A piece of Cornwall's History in Camborne

All Saints Church Hall / New Community Centre 1845 – 2005

Built in beautiful red sandstone with fine feature windows and inner beams, this grade ll listed building is one of Tuckingmill’s best. Dating from 1845 it has a long history of working with the community, originally built from funds raised by local miners and the famous Basset family, it was used as the Parochial school providing education for the children of the parish and was used up until the changes in the education system when a new school was built for the community at Roskear.

Most of the children’s fathers would have worked in the local tin mines at that time, as this area was the world’s main source of high-grade tin. There was employment for all, but conditions were hard and life expectancy was short for many of the miners as they suffered from adverse medical conditions and injuries due to mining.
Tuckingmill, which has an identity all its own, lies sandwiched between Camborne and Redruth and was once a prosperous area. South Crofty, the last working tin mine in the world, provided the major source of employment for the area and its closure in 1998 came as a big blow to the local community. Industrial wealth of the area has all but gone with the closure of the mines, the gas works and the ICI fuse factory. The only large employer left was the Compair Holman Engineering works, however over the last twenty years its workforce dwindled from five thousand to less than three hundred finally closing in 2002.

The church took over the old school building and used it as a church hall until 1998. During this period various activities such as; Scouts, Beavers, Youth Club, Cycle Club, Table Tennis Club, Sunday School and meetings serving both the church and the community took place. Responsibility for the upkeep of the building remained with the church, through the PCC, but due to rising costs in upkeep over the years the building fell into disrepair forcing it to close. As the church did not have the necessary funds, to carry out the major refurbishment required, the then vicar Revd. Adrian Stringer decided to enter into a joint venture with the community to establish a community resource where every one could be involved and ultimately have access to excellent facilities.

Treve presenting picture on behalf of Board of Management to Katie Graham of Paul Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (Europe LLP) Solicitors & Registered Foreign Lawyers in London in thanks for their pro bono work for the centre.