165 children employed illegally

DOZENS of children have been employed illegally in Cornwall and Devon, according to a campaign to crack down on illegal child employment.

Inquiries by juvenile employment officers and education welfare officers found 20 children being employed illegally in Cornwall and 145 in Devon.

The discoveries were made after two officers made 120 visits to employers in Cornwall during July and August and 26 officers made 625 visits to employers in Devon... more>

Roger Hilton at Kettle's Yard

"Who is this Roger Hilton?" asked NY Arts magazine in 1953. Today you could be forgiven for asking the same question. If Roger Hilton (1911-1975) had been born on the other side of the Atlantic and been active there during the heyday of Abstract Expressionism, he would enjoy the same renown as Pollock, De Kooning, Rothko and co. But in post-war Britain, when US artists were influencing most of his peers, the non-conformist Hilton looked no further than the European tradition.

This he was able to convert into what he termed "a new sort of figuration; one which is more true". Lesser known than other members of the St Ives clan, including Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Patrick Heron, Hilton is the unsung hero of the abstract art to emerge from Cornwall in the 1950s and 1960s...more>

Dig deep: Cornwall mines its past for the future

...The starting-off point also provides a slice of art history. Botallack was the home of British abstract artist Roger Hilton until his death in 1975. His wife, Rose, herself a fine painter whose first solo retrospective showed recently at Tate St Ives, still lives in the couple's granite cottage. Luminaries of the St Ives art scene would congregate at the Hilton house.

It is easy to see what attracted so many artists to Botallack. The engine houses of its mines – "wrought under the sea beyond the memory of any person now living," as once described by the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall – cling precariously to cliffs against which the Atlantic surges with relentless power... more>

The biscuit-tin modernist

Ben Nicholson, master of the right angle and perfect circle, has had an irregular reputation in his native Britain. Before the war, he was thought outrageous, with his paintings of nothing and his white wood reliefs so avant-garde they were practically foreign. Then we won the war and Nicholson became a national treasure. When Modernism faded, we preferred his Cornish landscapes, clean, bright and picturesque - the very spirit of St Ives. But now that St Ives itself is oversold, we have returned to those circles... more>

Portmeor artists' studios: crumbling beauty

Porthmeor artists' studios in St Ives is the oldest such complex in Britain. It is also in an advanced state of decay and in urgent need of funding. Emma Thomas meets the artists and fishermen who work in its unique atmosphere

Weather-beaten and worn, Porthmeor artists' studios has stood in the Cornish town of St Ives for more than 150 years, stubbornly clinging on to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. In stark contrast to the modern Tate gallery nearby, the building possesses a crumbling beauty that is superficially alluring. The oldest studio complex in the country - internationally influential artists have worked here - its history is ingrained in the distressed and faded patina of every wall panel and floorboard. The light here is extraordinary. Infinite. Even on a dull day, mesmerising. One artist occupant said, 'You can't do rubbish paintings here. Your work has to match this amazing place.' more>

A three-year love letter to St Ives

David Pearce's film Footprints means so much to him that it is almost painful to listen to his story. You desperately want it to succeed, so that he can recoup his £200,000 investment in the film and feel vindicated for the three years he has spent working on it... more>

Uproar at housing meeting

PENZANCE families are afraid to let their children out to play after 11 houses for people with drug and alcohol problems were opened across town without public consultation.

Hundreds of angry residents attacked the district council scheme, raising this point and others, at a special meeting on Tuesday evening.

The Cornishman's request for a list of addresses to be made public was refused. A council spokesperson said it is being addressed under the Freedom of Information Act.

The special town council meeting was held to answer questions about the shared housing scheme, run by Penwith District Council and Providers of Accommodation and Support, (PAS).

PAS works with the council's housing team to run shared houses for single, homeless people, with the aim of helping vulnerable individuals back into independent living. The properties are leased to the council by Charles Terrence Estates, (CTE).


There are 11 houses in Penzance within the PAS scheme, which homes people who can prove a local connection, and who are free of drugs and dry of alcohol. Nine properties are shared houses and two have self-contained flats.

A total of 25 houses have been found, but the remaining 14 are used for families or are sub-let.

Enraged audience members continually interrupted the panel of council officers, PAS representatives and police.

Council officers and support workers defended the scheme, although they admitted there are problems. They said they were going to work to improve things... more>

Solution to affordable homes - stop building

THE only way to tackle the shortage of affordable housing in the Westcountry is to stop all new developments, a Cornish MP has claimed.

