NORMAL SERVICE RESUMED – BUT BRRR, WHAT A SHOCKER!

It was good to be back . . .

As I waited for daughter Lisa to arrive (always three minutes late, bare minimum), I was joined for a chat on Falmouth’s Gyllyngvase Beach by Bruce Rioch, former Scotland football captain and Arsenal manager.

 

Bruce, who knows a thing or two about achieving, said: “I take my hat off to these swimmers, the ones who do it all year round. You’ll never get me doing that.

 

“I have just been standing here on the beach, gazing out in awe at the whole scene, with a fantastic sunrise over the bay and all these swimmers having their daily dip.  It makes me feel cold just looking at them!”

 

For Lisa and me, it was our first sea swim for a week.  All reports yesterday suggested the great jellyfish invasion (see recent blog posts) was all but over – for now, anyway.

 

And with today’s forecast of total sun and precious little wind, how could we resist that grand return?

 

We were not disappointed, but something else I picked up from one of yesterday’s swimmers was that the sea had turned markedly colder.

 

She was not wrong. It fair took our breath away.

 

And, together with today’s drop in the air temperature, there was a very real sense as we got changed afterwards that winter is upon us, for all the glorious dawn this morning.

 

At least all those jellies had gone.  All, that is, except for just one of them, lying dead on the sloping shingle as we walked down to the low-tide water.

 

Small mercies, eh? 

JELLY BAD SHOW, WHAT?

Latest reports from the front indicate that the great jellyfish invasion, although receding, is still far from gone. (See WHAT A SHOCKER – WHO NEEDS JAWS! Blog 04 Nov.)

 

I’ve been without my regular sea-swim fix, at Gyllyngvase Beach on Falmouth’s seafront, for more than a week now and the withdrawal symptoms are setting in alarmingly, I tell you.

 

On Friday, as I checked with a swimmer just leaving the water, the “mauve stingers” were thinning out but were still there in small clumps – and he had duly been stung several times.

 

This morning, I sidled up to another fellow swimmer, still in her dry robe, having decided not to go in, and she told me that a gentleman had just tried his luck but got no further than knee depth before he was surrounded by them.

 

Hopes had risen, with winds now that much more south-ish, rather from the east/south east, which seems to be the direction most likely to drive the little blighters in.

 

This is getting serious.  And I’ve yet to meet any long-term regular who can recall a precedent – and in November of all months! 

 

The normal form is for the jellies to spoil things - albeit not this variety and in nowhere near such numbers - when the sea warms up a bit for a few short weeks at the height of summer. 

A SLIGHT CHANGE IN DIRECTION . . . 

 

STEPPING UP A GEAR: FOOTBALL LEGENDS’ LIFE STORIES TO SUPPORT CANCER RESEARCH

 

The outstanding success of Tommy Matthews’ book - £2,000-plus clear profit for Cancer Research UK in less than a fortnight – has encouraged me to switch my main writing focus from blog-ing to book-ing.

 

The books raise money for a great charity.  The blog, apart from occasionally promoting those books, doesn’t.

I have raised well over £20,000 in the ten years since I retired, writing and publishing 13 limited edition local nostalgia books and, latterly, Cornish footballer life stories.

 

But I’m now kicking myself because it could have been significantly more.

 

That is, I’m sure it would have been so if I’d had Tommy helping me push all these titles in the way he has with his own. He’s shown me, and reminded me, of little ways and means that can make a big difference in sales and marketing.

 

But then you’d expect that from a guy who is not just a great credit to the grand game of football but who was also a newspaper advertising manager in a previous life!

 

So here we go, then, with my “new direction,” namely two Cornish footballer projects under way simultaneously, with every penny profit going to Cancer Research.

 

I had already begun work on the Mark “Rappo” Rapsey sequel – Rappo’s World of Football Fun – and now another towering figure in Cornish soccer has joined the “club.”

 

Step forward Andy Street, one of the biggest names in South West non-League circles in the 1980s, ‘90s and early 2000s, principally with Falmouth Town and Newquay.

