WEEKEND BREAK IS TAKING A BREAK!

For the next few weeks I’ll be focussing all my energies (well, almost all of them!) on my current book project, which will soon be ready now for sending off to the printers.

 

STREETS AHEAD is well on schedule for publication in early October, with a book signing session at Falmouth Town’s Bickland Park clubhouse on a date to be fixed.

 

Wholly in aid of Cancer Research UK, it tells the story of Andy Street, who enjoyed a glittering 23-year career, principally with Falmouth Town and Newquay, and captained Cornwall, for whom he made over 100 appearances.

 

The all-conquering Falmouth Town team of 1996-97, 

with skipper Andy Street, centre, front row.

 

Next in the pipeline is SIXTY YEARS A SOCCER BOSS, the story of Melville Benney, “Britain’s longest-serving football manager.”

 

He began managing at the age of 14 – and is still going strong! He’s led nearly 20 teams and received top-level recognition of his services to the game. A highlight was taking the Falmouth GPO team to the final of the post offices national knockout competition in 1994.

 

Mel and I are rarin’ to go with this book – just after a wee break for me! 

FANTASYLAND, AGAIN

Thought the Treasury quote last week -  “We are a pro-business government” – would take some beating, but I see Ms Reeves has now come up with this beauty:  “Britain is a beacon of stability.”

 

They’re ‘avin’ a larf, right?  Is it some sort of competition . . . ?  

WEEKEND BREAK (23)

FLOATING A POSSIBILITY: ‘BEST-EVER’ CARNIVAL NEXT MONTH?

 

My mention of carnival queens last week prompted a fresh look at the Falmouth Carnival scene and I see this year’s event, on August 9, is going to be something of a landmark job.

 

The big parade will see the return of float entries – decorated platforms on vehicles or towed on trailers behind them – after an absence of 20 years.

 

Their return should reinforce its reputation as “the biggest, happiest, brightest, jolliest, noisiest, gayest, liveliest and most popular carnival of them all.”

 

Or that’s the description in a delightful black and white Pathe News-style video on Falmouth Carnival’s website, anyway.

 

And it must be true because it’s delivered, it seems, with all the authority of none other than Bob Danvers-Walker. 

 

Bob was famously known as the voice of Pathe’s cinema newsreels during the Second World War and for many years afterwards.     

 

There’s just one snag – Bob died in 1990.  

 

So either the carnival organisers have discovered an invaluable bit of footage buried deep in the archives (but the footage strongly suggests a more recent recording!) or they have hired one of several very impressive soundalike voiceover artists now available.

 

Either way, if you haven’t already seen it, take a look. It’s really good and makes you feel proud,  seriously, of one of Falmouth’s great long-established summer highlights.

 

When they come to reflect on this year’s big show, it’s even possible, I guess, that the organisers might just be declaring it the town’s “best-ever.”

 

That was the verdict – at least once! – back in the day when Yours Truly used to cover it.

 

I’m recalling the late 1960s when I was in my first stint on the Falmouth Packet, then still a broadsheet, and we would serve up full coverage – I repeat “full coverage” – with anything up to a thousand words of a report, excluding the complete set of results.

 

There would also be full caption details beside a page or more of pics taken by a staff photographer (those were the days!).

 

Typically, I would start my coverage by joining the participants’ throng at the Recreation Ground, chatting to a goodly number of them as they put the finishing touches to their entries.

 

Then I would move out to Killigrew Street to see the start of the parade . . . before shooting across town to either Arwenack Street/Grove Place and/or the seafront for the final stages.

 

Then, on the Sunday morning, I would join the organisers for their reflections and updates.  The likes of Chris Powdrill (Packet printer)  and Arthur Pankhurst (customs launch Mongoose) spring to mind.  

 

They would still be counting the contents of all those collecting tins and, yes, the event was declared “the best-ever” at least once! 

 

I loved it – with just one wee exception.  More than once, as I stood at the roadside with the procession filing past, a voice would cry out “Hi Mike, all right?”

 

Cue worst fear realised. The voice would be familiar, but I was blowed if I could put a name to it – even after the guy concerned had briefly removed his/her mask or whatever and declared: “It’s ME, Mike.”

 

Hence my giveaway response: “Ah, hello THERE, all right?”  

