4.09.11: A documentary about ‘Rosemarie’, an early motorboat built in Penryn is to premiere at the Roseland Festival this year. A labour of love for Shauna Osborne-Dowle, who spent time on the R.S. Burts & Sons built boat between 1970-73 when she was just four-years-old. She was inspired her to document the boat’s history in two films, one of which (“Remembering Rosemarie”) will premiere at the Roseland Festival this year.
Shauna told Roseland Online, “I have been following the life of the boat which had resided by me in Penryn for years. It was commissioned by Arthur Henry of the Henderson family of St Mawes in the 1930s and built by the well-known quay punts makers, R.S. Burt & Son. It came into the possession of a friend of the family in the 70s, which is when I spent years on it as a child. The boat has been through many hands and after getting involved in filmmaking during my years as a musician – to make my own promotional videos – I decided make a film about this beloved boat and so started to contact the various owners of ‘Rosemarie’ and make a documentary about her life.”
Shauna has managed to track down and interview virtually every owner of the boat since its build and a lot of its life history, some of which it spent as a Service Patrol boat during WWII and thereafter became a St Mawes ferry for a period before returning to Penryn.
Shauna continued, “It started as just one film and ended up becoming two, because I had so much material. We showed many episodes of the filmmaking on a website we created for it at the time, Houseboat TV, and these episodes are being shown again on Real Cornwall TV later this year. The second film, “Many Romances with Rosemarie” will be shown again at the Polytechnic on 12th October, where I’ll also be giving a talk about the project, but I hope many will come to the Roseland Festival premiere this year and see this charming story .”
The premiere will take place at the millennium rooms, St Mawes on Friday 28th October at 7.30pm and tickets for this, and all of the other events in this year’s varied programme, can be purchased as from today. More information on this and the rest of the festival’s offering can be found on our dedicated Roseland Festival groups and societies page.