Its a great dilema, the thought of working on the last beam engine to work on Cornish Metal Mine :thumbsup: and helping those at Wheal Pointless :guns: and selling yourself to the devil :devil: at the same time :thumbdown: What do you do ? :confused:

Kew for those who have not visited, why not. I have been several times and seen the Grand Junction 90 in steam, its reet proper :lol:

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Robinson’s engine is a good question, really. There are people who are interested in it because it is a historic piece of mining plant, there are people who are interested in it because it is CORNISH mining plant and there are people who see mining as part of the whole Merrie Englande, Celtic twilight, leech-gatherers-and-smallpipes historic scene, and they aren’t the same thing.

I had various conversations with various of the Combe Down miners who had had some degree of involvement with the preservation people, mainly by way of Big Pit or NCMM, and the general view was that it was no fit way to make a living. Come to that, I couldn’t do what Tamarmole does because ultimately, mining for me has been “just another hard dollar” and if there’s no money in it, I can get wet feet and back-ache just by digging my garden.

I have to admit that I tend to be in the “quick, dig it up before the Client sees it” school of archaeology , since I’ve never yet had any benefit from this but HAVE been thrown out of work as a result on occasion. I had a rather surreal afternoon in the pub a while ago with the “Heritage Co-ordinator” on a pipeline I was on at the time, who was essentially trying to tell me that soft-subject graduates on minimum wage with cod-eighteenth-century costumes and candles on their hats, who had never been nearer to lead than the plumbing in their grannies’ outside toilets were “mining heritage” but ARC owner-drivers with ragged hi-vis jackets eating bacon rolls beside a lay-by greasy spoon van on the Bakewell Road weren’t.

I’d like to say we parted agreeing to differ, but thinking the other a fool and a philistine respectively would be nearer the truth.

Regarding Robinson's I'd feel that if you have a real opportunity to offer some genuine mining input to the matter and make a real difference, do it - but don't play the soulful Celt for someone else's benefit, sod that. A Poldark extra has spoken!

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Peter Burgess wrote - Thank God Kew Bridge museum is in the right hands!

I'll drink to that Peter !! :thumbup:

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Regarding Robinson's I'd feel that if you have a real opportunity to offer some genuine mining input to the matter and make a real difference, do it - but don't play the soulful Celt for someone else's benefit, sod that. A Poldark extra has spoken!

I took a perverse delight in playing a soulfull celt given that I am actually a grumpy Yorkshireman.

As for playing it for anyone else's benefit the main beneficiary was me who was being paid to do the job!

Having followed this thread (and others previously), I am beginning to wonder if the Welsh Slate industry aplication for World Heritage Status is such a good idea! 😢

All of this is shutting the door after the horse has bolted. £35 million has been or will be spent on this project and for what?
A unique opportunity has been lost forever and therefor this scheme is doomed to failure. Coupled with East Pool what other site in the world has three beam engines in their original houses ,two head-frames and a steam capstan? All of this to be tinkered around with by idiots.
As for consulting people, this has been done in the past, only to be told, "we don't exactly see it that way" and therefor ignore all advise given.
Other parts of the country do not seem to have this problem so therefore I lay the blame squarely at the door of the planning authority and the councillor's that sanctioned it.

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It's a damned shame that they seem intent on turning the place into the mining equivalent of Dairyland. I'm in no doubt that there are others, like myself, who have items of historical significance that are pertinent to this site, and who now feel reluctant to even loan them out.
stuff such as;
🔗Personal-Album-342-Image-62860[linkphoto]Personal-Album-342-Image-62860[/linkphoto][/link]

I also have the makers plate and a reciept from Holmans for the nose pin and hanging gear of this engine.
As for volunteering work for the engine, I would do so only if payed by the National Trust, in who's trustworthy hands the engine sat and rotted after being handed to them by the Cornish Engines Preservation Society, in good faith that it would be cared for.
Curious word trust..........

