Reactions to the Saturday Conference from the sixty or so people in the audience to the variety and quality of the talks have been very favourable. Indeed, mining enthusiasts and mining historians who are familiar with the region and have been for many years e-mailed to say that they enjoyed the talks and that even they learnt something, representatives from the Vieille Montagne Company included.

Until the Anniversary weekend, the significance of the Nenthead-based company, that produced as it did 60% of the UK output of zinc, had been obscured by two world wars and the Wall Street Crash, but since the Conference the role of the VM now has a much higher profile, not only in the region but in the country.

Alston Moor Historical Society intends to publish the texts of the talks as soon as it can for the benefit of the wider world and as an incentive for further, European-wide, research.

The 120th Anniversary takes the form of a series of events to be held over the weekend of Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th August.

The programme for the weekend starts on SATURDAY with a CONFERENCE at Nenthead Village Hall of six VM related talks, with speakers from Germany, Italy, Belgium and today’s VM. On SUNDAY there is a series of GUIDED WALKS and a GALA that includes family-orientated activities.

There are also EXHIBITIONS about the VM that include work by pupils from the three schools of Alston Moor.