News Archive

Bumps in the night at St Dennis

BUMPS in the night and spine-tingling spooks have forced St Dennis Social Club to call in a psychic after eerie orbs were caught on CCTV haunting the bar.  
Doors barricaded shut have mysteriously opened by themselves, glasses have suddenly been flung from worktops and footsteps in the dark have been tormenting staff late at night.
Now the club has resorted to the help of spiritual medium, Donna Robinson, after catching ghostly spectres on film.
Peter Yorke, vice chairman of the club, said the eerie goings on have got worse since the club was refurbished.
He said: “Over time we have had a few things pop up and the staff have said this happened or that happened.
“We have just had a major refurbishment and since that the odd thing has been happening late at night that we have no explanation for.
“For instance when Margaret is clearing up she will hear someone walk down the skittle alley even though she knows she’s the only one in the building.

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First floods of winter

Just weeks before the anniversary of last year’s floods, some areas in St Austell faced disaster once again as a month’s worth of rain fell in just one day on Monday.
Flood Alerts were issued by the Environment Agency on Sunday evening for St Austell, Par and Fowey Rivers, with flooding possible in Pentewan, St Blazey, Luxulyan, Lanivet and Lostwithiel.
But while a few properties in Mevagissey were flooded, as well as roads in parts of Roche and Trewoon, and sewage spilled in Par as drains blocked and popped up, the scale of flooding was minor compared with last November’s deluge.
The ground floor of the Core Building at the Eden Project was closed so that water that had entered the building could be mopped up. Rivers in the area rose, with Molingey and Luxulyan reaching a level where flooding was possible. The Ship Inn in Mevagissey was flooded just eight months after fully being up and running following last years floods.
Kim Barker, owner of the Ship Inn at Mevagissey and Pentewan, said: “We were up to eight and a half inches of water at Mevagissey.

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College calls for Jemma support

Last week’s shock announcement that St Austell Olympian Jemma Simpson was to have her elite Lottery sports funding withdrawn by UK Athletics — with less than a year to go before the London games — has prompted swift action from Cornwall College sports boss Russell Lawrance.
He’s leading a call to arms for local businesses to join Cornwall College in providing financial support for the three times British champion.
Jemma, 27, despite being plagued by injuries during the last year, recently posted another Olympic qualifying time in the 800metres, and represented Britain in the Bejing Olympics as well as the last two Commonwealth Games.
An outraged Mr Lawrance explained: “This is a slap in the face to all athletes that we don’t have the confidence to back our top sports people. The timing of this announcement is absurd and unjust. She is a world class athlete who like many others has had a season plagued by injuries.

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Town prepares for Carnival

As this year’s eagerly anticipated Torchlight Carnival rapidly approaches, youngsters and their parents joined forces with Eden artisans at the first of the now familiar lantern workshops at White River Place.
Each Saturday until the carnival, the empty unit next to TK Maxx becomes the home of candlelight alchemy as skinny willow branches are teased into shape to become the elegant framework, before being covered with their gossamer thin tissue paper top coat.
This age old art has remained virtually unchanged in thousands of years and still holds a magnetic attraction for the youngsters as they set about putting their own individual stamp on each unique masterpiece.
The Torchlight Carnival is on Saturday, November 19, and as always begins in the grounds of Cornwall College.

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Mum foils child abduction attempt

POLICE are trying to trace a man in connection with a suspected attempted child abduction in St Austell last Tuesday afternoon.
The man is suspected of trying to grab a three-year-old boy as he walked with his mother on Menear Road at around 3.10pm.
Police said the 23-year-old woman was walking to Bishop Bronescombe school on Tuesday afternoon with her son when she noticed a man in the road.
The woman told police that she tried to walk past him, but he then walked in front of her and was hanging around.
She then went to pass him again when she felt the strap of her handbag being tugged and pulled away.
The man let go and allegedly went to pick up her son, but was thwarted after she punched him in the face.
Police said they had carried out house to house inquiries to ascertain if anyone saw anything.
The man is described as being in his early twenties, around 5ft 10, of medium build with broad shoulders, freckles and strawberry blonde or ginger eyebrows.
He was wearing blue jeans and a grey hooded top at the time of the incident.

