Napoli inquiry launch date

Following my previous entries regarding a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the MSC Napoli affair Devon County Council have issued a press release. There's a good deal of information in it and you can access it here. Much to much for me to repeat but I'll just mention one or two things. Initially the Council want to amass as much evidence and people's experiences as possible. The press release indicates how individuals can submit to the inquiry which can be in writing rather than them being physically present at the hearing. To publicise the whole thing the Council is going to officially launch the inquiry next Tuesday at Branscombe.

One other point: this press notice doesn't I think suggest that the reason(s) for the original Napoli damage prior to her crew's rescue would form part of the inquiry. However I would like to think that someone from the Marine Investigation Branch will attend and give evidence.

It's good to get on with this preliminary stuff. It shouldn't be long now before what's left of the ship is removed from its present resting place.

'Weatheraction.com' is now back up

In my blog for last Monday I had hinted that perhaps Piers Corbyn, the maverick weatherman, might have given up on his business in view of his very bad predictions of late. This thought had been ignited by the fact that he didn't appear to be using his domain name any longer for his 'Weatheraction' business. So no more entries for Piers, I could spend more time on other stories. How naive I am because he is back now and his current home page is here. My guess is that he had just forgotten to renew his domain name registration.

Having produced a very detailed forecast for January (which was about 95% wrong!) we then got a very slim version of his predictions for February. On his present homepage Piers says "Feb was indeed a month of 'dramatic contrasts of both bitter winter blasts and bursts of Spring', as we forecast" Piers old chap it's ridiculous to pat yourself on the back with such a vague statement, the more important fact is that your forecast of a significant storm mid month was as far from reality as anything could be.

What I am pleased to note is that the 'Weatheraction' homepage now has a much improved and cleaner look than it used to. I won't take any credit for that but I have complained before about the unprofessional appearance it once had. Whilst I can understand your desire to keep your most detailed forecasts out of general public view as they bring in revenue for you I do hope that you are still prepared to put some of your stuff into the freely available public domain.

I would be very happy to publish any notable successes you have with your technique should I become aware of any! I can't say fairer than that.

The Democratic Deficit (2)

Back in last June I was blogging under the title 'The Democratic Deficit' and in that particular piece I mused about what I considered to be the self evident problem about how government ministers could deal with simultaneously representing their constituents and formulating policy. In a perfect world I suggested it would be a good idea for different people to carry out these two functions but as to how to do this - well that's another question!

I'm returning to this subject now because the opposition are pointing to the following conundrum. On the one hand the government have instigated a review to significantly reduce the number of post offices in the land. At the same time certain government ministers (Jack Straw and Jacqui Smith were among those mentioned) are putting the case for the retention of certain post offices in their constituencies. Hypocrisy shout the Tories. We are just representing our voters rejoin the Ministers. This just illustrates the point I originally made I feel. But again I don't pretend to have the solution.

Railway centenary celebrations coming up

This coming Sunday sees the centenary of the opening of our branch railway. Back in 1908 it ran from Bere Alston to Kelly Bray but, following the Beeching Report, the western section from Gunnislake to Kelly Bray has been closed. Today the line extends on from Bere Alston to Plymouth over what was in its day part of the Plymouth - Exeter route through Tavistock and Okehampton.

So far as our railway history is concerned 1908 on the face of it is a very late date to be opening a new railway line. Well part of it had been in use as far back as 1872 as a link from Kelly Bray to Calstock. As with many other lines hereabouts it was brought into being purely as a way to get freight to and from a convenient waterway, in our case the River Tamar. Reflecting its history in this truncated form it had been known as the East Cornwall Mineral Railway. The track from
the Tavistock direction through Bere Alston to Plymouth was completed in 1890 and it was seen as a sensible move to bridge the gap between the two railways even though this meant incorporating an expensive high level viaduct across the Tamar at Calstock.

Even with delays in the building of the viaduct this structure was completed in August 1907 well ahead of the rest of the line. Locally we celebrated the viaduct construction last summer but it was deemed (correctly in my opinion) that we should have a further series of events now.