 

And that was long before I had even heard of “senior moments”, let alone come to suffer them almost daily.  

 

But it was all part of the fun!

 

 

FORTY UP FOR JAMES!

 

They say an excellent pointer to the quality of a hotel is the length of service of its employees.

 

In a sector more notable for its high turnover of staff, Falmouth’s Royal Duchy need have no worries on that score.

 

And congratulations in particular to James Pellow, doorman and concierge, who has just clocked up 40 years with the hotel. 

 

He leads a goodly number of loyal long-servers in the Duchy service stakes – with seven of his colleagues having together clocked up more than 200 years there. 

 

There surely can’t be many, if any, other Cornish hotels that can boast such statistics. 

 

 

Do NOT Try This ‘At Home!’

 

My mention of walking in my carnival piece above brought me in a roundabout way back to a remarkable piece of footage I first saw on Facebook some ten years ago.

 

I count myself lucky that I could still easily take part in the Falmouth Carnival, asa walker, if I so wished (I don't, thank you!).  

 

I can still very easily do four, five or six miles a day, which I reckon is not too bad, given that this old feller is now nearer 80 than 70.     

 

Mind you, I have begun to be overtaken occasionally . . . and my treks are taking that little bit longer. 

 

And I very much doubt if I will ever again attempt something I last did a few years ago now, which almost killed me (or so it felt) even then – namely, to climb UP Falmouth’s Jacob’s Ladder two steps at a time, all 111 of them!

 

But the one thing I would never have dreamed of doing, even in my prime, would be to CYCLE down that Ladder.

 

It’s been done, at least once, as this video clip shows.  Hold on to your hats:-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy5OehnXe2w

  

 

You CAN Believe What You Read In The Media!

 

According to The Times, Falmouth is the best coastal town to live in the

UK:-- 

 

https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/25302169.times-falmouth-best-coastal-town-live-uk/

 

 

HAIRY QUESTION

 

It’s nice to put one over on a youngster occasionally . . . 

 

I’ve always had trouble remembering whether it’s sideboards or sideburns – those strips of hair beside my ears.

 

I was having my hair cut recently by a young hairdresser who was clearly relatively new to her trade.

 

It came to those two aforementioned features and I had no choice but to confess my difficulty thus: “I never remember whether it’s sideboards or sideburns.”

 

There was a pause, followed by the young lady hesitantly pointing to them, as if she hadn't even heard of such a thing, and asking: “What . . . you mean these things here?”

 

Seems I knew a thing or two more about hair than she did!  (And either “side-” word will apply, apparently.)

 

 

What DO They Take Us For . . . ?

 

C’mon now, can there have been a bigger collective laugh across the nation this week than the one for this prize quote from the Treasury: “We are a pro-business government.”

 

 

FROM THE ARCHIVE . . . 

 

Like any long-standing annual big event involving thousands of participants and spectators, Falmouth Carnival has known occasional controversy.

 

Here’s one bit o’ bovver that caused a stir with a new attraction in the week leading up to the big parade back in 1976, from my blog first published in 2017:--

 

 . . . you might have witnessed a new spectacle with the first-ever waitresses’ race along the seafront.

 

This proved a tad controversial, with at least two competitors disqualified, according to the Falmouth Packet, “for running with their glasses, bottles and trays clutched tightly to their bosoms.”

 

And a Packet reader’s letter from M Winter, of the Green Lawns Hotel, complained: “As far as Falmouth is concerned, we would be better to save the expense, rather than waste time bending over backwards to make ourselves and the town a laughing stock.

 

“It was not advertised as an open race . . . only one waitress walked the quarter of a mile with a bottle, glass and tray carried in the manner one would expect in such a race.”

 

Fortunately, it wasn’t all aggro.  The race was part of Falmouth Carnival Week, which was opened by Westward Television personality Ken Macleod.  He described Cherry Pritchard as “the most beautiful carnival queen I have ever seen.” 

WEEKEND BREAK (22)

HOW A SWEDISH BEAUTY HELPED SELL FALMOUTH

 

Project Declutter at Truscott Towers is proceeding apace (or even at pace, as our current “leaders” like to say).  

 

And just look at what I turned up this week:--

 

It’s a dusty old copy of the official Falmouth Holiday Guide for 1967 and it immediately had me wondering: just who was the lovely young lady gracing the cover?

