MEMBERS of the St Austell Old Cornwall Society learned more about interesting people from the county’s past at their latest meeting.

Trevor Smitheram, from Hayle, presented a talk to the society which meets at White River Community Church.

A spokesperson said: “Trevor gave a talk entitled ‘Some interesting people in the history of West Cornwall’ and had us all completely enthralled with his knowledgeable and enthusiastic style.

“He included some well-known figures such as Humphrey Davy, the chemist and inventor of the miner’s safety lamp (which is used to transport the Olympic flame around the world, even onboard aircraft), Rowena Cade, the founder of the Minack Theatre, and John Passmore Edwards, the newspaper owner and MP who gave money for libraries and art galleries in Cornwall.

“He also included some less well-known figures such as Henry Trengrouse, the inventor of the rocket apparatus to help save lives from shipwrecks, and Elizabeth Carne, a geologist in the early period of its development as a scientific study and the first woman to be elected a member of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.

“His talk ended bringing us up to date with the story of Rick Rescorla, the hero of the 9.11 attacks in New York, who was brought up in Hayle and who worked as security adviser at the World Trade Centre. On the day of the attacks, he successfully evacuated over 2,700 of Morgan Stanley’s employees before losing his own life when the South Tower collapsed.”

At the meeting, Ian Kestle reported that, after nearly three years of work, a plaque is in place at St Austell Railway Station commemorating the old pedestrian bridge, which is now preserved on the Helston railway.

The next meeting is on March 9 at 7.30pm, when Lyndon Allen will speak on “The War Years – Mevagissey to Lostwithiel and the Clays.”