2026 Social Meetings
Monday 16 March 2026
This month's talk is titled 'A career in Forensic Psychiatry.'
Dr Tim McInerny gave us a talk about his career as a Forensic Psychiatrist and the treatment of violence and mental disorder in serious offenders, illustrating his talk through accounts of high-profile cases he has dealt with during his work.
Monday 16 February 2026
AGM followed by two short videos on Cornwall sites.
Monday 19 January 2026
The talk was on the Cornish Diaspora by Michael Leech.
2025 Social Meetings
Monday 16 December 2025
Our December social had a festive flavour with mince pies and mulled wine (non-alcoholic!).
Monday 17 November 2025
The speaker was LINDA CAMIDGE, who is a well known local historian; and the subject was 'Pools on (and under) the Prom'.
Monday 20 October 2025
Our speaker was Trevor Smitheram who talked about famous people that lived and worked in this area such as Richard Trevithick, Humphrey Davy, Rowena Cade, Rick Rescorla etc.
Monday 15 September 2025
Our guest speaker was Lorraine Downes, who is a tour guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and gives talks at Tate St Ives.
No social meeting was held in August during the summer break.
Monday 21 July 2025
Our July speaker was a volunteer from Cornwall Blood Bikes.
Monday 16 June 2025
June's talk featured Penzance u3a member Jonathan Harradine, who is a Research Fellow and Business Mentor in the Health Sciences Faculty, at the University of York. Jonathan's talk was titled: ‘The Power of the Human Brain’.
Monday 19 May 2025
May's talk was given by one of our members, Susan Horner, who is a member of the Penzance Food Bank Management Committee.
Susan gave a short talk about the history and organisation of the Food Bank. This provides essential weekly food for needy people across the area and is a lifeline for adults, children and their pets. It is run almost entirely by volunteers on a daily basis and has been commended recently by our local MP, Andrew George. Unlike other organisations, clients have to seek a referral and food is provided for six weeks while they try to help them get the necessary support they need.
Monday 28 April 2025
April's talk was on given by one of our members, David Puddifoot, titled 'The Photo Archive at Morrab Library'.
The photo archive at the Morrab Library has a vast collection of images which focus on Penzance and West Penwith but includes photographs from other parts of Cornwall and, indeed, the world. The earliest photos are from the 1850s and there are many images from the Victorian and Edwardian eras and the more recent past. The volunteers, who are led by David, are engaged in conserving and digitising the collection. David showed attendees a selection of photos from the archive which engaged their interest and emotions, and stimulated a few memories.
Monday 17 March 2025
The Speaker at our March Social was Dr Helen Angel, whose talk was entitled "Wellbeing", discussed how to live a healthy, happy and long life.
Monday 17 February 2025
At this meeting the Annual General Meeting was held.
Monday 20 January 2025
Our first talk in 2025 was given by John Swarbrooke, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Pendeen Community Heritage/Geevor Tine Mine.
2024 Social Meetings
Monday 15 December 2025
Our December social had a festive flavour with mince pies and mulled wine (non-alcoholic!).
Monday 18th November 2024
Our treasurer Stephen Bennetts gave us an illustrated talk at the November Social entitled “The Last Englishman”. A short biography of a rather eccentric and brave gentleman.
Monday 21st October 2024
Anna McClary, a well-known tour guide of Penzance, gave us a talk about ten of the best loved historic buildings in the town.
Monday 16th September
The speaker at our social on Monday, 16 September was Barbara Kirk, the well known local auctioneer based at The Harbour Saleroom, Penzance. Barbara has had a 40 year career in antique dealing and auctioneering. She spoke about her career and brought along a few items that have a special significance for her.
Please note: There is no social meeting held during the school holidays in August.
Monday 15th July
Ian Vinnicombe, the Station Manager of NCI Gwennap Head, spoke about the history and development of The National Coastwatch Institution, and in particular NCI Gwennap Head, and the work that is done as part of the Search and Rescue organisation. The institution was formed in 1994 and is celebrating the 30th anniversary this year. There are now 60 Coastwatch stations around the UK with over 2,700 uniformed volunteers involved. Ian has an enjoyable PowerPoint presentation with plenty of photos to show the audience.
Monday 17th June
A talk given by Vickie Hugh-Jones.
Vickie Hugh-Jones took us on a journey through the Antarctic wilderness. Having skied to the South Pole in 2004, she brought to life what it’s like to be on expedition in the coldest and windiest continent on earth.
Monday 20th May
A talk given by Richard Cockram, Chair of the Newlyn Archive.
NEWLYN TIDAL OBSERVATORY
In the late 19th Century the Government became aware that the quality of our maps was falling behind the accuracy needed in an age of road and railway building. Heights and gradients need to be based on a well- recognised base or datum and that is Mean Sea Level. In order to establish that, regular readings of sea level were taken at three sites between 1915 and 1921 and were averaged. This is the story of why Newlyn’s data was selected as MSL for mainland UK and how the Newlyn Observatory has been maintained ever since, resulting in one of the longest, continuous records of sea level changes in the world. On Ordnance Survey maps, MSL is referred to as Ordnance Datum Newlyn.
Monday 15th April
A light-hearted and amusing talk given by Stephen Bennetts about a notorious doctor put on trial at the Old Bailey for murdering a patient, and he may even have murdered over a hundred and sixty more!
Monday 18th March
This talk was given by David Gregory who is in charge of our local Penzance Memory Cafe.
Monday February 19th
AGM followed by a quiz.
Monday January 15th
Reprising their Literary Festival presentation, Penwith Local History Group presented a medley of topics from 1217 when trial by jury replaced its grisly predecessor, to 1946, when children arrived in Penzance from war-torn Holland.