News Archive

Clamped while fixing gas leak

A van attending a gas leak in St Austell has been clamped by a callous parking attendant — then emergency workers were forced to use sledgehammers to free their vehicles.
On Sunday, a Wales and West Utilities van and trailer was targeted by a Premier Park clamper at Old Vicarage Place while attending a gas leak.
The first van to arrive was told to park on the road by the clamper, but the second with a trailer was unable to do so without blocking the pedestrian crossing.
The van parked in the Premier Park patrolled car park and originally a car clamp was attached to the vehicle, but the Premier Park employee soon returned with two large van clamps.

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Green honeymoon for Strawbridge

Daisy’s famous pre-nuptial might have agreed to a bicycle made for two, but for the star of TV’s It isn’t Easy Being Green,  Tywardreath boy James Strawbridge and his new bride Holly, a two berth Eco gypsy caravan, towed by a vintage tractor, was the honeymoon transport of choice, writes Paul Williams.
The couple drew amazed looks, as well as exasperated stares, from scores of cars in their sedate wake as they made their stylish way around the start of an odyssey that sees them following the entire Cornish coastline.
James, son of heavily moustachioed father Dick, met his TV producer future wife on the set of a programme that she was working on — appropriately called Tractor Factor — two years ago.

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Gorsedd for St Austell

THE MOST important cultural event in the Cornish calendar could be coming to St Austell.
St Austell Town Council has agreed in principle for the town to stage the Cornish Gorsedd in 2015.
The annual event, which is held to promote Cornish culture, usually attracts up to 5,000 people. The Gorsedd offers an opportunity to celebrate the host town’s Cornish identity as well as promote the town to the rest of Cornwall and to visitors.
It is accompanied by a range of cultural events leading up to the main ceremonies.

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Schools seek academy status

TWO  St Austell schools have registered an interest in breaking away from Cornwall Council control and running their own affairs.
Penrice Community College and Sandy Hill Community Primary School are looking at the possibility after the Government offered the chance for schools across the country to become academies.
The move would allow the schools to set their own syllabus, scrap the National Curriculum, change the timings of the school day and holiday as well as set their own pay and conditions for staff.
The schools will be given a key official who will guide them through the process,  which could see them break free from the local authority as early as the new school year in September because those rated as ‘outstanding’ have the potential to be fast tracked.

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Duck pond hate campaign

A local leisure park has been targeted in an anonymous hate campaign.
Posters were recently erected around Par Duck Pond accusing Snowland Leisure Group of damaging the St Andrew’s Road nature reserve and the duck pond.
The posters tell members of the public that Snowland are illegally felling trees in the nature reserve, with 20 per cent already lost so far, and they have dumped building rubble in the reed beds, polluting the water systems, driving out the wildlife, and causing irreparable damage to the eco systems.
Snowland are also accused of contaminating the area with Japanese Knotweed, and the anonymous poster explains that they are doing this “just to put more caravans illegally on Cornwall owned land” and they intend to “take over the whole reserve for development”.

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Evacuees return to Pentewan

LAST week marked a very special anniversary for ten VIPs visiting Pentewan.
The retired collective were celebrating the 70th anniversary of being evacuated to the village during the height of the German blitz on London and other major towns and cities during the Second World war.
The reunion was the brainchild of former evacuee Derrick Finch. Mr Finch, a sprightly 78-year-old, attended last year’s 70th anniversary of the start of the evacuation at St Paul's Cathedral in London. His memoirs of staying at the small seaside village had just been published as a small book entitled For I Was A Stranger (And You Took Me In). This sparked the idea of a local reunion back in Cornwall.
He set about rounding up his contemporaries, many of who he hadn't seen since returning to London during the war.

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Call for town museum

St Austell Town Council are attempting to set up a working group to explore options for a museum in St Austell.
At a Community Committee meeting last Monday, Valerie Jacobs, president of the St Austell Old Cornwall Society, gave a presentation to the council about the society's desire for a museum or a heritage centre in the town.
Mrs Jacobs felt that St Austell, with its deep history, needed a museum or heritage centre, and has been looking at possible premises including Pondu House and the Market House.
The idea, which has been banded around for years, was well supported by the Town Council, who are now trying to set up a working group to explore options for a museum in St Austell, and links to the Tourist Information Centre, and the Wheal Martyn and Brewery museums.

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Council looks at Meva parking problems

A Cornwall Councillor will be visiting Mevagissey next month to discuss parking issues with a group of frustrated residents.
Graeme Hicks, Cabinet Member for Transportation and Highways, will visit the village on July 5 and meet with a residents parking forum to gain a better understanding of their problems.
Currently residents with no garage or parking space on their property have to pay in a car park or leave their cars on the outer part of the village and walk, particularly difficult for people with children and the elderly.
The resident’s parking forum was set up by solicitor and Mevagissey resident, Pinky Baria, to find a solution to their parking problems.

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Donkey beach plan for town centre

St Austell taxpayers have been asked to fork out cash to create an artificial beach in the town centre — only 1.5 miles from the nearest real beach.
The scheme would see a large play beach, provided by a specialist company, in Aylmer Square at the cost of £15,000 for two weeks.
If the pricey idea becomes reality, from August 18 to September 1, Aylmer Square will be home to a marquee containing a beach complete with sand, deck chairs, beach huts, a paddling pool and toys.
The original budget for the event — , proposed by former Cornish Guardian reporter Zoe Bordeaux — was an extraordinary £26,000 for two beaches.

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Haunted pub set to close

TIME could be called on one of St Blazey's best known landmarks.
The Cornish Arms in St Blazey is under offer and looks likely to cease trading as a pub.
The Church Street hostelry, a former coaching inn, has been a familiar sight next to the village church for more than 80 years.
It's believed that a local builder has put an offer in to St Austell Brewery, the owners of the building, for the freehold. That offer has been accepted (subject to contract) and it's believed that the purchaser plans to convert the premises into private dwellings and apartments.

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