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It was good to see several of the shops on Tregenna back open today. Harbour Bookshop were up and running, having cleared out damaged stock and cleaned up the shop. Yeungs Chinese Takeaway was open and serving the best ribs in St Ives (authorative source of best ribs recommendation: my great friend Anna Chen). Look Sharp open but still bailing out at the back of the shop.
So Tregenna is at least mostly back in business for now.
I've not commented so far on the tragic events west of Zennor - deiliberately due to lack of precise information. According to the current news online a car was swept away by floodwater. One person is dead, one survived and two missing. Naturally my thoughts and yours are with them and their families and friends. The damage to St Ives shops is trivial in comparison. We passed the scene this afternoon on the coast road and there was still a major presence of emergency services - presumably still searching and hoping to find the missing two.
Flooding In St Ives Cornwall - April 2009 - Shops Severely Damaged.
Following a storm late last night the damage caused in Tregenna Place and The Stennack became clear. The new flood defences, constructed by The Environment Agency at a cost of £10 million, comprehensively failed.
Shops affected include Harveys Butchers, Harbour Bookshop, Ceramica, British Heart Foundation, Warrens Bakers and The Oven Door Bakery.
The Western Hotel also suffered damage, with The Kettle ‘n Wink bar flooded out. They are planning to re-open tonight.
Harveys are planning to re-open on Monday.
Some of the other shops may be closed for some time.
Fire crews closed roads and were busy pumping out affected premises.
According to an Environment Agency News Release, dated April 2009:
“Residents of St Ives in Cornwall will celebrate the official opening, next week, of the town's award winning £10 million flood defence scheme. The event marks the end of four years work by the Environment Agency and its contractors who have provided St Ives with a tailor-made scheme. The project includes a number of ground-breaking engineering techniques never used before in the UK ..... ” Environment Agency Website
The affected businesses have lost out hugely in terms of lost business and stock damage.
They will also probably face massive increases in insurance premiums, if they can get insurance at all.
Interesting question – who is going to pay for all this ?
I’ll post more news as it comes through.
Post Script.
I've just reviewed the Environment Agency News Release.
"St Ives is also the first scheme to use a Carbon Calculator which works out the carbon footprint of the whole project. The calculator, which measures energy efficiency, covers everything from the travelling of staff to the production of materials used in the construction. The Environment Agency will now use this method on flood defence schemes across the country.
The St Ives Flood Defence Scheme recently won the Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment (CEEQUAL) Whole Project Award. This accolade is given to projects that achieve distinctive and exceptional environmental standards."
So - the scheme has a low carbon footprint, achieves exceptional environmental standards and is fully politically correct.
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.
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:
