A nine-day Cornish language festival – the first of its kind – will take place in Penzance beginning in February next year.

Festival Kernewek - Penzance Cornish Language Festival will be held at The Acorn and is being organised by the educational charity Cornish Quest.

The programme is varied and full of activities relating to the Cornish language. Some events will be for people who are fluent in Cornish while many will be for people wanting to find out about this unique aspect of Cornwall, for families and for people interested in the history of Cornish.

Festival organiser Jane Howells said: “The festival will bring people together for an inspirational nine days, connecting residents with the Cornish language and celebrating Cornish culture.

This will also give people a chance to explore the heritage of Penzance through the medium of the Cornish language.”

A highlight of the festival will a conference on Saturday, February 25. The keynote speaker will be the Council of Europe’s Dr Tove Malloy. Dr Malloy is a member of the advisory committee on the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and chaired the panel of experts when they visited Truro earlier this year. The theme of the conference will be The Framework Convention, the European Charter and the Cornish Language.

Guided bi-lingual walks, a treasure hunt, talks and evening events will be held throughout the week as well as workshops, music and courses.

Former Grand Bard Mick Paynter, from St Ives, will be re-running his course on the history of the Cornish Language while Cornish comedian Kernow King is promising a session of absurdness in Kernewek, that is set to be both hilarious and innovative.

The festival will culminate on St Piran’s Day, March 5, with a recreation of a medieval St Piran procession, accompanied by the choir Keur Heb Hanow carried on a horse drawn dray, from the ancient core of the town of Penzance to the original mother church at Madron where there will be a St Piran service at 11am.

The festival is funded by a successful application to the National Lottery ‘Celebrate’ fund.

The programme will be online at cornishquest.org from early 2017. If you would like to be involved and to find out more please contact admin@cornishquest.org.