This coming Sunday then is the big day with top brass from First Great Western, at least one local MP and various local council dignitaries getting in on the act. There will be a special train and I think three plaques to be unveiled. Over the weekend there will be archive displays, film shows and other jollifications taking place. In fact there is so much on the menu that the organisers sensibly put on two railway walks last weekend. These were led by two respected members of the Calstock Footpath Society - on Saturday David led a walk from Calstock Station and then on the following day Stephen led the walk from the station at Gunnislake. I didn't get to David's walk I'm afraid but did participate in Steve's which looked at the line and all its associated sidings between Gunnislake and Latchley. This was extremely interesting and informative.

Next Monday afternoon there is the opportunity to walk across Calstock viaduct (legally!) but you have to book and it will cost £5. Nice to say you have done it perhaps but the high parapet will preclude decent views. In the train you get a much better outlook - myself I'll stick with the train!

For more on the celebration events you can click here. No doubt I shall have more to record after next Sunday.

Piers Corbyn and weatheraction.com

I have blogged a number of times regarding maverick weather forecaster Piers Corbyn. It was always possible to go to his website 'weatheraction.com' and get some indication from his homepage as to what he considered we would get in the forthcoming month. By paying a subscription (I don't know how much) one could see a much more comprehensive forecast, anything up to a year ahead.

His domain name now appears to have been taken over by some concern in America. So either Piers has given up on his business or he is going to reinvent himself on another website. I and one or two other bloggers have been sharply critical of Piers; comparing his more recent prognostications that he has freely publicised with the reality of subsequent events has shown him to be spectacularly wrong. For instance having had a very bad time in January, even with a 'corrected' forecast half way through the month, he then produced a much less detailed summary for February. In it he talked about a "significant storm" mid month. I'll be generous and stretch mid month to include the whole of the second and third weeks. What happened? Most of the country was basking under the benign influence of an anticyclone!

Now remember that people were purchasing his forecasts. And remember too that Piers has been using his techniques for a number of years so one would assume that the quality of his forecasts would be getting ever better. If I had paid him good money I would be far from pleased at his really dreadful predictions of late. In fact you would literally have to believe in the precise opposite to be near the truth.

Significantly Piers would frequently castigate not only the Met Office but those who believe in man made climate change. I wouldn't say that sunspots and magnetic storms have no effect on our weather but as to being the sole drivers of it I can't believe that. Certainly the appalling results we have had from Piers is a vote of no confidence in his theories.

Taking the BBC to task

Time for one or two gripes about the Beeb. First up is the way they trail forthcoming TV programmes. I'm not too upset if subjected to a very small number of trailers but what is annoying is the way they keep repeating a preview of just one programme. I certainly don't have the inclination to watch BBC1 morning, noon and night but during the past week or more keep getting told about 'Happy Birthday Brucie', a celebration of Bruce Forsyth's 80th birthday. This was shown earlier this evening - I didn't watch it, sorry Bruce! I recognise he is very popular with a lot of people and is to be congratulated that he can still do the business with his programmes. But these shows just aren't my cup of tea and I'm not into celebrity culture.

I'm not upset by the BBC screening this programme (he's only 80 once afterall!). No it's the way that the whole thing is being rammed down our throats which bothers me. I certainly couldn't fail to notice that he was coming up to his 80th. In fact I'm more aware of his age than that of anyone else on the planet!

If this wasn't enough I'm now going to moan about the half hour programme 'Spotlight' our local half hour news/magazine programme on Monday to Friday. In reality it's not the programme itself which is the subject of my ire but the fact that it never is a half hour programme. I've looked at the BBC1 website which makes it clear that the local news shows go on till 7 o'clock. Well like heck they do. Normally Spotlight finishes some five minutes short of that time. Then we have these troublesome trailers whilst the next programme 'The One Show' starts about a couple of minutes prior to its scheduled time. Nothing at all against 'The One Show' - I watch it on occasion - but I feel I'm being robbed of part of my local programme and am fed up with it. If the powers that be consider that Spotlight should finish at 18.55 then they should be honest and say so.

A slight change of tack now. Sometimes in regard to the TV licence fee one hears the moan "the TV licence isn't worth the money with all the repeats and everything". Now I'm know more enthusiastic about shelling out money for any licence than the next person. But so far as the cost is concerned the TV output is only part of the picture not the whole. I can remember when every radio had to have a licence; now of course the one licence covers everything. Then there is the little matter of the BBC presence on the internet with a vast amount of information, links, blogs and opportunities to comment. Add on the BBC World Service. Whilst I don't doubt for a moment that there is plenty of scope for money to be saved I just wanted to make the point that the BBC is far more than a few TV channels.

