So, I should probably introduce myself. I’m Ellie, I’m 46, and I’ve lived in Redruth for about six years. I moved here just before Covid hit and, to be honest, at first I didn’t love it.
During the pandemic, living in Cornwall, my Facebook feed was full of stories about unwelcome visitors – including Gordon Ramsay. Being new to town and mixed race, which wasn’t very common here at the time, I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb. I worried about leaving my flat (which had no natural light at all) in case someone accused me of being on holiday rather than actually living here. It never happened, of course… but you get the idea.
Post Covid…
When lockdown finally lifted, we began exploring. I was lucky: two of my close friends had moved to town around the same time, along with someone I only vaguely knew who would later become one of my besties. At first, Redruth didn’t exactly welcome us with open arms – we travelled in a pack and were met with curiosity, and sometimes trepidation. But we stuck at it. Within six months, the stares stopped, people became friendlier, and we began to feel part of the Redruth community.
Redruth felt different from other places I’d lived. Truro was busy by day but dead by night, nowhere to really connect or find “your people.” Newquay was the opposite: lively to the point of chaos for at least half the year. (I still tell the story of my son and me encountering a man in a mankini and gimp mask at 10am on a Sunday morning.)
Here in Redruth, once you’re in, you’re basically in. You will never be a “local” in some people’s eyes, unless your parents were born here, but you can walk down the street and see familiar faces. Your “tribe” can include people with very different views from your own. You’re no longer stuck in a Facebook echo chamber; you get to know people as whole human beings, not just by the things they disagree with.
But the longer I lived here, the more I realised that not everyone experienced it that way. Redruth can be quite siloed, people often stick to their own areas and circles. And let’s be honest: Camborne and Redruth have never had the best reputation in Cornwall.
Nothing was straightforward…
That made the idea of “making Redruth better” feel complicated. I worried about gentrification, and I felt strongly that whatever happened here, it had to protect the things that make Redruth unique and special.
And that is what drove me to join the Town Council.