Monday, April 18, 2005

Report of Portreath Parish Council

Traffic Calming

It is hoped that, by the time that this publication is distributed to
residents, work will have commenced on the traffic calming measures to
be implemented by the County Council in Penberthy Road This will
involve the installation of 'speed humps' along the length of
Penberthy Road and various other methods of traffic calming which,
hopefully, will reduce the speed of traffic along this very busy
highway, particularly in the vicinity of the School.

Footpaths

The attention of the County Council has been drawn to the damage being
caused to the surface of the Mineral Tramway at Bridge where heavy
vehicles have been crossing this footpath/cycleway to gain access to
the recently widened St Anne's Lane. Residents have been very
concerned not only by the damage being caused to the path but to the
possible danger to walkers and cyclists using the Mineral Tramway.
The Parish Council has been in contact with Mineral Tramways Warden
and Councillors have been informed that it is anticipated that the
County Council will carry out some improvements to
the surface and drainage during the coming financial year. The
legality of the right of access to the lower section of St. Anne's
Lane is being investigated by the County Council.

Due to the unsafe nature of the coastal footpath a 400 metre section
of the path adjacent to Lighthouse Hill Playing Field has been closed
for a period of 6 months. Consequently the Lighthouse hill car park
will not be opened for the time being.

RAF Portreath

Approval has now been granted by the county Council to the carrying
out of the remediation of contaminated land by the Ministry of Defence
at RAF Portreath. This will comprise the construction of on-site
engineered landfill, construction of secondary waste transfer station
and associated works. Stringent Health and Safety measures,
controlled traffic routes, etc., have been imposed in respect of the
works including the restoration of the landfill site by 31st December
2009

Parish Precept

As reported in the previous issue of the Parish Tram, Members of the
Council gave very careful consideration to the setting of the Parish
Precept for the coming Financial Year and, as a result of careful
budgeting, the tax levy for a Band D property in Portreath Parish is
the lowest in the whole
Kerrier District area.

Public Toilets

Again, as reported in the previous issue of the Parish Tram, the
unlocking of the toilets caused a problem, particularly over the long
Christmas period, as Kerrier District Council employees were not
authorised to carry out the unlocking of the toilets in the mornings.
However, it was agreed, as a matter of urgency, that the local person
who carries out the locking of the toilets on behalf of this Council
on a daily basis, would also unlock over this period and that the cost
would be borne by the Parish Council. As the weather over the very
long Christmas holiday period was very good there were a large number
of visitors to the Village and Members of the Council felt that the
toilets should be available during this time.

Greenfield Gardens

As Members of the Parish Council have become more and more concerned
regarding the unkempt condition of Greenfield Gardens an approach has
been made to Kerrier District Council to investigate the possibility
of the leasing of the Gardens. This would enable this Council, upon
obtaining a satisfactory lease, to make an application for a
Liveability Grant to carry out much needed improvements and upgrading
of the Gardens. At the present time investigations into the various
aspects of a possible lease and the financing of the future
maintenance of the Gardens are proceeding.

Due to the very unsafe condition of the closed toilets in Greenfield
Gardens the demolition of this building will be carried out by Kerrier
District Council commencing in early April.

Portreath Beach

The Royal Marines will be carrying out an amphibious exercise on
Portreath Beach between 9th and 11th May which, it is understood, will
include landing of Marines from ships anchored in the bay.
(could offer some great photo-shoot opportunities)

In response to a letter regarding the amount of litter washed onto the
Beach in recent weeks, Kerrier
District Council have informed Members that whilst the local authority
have a statutory duty to clean the amenity beach between 1st May and
30th September only. However, cleaning will, in fact, be carried out
during the week prior to the Easter period.