I hope that I've redressed the balance a bit with the last paragraph!

The Archbishop and Sharia Law

The other day the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, stirred up a lot of controversy with his comments on Islam's Sharia Law. There was a great deal of outrage much of it emanating from the tabloid press. Now I don't pretend to understand the nuances of the arguments that have arisen. But I would first like to make a couple of observations. They are these: Dr Williams is very much an academic and his deep thoughts and somewhat convoluted language do not make for easy hearing or reading and so are open to misinterpretation and with certain quotations being recorded out of context. Not that his presentation style is totally wrong because there is the other problem prevalent today of too much dumbing down. This leads to my second point - you can bet that the tabloid editors and commentators with their tight publishing schedules haven't really understood what the good Archbishop has been driving at.

I think it was last week that the Western Morning News published an article by Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips in which she had a right old go at Dr Williams. I wouldn't say that I would always disagree with what Melanie says or writes but she is a busy writer and is the sort of person liable just to write from her gut instincts and not forensically look at her subject. And I don't know whether it's just me but her hectoring style of talking (I've seen her on TV and heard her on the radio) is quite irritating. The WMN is using Daily Mail articles more frequently these days, I think they come from the same stable, but to their credit allowed a similar length article from another writer to put forward an opposing view.

So in yesterday's paper it was the turn of former North Cornwall MP Lord Paul Tyler to rebut the argument from Ms Phillips. Lord Tyler refers to the fact that he's read the Archbishop's "long, complicated and thoughtful lecture". He doubts that Ms Phillips has and I suspect he's right on that. Lord Tyler goes on to make some well reasoned points in his piece and although I don't have the time to fully read what Dr Williams had to say and the huge number of subsequent comments on blogs and elsewhere I would lean by instinct to what Lord Tyler says rather than the rantings from the tabloid press.

Finally just a thought about Paul Tyler and his fellow Lords and Ladies in the Upper House. These people are often worth listening to. They are of more mature years generally than their counterparts in the Commons and thus have a more rounded view on life. Not having the constant concern of keeping their constituents sweet or of levering themselves up through the ranks to become government ministers by being 'yesmen' helps them to apply commonsense to matters of the day. This is quite refreshing.

Tom Daley in Olympic Team

Readers of this blog will realise that I don't have much interest in sport and this applies to this year's Olympic Games in China as well. And don't get me started on London 2012, expect a few rants over the months and years to come on that particular subject. But on the other side of the coin I'm always pleased to record local sporting achievement, more so when it is what is normally a minority interest sport that is being discussed.

So step forward 13 year old Tom Daley, a Devon diver, who has qualified for the British Olympic team. When the Games begin he will be a little over 14 and will be the youngest British competitor ever. I've seen him interviewed on TV and he comes across as being very likeable and self assured. All the best of luck to him.

It can sound as if I'm very negative about sport but that's not really true. Those who are keen and talented should be encouraged; it's just that I've never been personally that keen and certainly not talented! Ball games have always been a no-no for me but I used to enjoy PE at school and much later in life I have run in a few marathons and shorter road races, just to prove I could(!).

I think that some of my antipathy towards professional sport today derives from the (watch my language here) obscene amounts of money and celebrity culture associated with it. So don't expect too much commentary on sport from this blog!

Daffodil walk delights

Following on from my last entry and with the dry weather still holding on I was pleased to show three good friends (and two canine companions) the daffodil valley I had previously mentioned. My friends were delighted and amazed by the spectacle the flowers presented. It was a fine time to visit as there were still a goodly number of snowdrops out as well. There are a number of varieties of daffodil here and their flowering will be spread over the weeks to come. All to the good as this could be an excuse to visit again. In this valley one sees the remnants of packing sheds in various states of repair which were used by the helpers for bunching up the flowers. The valley has so many echoes of the way life was in the area and not so long ago either.

We were all well pleased with our visit to this really special place.

Good to see some frost

One thing that can truly be said of our British weather is that there is always scope for plenty of variability and such is the case recently. After a very wet and mild January one could have been led into thinking that we would be stuck with the same in February. To the relief of many I guess this has proved not to be the case. Last night was another frosty one but it has now being followed by yet more bright sunshine.