 

 

All told, Andy – “Sledge” to his team-mates – played in sides that bagged a massive haul of 30 trophies! He also captained Cornwall and won 114 county caps. 

 

His career also included spells with Nanpean Rovers, Bugle, Bodmin Town and St Blazey.  

 

Rappo’s sequel, meanwhile, has already begun to take shape nicely, and I can promise you a great many entertaining tales from that direction. And those are just the printable ones!

 

As bonus, I have signed up a retired professional illustrator to design the front cover for Rappo’s book in caricature style and to illustrate the chapters with appropriate cartoons.  

 

He’s Colin Pascoe, who by a very neat co-incidence is the son of Tommy Pascoe, who was Falmouth Town’s first skipper (and also a well-known Falmouth cricketer) when the club was reformed in the early 1950s.

  

So that’s how it all looks from here for the moment. Inevitably, my “new direction” will likely see me scaling back somewhat on my blog activity.

 

NO PROMISES, THOUGH  . . . 

 

ARTIST’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH CORNISH BEACHES KICKS SIRI INTO TOUCH

I said in my “Cornish Coastal Stunner” post on Wednesday that I had fallen in love with Jeanni Grant-Nelson’s painting the moment I saw it . . . and duly had to buy it.

My decision maybe smacked of emotion, and it turns out this could well have been the case.

 

As Jeanni, my Truro-based teacher and good friend of the past ten years, has now made clear.

 

I asked her to provide an insight or three by way of background to this particular painting, and she replied: “I tell my students – as I have always found myself – that if there is an emotion behind your art it is always so much better.   

 

“Somehow the viewer or purchaser of that art can tell the difference from a picture painted purely through Siri (digital assistance, artificial intelligence) and not love.”

 

Jeanni’s Mawgan Porth picture was “an active meditation” taking more than 40 hours, usually working 12 hours in total concentration.

 

By contrast, her en plein air paintings (painted all outdoors) need to be completed in one day and one mood to capture the feeling of a specific day rather than the details in their full glory.

 

During the summer months, Jeanni is busier teaching as well as painting and she has fewer opportunities to spend many hours concerned with copious amounts of detail.

 

“Once the season ends,” she says, “I always find it a joy to set myself a project where I can take a few days to create a realistic image of a favourite view.”  

 

Her latest painting – and it’s mine now, all mine! - was “an act of love” borne of a beach that has always been a big favourite of hers and her children. 

 

And Jeanni describes herself as fortunate three times over.  

 

“I love painting, I love teaching, and I love inspiring people to believe in themselves,” she explains. “So I am truly blessed to lead a lifestyle that allows me to do all three on a daily basis.”

 

For more about Jeanni and her paintings, events and courses, see https://www.visual-awareness.com

RIP ERIC DAWKINS

Sad to read of the death of Eric Dawkins, aged 94, a man who made an immense contribution to public life and who gave us so much “added value” with his penchant for entertaining with the unconventional.

Eric was town clerk with Falmouth, Penryn and Truro at various times between 1970 and 2003, with other posts in his long career including  Carrick District Council amenities officer.

 

He was also memorably the man at the helm of Falmouth’s St Nazaire commemorations for over 30 years, as recognised by Falmouth Town Council in 2017 - https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/15259093.eric-dawkins-recognised-again-for-his-dedication-to-st-nazaire-commemorations/

 

Eric has made so many appearances on my blog and in my various columns and books down the years that I really wouldn’t know where to begin right now. 

 

So here’s a couple of my favourites at random. He truly knew how to bring smiles to our faces.

 

TOWN CLERK’S ‘OUTRAGEOUS’ WAY OF MAKING MINUTES READABLE

 

Deservedly or otherwise, council minutes would probably be high up on most people’s lists of reading matter suitable for combatting insomnia.

 

There’s an exception to every rule, of course, and one man who managed to achieve the exact opposite was Falmouth and Penryn town clerk Eric Dawkins, who could even boast that his minutes once made a reporter jump out of his bed!

 

In an interview with him in 1986, he told me it had all been to do with his favourite trick of slipping in outrageously long and little-known words. 