Western Power – Safety

The following telephone numbers have been forwarded to the Council by
Western Power:-

South West Enquiries 0845 601 2989 (general enquiries)
South West Emergency 0800 365 900 (power failure or emergency)

The Arch, Glenfeadon Terrace

Members of the Council have been very concerned regarding the safety
of children playing in the vicinity of The Arch in Glenfeadon Terrace
and contacted the County Council in an effort to obtain signage
informing motorists of the possible presence of children. However,
the County Council is not prepared to meet this request and
Councillors would like to impress on parents and children the possible
dangers in using this section of Glenfeadon Terrace as a play area.

Primrose Terrace

This Council is continuing to press the County Council Highways
Section to carry out the surfacing of the section of Primrose Terrace
leading to Illogan Woods. Following representations from the Council
the Divisional Surveyor accepted that this section of the Terrace was
a 'maintained' highway and that upgrading would be carried out but, to
date, no action has been taken in this respect. Hopefully continued
pressure will ensure that the work will be carried out shortly.

Theft from to vehicles

PC Roberts, Neighbourhood Beat Manager, has drawn the attention of
Councillors to the number of offences involving theft from vehicles
that had occurred over recent months urging that valuables are not
left in unattended vehicles and that residents and visitors remain
vigilant and immediately report any suspicious activity.
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LIGHTHOUSE HILL GARDEN

Passers by will have noticed the devastation that took place at the
end of February in the isolated garden at the bottom of Lighthouse
Hill. As I have attempted to rescue the one raised bed remaining many
people have stopped and asked me what is going on. This is the story –
as far as I know it.

The garden has belonged to Portreath Improvement Committee (PIC) ever
since Benyon Shipping Company sold up and handed it into their care
together with the Pepperpot and other sites in the early 1960's. An
old photograph shows there was, what appears to be, a very small
cottage on the site, presumably let to a harbour worker. The remnants
of an old slate floor underlie one of the raised beds and I broke up a
concrete floor when I created another bed. No structures still stood
when the PIC took the site over.

The site remained derelict until a local resident approached the PIC
and offered to create a garden. The PIC agreed and charged a
peppercorn rent on the condition that it was kept tidy and no
buildings or sheds erected. There have been several tenants since
then. The garden was neglected when I took it over in 1994. I have
added several new raised beds and a small lawn since then. Countless
passers by have stopped to have a chat, admire the garden and enjoy a
tour.

Unfortunately the cliff at the back of the garden is unstable. There
have been small cliff falls for years but over the last two they have
got much bigger, engulfing my seat and leaving badly overhanging rock
and vegetation. This has endangered the private access path, which
runs along the top of the cliff to the gardens at the rear of Cliff
Terrace, frequently used by children. The PIC decided that it should
be made safe.

Work began late February. Unfortunately, once the vegetation was
cleared, the cliff proved to be more unstable than it appeared and a
mini-digger was required to scrape it back to a more stable angle. In
doing so a SWEB electrical earth was uncovered from the transformer
just above, originally set well back from the cliff now perilously
near the edge. At the same time SWEB said they wanted to replace the
pole transformer with a ground level one and were looking at creating
a 3-meter square platform, considerably lower than existing levels.
No one has any idea what they will actually do or if they will require
some or all of the garden space to do it. In the mean time PIC have
called a halt to all work until agreement is reached with SWEB and
their work is complete.

What with creating access for the mini digger, the enormous amount of
debris scraped down and removal of it all from the site, my lovely
garden has been pretty much destroyed and what is left may not survive
whatever SWEB does. Sadly, it all happened so quickly, that I was
given no time to rescue my precious plants one of which was a rare
Michaelmas Daisy named after my father who was a well known
horticulturist in his day.
The only bright spot is the number of people who have offered to help
me restore the garden once all the work is complete - help ranging
from wall building to providing plants. So if any one else would like
to aid the restoration, just let me know. But it might be a long wait
knowing the speed at which SWEB move and, worst of all, there may be
no garden left to restore.
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John Martin

Much has been written about those who have helped to shape the local
governing bodies in Portreath in recent years. One such gentleman was
my father the late John Martin. He was born and bred in the village,
the younger of two children born to the merged dynasties of the
Greenslade and Martin families. After service in the RAF during the
Second World War, John eventually settled back in Cornwall with his
wife and family.

