Alternative Guide To St Ives - SnottonTV

Thought you might enjoy an extract from this great video - an alternative guide to St Ives.

It takes a highly satirical look at life in St Ives.

It was produced by local performer Rod Bullimore and filmed by local filmmaker Alban Roinard.

This particular clip is about the bin situation here.
The full DVD runs to just under one hour.

Shameless plug - you can buy the DVD online from my website here:
St Ives Bookshop

You can visit Rod's website here:
http://www.rogues-bard.com/

St Ives Literature Festival - May 2009

Bob Devereux - Rod Bullimore - Anna Chen - Kelvin Bowers

---

Another update on the May Festival.

The dates for 2009 will be Saturday 2nd to Saturday 9th May.

Etruscan books will again be involved, with a full day - probably Saturday 9th May - devoted to their authors and publications.

As far as I know the other publishers involved last year will also be contributing again - Peterloo Poets and Fal Publications.

My great friends Anna Chen and Charles Shaar Murray will be here again.

Charlie has a gig pencilled in at The Western Hotel on Saturday 2nd May - with Buffalo Bill Smith. He will also be delivering a continuation of his excellent talk - Everything I Know About Rock and Roll Part Two - on Monday 4th May at The Salt House Gallery.

Anna will no doubt be doing some readings from her poetry and prose during the week.

Poets Bob Devereux and Adrian O'Reilly will be doing a reading on Tuesday 5th May at The Salt House Gallery.

There will be a full programme of events throughout the week as there was last year.

I'll post more news as I get it.

St Ives Literature Festival Website

Anna Chen Website

Rod Bullimore Website

Eden Project - Celefest 2009

Click on any of the images to view full size.

---

Just had a great day out at The Eden Project.

We went to see Celfest 2009 - a celebration of the achievements of the young people of Cornwall. My daughter was performing with her circus group Clownin' Around.

There was a huge range of stuff going on including circus, theatre, dance, skateboarding, boxing, graffiti art and dry land surfing.

There was a live music stage with a state of the art PA, mixing desk and lighting rig - not the usual rubbish that young bands often have to put up with.

It was pretty clear that this was community led and organised by and for the kids, with things they really enjoyed doing. There was a smatterring of CCC Yoof Workers - but they were on the sidelines and mostly reduced to glowering at those of us sneaking a crafty fag outside the biomes.

Much credit to the many adults who give their time freely to help young people to do things that they enjoy.

Eden always inspires me. We joined as members for a year and get free entry. If you want to do the same go to their web site:

Eden Project Website

Blue Skies return To St Ives

St Ives Harbour


View From St Ives Towards Godrevy Lighthouse

Nice day here after days of miserable rain. At last we've got some blue skies and I feel much better. Feels like winter will soon be over.

I've now got several web site projects to get on with including The Glass Tree, St Ives Framers, Harveys Butchers and St Ives Farmers Market.

Also a major re-design of my OneStIves site with a much improved look, more content and easier navigation.

Its great to be working from home.

St Ives Feast Day

Click on any of the images above to see them full size.

---

Today is St Ives Feast Day which always falls on the first Monday after February 3rd, the anniversary of the consecration of the Parish Church of St. Eia in 1434.

The children of the town all take the day off school.

At 10.30am a silver ball is thrown from the wall of the Parish Church by the Mayor. Once the ball is caught by a member of the crowd of local children below, they then compete for it on the beaches and streets of St Ives.

Whoever is in possession of the ball when the clock strikes noon takes it to the Mayor at the Guildhall and receives the traditional reward of five shillings.

Local councillors then throw pennies down from the balcony of The Guildhall for the children below to collect.

A great old tradition, good to see that it still continues.

Its Not Easy Being Green - St Ives Style

Am I the only one who has been extremely irritated by parts of the new series of Its Not Easy Being Green on the BBC ?

The first episode featured installation of solar panels - at a cost of £15,000.

This was followed by a project to refurbish a house along "green" lines. When asked their budget the couple there said £100,000 !

If I had fifteen grand in cash to spare I would also find it easy to be green. If I had a hundred grand it would be even easier.

These people obviously live in what I call "BBC Land" (aka Islington).
An ideal and politically correct world where all is good under New Labour.

I don't have anything like that sort of money - like most people who don't work for a bank or have a nice job at the BBC.

I'm particularly irritated because we've been "green" (as far as is possible) in a practical rather than political sense for ages. We recycle, use low energy bulbs (now compulsory) and generally do our best.

In particular I now collect loads of green waste from The Western Hotel every week and dump it in my compost bins. There is so much from that one source that I can't handle any more.

Given the number of food outlets in St Ives there must be tons of this stuff going into landfill.

In Germany (have friends there) most towns have a town compost heap and I think that they use technology like anaerobic digestion - so you don't just end up with a stinking heap of waste. This may seem a daft idea - but it could do a lot for the environment. Where to put it ? How about The Island Car Park - a far better use of the space.

St Ives Green Party take note. I believe that you're the largest party on the town council but we haven't seen a lot of progress - other than the excellent Farmers Market. While you're at it - could you get on to Penwith District Council about their poor excuse for a recycling scheme.

St Ives Cornwall - Posters - Woolworths

Somebody has been out around town putting up posters.

Good luck to them.

---

Thanks Gordon.

Royal Bank of Scotland, rescued with £20 billion of public (our) money.

Planning large bonuses for thousands of its City traders and senior bankers.

The proposed payments are expected to reach tens of millions of pounds — possibly hundreds of millions — with some star bankers in line for six-figure payouts.

Source: Times Online 5th February 2009
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5663873.ece

Woolworths Staff.
Bonuses: £0.00
Jobs: None

Isn’t it time to start getting angry ?

---

St Ives Cornwall - Snow 2

St Ives Rooftops - photo by Dorcas McIntosh



Snowman - photo and snowman by Dorcas McIntosh



St Ives Sub-Tropical Gardens



Porthmeor Beach St Ives



Porthmeor Beach and The Island St Ives

St Ives Cornwall - Goodbye Woolworths 3

Some small pleasures that you can no longer enjoy legally in St Ives:

A pint and a fag in the pub
(ok you can have the pint - but PLEASE enjoy responsibly!).
A glass of wine on a warm summer evening outside the theatre.
Sitting round a campfire on Porthmeor Beach.
Lazing on the grass in the sub-tropical gardens.
Playing footie with the kids in the sub-tropical gardens.
Pick 'n Mix (not yet actually illegal but its only a matter of time).


No Smoking!



No Drinking!



No Fires!



Keep Off!



No Ball Games!



No Woollies!



What Next! (picture courtesy of The Bridlington Penguin)

Goodbye Woolworths 2 - St Ives Future - New Labour

Snow In St Ives

Its snowing here - first time I've ever seen this in 10 years.
More pics to follow.