Cornwall Heritage Trust presents a free virtual Story Cafe with The Rowan Tree : Kolar’s Gold, led by Laura Garcia, Tom Fosten and Richard Trethewey.
Join us live on Zoom or our Facebook Page, as we listen to the fascinating account of their research into the forgotten stories of Cornish miners, their families and their Indian counterparts who lived and worked at Kolar Gold Fields from 1890-1940 and beyond.
The multi-media project, funded by a grant from Cornwall Heritage Trust, brings the forgotten stories alive in The Rowan Tree’s song-writing and music.
‘Although often invisible in the history of Cornish emigration, the Indian sub-continent in fact played a role of some significance in the Cornish diaspora’ Philip Payton, The Cornish Overseas
The Rowan Tree began researching the project in 2018, and received a grant from Cornwall Heritage Trust. They began to unearth a treasure trove of stories. As quickly as the incredible stories of hardship, heroism and adventure of Cornish miners and their Indian counterparts emerged, so dawned the realisation that their stories had been all but forgotten (in Cornwall at least).
Music was and is a huge part of life at the Kolar Gold Fields and The Rowan Tree project reflected that with new compositions, traditional Cornish and Indian folk music, songs, hymns and carols know to have been sung at KGF by Cornish miners. The resulting film and CD of recorded music was a collaboration with The Rowan Tree, Cornish musicians as well as musicians from the Kolar Gold Fields area, representing the different cultures that co-existed at Kolar Gold Fields.
There are 30 free places on the Zoom event which will take place on Thursday 25th March at 7.30pm.
Here is a link Eventbrite to book your place (you only need to do one per household):
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/kolars-gold-by-the-rowan-tree-tickets-145224230583
This story cafe will also be live streaming onto the Cornwall Heritage Trust Facebook page, and a recording will be available on our website the following week.
Our series of virtual Story Cafes have been kindly funded by Cornwall Community Foundation.