 

Didn’t recognise her at all.  Certainly wasn’t Cherry Pritchard, described around that time as “the most beautiful carnival queen I have ever seen” by Westward TV personality Ken Macleod.* 

 

Nope, Cherry was dark-haired.

 

Nor was it Dawn Philpott, another well-known carnival queen from that era. Dawn was emphatically shorter.  

 

No, it turned out that Falmouth resort manager Ron Smith, ever the  unconventional, had turned to Scandinavia for help in wooing our visitors.    

 

For, tucked inside my copy of the guide, a West Briton cutting from January of that year reveals the cover girl’s identity as none other than 22-year-old Asa Thylin, of Granitvagen in Sweden. 

 

She had apparently spent her previous summer holiday with Lesley Jewell, of Mabe, the pair having become pen friends when Lesley was at Falmouth County High School.

 

The Briton described the guide as “the brightest Falmouth has ever produced” and explained that Asa had been spotted on the rocks at Swanpool Beach when Ron and his unnamed cameraman had been “out looking for attractive pictures” for the publication.

 

Beneath a “Welcome To Falmouth” message from Mayor Sam Hooper on the inside front cover, it was explained that a nominal charge of 9d (4p) was requested for the guide as “the postage alone amounts to 7d” (3p).  

 

Further inside, an advert for the Caludon, one of several hotels long since disappeared from the seafront scene, highlighted its “electric fires in all bedrooms” and “separate tables in dining room.”

 

* Ken Macleod was one of the three original presenters on Westward Diary for Westward Television, which was the first ITV franchise holder for South West England, from 1961-81.  See also FROM THE ARCHIVE, ITV TAKES THE TRAIN INTO TOWN, below.  

 

 

I HOPE YOU REMEMBERED . . . 

 

. . . to say “White Rabbits” this week, at the start of the new month, for good luck.

 

You know the rules:  it’s the first thing you say when you wake up at whatever time past midnight.  But no cheating, no waiting up, staying awake to say it as soon as the new day arrives.

 

As a gold-standard superstitious Cornishman, I naturally remembered when I woke up on Tuesday morning – just as I have done every month now for 34 years, no kidding.

 

I will never forget the last time I forgot. It was end-March, 1991, and I was in the middle of a two-week assignment in Belgium for Lloyd’s List.

 

Yes, I FORGOT. Result?  I found myself temporarily stranded in that country with the collapse of the Air Europe airline!

 

Clear proof, if such were needed, of the vital importance of those two magic words, uttered at the right time . . . 

 

 

SCORING WITH THE CLICHES

 

It’s started up already.  Truro City “are delighted to announce . . . .” the signing of a new player.  Clubs are always “delighted to announce”. 

 

Oh for a bit of variety!

 

But no, Truro currently have no fewer than three “delighted to announce’s” on their website home page, reporting contract signings for the new season. 

 

Any day now you will also start to see clubs declaring that “there’s a real buzz about the place” in the build-up to the new season.

 

For many, the mood won’t last long. Far from being “over the moon,” they are more likely to revert to being “sick as parrots!” 

 

 

BROKEN BRITAIN

 

PA announcement on Truro Station this morning: “We regret to announce that the 0854 service to London Paddington has been cancelled “due to more trains than usual being repaired.”

 

Not heard that one before!

 

 

WHEN POSITIVE THINKING DIDN’T WORK FOR RAPPO

 

I mentioned recently how a former (mature) PR student of mine, Colin Edwards, had turned tutor, teaching me much about sales and marketing and, more broadly, about positive thinking for life itself.

 

The latter gospel included the great value of employing positive rather than negative language in your thoughts - “accentuate the positive.” 

For instance, “I am returning to full fitness,” not “I am recovering from illness.”

 

The idea is that your thoughts will brief your sub-conscious, which will in turn create your state. So we wouldn’t want “illness” to play any part in your sub-conscious.

 

Another “rule” was to visualise, as clearly as possible - see it, hear it, feel it, smell it - your desired outcome.  By so doing – same principle as above, really – you would make it that much more likely to become reality, a self-fulfilling prophesy.

 

That doesn’t always work, though, and someone who can testify to that fact is Cornish footballing legend Mark “Rappo” Rapsey.

