26.02.07
Camborne School of Mines brings the Bottle home to Cornwall

One of the oldest sports trophies in the country, and certainly one of the most unusual, was brought back to Cornwall by a victorious Camborne School of Mines (CSM) yesterday. The historic Bottle is now back in Cornwall for the first time since 1996.

CSM beat London-based Royal School of Mines (RSM) 5-3 in a rugby match known as the 'Bottle Match', held on Saturday in west London. Though the Bottle was awarded for the men's rugby, CSM also won several other events, including the golf, ladies and men's hockey (5:1 & 5:1), football (6:1) and women's rugby (15:5).

"It was an emotional, exciting and rewarding victory," said CSM Sports Chair and student Mark Musgrave. "Every team member put in 100% and the RSM teams were very strong. It feels great to be bringing the Bottle back to Cornwall."

Now part of the University of Exeter and based at the Tremough Campus, Penryn, CSM has faced RSM in this annual sporting fixture every year since 1902. 2007 marks the 105th anniversary of the event, which now also includes golf, squash, hockey and football. 150 male and female students from Tremough travelled to London to compete in the two-day event.

This event adopted its strange name after the unusual prize given to the winning rugby team. The trophy, which first appeared in 1946, is a large tin bottle apparently acquired by RSM students from a Bass-Charington beer lorry.

The £100 million Tremough campus is a Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative of which the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth are two of the founding partners. It is funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council. Set in 70 acres of countryside, but close to the waterside towns of Penryn and Falmouth, the campus offers a lively student community. The University of Exeter in Cornwall is expanding its courses available to include Politics, Law and History to existing degrees in Mining Engineering, Geology, Biology, Geography, English and Renewable Energy.

For further information contact Sarah Hoyle of the University of Exeter on 01392 262062 or email S.Hoyle@exeter.ac.uk.

The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has invested in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) project, both Phase 1 and Phase 2, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). The University of Exeter is a partner of the CUC.

Editor's notes:

Clare Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mobile: 07973 813647
Telephone: 01872 223439

cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk

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