Rob Spowart
The Newquay St Piran's Festival Group remember Rob Spowart our founding Chairman and the inspiration for the annual Newquay St Piran's Festival. Rob's friend and colleague Jim Christophers, Secretary of the Newquay St Piran's Festival Group, penned the following tribute to Rob whose contribution to Newquay's culture will be long remembered by the community with gratitude. Rob himself will be honoured with much affection by countless people whose lives he touched through out his own life. Re bowesso yn kres, sos.
It is with enormous sadness that Newquay St Iran’s Festival Planning Group finds itself paying tribute to our inspiration and former Chairman, Robin (Rob) Spowart, who passed away on 9th April, aged 78 years. We offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Rob was a proud and passionate Cornishman and son of Newquay. He was honoured to be a Bard of Gorsedh Kernow, with the bardic name, Dover Dragon, Dragon Slayer! He made his considerable mark in whatever he did and wherever he went in a wide variety of fields from education to sport to culture and to heritage and there will be many who will want to mark his passing.
It is just over 10 years ago that Rob gathered a group of local people together and floated the idea of putting on a festival to mark St Piran’s Day. Since those early days when events spanned just a couple of days the festival has grown to accommodate events and activities for at least a week. It uniquely offers a range of opportunities for local community groups and organisations to come together and celebrate their Cornish heritage.
From the start Rob insisted that all events should offer a tangible and unambiguous reflection of Cornish culture and heritage and should be free to access to all the community. This, of course, required funding and Rob was a fierce campaigner on behalf of the Festival, accessing funding from a wide range of local sponsors ranging from FEAST to Newquay Council and from local Lions Clubs to local councillors.
Given his background in education, Rob was also adamant that opportunities should be available for young people to participate. In particular was his tireless work engaging with local primary schools where he organized a programme of workshops offering children the opportunity to learn Cornish songs, Cornish dance and to learn about Cornish heritage. This forms the central spine of the Festival as manifested in the parade and the children’s ceilidhs which are such a feature. Significantly, the choral workshops ensured that the children learnt parts of the songs they sang in Kernewek.
Part of Rob’s legacy in the town is that the Festival continues and we hope to make it even bigger and better next year.
In many ways Rob was larger than life and he certainly enjoyed life. He led from the front and inspired others in doing so.
Jim Christophers (April 2026)
A more extensive tribute to Rob and his life by Jim Christophers can be viewed in a PDF: Click HERE