Description | The collection contains the personal papers of Roy Green which comprise of: - Celtic league minutes, correspondence and press cuttings 1985-1991 - Cornish Language material - Diary of visit to The German Democratic Republic August 1970 - Communist party correspondence - Justice for Diarmuid O'Neill folder (concerning death of IRA volunteer during a police raid in London in 1996): Letters, newsletters, poster and flyer - Communist party 44th Congress report - Research notes on history of the de Dunstaville, Arundell and Vallefort families in Cornwall - Research notes and drafts for articles on Cornish history - Newspaper clippings - 'Regional Contact' newsletter - Celtic News bulletin - History of the Irish Communist party - Irish mine reports - Social/Political publications relating to Welsh nationalism, Breton nationalism, Scottish Marxism and Irish/Northern Irish Marxism - Research notes on Cornish Industry, Transport and 'The Duchy' - 'New Cornwall' newsletter 1950s - 'An Lef' newsletter 1950s - Irish translation of The Life of Saint Kevin of Glendalough - Typed and Handwritten notes of Cornish mining history encompassing 1774-1921 - Manuscript of Llanwylyfr Cennyweeg Caol with notebook commentary - Methodist Journals 1960-2000 - Skol an Trech Kenta: papers on Breton language course. |
Admin History | Royston Green (1919 - 2002) was born into a farming family and raised in Somerset and Dorset. A pupil of Yeovil Grammar School he went on to gain a degree at Exeter University. Green had regularly visited relatives near Bodmin from childhood from which he developed as a strong attachment to Cornwall and would later devote much of his life to what he saw as a Celtic nation. Green had an interest in politics from early adulthood, which led him to join the Communist Party, of which he remained an active and dedicated member all his life. He would later become instrumental in the formation of the Cornish Branch of the Communist Party.
In 1946 he married Blanche Sparkes and they later had two children: Jenny and David. After the War Green became a teacher, a profession to which he was highly dedicated. So much so that family holidays would often include invitations for children from under-privileged backgrounds in the North to join his wife and children on their holidays to Scotland & Ireland. Royston Green spent three years living in Wales and felt he should learn to read in the Welsh language. He wrote in `Comment', a Party journal: "Socialists should in some circumstances try to embody a national movement themselves and certainly should never oppose the right of people nationally to be what they choose".
Later after time living in St Helen's, Lancashire, Green and his family moved Cornwall in 1959, where he accpeted a post teaching Geography at Cornwall Technical College. Living in Redruth Green became the District Secretary of the Communist Party in Cornwall for a lengthy period. His love of Cornwall, its traditions, history and culture led him to study the Cornish language and he became a Bard of the Gorsedd in 1964, taking the Bardic name of Trevesyk or "Countryman". Green also joined Mebyon Kernow - the Party for Cornwall in March 1962 and together with Chetwood Aiken and John Finlason produced a report on the railway closures and forming a transport subcommittee which would go on to campaign for more integrated transport for Cornwall. He remained a memberof Mebyon Kernow until the end of dual membership in 1976.
Green became the first secretary of the Cornwall Branch of the Celtic League from 1962 until the early 1970s and remained a member of this organistaion until his death. He was also a member of the Celtic League General Council, holding the post of Treasurer for many years.
Green was also the author of `What is the Duchy of Cornwall?' published by the Cornwall Communist party, 'The National question in Cornwall: a historical review' for the History Group of the Communist Party in the 1980s and 'The Case for Cornwall' published by the Cornish Branch of the Celtic League.
Often involved in teacher exchanges with schools in the German Democratic Republic, in 1972, Green and his wife travelled to East Germany, where Green taught English until his retirement in 1976. Blanche died in 1999 and Green was buried alongside her and their son David who predeceased him by some 20 years.
Royston Green died on 1st October 2002 in Redruth in Cornwall.
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