So what are the plusses regarding plummeting nightime temperatures? Well for a start it's been good to get the chance to see the stars in all their glory; I'm lucky here that the light pollution isn't too bad so that observing the heavens is a practical proposition. I have to say that I'm in awe of the stars and all of nature's wonders. On a practical note perhaps a few sharp frosts will reduce some of the unpleasant nasties in our gardens; certainly the mild wet winters of late have assisted the burgeoning slug population. Will the frosts inhibit the development of the midges that have been spreading the awful bluetongue disease? I believe that a vaccine against bluetongue is very close to coming to market and it's just possible that we might be able to stop it in its tracks this summer and not endure the sort of apalling losses they had last year on mainland Europe.

News on the radio traffic report this morning of some road traffic accidents possibly caused in part by the frost. A problem here in the southwest is the fact that our narrow highways with their deep banks may not see the sun for most of the day with the consequence that isolated slippery conditions persist. To compound the situation there are many instances of streams spilling out from fields thereby causing localised icy patches. It is this sudden change in circumstances as you are driving that has such a potential for accidents to occur.

Yesterday I had a decent walk in a hidden valley not too far away where once market gardening held sway. One of the popular 'crops' were daffodils in the Spring. The steep slopes on which they were cultivated have reverted to scrub and woodland but happily the daffs come up every year. Presumably because January was mild and wet the flowers are very advanced this year. Although not quite at their peak there are already plenty to see and what a delight they are. At present there are still a good number of snowdrops still in flower so it made for a breathtaking spectacle. I hope to show off these daffodils to a couple of friends in the village shortly, I've talked up this daffodil walk to them and trust they won't be disappointed!

Tension in the Balkans

Kosovo is on the brink of declaring independence. This idea is very unpopular not only with Serbia (there are significant enclaves of Serbians in Kosovo) but with Russia as well. It is known too that some other European countries are lukewarm about Kosovo's plans. I have read of the suggestion that the carrot of joining the European Union might be dangled in front of Serbia in an attempt to placate their people. Most of the time I'm not too enthusiastic about cosying up to Europe but this just might be an opportunity for the Union to do something really useful. Certainly the ethnic tensions in this troubled part of the World always seem to be bubbling just below the surface. Let's hope and pray that violence doesn't break out once again.

Website devoted to Dobwalls Bypass

A recent entry on this blog was about the yet to be built St Mellion Bypass on the A388 between Callington and Saltash. That was triggered by the enormous expansion plans of the nearby golf course. Whereas that particular road scheme is for the future one that is being constructed at the moment is the Dobwalls Bypass also in East Cornwall. I have briefly alluded to this improvement before but I'm interested to note that a keen photographer, Ian Foster, has a website here where he has been keeping tabs on construction progress. Each month there is a separate folder linked from his homepage to illustrate what has been going on. You can also click on 'Published scheme' which displays a map of the area - this is fortunate as it helps to sort out the geography, without it some of the road names mentioned by Ian might not mean a lot unless you live there.

Everything appears to be progressing well and the opening date which I think is next September is quite realistic I would say. In fact I would be surprised if one carriageway of the new dual carriageway road wasn't open by the August bank holiday.

Some folk will say that there should be an embargo on any new road building. That I would aver is neither right nor reasonable and I am a passionate environmentalist! Yes a much improved road could well encourage more traffic. And yes there is an environmental cost in making any sort of construction. Let us assume for a moment that we could put a lid on the number of vehicle miles in this country. The present level of traffic through Dobwalls is deleterious in terms of air pollution, noise pollution, potential for vehicle/pedestrian conflict and the general wellbeing of the inhabitants. The environmental benefits resulting from traffic that is flowing far more freely can't be ignored. Accessibility for emergency vehicles to the village will be much improved too.

I'm not saying that literally every road scheme on the drawing board should come to fruition but in Dobwall's case surely most people will applaud what is happening.

Good and bad shipyard news

Before blogging on some good and bad news regarding Westcountry shipyards I just want to recap on a little history to put the story into context. In 2004 the then owner of Devonport Dockyard, DML, bought the highly regarded facility at Appledore which has always had a good reputation in the shipbuilding industry. Fast forward to July last year and the takeover of the Devonport yard by Babcock Marine who decided to retain Appledore as part of their setup.

Now Babcock also own Rosyth in Scotland and have the contract to build the UK's two next generation aircraft carriers. Here's the good news: the Appledore yard will help build the hull sections of these two ships thus securing the employment of the 160 strong workforce for something like the next five years. This is a great story for North Devon which needs to retain these sorts of highly skilled people.

