Cambrian Mines Trust

I am announcing the formation of Cambrian Mines Trust as a private company limited by guarantee with no share capital which was incorporated in March this year.
Its Objects of Association which run to about 25 pages have been drawn in compliance with Charity Commission guidelines for a Trust, its main objective and the powers which are of most relevance to the mining community are reproduced below:

Object
3. The object of the Trust is to advance the education of the public by securing the preservation restoration improvement enhancement and maintenance of features and objects of industrial, scientific, social and historical interest relating to the winning and working of minerals, slate and stone in Wales and the counties immediately adjoining including the provision of museums and visitor centres for the display of such features and objects and the organisation of meetings, exhibitions, lectures, publications and other forms of instruction relevant to the historical, social and industrial development of mining and quarrying in the said area, for the benefit of the people.

Powers

4. In furtherance of the above-mentioned object but not further or otherwise and shall have the following powers:-

(a) To preserve restore reopen and recreate for the benefit of the public, mines, quarries, pits, levels, drives and drifts, both surface and underground associated features, and where appropriate to promote and set up museums, visitor centres and visual and aural aids to interpretation in connection therewith.
(d) Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained as to any property subject to the jurisdiction of the Charity Commissioners of England and Wales, to purchase, take on lease, or in exchange hire or otherwise acquire any real or personal property and any rights or privileges the acquisition of which the Trust may from time to time think necessary for the promotion of its objects or any of them, and to construct, maintain, add to, improve, furnish, equip and alter any building or erection necessary for the work of the Trust.

As can be seen from the above, the objectives of the Trust are “for the benefit of the people” and to this end the Trust has the power to preserve, restore etc both surface and underground features which can also include the reopening of levels etc written into our Articles of Association. In this context I believe that Cambrian Mines trust may well be unique.
I have long felt that there is a need for a properly incorporated charitable body dedicated to preservation of both surface features and underground access and preservation.
At this point in time the Trust has not yet made any acquisitions, however negotiations with various parties are in progress.
As well as acquiring land and or mineral rights it is envisioned that the Trust will act as an access controlling body in certain instances.
As acquisitions are made, this will of course by publicised.
The Trust will also be partnering or working in close association with certain other bodies and organisations who’s objects are preservation of historical remains or similar to CMT, or has ownership of land with historical mining remains.
The Internet domain www.cambrianmines.co.uk has been secured, but at this point in time is only a holding page.
The Trust is was accepted as a full member of NAMHO on the meeting of the 10th November 2012 and will be coordinating the underground field trips relative to the NAMHO 2013 field meet and conference.

At this point in time the board has only two directors, this is to simplify legal matters pertinent to the acquisition of property, in time we shall have a full board of directors composed of people representative of the mining history and exploration community. Other matters such as whether or not the Trust is to be an organisation open to general membership will be addressed in time.

Roy A Fellows
Secretary

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Sounds like Empire Building to me.

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Sounds like Empire Building to me.

This is a fair comment and it was anticipated, but don’t know what to say about it.
All I can say at this time is to ask people to trust me, there is a lot going on and I don’t feel that this is the appropriate time to discuss it on a public website.
What I will say is that there are underground places which are currently inaccessible for one reason or another, and others which are under some kind of threat. The Trust could be ideal vehicle for reversing this situation.

You will note that the Trust was founded way back in March and I deliberately kept it off the Internet as I wanted to avoid discussion on public forums while negotiations were in progress. However, the necessity to 'go public' has been precipitated by next years NAMHO field meet and the necessity for this to be announced, the Trust you will note will be coordinating the underground trips.

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Well, if someone getting off their backside and doing something to try and restore access to sites is empire building, I'll declare myself an imperialist....

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Exactly! If nobody stood up to help preserve or improve access for fear of empire building, there would be far far fewer places to enter.

Sounds like Empire Building to me.

Having seen quite a bit of Roy's empire recently I'm more than happy to live in it. :thumbsup:

Well done, something like this is needed to further our interests, an organisation of this nature is something that can be used to easily negotiate with rather than a random group of individual mine explorers. I can't imagine Roy's the sort of person to relish in administration.

