The Cornish have a proud tradition of expressing their loves, beliefs, hopes and fears through music. Songs chart the history of Cornwall's Methodist past, the hardships of life as a tin miner, the peril of those at sea, or the lament of the cousin jack, longing for family and familiarity whilst working a long way from home.
These songs are part of our culture; a bridge to both the past and the future. As we grew up in Falmouth we heard these songs regularly. Fathers sung them in male voice choirs, friends sung them after working boat races, brothers sung them gig rowing, and we all tried to sing them down the pub...
In recent years, the songs of our fathers have been heard less, and collectively we lamented the loss of this bridge to our Cornish past; hopefully we can do our part to stop them from being lost forever.
Who’s Who?
Martin
The most upstanding member of the group. When we manage to get a tranquiliser dart into Mr Rowes neck to stop him talking you may occasionally hear some words of wisdom from our Foy. His being a member of the Bilderberg group, a leading light of the Illuminati and a the Don of the Falmouth Cosa Nostra has really helped us through the dark years of the recession and now as well as flogging CDs we've branched out into narcotics, Ponzi scams, protection rackets and Saffron Cake. Don Foy, we kiss your ring.
Rower
Andy descends from a famous line of humorous Penwithians (you may have seen his uncle on TV before-the clue is in the surname). His dry sense of humour and wit are legendary as well as his love of arm wrestling and dry stone walling. Andy sings top tenor with 'The Fuhrer’ and he hits notes only grieving women and small rodents can pitch. He is, however, not nearly as funny as Jethro.
Robby
Our Musical Director-and the only member of the group with any kind of musical talent. Being a professional musician he is thus able to play a huge range of different instruments including kazoo, triangle, bass drum, referees whistle, sleigh bells and even hand clapping. Naturally proud of his Cornish/German lineage, he sports his very own bumper sticker- 'Cornishmen Do It Straight Avay und Perfektly'. Oggymen practices are usually spent with half our number singing whilst the other half take turns in tunnel excavation.
Dave
After experiencing phenomenal success as one of the main characters in ‘Soldier Soldier’ co-starring alongside some bloke whose name none of us can now remember, Robson’s career took a nose dive and he found himself very much not ‘up on the roof’; indeed the low point in his life came when he was forced to eat fish for 2 years whilst ‘sleeping’ on the bottom bunk in an Alaskan trawler. Eventually snorting up to 5 kilos of Arctic Charr a day, Robson had hit the nadir of his life and finally resolved to do something about it. Jumping ship in the Aleutians he stowed away on a factory boat bound for Newlyn and arrived in the promised land only a little over 14 years later.
Andy G
Following a punishing 2 hour course on a boating lake just south of the M42, Andy now runs a Sail Training and Navigation business based in the town and has just bought a large yacht which he sailed directly from the Med to Falmouth. Using a 1986 edition of an AA UK roadmap, unscheduled stops for directions included Midway Island, St Helena, Par and the Magellan Strait. Falmouth was sighted completely by chance having made passage for 43 hours along a rhumb line track made by a shred of marmalade stuck to page 4.
Andy K
Andy is well known for his legendary exploits in Falmouth RNLI. Recently investing in a new fishing vessel, Andy has done for squid fishing what 'Jaws' did for open water swimming and now he spends most of his time in the Shetlands trying to earn enough money to a. fly home to b. buy enough bait to c. catch enough of the molluscs to d. pay for his fishing boat to e. pay for his ticket back to the Shetlands. He regularly joins in our practices via live satellite link and does favours for sailors in Lerwick.
Bruce
Bruce can be seen propping himself up at most bars, walking into them, breaking out from behind them or talking rubbish in them. Occasionally, AND due to the work of the ‘care in the community team’ he can be seen acting fairly responsibly and singing in them as well. The Oggymen often do charity work and Bruce is one of their most ambitious projects.
Martyn O
Whilst Moses was found amongst bullrushes on the Nile and brought up by Egyptian aristocracy, our dear chum Oatsey was fortunate enough to be found in a skip on the top of Carn Marth and brought up by Cormac. As such he works 5 minutes in every hour and applies for a 3 month road closure 'to protect the workforce' as he cleans windows, mends fridges and rewires rabbit hutches.
Jon D
Jon is keen on cycling and during a recent power cut in Falmouth managed to supply the entire national grid with 3.2 MW of power simply by pedalling on a stand and engaging his dynamo...uses Immac (R) to stop his leg hair from catching fire.
Rob
Our newest member. Cat stuck in a tree? Child with head stuck in railings? Chip pan fire? Maybe your house is cut off by a raging torrent? In any case, if it's any of those, don't call Rob-he's a policeman.
Jezza
Jez is a keen fisherman having recently purchased the 'GnomeMaster1000 Offshore' (waterline length 0.005m) Upturned Acorn Cup complete with Tadpole outboard motor propulsion system. Jerry used to get free lifts to gigs with the other members by being carefully wrapped in a handkerchief and gently placed into someone's pocket but has recently ascended to the rarified air of Mawnan Smith. As such he is now normally to be seen in a glass showcase next door to the stuffed salmon in the Red Lion.
Thank you for all your support!
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