 

I say “outrageously” because these words – or “Dawkinspeak”, as I christened them – were frequently beyond the comprehension of those for whom they were principally written – his councillors – let alone the public at large. 

 

As for that reporter who left his bed, Eric recalled: “He said he usually read council minutes in bed because they sent him to sleep, but when he read mine for the first time he leapt out of bed again to find his dictionary!”

 

Hardly surprising, really, if you had just read this: “A disputatious discussion on the sesquipedalian content of the draft notes for guidance ensued prior to the reconcilement on the utilisation of the budgetary allocation of . . . “

 

“Disputatious,” “reconcilement” and “utilisation” are straightforward enough in meaning, although magnificently supporting the “rule” that you should never use a short word where you can find a long one.

 

But you might well be stumped, as I was, by “sesquipedalian.” So Eric advised: “Use of words over a foot long . . . applying to long words.”  Well, yes, quite so!

 

Then, in the same minutes, came this mouthful: “During the ensuing discussion, it was the opinion that a delegation having a verisimilitude of hermeneutics should meet the county council highways committee chairman to clarify the situation.”

 

This time at least my dictionary came to my aid, as it had not done with “sesqui-etc”.  Verisimilitude: “The appearance or semblance of truth or reality.” Hermeneutics: “The science of interpretation.”

 

“I have achieved what I wanted,” Eric declared.  “People read my minutes.  Some of the council look at them specifically for these words!” 

 

It’s just a pity they so often couldn’t understand them, as per his last set of council minutes before the 1987 local elections, when his final phrases included “a disquisition of dissyllabic monomania” and “a display of noology to the perplexity of members.”

 

THE ‘SHEIKH’ WHO FOOLED THE MAYOR

 

The time is almost upon us for a fresh round of elaborate April Fools Day pranks, but they will have to go some to match one played on the then Mayor of Penryn, John Ashwin, in 1981.

 

In what can only be regarded as one of the great April Fools Day stunts of all time, John was a top-table guest at a Penryn Rotary Club lunch meeting in Falmouth’s Green Lawns Hotel. 

 

He found himself sitting beside another “guest,” in Arab headdress. He was introduced as Sheikh Muhammed Ali Aba Al Khaial, Minister for Finance and Economy in Saudi Arabia.

 

Club president Walter Trevena said a prolonged Muslim grace and, after a split vote the previous week, members had no alcohol with their meal. Their “Arab” guest chopped his lamb into tiny pieces . . . and ate a specially prepared dish of rice with his fingers.  Likewise the strawberry mousse.

 

An interpreter, it was explained, had been delayed on the way over from Newquay Airport, and the “Sheikh” had been brought in by Falmouth Town Clerk Eric Dawkins.

 

The former evidently had no idea what to do when everyone else stood up at the end of the meal for the loyal toast.  So much so that John Ashwin placed a glass in his hand and physically helped him out of his chair.

 

Afterwards, Eric drove the “Sheikh” away – to a nearby location where he took off the Arab headdress loaned by Falmouth’s Workshop Theatre and washed off his make-up.

 

David Woods, Helston Rotary Club member and actor, shook hands with Eric and reflected:  “It was the most uncanny feeling, knowing so many people and yet not being able to speak to any of them. I was received with great courtesy by everyone.”

 

Eric Dawkins later had a quiet word with John Ashwin . . . 

CORNISH COASTAL STUNNER

It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of my “Art Spots” here and, through circumstances beyond my control, I’m still some way short of finishing either of the two paintings I’ve been working on for several months now. 

So here’s not “one I did earlier” but instead one just completed by my teacher, Jeanni Grant-Nelson. It’s a gorgeous acrylic of Mawgan Porth, on the north Cornish coast, 30 cm high, 100 cm long, 4 cm deep, on stretched canvas. 

And it’s not for sale – because I’ve already bought it!  It was love at first sight, I tell you. For more about Jeanni and her paintings, events and courses, see https://www.visual-awareness.com 

WHAT A SHOCKER – WHO NEEDS JAWS!

