Cornish Mining Sundowner at Portreath

Portreath is a small village on the north coast of Cornwall. It was once home to many students from the nearby Camborne School of Mines until CSM moved to Penryn on the south coast in 2004.

Last night Portreath's Waterfront Inn made its debut as the venue for the Cornish Mining Sundowner, attended by many of the regulars, but with a few surprise appearances.

Some of the Sundowner regulars

It was a very pleasant surprise to see Ollie and Colin Pike after many years. Ollie was on the secretarial staff at CSM from 1992 to 2010. She and Colin now live in Spain and were making a brief visit to Cornwall to see family.

Ollie and Colin (centre) with Mary Shepherd and Barbara

Also on a flying visit was Pete Taylor of Mammoth Mining, UK, who I last saw in Cape Town last month at Indaba '16, along with Kim-Marie Clothier and her business partner John Eyre of North Coast Consulting. Also good to see John's son, mining engineer Dr. Matt Eyre.

Matt Eyre, Mary Shepherd, Barbara, Pete Taylor and me

Sundowner organiser Nick Slade with Kim-Marie Clothier and John Eyre

Unfortunately I will miss the next sundowner which will be held in Penzance on April 21st.

Twitter @barrywills