This weekend, Camborne will come alive with dancing and music, in celebration of Cornwall’s culture and heritage.
Camborne’s Trevithick Day is a one-day festival, celebrating Cornish engineering and mining heritage. This community event has taken place on the last Saturday of April every year since 1984, and it is organised by a group of enthusiastic volunteers.
Highlights of this year’s Trevithick Day will be the morning dance, with Camborne schoolchildren dressed as bal maidens and miners; and the afternoon Trevithick’s Dance for adults, all wearing Cornish colours. Both are led by the Camborne Town Band, who will be playing Trevithick’s Tune composed by Cornish musician and bard, Geoff Self. The children’s dance will begin at 10.15am and the adult dance will take place at 2.15pm.
A steam engine parade will commemorate the first trials of Trevithick’s Road Carriage in Camborne in 1801. An event immortalised in the Cornish ballad Going Up Camborne Hill Coming Down. These words can be heard throughout the day, sung by Cornish choirs. Traditional Cornish music and dance is an important element of the celebrations; and the founder of Trevithick Day, Trevor Dalley, was made a Cornish Bard for ‘services to Cornish Culture’ in 1994.
For the event, every church and community hall will be hosting an exhibition, including arts, crafts, local history, engineering models, and a flower festival. In amongst the streets lined with stalls, there will be a diverse programme of entertainment by local Cornish-based people, including buskers, jugglers and magicians, suitable for the whole family.
In addition, the day will feature displays of steam engines and vintage vehicles, and four music stages.
When: 27th April 2019
Where: Camborne, Cornwall
£: Free
More info: trevithickday.org.uk
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