Polish frigate Dar Pomorza left Gdynia on its winter trip to check on Polish colonies with shores on the Atlantic. All but one of its 56 cadets would return home, though. Miśko Molnár, the first Czechoslovak sailor in Poland, died before the end of the trip. What can we learn about Cornwall and the world by looking at the story of one ship? And how has Falmouth kept up with the demand for more space on its Victorian cemetery?

In the mid-1850s, William Stevens Bilkie was working as a mail coach guard from Falmouth to Plymouth. The arrival of the train to Cornwall in 1859 would bring an end to his job, but William continued to reinvent himself and to actively participate in Falmouth. A renown storyteller and floriculturist, he left behind a legacy that it still around today. What was the mail coach era like? How did the people of Cornwall deal with the arrival of the railway from Plymouth? And how did Falmouth Cemetery kept up with a town outgrowing its boundaries?

Legend has it that Irish Jewish Countess Ellen Odette Cuffe requested that her hand was joined with her husband’s when she was buried in Falmouth Cemetery in 1933. Is there truth in the myth? What about the woman herself, who commissioned this cemetery’s most unique gravestone? Did she get involved in the revival of Irish identity? What was her role in the Jewish community? And how did Falmouth Cemetery’s regulations allow for such a remarkable gravestone?

On April 10 1912, the Titanic sailed from Southampton. A few Cornish passengers were on board, including deck engineer Henry Philip Creese, memorialised in Falmouth Cemetery. How were the news of the Titanic delivered? What can we learn about the most famous maritime disaster in the world? And how has Cornwall, notorious for its shipwreck history, contributed to the way in which the UK takes care of the victims of such disasters?

In 1866 Winifred Freeman is born into a family of Lamorna Granite Merchants. She would go on to challenge conventions and earn her living as a painter. We talk to Glyn Winchester from the Falmouth Art Gallery to learn more about this artist. Anna Kiernan shares poems inspired by the cemetery and by Winnie. Keeping up with the times, Falmouth Cemetery regulates the way family vaults and brick graves are to be managed.