Moving from Redruth back to Portreath in the 1960's, John soon became
immersed in local life. He joined the Portreath Improvements Committee
where he served as Secretary for over 20 years. He was also active in
the Portreath Association which oversaw the management of the car park
and seafront areas for a large part of this time. John's efforts to
achieve Parish Council status for the village have already been well
documented.

John always maintained a sense of public duty and agonised over some
of the decisions that had to be made during his terms of office on
both the Improvements Committee and the Parish Council. He always had
the best interest of the village and its people at heart and was noted
for his integrity in business matters.

John also ran an exhibition of photographs of Portreath for many years
in St Mary's Church Hall, drawing return visits from locals and
holidaymakers alike. This collection now resides with my sister, his
younger daughter Kate Shaw and can still be exhibited. Not confined
to public duties in serving the village John also spent many hours
woodcarving and woodturning, teaching it at the local college and
delighting many with his displays of the craft at the Annual Art
Exhibition. His most taxing commission, which was also a labour of
love, was to carve a complete set of choir stalls for St. Mary's
Church, along with a carved chair in memory of his late wife Hilary.

All this the very public face of the man who was my father, but there
was so much more to him than that. I remember a dad who was always
interested in what we were doing, who took us for walks, whose
Christian faith was an integral part of his life, who loved Morecambe
and Wise, the Two Ronnies and the Last of the Summer Wine; someone who
enjoyed football and sport, amateur dramatics, writing poetry and
listening to classical music, as well as the natural beauty of his
environment. In chronicling his own early years and ancestry he left
us his children with a unique view of life in this village as it was
from the turn of the century to the 1950's.

Yes much as changed in Portreath but the legacy of men like my father
and his contemporaries' lives on and we have much to remember and
thank them for.

Alice Allsworth (nee Martin)

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COG

Anyone interested in trips to Exeter or Trago Mills at Liskeard,
please contact me before April

Di Helyer
01209 842492

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BROTHERS, CRAIG AND LIAM SMITH WIN FIRST EVER BARN TOURNAMENT.

The Barn Youth Club enjoys the facilities of the millenium hall
badminton court and every Monday from 6.30 till 7.45 youngsters
battle it out on the badminton court.
Standards have improved greatly over the months and scoring is a
cinch! so a tournament was arranged and a mixed group of 24 keen
players entered. It was a knock out tournament which ran over a
number of weeks culminating in a fantastic final on Monday February
7th.
The final was between 4 boys - Jack and Justin against Craig and Liam.
There were line judges, an umpire and a crowd silently watching, only
to cheer on points won! It was a hard fought match with the winners
trailing by 10 points to 3 at one point, they scrambled back to 6 - 12
and then gritted their teeth for a win and put everything into
catching up to 13 each. The crowd ooohed and aaaaahed to smashes,
dropshots and breathtaking rallies. The final score was 15 - 13 to
Craig and Liam.
Craig is 13 and Liam12 and they have been invited to join the
Portreath Badminton Club, so their rewards were bars of galaxy, an
invitation to a club and of course the honour of winning the first
tournament at the Barn Youth Club.

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Bellydancing
The Incline Project, Family Learning and Portreath School are running
bellydancing classes on a Friday afternoon at the school. This is
great fun, lots of laughter, dressing up, exercise and a new
experience for most of us. The youngest member is 7 and the oldest 85
and we are all female! We really enjoy the sessions, Vronnie our
teacher is great and always performs an inspiring dance to whet our
appetites for the future! We hope to start another class when this
ends in April so if you are interested, phone Terry 843181.

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BEAT LINES

Portreath has had a relatively quiet time for the first few months of
the year. Reported crime and calls for our assistance are both down
on last year. However this is not to say that the village is crime
free. There have been a number of incidents where vehicles have
either been broken into and had items removed or have been damaged.
The bulk of these offences were committed in the areas of Greenfield
Terrace and Tregea Terrace.

