CORNWALL’S weather has beaten The Man Engine - the visit of the giant mechanical tribute to Cornish mining to Lostwithiel on Easter Monday has been cancelled because of waterlogged ground.

The Man Engine will now appear at The Royal Cornwall Showground, Wadebridge, on Easter Monday (April 2), as part of his Resurrection Tour.

Waterlogged ground on the King George V Playing Fields and similar issues on the surrounding land that had been allocated for public parking facilities forced the decision.  

Golden Tree Productions, the makers of the Man Engine, has contacted everyone who has pre-bought tickets for the Lostwithiel events, via their ticket partners TicketHive, to inform them that their tickets are now valid for all the other Man Engine events in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. 

All they need to do is follow the link in their email, to a form, to reselect the location of their choice on each purchased ticket. 

The alternative Man Engine locations are: Geevor Tin Mine (Pendeen), Heartlands (Camborne), the Royal Cornwall Events Centre (Wadebridge), Bedford Car Park (Tavistock) or Radstock in Somerset.

All re-registered tickets are barcoded and once changed, will be accepted at the chosen other venue.

If people are not able to rearrange their plans, a full refund is available by following the link emailed out to all Lostwithiel ticket buyers.

People can call 01209 697606 to be put through to Golden Tree Productions with general enquiries, or speak with TicketHive about their ticket refund. People can also contact Golden Tree Productions directly on [email protected] with general enquiries.

Will Coleman, the creator of The Man Engine and founder of Golden Tree Productions, said: ‘You wouldn’t think a bit of Cornish mizzle, or even a lot of it, would stop our ‘Big Boy’ being able to roll into Cornwall’s original Stannary town would you?  And indeed it would not. 

‘But as everyone knowns, we’ve seen some unbelievable weather in these parts over the last couple of months, with more heavy rain forecast over the next week, and unfortunately the King George V Playing Fields in Lostwithiel, and the land where our planned parking was, is completely waterlogged. 

‘It’s now highly unlikely that it will dry out in time for Easter Monday and we can’t guarantee that we’d be able to go ahead there.

‘So rather than wait until the last minute, and have to regrettably cancel, we have moved both our ‘Afternooner’ and ‘Afterdarker’ events on Easter Monday to the Royal Cornwall Events Centre, where all of these challenges are eradicated. 

‘We were all very much looking forward to revisiting Lostwithiel, and we know that this move will cause hassle for people having to re-plan travel for themselves and their families, and for that we’re most sorry.  But we really hope people will understand our predicament and reschedule their day to either head up to Wadebridge or one of our other Cornish, Devon or Somerset stops.’

Lostwithiel Mayor Pam Jarrett said: ‘We are all deeply sorry that we are not going to be seeing the Man Engine in the centre of Lostwithiel this time around. 

‘We all have emotional memories of his visit in 2016 and were very much looking forward to having him in our midst, however, none of us have been able to confirm that the site for both the event itself, and the surrounding parking, will be in full, safe use, due to the flooding we have been experiencing.’