The year was 1985. Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, The Cure were playing Cornwall Coliseum, Live Aid was rocking Wembley Stadium and EastEnders had just made its debut on our screens.
Those were the days when Cornwall was a very long way from anywhere, a holiday destination for the lucky few that involved spending hours on a single lane A30 right through the Duchy.
It was the year our sister paper, the West Briton, turned 175 years old and to celebrate, our erstwhile colleagues produced a rather special edition of the paper.
Titled Towards 2010 in a sci-fi film font and featuring a black-and-white picture of two children holding hands looking up to Goonhilly ’s satellite dish on the Lizard , the supplement was recently dug out by a reader in Carnon Downs and shared with us.
Some of it is eerily realistic.
"The two-year plan to build a wave-harnessing machine around Land's End has finally been finished," wrote one author. "The brains behind the project... explained at a Press conference that he hoped the project would account for at least a quarter of Cornwall's energy needs."
By 2010, plans were in place for the £42million Wave Hub project off the coast of Hayle - aimed at generating thousands of kilowatts of electricity for Cornwall. Sadly, after six years out at sea, it has not produced a single watt and has been dubbed a 'White Elephant'.
Other predictions were, thankfully, a little further from the mark.
'Tamar Bridge collapses' reads one. 'Death of last badger' says another. 'Terror plant grabs home' is a third headline over a cartoon drawing of a Triffid-style plant wrapped around a house.
Other headlines suggest Cornwall's cafe staff have been replaced by robots, cars no longer have drivers but are instead steered on autopilot and there's a 'hover' system to the Isles of Scilly.
In reality, by 2010 any form of transport to the islands was hanging by a thread as plans for a new Isles of Scilly sea link had split Penzance in two and were eventually shelved completely.
Seven predictions from 1985 for Cornwall that did actually come true
1. Second homes
"During the next 25 years Cornwall is likely to continue to be a very popular area for people of all ages to live in,"wrote a housing expert in 1985. "The trend to have second homes/holiday homes in the county is likely to continue to grow."
The population of the county has actually boomed from 440,000 in 1985 to 550,000 today. Second homes have become a growing issue for the duchy, with St Ives leading a ban on new second
2. Out of town shopping
A retail expert from 1985 said out-of-town retail parks would continue to sprout everywhere in the county while 'telephone shopping' would become a reality.
Every major town in Cornwall has at least one out-of-town retail park. Substitute 'telephone shopping' for 'online shopping' and it's bang on.
3. Mining
John Brock, the president of the Cornish Mining Development Association and chairman of the China Clay Council in 1985, wrote an essay about the future of the China clay and tin mining industries.
He wrote: "Prospecting is essential and consideration must be given to abandoned mines. Capital must be available and the industry must ensure that there is confidence in its future as it does today."
South Crofty mine – the last tin mine in Cornwall – went into serious decline after 1985 and closed in 1998. Efforts to reopen it are now under way. There are also attempts to reopen Redmoor Mine in north Cornwall.
But prospecting is now gathering pace, not just for tin but for lithium, with Cornwall’s full potential coming to the fore thanks to modern satellite, 3D modelling and computer technologies.
4. Computers
In 1985 George Hoare, from the CBI Cornwall Group, predicted advances in computers and telecommunications would transform the way we work and "reduce Cornwall's geographical disadvantage".
Superfast broadband has since swept through the county which is leading the way in game design, software development, AI and crowdfunding.
5. Geothermal
The first geothermal energy tests were being carried out in 1985. It never went anywhere but 2019 will be the year energy production from hot rocks begins at United Downs and the Jubilee Pool in Penzance becomes an all-year-round geothermal pool.
6. Food and farming
Stephen Dingle, then chairman of the Cornwall National Farmers' Union, talked of auto-cattle and auto-sheep in 1985 and suggested food production would be concentrated into food factories.
In actual fact, he may be surprised to see comparatively how little farming has changed in the past 30 years. That said, we do now have robots harvesting on some farms in Cornwall and agritech has become one of the key focuses for the future of farming in Cornwall.
7. The workplace
Apparently, in 2010 we would have so much time on our hands we would not know what to do with it.
The West Briton editor of the day had a rather optimistic view of conditions in the workplace when he wrote: "Gone will be the days when a man or woman laboured for 40 odd years, retired at 60 or 65 only to die of boredom within a couple of years. In 2010 we are all going to have a lot more leisure time."
Ah.
In other news...
The West Briton invited pupils at Hayle School to mock up a front page of what they thought the news would be about in 2010.
Natasha Dale predicted Prince William would visit Penzance with his wife to launch a hovercraft service to the Isles of Scilly . William and Kate were married in 2011.
Cerys Sims and Tracey Jose predicted the collapse of the Tamar Bridge . In December, Cornwall Council Cabinet member Geoff Brown told councillors there was a need to hike tolls by 33% so maintenance can be carried out or the bridge could collapse.
Joanne Butler wrote about chaos as a food robot served the wrong item in a café while David Toman reported outrage at the news that hotpot had replaced the pasty as people’s favourite food.
There was outrage from four of the pupils at the very thought that hot pot had killed off the pasty, with one in 10 children not having ever tasted Cornwall's delicacy. Crazy right!?
But most interestingly, Caroline Hampson and Mandy Sheers predicted Cornwall would become independent by 2010 with 90% of voters deciding the Duchy would be better off on its own.
