The Cumpas People

Cumpas began as "two hippies and a typewriter", otherwise known as Hilary Coleman and Frances Bennett, but now has expanded to include a board of trustees and working parties made up of volunteers and part-time administrative help. Here is a bit of background information on some of us.

Frances Bennett

Born and brought up in Cornwall, Frances was first inspired to play the fiddle by hearing Bach played to her as a toddler! She went on to develop her love of making music at home and at school, enjoying singing, playing fiddle and listening to classical and later pop music. She also developed a love of languages and pursued this interest to masters degree level in due course. Her introduction to teaching came through work experience at school and in 1982 she began her career as an ancillary assistant in a primary school, sparking off an on-going interest in inspirational and creative teaching and learning.

Since then she has thoroughly enjoyed working with a wide range of subjects and students, from English language teaching abroad and exam-based teaching of French and Spanish in Further Education Colleges to community workshops incorporating the music, song, dance and language of Cornwall delivered with a team of dynamic co-workers.

In 1989 Frances became involved in the revival of Cornish culture through playing the fiddle with dance group Ros Keltek and over subsequent years developed a fascination for traditional music and culture, absorbing as much as she could, to the extent that after a few years she had played in an array of local bands, begun to teach the fiddle and travelled the Celtic world and beyond.

Meeting musician Hilary Coleman she discovered someone with a similar passion for Cornish Celtic music; together they decided they not only wanted to perform but also to pass on their enthusiasm especially to young people. This desire led to the setting up of Cumpas which later was to include dancer Karen Brown. Sowena succeeded in bringing Cornish music to the fore and since the demise of the group in March 2001 Frances has joined singing group Kescana and also started an exciting new venture called Bagas Crowd, a fiddle group which brings together students of all ages and abilities to arrange tunes and perform them. She also keeps up her language skills by teaching and learning the Cornish language which is an essential part of the current musical revival.

20 years of teaching experience has taught Frances the importance of enjoying learning and teaching, and she continues to value creativity and flexibility as she builds an inspirational and supportive learning environment with her students. In particular she is enthusiastic about her own opportunities in the world of Cornish culture and aims to pass this on to others. Being the mother of a lively toddler makes this aim all the more pertinent!

Hilary Coleman

A Calstock girl, Hilary grew up on the Tamar river, flashboat and gig racing. It was here she soaked up Cornwall's great pub singing tradition - later interpreting this music on the clarinet too.

She went on to train in residential care and dramatherapy, and then to work with several theatre companies including Kneehigh. During this time she combined her love of drama and music with her interest in community work and ran many workshops for children/adults/special needs people.

After this she worked for 5 years as part of an N.H.S. mental health team whilst also co-founding the much loved Cornish bands Gwaryoryon, Sowena and most recently Dalla. Hilary has toured and recorded extensively with all these bands, representing Cornwall in other celtic countries on many an occasion. In 1998 she set up Cumpas (originally Cornish Music Projects) with Frances Bennett and Karen Lockley-Brown. The organisation has an impressive track record for promoting Cornish music events and workshops across Cornwall (such as Racca Day and Teer Ha Moar) as well as offering Cornish music workshops for schools, under the name Hubbadillia. Hilary is at the forefront of the revival of interest in the clarinet as a traditional instrument in Cornwall, where it was popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and now teaches traditional clarinet.