Not such good news for Devonport meanwhile where there are to be 600 redundancies. On the plus side there were some expectations I understand that the job loss would be greater than this so it could have been worse.

Like so much of industry today shipbuilding is a cut'throat business. Once there were 'jobs for life' but not these days I have to say.

Possible water metering for all of us

Almost a year ago, on the 22nd February, I wrote a fairly lengthy piece about the rise in our water/sewerage bills. One of the facts I highlighted was how in the south west we have the highest water charges in the country and the lack of fairness in the charging system. To their credit local backbench MPs have badgered the government of the day on this question.

Now the government have come up with a review - it looks as if they want to get some sort of coherent water strategy for the whole country (at last) and I imagine get the west country MPs off their backs. One of the suggestions being put about is to try and get everyone on a water meter. This has its good points such as relating payment to usage. But universal water metering cannot be done for practical reasons. There are instances where say three properties are connected to the same service pipe and can't be separately metered. OK these are in the minority but they still form a significant number. However this can I understand be sorted out to a degree by South West Water coming and doing an assessment of your water usage and billing you accordingly.

Practically everyone who has changed to a meter (I admit I have yet to do so partly because my bill is derived from the low rateable value of my very small cottage) has been agreeably surprised at the reduction in their bills. Effectively a large number of those paying for their water in the traditional way are subsidising the people on meters. The government are making great noises about the scope for reduction in bills but is this spin once again? Metering might incentivise people to use less water but overall income to the water company will drop unless they substantially increase everyone's payment. So it's back to the old question of whether the government can or will provide any sort of subsidy to us. I think the metering thing is to try and get them off the hook for the moment.

Another suggestion being mooted is that of some sort of sliding scale being instituted so that when people's useage soars in the summer as they fill up their swimming pools and sprinkle their lawns then this 'extra' water will be paid for at a higher rate. Hold on though. Superficially charging more for this sort of non essential use might seem like a good idea but what about all this water that gets used by holidaymakers, should they be charged for it. Imagine for a moment a family from 'up north' enjoying a two week holiday in sunny Cornwall. Let us say they are on a meter at home. Coming down here they will save two weeks water usage plus our hotelier or bed and breakfast proprietor would perhaps be shelling out not just for their normal water bills but a premium for this extra summer use. The foregoing is a development of a long held argument and the question arises as to whether the visitor should be charged extra because of the water use thus making the price of their holiday even more uncompetitive with the overseas package bargains. Not an easy one to solve.

St Mellion Bypass

Oops! Before publishing yesterday's piece on St Mellion Golf Course plans I should have done a little research on the proposal to bypass the village as I had made a brief reference to that subject. I had totally forgotten that the County Council had worked up a scheme for said bypass and in fact had shown the proposals to the villagers via a public display. Cornwall County Council seem to be particularly good with their websites and if you go here you can read all about their proposals for St Mellion. This is brilliant use of the internet by this particular council: I notice that there are some useful maps to show what will happen and indications of the cost and possible start date. The developments at the Golf Course might well nudge the bypass scheme forward - the A388 north and south of St Mellion have been much improved in recent years and this short bypass would not take a lot of time to build.

St Mellion gets planning permission

The village of St Mellion lies on the west side of the road from Saltash to Callington. Now it is primarily known for its golf course, not that this fact really interests me - I've about as much interest in playing golf as flying to the moon! But what is worth recording is the fact that Caradon District Council have given the owners planning permission for a very substantial development.

What we are talking about here is a new 80 bedroom hotel, a refurbished clubhouse, 265 lodges, a new access to the main road and some reconfiguration of the golf course itself. So not small beer that's for sure, I think they are talking about a £100 million investment.

My initial reaction was of some concern about the size of the scheme when related to the quiet intimate landscape of Cornwall. However the siting isn't in the most conspicuous of places, for instance it may not be visible from the Tamar itself although I have a feeling that the tower of St Mellion church is so I could be wrong (artists impression shows hotel would be 3 storeys high). The rising ground of Viverdon Down just south of Callington would I think hide the development from the viewpoint of Kit Hill - I'd hope so anyway. I am always concerned that planners don't assess visual impact from popular viewpoints, and Kit Hill is one such, that are not that far away.

