Helston Town Council attended a tree-planting ceremony at a park in the town on Tuesday in memory of a Cornish icon.
Mayor Tim Grattan-Kane, Helston Town Councillors, and the Town Council Grounds Team gathered in Cades Parc to plant the memorial tree of John Passmore Edwards.
The tree is one of 20 supplied by Cornwall Council as part of the Forest for Cornwall initiative. Trees have been supplied to each of the local councils that have one of the 20 public buildings Passmore Edwards funded in Cornwall.
John Passmore Edwards was a Cornish Journalist and philanthropist who provided money for 70 public buildings across Cornwall and London, all for free use by members of the public.
During the Victorian period, the working classes, which included thousands of Cornish miners, farm workers, fishermen and other labourers, often struggled to afford good education and healthcare.
Passmore Edwards campaigned for better facilities for poorer people and when he realised that other politicians were not very interested, he used his own money to provide these facilities.
READ MORE: Festival of events to celebrate 200th anniversary of Cornish "hero"
One of those buildings was the Passmore Edwards Science and Art School which is located on Penrose Road. It was then extended to become Helston County Secondary School and is now the home of the contemporary art space, CAST.
Events are taking place from March to November, in Cornwall and across the south of the country, to mark the bicentenary of Passmore Edwards.
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