Reducing vehicle crime is an important policing objective. We often
find that items are stolen from vehicles simply because it has been
left unlocked. A very easy and straightforward measure that we can
all take to prevent this type of offence is to ensure that your
vehicle is locked and has no valuables left in it when you park up.
As a vehicle crime prevention measure the importance of doing this
cannot be stressed enough. I would ask any vehicle owner reading this
article (particularly those who park on the street or in a driveway)
to think about the way in which they have left their vehicle. I
suspect many will find that it is unlocked and has some item inside it
that a thief would find desirable.

I am pleased to say that technology has provided us with additional
means to bring to justice those people who break into vehicles. You
may have seen recently in the press that we are now able to deploy
'Covert Capture Cars'. These are ordinary looking vehicles that if
broken into, will film the thief in action and at the same time will
automatically notify us that the offence is taking place. A thief will
not know that he has broken into such a vehicle until it is too late!
Whilst I can tell you that we can use these vehicles anywhere at
anytime I am sure that you will excuse me for not detailing the exact
locations of deployment!

PC TIM ROBERTS
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Beach clean

Thank you very much to all those who joined in with the 3 beach
clean-ups. They were really successful so we have decided to start
again in the autumn, out of season, when the beach is not regularly
cleaned professionally.
We will put a clear announcement in the Tram beforehand.
Meanwhile, don't hesitate to pick up any litter you see lying around!!!
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Portreath Carers Group
This new group has now begun and a big thank you to UnLtd for their
initial funding, the Incline Project and the P.I.C. Fourteen of us
recently went out for a Thai meal and a group of between 8-12 enjoyed
weekly relaxation and massage sessions at the Millenium Hall (with
more planned). We have a full programme of activities ahead of us
including a trip to Trebah, a Cream Tea and an information session.
This supportive group is open to local carers, we want to hear from
you! Further details from Cath 842797 or Janet 842658

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Portreath Harbour
The present dredging operation of the harbour has come about due to
numerous complaints regarding seaweed build up and attendant odour
nuisance. (Portreath Pong!) Kerrier Senior Engineer Steve Wood is
overseeing the project. He has told the Tram that he hopes to remove
5000 cubic metres of sand benefiting the harbour users and local
residents. The sand is not to be deposited on the beach as has been
the case in previous works, but will be recycled by the plant hire
company that are carrying out the work.
Kerrier District Council and The Harbour Users Association share the
cost of the project. The Portreath Improvements Committee, having
heard of the works in progress then generously offered to match fund
the project so enabling a far more thorough operation. Let us hope
that this will minimise the Portreath Pong for many years to come,
many local observers are confident that with the removal of the infill
of granite blocks from the slipway end of the harbour, that this will
be the case.
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Portreath Improvement Committee
At the January meeting of the PIC a full membership was duly nominated
and selected. The committee then went on to normal business, one item
of which was to donate funds to the tsunami appeal.
£1000 was also donated to the Surf Club to pay for uniforms for the
team members representing Great Britain in Australia where they are
competing in the Five Nations International and the Australian
National Championships. Many letters were subsequently received from
the club members thanking the PIC.

At the March meeting the present three members of the Portreath
Association Ltd agreed to carry on representing the PIC in the
administration of the car park.
The PIC voted to donate match funding for the dredging of the harbour.
If you have any views or comments for the PIC any correspondence can
be sent to
The Secretary
5 Belerion Road
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PULLING LEEKS FOR PINKS
Nine intrepid conservationists got on all-fours last Thursday (17th
March) to remove a pernicious invader from Portreath's New Walk. The
three-cornered leek had invaded the path, ousting a very rare
neighbour – Deptford pink – from its natural habitat. Deptford pink -
so called due to a seventeenth century muddle in which it was mistaken
for a related species that grew in Deptford, London – has suffered a
massive 90% decline. It is now known only from only 30 localities in
the Britain. The leek in question – Allium triquetrum – originated
from the Mediterranean, being brought to these shores for cultivation
in 1759. It has since naturalised, sometimes becoming a nuisance in
south-west England, forming dense stands to the exclusion of native
wildflowers.

