MARCH 5 means just one thing — time to celebrate the best of Cornwall by getting together with family and friends at your local, raising pints and voices together at 9pm, singing out Trelawny with pride and raising money for local good causes to boot.

A few years back, the Cornwall Community Foundation and St Austell Brewery partnered together to create the Trelawny Shout, a new tradition to celebrate St Piran’s Day allowing local communities to get together in a show of friendship and song over a pint of beer at the pub to help raise funds for Cornish communities.

Now in its fourth year, the Trelawny Shout has become the go-to event as St Piran’s Day festivities stretch into the evening.

This year’s celebrations look set to be led off by local heroes, the Fisherman’s Friends, who return to Cornwall from their national tour to lead the singing of Trelawny, Song of the Western Men from their local pub, The Golden Lion Inn at Port Isaac.

BBC Radio Cornwall will be there on the evening to broadcast it live, so if you can’t make it down to your local, be sure to tune in and join in in spirit.

If you can make it down to your local, choirs, shanty singers, barber shops, bands and folk groups from communities across the length and breadth of the county will be doing their bit in pubs from Lands End to Landrake, bound together by one song or ‘shout’ — the age-old Cornish term for spontaneous pub singing.

Adam Luck, property director at St Austell Brewery, said: “We’re delighted to once again join with Cornwall Community Foundation. It has been a fantastic way to celebrate St Piran’s Day over the last few years and we look forward to once again building on this tradition and making it a truly special occasion. It’s a superb way to have fun and fund much needed projects in Cornwall and we’re happy to play our part.”

Trelawny, Song of the Western Men, was penned by Robert Stephen Hawker in 1824 and is thought to be an adaption of folk songs that were sung in pubs in the county after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when bishops were compelled to swear allegiance to King William. Seven of the bishops, supporters of James II, refused and were imprisoned for treason. Trelawny, the Bishop of Cornwall being one of them.

While there are other songs that compete for the Cornish anthem status, Trelawny, Song of the Western Men, with its uplifting message, tune and tempo has become the most popular and a natural choice.

Last year over 50 St Austell Brewery pubs received a free cask of Tribute from the Brewery to raise funds at Trelawny Shout events and over £6,000 was raised for the Cornwall Community Foundation, which funds local organisations and activities across the county. This year, even more pubs are expected to come on board and even more people are expected to be raising their voices together to contribute to this truly amazing celebration of what it means to be Cornish.

So will it be 20,000 Cornish men and women in one voice at one magical hour? Get down to your local and check that they’re taking part. If they’ve not yet registered, there’s still time to get on board. Contact St Austell Brewery at [email protected] to get the Trelawny Shout kit, including posters and song sheets for the night.

Then get your local singers, bands and choirs together at 9pm on St Piran’s Day, March 5.

Jane Hartley DL, chairman of Cornwall Community Foundation, said: “The Trelawny Shout is a great way to link an enjoyable sing and social evening with community giving and supporting the communities in Cornwall that struggle. In 2017 Cornwall Community Foundation awarded £566,000 in total to more than 400 local projects.

“The Shout is an important fund-raising event in our calendar and we are very grateful to all the participating pubs and St Austell Brewery for their support. Most of all, we encourage people to come out and celebrate St Piran’s Day in style singing our national anthem.”

Pubs so far signed up are Bell Inn, Launceston; Golden Lion, Port Isaac; Napoleon Inn, Boscastle and Who’d Have Thought It, St Dominick.