Show Over For Showtime?
Members of the long-running Falmouth Showtime Company were furious at an “insulting” letter informing them that they had been dropped from the programme of entertainment at the Princess Pavilion for the 1988 summer season. The group, which staged variety shows once a week for holiday visitors, had celebrated its 21st birthday in the previous year. Now they were desperately hoping that they would not be forced to disband and were searching for other venues for their performances.
In a letter to producer and choreographer Veronica Spear, Councillor John Longhurst, chairman of Carrick District Council’s amenities committee, said: “You will recall that the previous chairman of the committee addressed officers of your company last year and suggested that various changes should take place within the company in order that a more professional show could be presented. Unfortunately, it appeared that little heed was taken of that advice until late in the season.”
The company was upset at the tone of the letter and Bernard Smales, Showtime president and a former Mayor of Falmouth, criticised Councillor Longhurst’s letter as “denigrating, derisory and indeed insulting.” He added: “They all put in such a lot of hard work and over the years we have taken youngsters under our wing. It gives them something to do throughout the winter, an interest in the summer, and they are not roaming the streets. It is the nasty way it has been done.” Councillor Longhurst commented: “There was no intention to be insulting and I don’t think there was anything in the letter that was insulting.”
Setbacks Galore, But Ivor’s Show Had To Go On
If ever Falmouth producer Ivor Bray needed to use the well-worn declaration “the show must go on,” it must have been for his production of Starburst at the Princess Pavilion in the summer of 1982. First, he and his cast of 40 from Redruth Variety Club were without a pianist until just four weeks before the show. Then a new star dancer had to be found when the first one became pregnant.
But the biggest catastrophe hit them in the previous November, when a misguided firework on Guy Fawkes Night homed in on the club’s rehearsal room in Redruth, burning it down. The club had to make do with several different halls in the area. “There have been a lot of setbacks,” said Ivor. “It’s the most I have ever had.”
De Savary Family Survive Plane Crash
Falmouth-based hyperactive tycoon Peter de Savary, who was investing heavily in various projects across Cornwall, was rescued from “almost certain death” when he and his family were involved in a plane crash on the French Caribbean island of St Bartholomew in December, 1987. The plane ended up on a reef after engine failure on the approach to land. The pilot, who was found dead, tried to regain height, but a wing dipped and touched the sea, causing the plane to crash.
Witnesses piled into every available boat and sped to the sinking wreckage 300 yards out from the beach. The survivors were pulled to safety from the cabin, where the water was still rising. The de Savary family and their nanny were all taken to hospital, but remarkably they only suffered scratches and bruises. They were kept in overnight before being discharged.
PdS, as he was known, his wife Lana and their children, Lisa, 18, Nicola, 15, and Tara, nine months, and their nanny were on their way to spend Christmas on the paradise island of Antigua, about 100 miles south of the accident. Local police praised the quick thinking of people on the beach, saying that if they had not acted so fast there would certainly have been other deaths. The rescuers had cut the party free with great skill.
Twenty Dead On Scillies Flight
On Saturday, July 16, 1983, a British Airways Sikorsky S-61 helicopter plunged into the sea on its approach to St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, from Penzance, killing 20 of the 26 people on board in what was then Britain’s worst helicopter civil aviation tragedy. Four days later, the focus of attention turned to Falmouth with the arrival at the Docks of the wrecked aircraft. It was brought alongside the Duchy Wharf on the deck of the diving support ship Seaforth Clansman. It was lifted onto a Royal Navy low-loader for transporting to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. The Seaforth Clansman went to the crash area from Falmouth to raise the wreckage from the seabed 200 feet below the surface. Royal Navy personnel involved in the operation were Neil Primrose, of Falmokuth, and Gareth Callister, of Penryn.
Case of the Flying Tractor
A Falmouth family had a lucky escape when their house was hit by a flying tractor. That’s right – no exaggeration! The airborne vehicle smashed into an isolated two-storey house above the cliffs at Pennance Point near Swanpool. It had careered down the steep hillside from Falmouth Golf Club and taken off when it broke through a hedge bordering the public footpath. Just before 7 am on June 29, 1983, Jim and Judie Bellamy were having a cup of tea and their sons, aged 16, 15 and 12, were still in bed when the runaway tractor struck their property. The couple rushed outside to find the unmanned culprit stuck between a toilet and their garage with its engine roaring. The tractor had torn a hole in their fence and had “flown” into the rear of the Bellamies’ premises. It had cleared thick undergrowth and a tank of diesel and come to rest with a loud bang only feet away from the bedrooms where the boys were sleeping. “It’s a miracle,” said Judie, a communications teacher at Falmouth Technical College. “I’m only glad it landed there and not a few feet the other way. Her husband eventually managed to switch off the engine and two groundsmen from the golf course came running down to the scene. “They were very, very concerned,” said Judie. “It must have been very frightening for them because they were on the golf course and suddenly saw from above what was happening.”
Best Keeps Cornish Date Despite Beer Mug Attack
Arguably the biggest-ever sporting name to be seen in action in the Falmouth area was George Best, the legendary former Manchester United wing wizard, genuinely one of the greatest footballers of all time. He guested for Penryn Athletic in a prestige friendly match against Falmouth Town on the latter’s Bickland Park ground in 1983 – but there was a late fear that the big event would be cancelled. Just days beforehand, he was the victim of a beer mug attack in a London pub that resulted in eight stitches in his head. The attack took place late one night, but then Best discharged himself from hospital at 3 am, albeit spending most of the rest of that day in bed.
But his agent, Bill McMurdo, pledged: “George is a quick healer at the worst of times and it will take more than a few stitches to keep him out of action.” He was right. Two days after the launch of BBC Radio Cornwall, Best took to the field before a crowd of some 2,000 in an atmosphere little short of electric. Alas, “his” Penryn side were beaten 6-1 by Falmouth, then the best in Cornwall.
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