No kidding, I reckon the Falmouth Bay shoreline must have had literally millions of invaders today.

Look at this photo taken at Swanpool Beach, with the tide out this afternoon, by my daughter Lisa. 

 

 Never mind the seaweed, just blow up the pic and see all those little purply, pinky things. Count ‘em all just in this little tiny space if you can. And then multiply by Gawd knows how many.

 

They are the “mauve stingers” . . . presumably the same little blighters that sparked a round of publicity in September, e.g. this extract from a CornwallLive report:--

 

“Hundreds of thousands of rare purple jellyfish have washed up on a British beach. The 'Mauve Stingers' are only small, but are capable of a powerful sting and glow brightly at night if disturbed. The jellyfish were spotted washed up at Porth Hellick on St Mary's on the Isles Of Scilly. The species are uncommon close to UK shores.”

 

And BBC News carried some scary pictures of how victims had suffered - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp9527gjkz4o

 

This morning, there were reports of the sea being carpeted with them at Falmouth’s Gyllyngvase and Swanpool Beach, as well as Greeb and, probably, Castle.

 

At Gylly, where daughter Lisa and I were due to swim tomorrow (not any more, folks), only a few of the regulars ventured in – and came out pretty sharpish. 

 

A neighbour of mine managed to find “a gap” through them and returned unharmed, but her sister was stung several times. 

The whole thing is all the more shocking as we’ve normally forgotten all about jellyfish by now until the next summer, and even then the visitors are not normally of such a lethal variety.

 

Ah well, I guess it’s back to the heated indoor pool touch for a few days at least.  Tough life, innit?  

‘NODDY TRAIN’ FOR FALMOUTH . . . DAM ACROSS PENRYN RIVER . . . DRY SKI SLOPE BEHIND PONSHARDEN? HOW THINGS MIGHT HAVE LOOKED

A “Noddy train” around Falmouth’s Pendennis headland, anyone? Or perhaps a dry ski slope behind Ponsharden . . . or even a leisure lake created by a dam across Penryn River?

Well, there’s been no shortage of imaginative schemes for the area down the decades. The above are just three of a great many that came my way during my Falmouth Packet reporting days.  

 

Just a pity, perhaps, that so many of them never got beyond the dream stage. Maybe a fresh focus on some of these might yet trigger a “new” idea or two that could be worth pursuing now?  

 

One of the biggest What-Ifs of them all was the mother and father of a blueprint for future development produced by a collection of top brains from the two towns.

 

Those brains belonged to the bosses of 21 big local firms who had first got together in 1981 – as the Falmouth 81 Group.  

They were the likes of Harry Robinson (E Thomas Construction), Patrick Bray, (Cygnus Marine), Philip Fox (G C Fox & Co), Dennis Pascoe (Falmouth Docks) and Michael Ludlow (Devenish Redruth Brewery).

One of their most eye-catching proposals was the creation of a “leisure lake” by building a dam with tidal lock across Penryn River, upstream of the existing marina.  

This would have provided permanent usable shallow water over the whole area - up to Penryn Quay – replacing the eyesore expanse of mud and silt at lower tide. The lake would have facilitated a variety of water sports, including rowing, dinghy training, windsurfing and angling.

Wherever possible, the blueprint urged, industrial installations along the riverside should be progressively re-sited inland, being replaced by accommodation, parking, picnic areas, dinghy parks and marine supply sales and repairs.

Among other original ideas, the group proposed a dry ski slope on the high ground behind Ponsharden, along with a road/rail access terminal to the north of Falmouth Cricket Club, at the intersection of the railway line with a proposed new road link to the old A39.

The group observed that for the previous 50 years Falmouth and Penryn had been at a virtual standstill in development terms. 

“For instance,” the report reflected, “no major road improvement has taken place since 1922 – when Falmouth’s Dracaena Avenue was excavated by hand and the earth removed by horse and cart.”

Around that time – the early 1980s and ell before the Peter de Savary storm finally got a few things moving – there was also no shortage of suggestions in the readers’ letters pages of the Packet.

