Newsletter Dec 2024
December 2024 Newsletter
The Committee wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Message from the Chair
As I hunker down for the next named storm, I am glad that we managed
the rearranged and online AGM despite the weather, and for those of
you who made it to Cornwall Gold and weren’t snowed in, the meal
and the tour looked good. Tessa has very kindly done a write up (see
below).
AGM synopsis, Lesley is writing up the minutes, but just as a recap, we
have 48 members (BBGs, friends, students and one life member).
CPD is being organised in the new year, fixed dates so far are as below,
and enquiries are being scattered throughout the region … just waiting
for replies. If anyone would like to organise a CPD that would be really
helpful … good to have new ideas.
Site Liaison, Viv Robinson has offered to be SL for St Michaels Mount,
the Guild and APTG (the London Union membership organisation) have
some very good forms which I will cannibalise in the next month to
make them relevant to our area, but full of helpful details about sites
and kept up to date as well. Offers for a site near you will be accepted
with glee, will build on our pooled resources.
The Guild: Elizabeth Eastwood joined us online and outlined all the
various things that she and the others who run our Guild, have achieved
this year. The Guild AGM will be on 6th March 2025 at Methodist Central
Hall, Westminster with CPD events running concurrently. We are all
being encouraged to send fodder for our social media platforms to
Effie about anything we do.
The Institute: I went to the ITG AGM at The Royal Philatelic Society in
London which had a good turnout, with 80+ present and 30+ online,
very well run. The introduction was by Lady Victoria Borwick from Visit
Britain, which will also be promoting screen tourism in the first few
months of 2025 #screengreatbritain Screen Tourism | VisitBritain.org
CORNISH GOLD & TOLGUS MILL - FESTIVE LUNCH
Thursday 21st November 202 will certainly be memorable for
AWCTG. It was the day of our AGM and Christmas meal and we
were all very excited at the prospect of meeting colleagues
and sharing early festive food. However, waking up, we found
Mother Nature had brought us plenty of surprises; NE Cornwall
was at a standstill due to overnight snow and SW Cornwall had been
battered by heavy storms. The AGM was duly cancelled with many
snowed-in/weather-bound, including Chrissie, our Chair, and Lesley, our Secretary.
Those who gradually arrived during the morning from near and far, were
warmly welcomed by the Cornish Pantry staff with tea and coffee.
We eleven guides, sat down at 12.30 to our sumptuous Christmas
lunch and it was absolutely fabulous and beautifully
presented, with generous portions and so tasty. After our delicious
lunch, we retired to a roomy lecture hall to hear presentations
from Sally Weston, from Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
World Heritage site. She said that they are looking forward to the
20th year anniversary of the UNESCO inscription in 2026. She
highlighted the difficulties and pressure in trying to maintain the
sites up to UNESCO standards, as most are in private ownership.
Following Sally’s talk, we braved the weather to have a highly
informative guided tour by Jo White from Tolgus Tin.
Tolgus was a 19th Century Tin Processing Mill, where the metal
was extracted from the stream that ran down from the Redruth
area. We were told it was the last working tin streaming mill in
Europe. As we walked through the mill full of original extraction machines
and information boards, we marvelled at the last remaining
twelve-headed stamp machine in Europe: a scheduled ancient
monument. In the 19th Century it worked 24/7 crushing rock into
powder, making a constant loud deafening noise. Information boards
highlight the social and economic lives of workers, from children as young
as 6 years old. Life expectancy for males, mid 19th Century, was only
29 years. We walked through the processing mill and saw the reconstructed
Cornish round frame, where impurities were gradually washed
away.
Despite the challenging weather, we enjoyed a wonderful meal;
get togethers and a tour. This is a great venue for events
and visits. There is a huge coach/car park; lovely restaurant
area with helpful staff; jewellery and craft area/shop and a visit to
the Tin Mill site with original machinery and lots of information
boards.
Attendees: Viv, Di, Peter, Manfred, Jilly, Mark, Angus, Angie,
Alison, Sean & Tessa.
Christmas Quiz & Social on Monday 9th December
We had an on-line quiz evening with several of us gathered together to face some tough questions
posed by Quizmaster Chrissie!
The session began with an opportunity to catch up while some participants solved their technical
difficulties, then it was into five rounds on Devon, Cornwall, Christmas, dingbats and a
miscellany. It was good to have a chance to meet up with colleagues who we may not otherwise
see from one year’s end to the next.
There was no winner, it was the taking part that counted!
Many thanks to question setters Chrissie, Dawn, Lesley and Tessa.