It is two years now since our last Christmas Cornish Mining Sundowner at Tyacks Hotel in Camborne, so it was good to be back there last night, despite Covid cases in UK soaring again thanks to the latest variant Omicron. Cornwall's infection rate is now below the country's average and there has so far been only one recorded Omicron case in Cornwall. The epicentre is London so we took the chance last night before the mutation crosses the Tamar into Cornwall and followed the Governments 'clear' advice to "socialise carefully".
I doubt if anyone who has been associated with Cornish mining has not heard of Tyacks, situated in the centre of Camborne, itself once the epicentre of the world's copper and tin mining industries.
Established in 1780 the hotel is only a few yards from the site of the original Camborne School of Mines (CSM), and was frequented by local miners from South Crofty and Pendarves and CSM students and staff. Once CSM moved to Pool, between Camborne and Redruth, in 1975 and CSM had its own club behind the old CSM building, students frequented Tyacks less and less and after the move to Penryn in 2004 I doubt if many of the current students have even heard of Tyacks.
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| The original CSM in the centre of Camborne |
The old inn is steeped in atmosphere, as is our summer sundowner location, Falmouth's Chain Locker. But whereas the Chain Locker reflects Falmouth's nautical heritage, Tyacks highlights the area's rich mining history, and dotted all around the pub are pictures of Camborne's most famous mining engineer, Richard Trevithick (posting of 25 April 2015) and photos by arguably the 19th century's most accomplished mining photographer, also a Camborne man, J.C. Burrow (posting of 25 May 2015).
The Christmas sundowner is always the most popular, and despite the pandemic we had over 30 in attendance last night.
It was good to see Treve and David Mildren, of local company Gravity Mining Ltd. The company is the home of the original Mozley Multi Gravity Separator (MGS) and yesterday they agreed to sponsor MEI's Physical Separation '22 next year.
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| With David and Treve Mildren, and Klaas van der Wielen of British Lithium and Nigel MacDonald of King Edward Mine Museum |
The Sundowner was a great opportunity to recognise the achievements of one of our regulars, Robin Dunn. Robin has contributed 35 years in various roles at CSM but his links to CSM actually go back to 1963. He retired in April 2020 just at the start of the pandemic so tonight was a much delayed ‘few beers in Tyack’s’ that he said he would be happy with.
Robin played a key role supporting the Principal, Dr. Peter Hackett in 1992/93 when CSM was saved from certain closure by merging into the University of Exeter and also saving the University's Engineering in the process.
Robin was Clerk to the Trustees of the CSM Trust and managed the finances in a way that has allowed over £3 million pounds to be donated to support Mining and Minerals Education, an extraordinary achievement.
The Trust was keen to maintain the links to Camborne so Robin worked to preserve the Memorial Rugby Ground, developing a relationship with Camborne Rugby Club to use and maintain the ground. Ultimately the Ground was dedicated as a Field in Perpetuity which now means that Camborne Rugby Club and the CSM Memorial Ground can never be built over.
Last night Camborne Rugby Club presented Robin with a Gold Pass in recognition of the his efforts to secure the links with CSM. The Gold Pass was presented by Bill Hussey of Camborne Rugby Club, himself an ex CSM student. CSM Trust Chairman Dr. Tony Batchelor, ably assisted by Matt Colwill, the current CSMT Clerk to the Governors, and Carol Richards of the Camborne School of Mines Association, presented Robin with South Crofty tin cuff links, tiepin and replica Cornish coins and tokens as well a particular vintage port Robin had requested. Finally Tony announced that a fund had started to raise money for a contribution to cruising/travel, which Robin really loves, when Covid allows; over £1200 had already been pledged and the fund had not yet been announced. Worthy recognition indeed for a true friend of CSM, surrounded by many of his old friends.
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| Tony Batchelor, Bill Hussey, Robin Dunn, Carol Richards and Andy Gill, Chairman of Camborne Rugby Club |
The Tyacks sundowner lived up to all its usual expectations, and we now hope that we can all get together next month for the January sundowner, which is scheduled to be held at the County Arms, Truro, on Thursday January 20th.
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Great Evening and delighted to be there for Robin Dunn's presentation, very well deserved after all the years of service that he has given to CSM and the Trust.
ReplyDeleteand thanks for the lift back to Truro, Nick. Got there a minute before the Falmouth train left
DeleteHi Barry,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your account of the Christmas gathering at Tyacks. I joined the staff of CSM in 1973 when we were still based in the original Camborne site. It was much frequented at lunchtime which might have explained Alan Mathews falling asleep in one of my lectures! However my most treasured memory is the evening gatherings when the students sang and all seemed to know the words. Sadly that tradition seemed to die out once we moved to Trevenson and the students became mainly school leavers.
Best wishes to you and Barbara (who never seems to get any older) for Christmas and the New Year.
Richard Edwards, Malvern, UK
Hi Richard
DeleteI joined CSM a year after you, and we lived for a while in rented accommodation on Camborne Hill, so just a short walk to Tyacks (and also the CSM club). Then we moved to Falmouth in 1975 so I only called in at the pub when we had CSM visitors.
It's quite nostalgic going back, although walking from the train station to Tyacks I found that there was much of Camborne I did not recognise.
They were great days at CSM in the 70s! Best wishes to you and Veronica, and hope to catch up in 2022, Omicron and further variants permitting.
Shows the bonding--great to see and read of these events--wish you all well and SEASONAL GREETINGS TO ALL.
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