Annual Christmas visit to Camborne

Camborne, once one of the world's richest towns, the centre of Cornwall's flourishing 18th and 19th centuries tin and copper industries, is now regarded as the most impoverished town in Cornwall. Each December we make our annual pilgrimage to Camborne's famous Tyacks Hotel, once a meeting place for mining engineers from around the world (see posting of 20 December 2024) and only a few hundred yards from where the Camborne School of Mines stood until its relocation in 1975.

Last Saturday we were at Tyacks for the Camborne School of Mines Association (CSMA) Christmas lunch, attended mainly by past students and staff of Camborne School of Mines. Prior to sitting down to lunch it was good to talk to a few old mining graduates. Pete Shepherd (1967) was with his wife Mary, who was Secretary of the CSMA from 1999-2005. Julian North (1989) is currently lead miner at the developing South Crofty Tin Mine and Mike Simpson (1979) is General Manager at the Geevor Tin Mine Heritage Centre.

With Julian, Pete, Mary and Mike

There were only two current CSM students at  the lunch, but they were very special guests. Sophie Glassford is the CSM Student Union President and Captain of CSM's team in the International Mining Games, which will be held in Arizona in March. She is in the final year degree course in Engineering Geology and Geotechnics, as is Lili Szepesy-Szep, who is Chair of CSM Sports. They are pictured below with Carol Richards, a former CSMA Secretary and the current secretary Nicola Wilton.

Lili, Carol, Sophie and Nicola

A great afternoon at Tyacks, as always:

Left: Steve Pendray and CSMA hosts Andy Wetherelt and Nicola Wilton
Right: Barbara Wills with Karen Powell and John Hills

Yesterday evening we should have been at Tyacks again for the Christmas Cornish Mining Sundowner, but one thing you can't rely on is the good old Great Western Railway. Due to severe delays and disruptions on the main line from Truro to Penzance we had to return to Falmouth, missing what is normally one of the best sundowners of the year. I thank Steve Pendray for the photo below, which shows we missed a great event.

Hopefully we will be at the next sundowner, at the County Arms Hotel, Truro from 5.30 pm on Thursday January 15th.