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Thank you all for your kind support, but Tony's remark was relevant, and I do see more this coming my way!
:flowers:

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I too fully endorse what you are trying to do Roy, I wish you well with your endeavours, also look forward to seeing some more of these currently inacessible mines in due course, good on you for taking it on. :flowers:

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I echo the above comments of support Roy. Good luck and thank you.

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Thank you all for your kind support, but Tony's remark was relevant, and I do see more this coming my way!
:flowers:

Roy,

Tony is a true wind up merchant I wouldn't take to heart what he has said. Your recent apllication for NAMHO membership was accepted I was the proposer. In my view it would be silly to lay articles and aims to be so restrictive you have to go back rewrite them allthe time its better to be as wide as possible in order to go forward in the future without hassle. We all know what your main aim is and I fully suport your venture
Mike

Roy,

When I first saw your post I thought “Uh Oh” and my first reaction was “this is going to be seen as empire building and is going to cause trouble”.

I took the trouble to read through your post properly and also to read between the lines that are there as well as between the lines that are not.

When I became involved with caving/mine-exploring I joined a club local to myself which was fledging and quickly found myself (as a total rookie) right in the centre of an access argument between the club and A.N.Others. What I learned from that experience was that no matter what the club’s intention was, there would always be other interpretations and the issue of “access” was a very divisive subject among underground explorers. Since then I (all of us ?) have seen other “access issues” and we have all, no doubt, formed our own interpretations and opinions. (Again, without doubt, many of which will conflict). in fine, I think that such issues will always be (to be diplomatic) “topical”.

I have yet to meet you Roy but I (like a great many other people) do know a little about you. I know that you have been an avid underworld explorer for a long time, I know you care passionately about the underworld, I know you are active (accepting, of course, you were poorly for a while) and I am aware of the great deal of work you have undertaken at your own personal expense and effort (in many mines) for the benefit of everyone else. You have never sought credit for the work you do that benefits us all and you have quietly undertaken your projects pro-actively. I do not know of anyone else who has put in more effort than you in making the underground environment more accessible to us all. Additionally, I know of no one whose passion for mines/mine history and so forth is greater than yours.

You have obviously anticipated the divisive element of your project and I am sure you will handle it well.

You are very clearly sincere in your endeavours, you have a solid provenance and I personally hope you are successful and also that your legacy endures long beyond our own time.

:)

Ian Adams

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Tony is a true wind up merchant I wouldn't take to heart what he has said.

Yes, and he also a character, and what dull boring old world it be without characters. I didn't take it to heart, Tony is an old mate, he does this sort of thing on purpose, I rather fancy a bit tonge in cheek.
He has probably defused a potential situation.

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Roy, wishing you guys every success with this. I'm sure there will be significant geological benefits too!

I hope we can avoid a repeat of the fiasco that surrounded the organisation dealing with access to the Gwydyr forest mines.

The bun-fighting that ensued served nobody.

I have an idea what this is all about, and I for one am all for it.

For the record, I am also all for the Gwydyr efforts too.

Chris.

I'm in a club that controls access to a significant number of mines.

The operative word is 'access' rather than 'control'.

Better to have to wait to get down a mine than never get down it.

I wish you all the best, Roy.

Given that it's Roy, who has, as has been said, done a metric shitload of work off his own back, and never asked for anything in return, or dictated who can have access. I'm fine with it.

It's totally different to the "bunfight" over the Gwydyr, and that's an issue that should probably stay in a separate topic.

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On the 10th November the Trust was given full membership of NAMHO and will be organising the underground trips on the NAMHO 2013 field meet.
The intention is to offer trips in locations different to those back in 2002. Places such as Alltycrib, Henfwlch, Brynyrafr, Camdwrbach and a few others occur.
Of course certain old favourites such as Ystrad Einion will also be on the list as well as some others if access can be arranged.

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Having seen your hard efforts at first hand Roy I'm sure this will be a total success, I wish you all the best!

I agree, Roy has worked tirelessly on various projects all around the country and never been dictatorial about who should benefit from his efforts.
On behalf of the Cornish crew I wish him every success in his endeavours, and perhaps Cambrian Mines Trust will act as a beacon to others. Its ten out of ten from me. :thumbsup:

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Steady on - if you flatter Roy any more, his ego won't fit through his digs.

Chris.