Andrew George has launched a campaign calling on the Government to abandon its plans to build thousands more homes in the region and instead concentrate on buying up existing homes for the least well-off.

Ministers insist the number of houses across Devon and Cornwall has got to be increased to help more people on to the property ladder... more>

Zennor prepares to resist TETRA mast plan

VILLAGERS are preparing to repel a second attempt to erect a TETRA communications mast in Zennor after developers formally applied for planning permission.

The proposed site, north of Higher Kerrow Farm, is 160 metres east of the location of the original application, which was turned down by planners nearly three years ago.

Airwave Solutions – which provides the controversial masts which transmit secure police and emergency service communications – want to build a 10-metre-high 'monopole' which it plans to disguise as a telegraph pole.

Chairman of the parish council Mike Hindley says villagers just don't want a mast to spoil their beautiful countryside.

“The police say we have to have it because they are contracted to cover around 90% of all A and B roads, but the locals just don't want it,” he said.

“It is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and we don't care that we will not be covered quite as well as the rest of the country.

“The company says it will disguise the mast as a telegraph pole but the parish council is in the process of trying to get the existing poles removed at the moment.”

The shock arrival of a temporary mast in 2004 sparked a mass protest by villagers and farmers, who used cars and tractors to block access to the site on a verge opposite the Gurnard's Head Hotel.

Planners unanimously rejected the subsequent planning application because the site was in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the Heritage Coast and in an Area of Great Historic Value.

Head of planning at Penwith District Council Andy England said the body had received five letters of objection to the full application which is expected to be decided at a meeting on August 26.

Mr Hindley said details of a parish meeting to discuss the issue would be announced in the next few days.

this is Cornwall

Second homes exodus

A WAVE of second-home owners hit by the economic downturn are selling up, providing an unexpected boost for the Westcountry's property market.

Estate agents in picturesque or rural parts of Devon and Cornwall say many second-home owners are choosing to sell up rather than pay the rising monthly bills for two properties at once.

This is releasing homes for new buyers moving into the area and for local people struggling to find a permanent home in the region... more>

Water industry free to pollute beaches

As you drive along the B3301 in north Cornwall, you come across the rocks and golden sands of Godrevy, overlooking St Ives Bay. It is among the finest beaches in Britain but on some days there is an unmistakable odour: sewage.

“You can smell it sometimes when you cross the Red River, which flows onto the beach,” said Richard Hardy, campaign director of Surfers Against Sewage. “Families sometimes play in the water without realising there is a serious risk of getting ill.” ...more>

Edward Hain Hospital closed by water main burst

A COTTAGE hospital in West Cornwall has been forced to close temporarily after a water main burst.

Water was found to be flooding through the ceiling of the Edward Hain Hospital in St Ives on Thursday night.

Firefighters carried a dozen elderly patients from the building after the electrics were damaged. The patients have now been transferred to the community hospitals at Helston and Camborne/Redruth.

However, Cornwall Primary Care Trust, which runs the hospital and its minor injuries unit in the popular resort, says the incident has forced its closure for the time being.

The cause of the flood will now be investigated and a deep-cleaning operation undertaken before the small cottage hospital is reopened.


Linda Day, hospital manager at the PCT, said Edward Hain would reopen “at the earliest opportunity”.

“The hospital has been closed temporarily while the cause of the burst pipe is fully investigated, repaired and a clean-up operation commences. This will also involve a thorough deep- clean of the hospital.”

While the hospital is closed, patients who require treatment for minor injuries will be redirected to hospitals at Helston, Camborne/Redruth or Truro.

this is Cornwall

Bargain hunters pounce on holiday homes as owners feel pinch

Scores of second-home owners hit by the economic downturn have decided to sell up, bringing an unexpected vibrancy to the property market in the country's favourite beauty spots.

Estate agents operating near the coast or in picturesque rural locations are reporting a sharp increase in sales and deals last month. Bargain hunters are snapping up houses that two years ago they were unable to afford or which rarely came on to the market. The trend is expected to continue as buy-to-let owners seek to convert their assets to cash.

Savills has reported that in July its Southampton office, which specialises in properties in the New Forest, along the Solent and in the Isle of Wight, had the best month in takings since the branch opened five years ago.

The firm's Truro office has sold four houses, each worth more than £1million, in less than a week. Lillicrap Chilcott, which specialises in waterside homes in Cornwall, clinched a sale almost every day last month. Holidaymakers have also spotted “For Sale” boards along cliff roads or in popular resorts such as St Ives, Cornwall, and Aldeburgh, Suffolk, where before-sales were conducted more discreetly... more>