 

See what I mean with this extract from his memoir IT’S A RAP, recalling his chance to seal victory in a cup final against St Blazey at Truro in 1991:

 

Three minutes into injury time, I was suddenly clear, with the goalkeeper coming out to meet me. 

 

It was a favourite finishing scenario of mine.  The ball was still bouncing nicely for me and begging to be lobbed over goalkeeper Steve Nute and into the net.  

 

In my head, I was actually already celebrating – I could see the headlines (no kidding).  Only snag, my lob hit the bar and bounced safely behind the goal! 

 

If they get the equalizer now, I thought, I will never live it down; I will blame myself forever.  I felt certain that if it went to extra time, St Blazey would win it.  

 

But it didn’t, and when the ref finally blew for time, I fell to my knees with relief.

 

 

MY PROBLEM WITH ‘NO PROBLEM’ 

 

Talking, as I was above, of “accentuating the positive,” and where possible avoiding negative words, if there’s one term I wish we could eliminate it would be “no problem,” at least in the hospitality industry. 

 

Surely – surely – “you’re welcome” would be so much better, wouldn’t it? And a whole lot more meaningful.

 

    

FROM THE ARCHIVE . . . 

 

Extract from my book, “Falmouth In The ‘60s”:--

 

ITV TAKES THE TRAIN INTO TOWN

 

A critic’s daily review recently began with the phrase “In this age of too much TV.”  It would be hard to argue with that. At the last count, there were just short of 500 linear television channels (traditional, scheduled broadcasting) in the UK alone, available through a variety of providers.    Back in early 1961, the total number of TV channels in Britain was all of two (both terrestrial) and Cornwall was still awaiting its first regional commercial station, but things were about to change . . . 

 

For “the train now arriving” at Falmouth Station (these days the Docks Station) on Tuesday, February 14, 1961, was a very special one – one like no other seen there before or since.  It heralded a giant publicity campaign for the launch of Westward Television, bringing the age of independent TV to the Westcountry.  The trailblazing company had hired an entire train from the Western Region of British Railways and had it completely refitted as a travelling exhibition.  Nearly 5,000 local people stepped aboard the train at the Falmouth station, with CCTV enabling many of them to enjoy the novelty of seeing and hearing themselves on TV screens dotted around the train.  Their interviewer was one of the best-known radio personalities of the time, appropriately named Jack Train, of ITMA (It’s That Man Again) and Twenty Questions fame.  The special train, repainted in Westward’s distinctive blue and white colours and with the company name prominently lettered on the side, was pulled by the renowned locomotive City of Truro, the first steam locomotive to travel at more than 100 miles per hour.

 

The six coaches housed a 36-seat cinema and exhibition area, a fully operational TV studio, generating van and three coaches in which manufacturers showed off the latest in TV equipment.  The train had stood at Olympia Station, London, for two days prior to travelling to Truro, where it began its six-week tour of the Westward area – Devon, Cornwall and parts of Somerset and Dorset.  The tour had 23 stops, each involving a ceremony performed by the local Mayor or other civic dignitary and giving visitors a foretaste of what they could expect when the new broadcasting station opened in April (at the start of a franchise that would run for more than 20 years).  In all, several hundred thousand people reportedly filed through the exhibition train during its tour. 

 

Westward took to the air for real on April 29, transmitting from its brand new purpose-built HQ, described as “imposing,” in Derry’s Cross in the heart of Plymouth city centre. A major advertising campaign included the line: “Look Westward – for the clearest ITV picture you have ever seen.” It trumpeted three of its highest-profile presenters in Sheila Kennedy (who I can still clearly recall seeing, accompanied by Gus Honeybun, on my parents’ little black and white TV screen), Guy Cory, former Battle of Britain pilot, and “the lovely” Jane Fyffe.  Gus was the station mascot for Westward, and later Television South West, from 1961 to 1992. 

 

The Rt Hon Lord Mayor of London, Sir Bernard Waley-Cohen, “launched” the train at Olympia. At Falmouth, it was the turn of the town’s Mayor, Alderman W E Cavill. The train closed at 9 pm, but many of the visitors stayed on for the sight – within the hour – of the City of Truro steaming into action once more as she hauled the train away bound for its next stop, Camborne.