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Court victory for incinerator campaigners

THE ONGOING saga of the St Dennis incinerator has taken a fresh turn this week as campaigners prepare for the next step in their fight to stop plans for a mass burner in the village.
St Dennis residents were overjoyed last week after the High Court quashed a decision by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to allow planning for the incinerator.
But their victory was quickly tempered by the possibility of a further legal challenge to the High Court ruling as Cornwall Council complained the judgement would be “financially disastrous for the people of Cornwall”.
Council officials warned that it is costing £1m a month in haulage and landfill taxes to deal with the county's waste.
But campaigners have accused the council of “scaremongering” over their “back-of-the-fag-packet calculations”.
Now the St Dennis branch of the Cornwall Waste Forum has called on Cornwall Council for immediate talks to explore alternatives to the proposed incinerator.
“We have a rare window of opportunity to build bridges with Cornwall Council,” said chair of the forum, Ken Rickard. 

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Blooming awards for town gardeners

Green-fingered enthusiasts from St Austell and St Blaise were rewarded for their gardening skills during a ceremony at the Eden Project last week.
Gardeners from across Cornwall came together last Wednesday to celebrate Cornwall in Bloom, an initiative to encourage neighbourhoods to work together to improve gardens and open space. 66 entries were received this time — twice as many as last year.
Seven groups were presented with their Cornwall in Bloom awards and a cheque for £250 by Cornwall Council Chairman Pat Harvey.
St Blaise Hands Together Residents Association were one of the seven, taking home the ‘Good-bye to Grot Spots’ award. ‘Best Eco-Initiative’ award went to St Austell's Gainsborough Park Residents Association.
Other groups were awarded certificates to recognise their hard work and achievements. The Friends of Linear Park took home a ‘Budding Award’ to go with their Level 2 improving award from South West in Bloom and St Austell Allotment Friends took home a ‘Sprouting Award’.

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Zombie workshop at Market House

In the fetid, dank, dark bowels of the spooky Market House, top horror make up man Ryan Coyle brought his heinously dark box of cadaver-enticing treats to test the stagnant haemoglobin rich pool of adolescent Zombie wannabes as they prepared for St Austell’s inaugural Zombie Crawl at the end of the month.
First up for the man in black’s hideous schlock horror box of tricks was 12 year old Saffron Tyler. The raven haired teenage Goth may look to the dark side for fashion tips but her trip into hell was guaranteed when he reached for the latex…..within seconds the peeling skin of the undead had replaced her unblemished skin, and the rotting stench of Hollywood gore had become her skins new foundation trip into the Twilight Zone.
A seriously cool look, as a small taster of the night of the Living Dead due in down town St Austell this Halloween.

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Treviscoe dead end for lorries

LOST lorry drivers are causing chaos for residents in one Treviscoe street as up to six heavy goods vehicles a week keep getting stuck in their cul-de-sac.
For around five years articulated trucks have been making an unscheduled pit stop in Barton Road on their way to the nearby China Clay site.
After negotiating the narrow estate, drivers are forced to come to a grinding halt as they hit a dead end before spending up to one hour trying to reverse back out onto the main road.
SatNavs and the absence of signs to warn drivers to avoid the road have been pinpointed as the key to their troubles by angry residents.
Householders said they have become prisoners in their own homes as they are blocked in while lorries struggle to find a way out of the cul-de-sac.
Resident Cath Goodman said: “Drivers are getting lost on their way to the Imery’s Parkandillick site and coming into our road which is a cul-de-sac. They drive right down to the bottom and then they can’t get out. They have to reverse these huge lorries all the way back past lots of parked cars and it’s an absolute nightmare for us.

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Scott Mills on the run through St Austell

Within seconds of somebody ‘tweeting’, hundreds flocked to Fore Street on Saturday to get a glimpse of Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, who was making an unannounced shopping trip to St Austell — hardly surprising really, since the amiable Mr Mills nurtures nearly 500,000 followers on his Twitter account.
The Voice, of course, was on the spot to ask the darling of the airwaves why he was here.
“I’m staying in St Austell tonight because I’m running the Eden half marathon tomorrow and thought I would check out the place as I’ve never visited before,” he said.
 “My first impression is — what a great town! I can see that it’s currently undergoing a facelift in the main street, which is already starting to look good. I also popped round to the new shopping centre and dived into TK Maxx to buy some clothes.”

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