A plus side is the statement that 50 extra full-time jobs will be created when the work is completed. It is hoped that the Club can bring back the European Tour golf competition (whatever that is) to St Mellion. There is understandable concern that the development will put a lot of extra pressure on the roads but my own experience of the main road there is that traffic outside the rush hour isn't too bad. It is the village itself which could suffer most though with increased car movement. I may have got this wrong but I thought that in years past when the whole idea of developing the golf course has been discussed the then owners were going to stump up money to get the whole village bypassed. Could be totally wrong on that but this latest proposal includes a paltry £220,000 to local highway projects. Not very much at all in the great sceme of things.

I believe that work on the project will be commencing pretty soon so we won't have to wait long to see what sort of impact it has both environmentally and economically.

Confirmation of MSC Napoli enquiry

Following my piece on the Napoli exactly a week ago I'm pleased to confirm that Devon County Council have now formally ratified the decision to hold a public enquiry. The enquiry will not have the force of law behind it and anyboby participating in it will do so on a voluntary basis. It's hoped that evidence will be passed to the Council over the next few months preparatory to the start of the public hearings later in the year. Inevitably there have been criticisms about the handling of the Napoli incident but I really hope that those that have been in the firing line are prepared to come forward; it would also be useful if businesses and private individuals from the Branscombe area had their say. Critically the tests that have been done on the area of the fracture on the ship's hull which started the whole saga need to be brought into the public domain.

Unlike certain enquiries generated by central government (think "Hutton") I believe this one will be painstaking and thorough.

Sight and sound of a blackcap

I should have mentioned this last week but better late than never I suppose. Last Wednesday morning we first heard and then as confirmation saw a blackcap. About a mile from here there is a little sheltered dell containing a small cluster of houses with plenty of bushes and trees around, just the right habitat for garden birds I guess, and it was here that the blackcap was producing its fluty notes. I understand that some blackcaps do overwinter in the south west and this sighting was a real pleasure.

It's been noticeable that a few birds are singing now. We are lucky here that signs of Spring start early.

Ripple of discontent at Newlyn

Please forgive the pun but the title of this entry refers to 'Ripple', the oldest fishing boat on the UK Fishing Vessel Register still sporting her original name and her fishing registry number (SS19). On 13 October I penned a piece about her loving restoration and her refloating at Newlyn. A gentleman by the name of John Lambourn has been the driving force behind the work and he has had the benefit of a rent free site on the waterfront courtesy of the Harbour Commission. Although he wants to use the facility for another fortnight we are told the Commission are very keen to get the site back to generate some income and therefore wish to evict him.

I am loathe to take sides on this one not knowing the parties concerned. However I do have a very powerful belief that every town benefits from some item of heritage from which the community can benefit and gives that particular place a sense of identity. Hence my excitement and support for the 'Ripple' project last October. It is a terrible shame to hear of acrimony here and I really hope that a sensible accommodation can be made.

Regarding another part of our nautical heritage there is a worry about the 'Kathleen and May' being sold and thus leaving Bideford in North Devon. No time to write about that now but I must blog about that sometime soon.

Nortcott Theatre gets lifeline

I have to admit that I'm not 'into' the theatre, opera or ballet (although the last two can have some wonderful music) which is one reason why this blog is notable for the absence of reviews of the arts. Admittedly one day I would like to attend a performance at the open air Minack Theatre but that would be purely because of the extraordinary venue. However as I am trying to record significant happenings in my two counties then it is appropriate to mention Exeter's Northcott Theatre right now.

Wind the clock back to December and we have 'The Northcott' reopening after a substantial refurbishment at a cost of £2.1 million. Much of this money came from the Arts Council. At about the same time as this reopening the Arts Council said they would withdraw their £500,000 plus funding per year that they give to this theatre. You couldn't make it up! This announcement led to a massive publicity campaign and over 26,000 signatory petition. The outcome I'm happy to say was an announcement yesterday that the Arts Council would maintain funding until 2011 with a proviso about future diversity of programming. If the cash hadn't been forthcoming then the theatre would have closed.

As I have already intimated the future of 'The Northcott' wouldn't have directly impinged on my life. Having said that I am passionate about the maintenance of cultural opportunities in our region for those that want them and am pleased about the decision.

Another plus from the deliberations of the Arts Council is the award of a minimum of £655,000 to the Dartington Hall Trust, not to be confused with the Dartington College of Arts which is due to move to Falmouth.

A good day for the Live Arts in my area!