One of them, Mr P N Sills, of Bournemouth, went to considerable lengths to outline his own vision for a future Falmouth.

“One must regret that the 1960s scheme for a harbour road was not talked through,” he wrote, “although Mr Walker, who vetoed the plans, was perhaps not enthused with shops on stilts.

“In my opinion, a harbour road, with associated parking, is all that is needed. At no cost, perhaps a Butlins team could generrate income, similar to schemes masterminded for Woburn Abbey. 

“And why should thousands drive around Pendennis Point free and gratis? Ban all cars, run a season “Noddy Train” service, possibly Prince of Wales Pier-Pendennis-Gyllyngvase.”

Back in town, Mr Sills suggested, a new three-tiered restaurant on the vacant site above the New Street car park, under council ownership, would allow both residents and visitors to enjoy the spectacular views for all time. 

A small nine-hole par 3 with a driving range would, he added, be “real holiday fun. £3 a round would suit locals as well.

“ . . . A harbour road would really enhance the waterfront. One has visions of an annual procession of illuminated and decorated boats to celebrate the end of the season, and water taxis could ply to Truro following the dredging of the Fal.

“My local beaches have been transformed following the dredging of Poole harbour.”

Ah now . . . Falmouth dredging?  Is that something that might yet be resurrected, I wonder?  https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/16175908.falmouth-dredgings-final-death-throes/

That concept, or at least its last incarnation, was on the go for nigh on 20 years, with a port master plan hailing huge potential for Falmouth as the “gateway to Cornwall,” along with millions of pounds in revenue and hundreds of new jobs.   

 

 

DEADLY RIVALS MAKE PEACE IN THE NEW ERA OF STALE NEWS

I bought my first copy of the West Briton for quite a while this week and was struck by just how much of its editorial content was decidedly stale news.

 

As in, material that had already appeared in various places online anything up to a week or more previously, and with no attempt at an update or new angle.

 

I shouldn’t really have been surprised, of course, as the emphasis has long since shifted to all things online and away from printed newspapers, with consequent dramatic falls in circulation figures for the latter, to say nothing of some long-established titles having closed down altogether.

 

Some of the stale pieces in the Briton had even been very adequately covered in its rival Falmouth Packet in the previous week.  (And the Packet can be just as “guilty,” of course, of seemingly making no effort to freshen up its print edition content.)

 

Indeed, all trace of the deadly rivalry that used to exist between these two publishers seems to have been consigned to history.

 

Back in the day, e.g. when I was the Packet’s chief reporter in the ‘70s and ‘80s, things were very different.

 

Sleep would be lost – no kidding – ahead of the Briton publishing on Thursday, especially if we still hadn’t acquired a strong, and preferably exclusive, page one lead for the Packet, which published on Fridays then.

 

In time, not least in a bid to score against the Briton, the Packet’s publication day was brought forward to Thursday . . . and then to Wednesday, ahead of the Briton, which has stuck to Thursday.

 

But boy, was there trouble if – when it was too late to do anything about it – the Briton came out with a good exclusive that we’d had no wind of.

 

Now, as I say, that sort of thing doesn’t seem to matter any more. 

 

As with small local weeklies, so with the much bigger provincial dailies – and something you certainly wouldn’t see any more now, as few if any cities will still have two evening papers all of their own.

 

Compare and contrast with the way things still were back in the 1950s and early ‘60s.

 

In the later ‘60s, I was a trainee reporter on the Packet under editor Ken Thompson and he would recall the times when the big cities would have not only two such newspapers but several editions for each.

 

In the cut-throat battle for readers, he told me, the papers would routinely bid to out-do each other by repeatedly ramping up their headlines on the placards at their sales points (complete with salesmen shouting the odds).

 

‘It was amazing,” he said, “how the anticipated cost of a big fire in a city could shoot up in just the space of a few hours.

 

“One paper would quote such and such a figure, only for the opposition to hike it up a few thousand pounds more. Then the first paper would come back with a higher figure again for its next edition, and so the process would go on!”

 

And you thought fake news was something new!