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Geevor stalwart inspires fellow employees to invest in future
A GEEVOR Tin Mine stalwart has inspired others to invest in their futures and improve the tourist attraction.
Pat Comber, who has worked at the mine for 18 years, underwent a training course to gain a Level 2 business and management qualification that has improved her job prospects and given her a foundation to do more at the mine.
Five of the centre's employees are now studying through the Workplace Learning Project – funded by the European Social Fund – to gain skills that will allow them to do the same.
Pat said: "I wanted to do this so people could see I'd done something to improve myself.
"I'm in my fifties and, realistically, have at least another 13 years or so of working life, so I want to have anything that will help me get another job if I ever need to.
"I also wanted to do it as soon as it became clear that if I took on a course others would also be able to take up training."
The project is led by Cornwall College and Mark Williams, who directs the scheme, praised the stalwart's aspirations.
"Pat's experience is an excellent example of the spirit and foresight that Cornish workers employed in developing Geevor as a mine and latterly as an attraction and museum," he said.
"Taking the initiative in this way, recognising the potential opportunities for herself and her colleagues from the achievement of recognised qualifications is to be applauded."
Today, staff at the attraction say they are looking forward to taking Geevor further and marketing manager Sarah Nicholas said her colleagues' training efforts had helped to increase visitor numbers.
"All of this help has contributed to boosting visitor numbers, sustaining the site and marketing Geevor to a wider audience," she said. "Pat has inspired several other members of staff. A well-trained workforce will benefit Geevor."
Mum's warning after finding needles on Marazion beach
A HEAMOOR mum was left horrified after finding a used hypodermic needle at a well-known local beach.
Making the most of the hot weather, Claire Emmett-Wright visited a stretch of sand at Marazion with her partner and two young children last week when she came across the worrying find.
After spotting the needle, she moved her family along the beach where she saw a number of needle lids and began warning other beachgoers of the dangers.
"I want families that go down there and use that area to really be aware," said Mrs Emmett-Wright, from Heamoor.
"If they don't know about this then their children could get pricked by a needle and that could be fatal."
The 32-year-old visited the picturesque beach with partner Nichola and children Charlie, aged 19 months, and Olivia, eight months.
Parking at Folly Field, they settled down in nearby sand dunes for a day in the sun.
But they had only just arrived when Mrs Emmett-Wright saw a needle.
"I picked it up and put it in a bin because I was worried about anyone else coming along and sitting on it," she said.
"We moved along to another area that wasn't that bad but I just spent the rest of the day keeping a very close eye on my children."
The mum of two said she had been visiting that stretch of beach since she was a child and believed cleanliness had dropped over the years.
"This has completely put me off going to that area of the beach," she said.
The stretch of sand visited by the Penwith family is under the control of the St Aubyn Estate which manages the beach from St Michael's Mount to Red River on behalf of the National Trust. It also owns the section of beach above the mean high water mark from approximately Red River to Station House.
"We take our responsibilities for the beach very seriously and this includes keeping it clean at peak usage periods," said Andrew Davey, head of land and property at St Aubyn Estates.
"We normally judge when to start cleaning the beach based on tides and currents and the amount of litter in evidence, as this does vary with conditions.
"It is unrealistic to clean the beach all year round, so we focus instead on peak usage periods.
"This year we will be starting our summer cleaning programme next week.
"In addition to this our car park staff are equipped with cleaning equipment, so that they can react instantly if they ever receive reports from members of the public using the beach during the daytime.
"We are confident we are doing all we reasonably can to keep the beach safe and clean but we are also dependent on the public using the beach in a responsible manner."
Cornwall's superfast broadband roll out on track compared to national scheme
THE firm responsible for rolling out Cornwall's superfast broadband is reassuring local customers that it has nothing to do with a national scheme that is running nearly two years late.
Nigel Ashcroft, Superfast Cornwall programme director for Cornish Development Company, said Cornwall was on track to achieve its 95 per cent coverage target making broadband available in rural areas by next year.
The programme has already seen more than 70 per cent of rural premises able to access broadband.
This is in contrast to a national roll-out of the technology, led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which says it will make broadband speeds of 24Mbps available to 90 per cent of rural premises by the end of 2016, compared with an earlier target of May 2015.
The DCMS expects to raise the figure to 95 per cent during 2017.
According to a report by the National Audit Office, by June this year just 26 of the 44 contracts to provide superfast broadband to rural areas had been signed, and it was forecast that just nine projects would be completed by the target date.
The Superfast Cornwall project has seen more than 27,000 Cornish homes and businesses already sign up to fibre broadband.
Mr Ashcroft added: "While there's quite a bit of negative publicity around the national roll-out of rural broadband, it's important to clarify, Cornwall's position in relation to the national roll-out."
He added: "Superfast Cornwall, a £132 million partnership between the European Union, BT and Cornwall Council, is using a separate funding scheme to make fibre optic broadband available to 95 per cent of premises in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly."
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Ice cream producers go into overdrive as demand surges
It is not just the holidaymakers who have been making the most of the good weather, with the Westcountry's ice cream producers working round the clock to record massive sales increases.
Some of the biggest retailers in Devon and Cornwall have already sold up to two and half times the amount of ice cream they sold throughout July last year, to record huge profits and cushion the blow of months of bad weather, including a wash-out Easter.
The demand has been such that staff have been pulling extra shifts to make sure their delivery trucks are stocked and shop shelves are full, with one retailer in North Devon telling how he has been working 18-hour days to make the most of the increase in interest as a result of the sweltering heat.
Roskilly's, which is based between St Keverne and Coverack on the Lizard, have seen sales rise 150% this month. "We have sold about 50,000 litres so far in July," said Silke Roskilly, who works at the farm. "If you compare that to last July we sold 20,000 litres over the same two-week period.
"We are going back to what it used to be like five or six years ago. It is so desperately important this year for Cornwall. Everyone is breathing a great big sigh of relief."
Melanie Marsh, from Callestick Farm near Truro, said sales of their Cornish Dairy Ice Cream were up 71% year-on-year.
She said: "Staff are being drafted in from other areas of the business to do extra runs with the delivery vehicles. Where we would usually be just starting to wind things up for the start of the season as the children start breaking up it is all systems go and sales have leapt suddenly since the sun came out."
Somerset-based Yeo Valley has recorded a 26% increase in sales of the vanilla-flavoured ice cream compared with last year, whereas Langage Farm near Plymouth, has sold 15,000 litres so far in July compared to 6,500 last year.
Bodmin-based Kelly's, which has been selling ice creams at the Royal Cornwall Show for more than half a century, said it was producing record volumes of ice cream due to demand.
Brand manager Nina Lumsden said: "Staff are working an additional 50 hours a week now, including all day Friday, Saturday and Monday. They are maintaining stock and supply but the ice cream is selling as quickly as it is being made."
Neil Hocking, who is a partner in the family-run Hocking's in North Devon, said he is working 18-hour days just to get the ice cream out.
He said: "Last July we sold 6,000 litres, this year we have sold 10,000 litres already.
"We don't usually do much business while the children are at school but this year has been different. I usually work 14-hour days in the summer, but last week I did 18-hour days and I had my first day off yesterday.
"It's good for the whole area to have nice weather, it's nice for visitors.
"Last year when it poured down with rain it all the retailers were concerned."