BBC Cornwall’s Donna Birrell featured Camborne Youth Band’s historic trip to France and Belgium over August 2018 Bank Holiday weekend.
PC Dave Wilton of Camborne laid a wreath on the grave of Thomas Penhorwood, a Newquay policeman in the Royal Army Medical Corps who was shot in the head collecting wounded from No Man’s Land during the battle of Aubers Ridge in May 1915.
The Band was following in the footsteps of Cornish miners from Dolcoath who signed up in 1914 and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps under local doctor William Blackwood. They visited Estaires, where the men were stationed and famously played three rugby games in spring 1915.
Corey Willliams, the great great grandson of one of these men, is in the Band and was carrying his bugle. The Band presented town officials with a rugby ball signed by current Devon and Cornwall teams and laid wreaths by the war memorial, after playing the Last Post on the historic bugle. They then played a concert in the local park. On Sunday 26 August, they had the great honour of being invited to play at the Menin Gate, Ypres.
Estaires communications wizard Tony Haverland made these two videos which caught a flavour of the day in Estaires. This was part of our project PLAYING FOR CAMBORNE, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. There’ll be an exhibition about it all at Heartlands, Pool, opening on 11 October 2018.
Here’s a video of the Band presenting the rugby ball, then playing by the war memorial.