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Some more detail on the restoration:
http://www.dca-pr.co.uk/Latest-News/Heartlands/Engine-enthusiasts-wanted-to-help-restore-historic-123.aspx 

and the company doing the work:
http://www.dorothearestorations.com/index.html 

anyone have any experience of them?

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Fred Dibnah territory.... typical small engineering firm running on accumulated past skills, doing specialised work for people prepared to pay premium prices for specialised one-offs and limited runs.

In that limbo between the Lady Bountiful types at the NT and the willing mugs who do their donkey-work so they have plenty of money left for jollies and salaries, where someone needs to do some real work for once....


That said, DR do nice work ( I've occasionally done dim con checks on items, mill restorations being big business in East Anglia ) and train an apprentice or two, so there are much worse things having large sums of money spent on them every day.

I don't 'do' volunteering. My skills are my livelihood and the attitude at such places that 'we are the professionals, you are just oiks with dirty overalls' leaves me stone cold.

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what about the Geevor goat floating in formadehyde, as a cental figure, (just a suggestion).

I have one word from a cornish man BULLSHIT what a load of Bull shite

after reading this im trulty gutted make me want to go get my chainsaw cut there heads off and throw them down my mine whos going to join me

would you like to rephrase that last post in some intelligible form?

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see they have apointed the new boss of the place from up london way so much for local jobs and there are loads of mines in london so they know what its all about!

Whos that then?

see they have apointed the new boss of the place from up london way so much for local jobs and there are loads of mines in london so they know what its all about!

I'm afraid that Cornwall has long since lost any advantage it had in the field. To expect a multi-million dollar investment fund to appoint a local man on such grounds is completely unrealistic, because that talent hasn't been available in Cornwall for many years, except in the form of experienced men who have retired or semi-retired there after careers spent elsewhere.

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see they have apointed the new boss of the place from up london way so much for local jobs and there are loads of mines in london so they know what its all about!

I'm afraid that Cornwall has long since lost any advantage it had in the field. To expect a multi-million dollar investment fund to appoint a local man on such grounds is completely unrealistic, because that talent hasn't been available in Cornwall for many years, except in the form of experienced men who have retired or semi-retired there after careers spent elsewhere.

I would rather say it's a waste of bloody good money. I notice her side-kick is from up the country also, how many months 'till the receivers move in? 😠

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It was always the case with "Wise men of the East".

I have noted a lack of Cornish people in various public sector workplaces in Cornwall. I have nothing to draw from that observation, apart from that it's consistently valid and there are no shortage of local applicants.

Cornwall is a bit of a holy grail to a lot of people and I sometimes wonder if there is a prejudice against locals having their cake and eating it.

I'm not suggesting it's the case, merely wondering.

Having worked in the public sector in a previous life I gained the impression, certainly in planning departments, that locals were not employed because they may well come to the job with preconceptions and their own agendas. Likewise there is also the possiblity that a local will be more open to "outside local persuasion" than an incomer.

true tamar

It was always the case with "Wise men of the East".

I have noted a lack of Cornish people in various public sector workplaces in Cornwall. I have nothing to draw from that observation, apart from that it's consistently valid and there are no shortage of local applicants.

Cornwall is a bit of a holy grail to a lot of people and I sometimes wonder if there is a prejudice against locals having their cake and eating it.

I'm not suggesting it's the case, merely wondering.

it's all very well to rant on, but the plain fact is that by the early 90s, Cornish mining had become a technical and financial backwater. You don't look for top talent in Cornwall because it has long since left for better opportunities elsewhere.

The most successful start-up of recent years - Seacore - was in the offshore oil industry. My contemporaries at CSM left Cornwall, never to return in most cases, because there were simply no worthwhile opportunities, and clinging to a half-imaginary past was never going to change that.

Taking an objective look at South Crofty, based on the information available, if there has been anything credible published in the technical press about what is going on there, I certainly haven't seen it. This isn't usual.

There is a long history of name-calling and accusations of land speculation by various parties. Right now the ball is in WUM's court, to show that they have a credible plan and a worthwhile reserve.

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