Remembering Anne Knight ( - 2023)
By Cora Buchanan (Helston OCS) and Nev Meek (Gerrans and Portscatho OCS and FOCS President) - 3rd December 2023
We are sad to report that our joint Publications Officer, Anne Knight, passed away last month, following a brief illness.
Anne was a native of Carlisle who moved to St Agnes, Cornwall after her marriage to Terry Knight. They had met at Library School in Newcastle, now part of the University of Northumbria. Anne was appointed to a post with the then Cornwall County Library. Anne became a Cataloguer and worked at Library headquarters in Truro, where she was part of a small group involved in the early development of the computerisation of the library catalogue, which later made Cornwall one of the very first County Library authorities to convert all of its stock to a digital format.
Anne developed a very acute eye for detail in this work, which she was able to put to good use in editing and proof reading in later times, notably for Kernow Goth and many other publications. When Ben and Jeff were born, Anne left full time work, but she continued to work on many projects connected with Cornish history. Later she returned to cataloguing, working part time for the now renamed Cornwall Libraries and also at the Courtney Library in the Royal Cornwall Museum amongst other tasks.
Anne was also connected with the Girl Guide movement in Cornwall, and was involved in the Cornish Buildings Group, St Agnes Old Cornwall Society, Redruth Old Cornwall Society, Gorsedh Kernow and most notably the Federation’s bookshop and stall, which she and Terry developed into a thriving, successful operation, attending Cornish events throughout Cornwall selling books published by the Federation, promoting the Duchy and its history.
Since 2007/8 Anne Knight has been the Publications Officer for the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies with her husband Terry. She became a familiar figure to Old Cornwall members through running the Federation bookstall at many events throughout Cornwall, Behind the scenes she was responsible for the online bookstall and our stock of books. She has helped many of us build our collection of historic Old Cornwall journals.
Kernow Goth, distributed twice yearly to all Federation members, will be the most well known and lasting work Anne was involved in compiling. She ran the journal’s subscription service, ensuring that subscribers around the globe received their Journals on a regular basis. Always colourful, with an eye-catching cover, the standard of production was very high, with Anne checking every part of the finished work. She also took particular responsibility for “sale-or-return” stock, ensuring that authors were paid their proportion of profits on books sold. Anne last staffed the Federation bookstall at the Godolphin Heritage Expo. In addition she prepared the stock of books for the Federation bookstalls at the Winter Festival, and the Archaeological Symposium.
Anne loved puzzles and competitions and won many valuable prizes over the years. She delighted in the many holidays spent in this country and abroad in their camper van, and had travelled extensively.