Working with the Parish Council and English Nature, Plantlife
International and Duchy College joined forces to tackle the problem at
Portreath where it has also declined in recent years. The surface of
the path was dug by hand – removing bulbs of the leek and coarse
grasses. Tim Wilkins of Plantlife said, "The underlying cause of the
invasion isn't known but Deptford pink tends to grow on low nutrient
soils whereas three-cornered leek seems to flourish on enriched soils.
Dog fouling could be altering the soil conditions and accelerating
the leek's colonisation of 'New Walk'. Local dog owners can do their
bit to help protect this wonderful and very rare plant by using the
poop-scoop bin provided." It is hoped that Deptford pink will respond
well to the clearance and put on a spectacular show of flowers in two
years time.
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Regeneration Report
There has been some welcome movement on the regeneration front. In
this issue of the Parish Tram the Minerals Tramway team have asked to
distribute a questionnaire concerning the proposed design of the
village square. They have put forward three designs and are very keen
to receive as many replies as possible, even supplying post paid
return envelopes.
The regeneration committee had a meeting with Kerrier representatives
regarding the lease of Greenfield Gardens. It could be possible for
the parish council to obtain funding to enable a "make over" in the
gardens, suitable plans have been drawn up for a low maintenance area
that can be used and enjoyed by all age groups. The Parish Council is
now actively searching for funding to enable long-term future
maintenance before committing to a lease.
If you wish to comment on these plans please send any correspondence to
The Clarke
Cosoleth
Cambrose
Redruth, Cornwall TR16 4HS
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Arthur Rodney Brown

As many people in the village are aware, very sadly Rod Brown recently
died at Treliske Hospital. As editor of the Parish Tram, living in
the village and knowing Rod for a number of years I find this
particular item very difficult to write. We worked together on a
number of projects and many more were in the planning stage. Rod gave
his time very freely to the local community including raising £15,000
for the Millennium Hall by holding fortnightly bingo sessions, he had
been involved in the Harbour Fun Day for many years , was a member of
the Senior Citizens Party Committee and various other fund raising
activities including the dreaded gunge tank and he was always a
steward on bonfire night.

Rod was a man who always put others first and he will be sorely missed
by his family, and all who knew him in his various walks of life.

Rod's wife Sylvia has agreed to let us reproduce the obituary written
by the funeral directors Colin Matthews / John Jenkin of Camborne
(telephone 01209 717772).

Rod was born at Shirley, Birmingham where he attended the local
village school and late the Sharman's Cross Boys School. From an
early age he loved working with wood and enjoyed model making. He was
also a lifelong jig-saw fan and the bigger and harder they were, the
more he enjoyed them. In his earlier years, Road had played golf at
the Warwick Gold Club.

Rod had been employed as a trainee manager at George Mason Grocery
Stores and when the store closed he became an apprentice carpenter.
Rod had continued working in the building trade, working in England
and also in Denmark.

Rod met Sylvia and married in Solihull in March 1978 and then moved to
live in Warwick.

In 1985 the family moved to Cornwall. Rod worked as a sub-contract
carpenter for local builder Colin Bishop and later was employed by
Perkins and Perry fitting roof trusses.

When still quite young, Rod had become involved with youth clubs and
when he could no longer work at his trade, he started to work with
children with special needs, in colleges, schools and in his own
workshops and at Police Stations, dealing and helping minors and grown
ups with learning difficulties.

From 1988 Rod and Sylvia had fostered several children, mainly those
with special needs. He was also very involved with charity work and
in recent yers he had organised and run fortnightly bingo sessions in
aid of the Millennium Hall in Portreath.

Any donations are going to the Sunrise Oncology Unit at Treliske and
the total to date is £520.