Morwellham sale progressing

It was last autumn that we learnt that the heritage attraction of Morwellham Quay in West Devon had gone into administration. This followed the decision by Devon County Council to no longer continue to pump funds into the running of Morwellham. Good news time now: Morwellham has been sold and I'm led to believe that it will be run on a fairly similar basis to the way it was before (although in a more business like manner one trusts!). Although I'm aware of who the purchaser is I'm not going to mention any names prior to an official announcement. There are the various legal bits and bobs to sort out but I would think that would be done by the end of this month.

The re-opening of Morwellham to the public will be very welcome boost to tourism in the Tamar Valley and in fact to the wider south west.

Morwellham in hands of Administrators

At the end of last week the sad announcement that Morwellham is going into administration was made. A press release dated the 25th named the two gentlemen from Grant Thornton who are the administrators and stated that the centre will be open till the end of October prior to a winter shutdown. As to what happens after then I just don't know but my guess is that it will continue under some guise or another. Let's hope so.

Morwellham - no news is good news possibly

Just a couple of days ago I had written about the travails at Morwellham Quay and mentioned the impending meeting between the various stakeholders that was due to take place yesterday. So far as I know this happened but as to the result of the deliberations there is no news yet.

I had thought there would be a press release today but the fact this hasn't happened so far as I can see could be indicative of avenues still being explored. If every possibility had been exhausted at the meeting then perhaps a statement to that affect would have been quickly forthcoming.

One piece of definite news though is that the sell-out concert by 'Show of Hands' tomorrow evening has been confirmed as going ahead but with the 'Ship Inn' closed audience members have been advised to bring their own refreshment - more info for those interested in this concert on the Morwellham website.

Morwellham might know its fate tomorrow

I had been a little reluctant to blog on the topic of Morwellham. For those who don't know it was a long established port cum village on the east bank of the Tamar a little way downstream of the river's tidal limit of the weir at Gunnislake. It really rose to prominence in the 19th century when the output of the Tamar Valley mines went into the stratosphere, only to drop into a deep slumber in the twentieth century. After considerable site clearance it was reborn as a heritage / tourist attraction. Fine but one problem encountered I felt was that it didn't quite know how to pitch itself and to what audience. Following on from that was the fact that its day to day management wasn't always of the best to be honest. I'm not criticising individual staff who have really done everything they could, its just that over the years they haven't always been led or motivated as well as one would have hoped.

It is difficult with any 'attraction' to keep the crowds coming after the early euphoria has died down. For instance with the 'Eden Project' huge numbers visited in the first few years but it has to keep on thinking of ways to attract new audiences and to get those who came in the early days to revisit. One way of getting more footfall is to promote unrelated events at such sites and Morwellham (which is fortunate in having plenty of space) did this again the other weekend when the Tavistock Food Fair selected the location for this year's venue. All useful income but sadly not enough.

Morwellham has been the recipient of considerable grant aid to carry out improvements and repairs but this money is for capital works only and as its visitor numbers have dropped off it has been dependant on West Devon Borough Council and more particularly Devon County Council to keep 'the show on the road'. In early September came the bombshell - the new administration running the County Council decided to pull the plug on their financial support. Without being party political here I should point out that there has been a change of administration with the Tories taking over from the LibDems as the main party. Anyway without another source of money it seems that the attraction won't be able to continue.

Now I'm privy to slightly more than there is out there in the public domain but not being a trustee do not know the intimate detail. My reluctance to spout about Morwellham to anyone is the fact that I don't want to inadvertently talk about something that is semi confidential and fuel rumours. To give the trustees their due they have tried to keep the public informed to a degree and in fact one can read some of this in the 'latest news' on the Morwellham-Quay website.

There is a crunch meeting in Exeter tomorrow (Tuesday) in which the trustees and stakeholders can sit around a table and try and find a way forward. Personally, and this is a gut feeling not something I've heard, I think that there will be a future at Morwellham. It may not happen immediately but my feeling is that some solution will be found - I just hope that I'm right! We should get some sort of clarity on Wednesday I would think. In the meantime one's thoughts are with those already made redundant or who might find themselves without a job soon.

Morwellham Country Fair

After the nasty weather of Saturday there has been some respite and yesterday (Sunday) turned out to be a half decent day. This was fortuitous as a country fair had been organised by the folk at Morwellham Quay. There is a considerable amount of land there in their ownership and it was possible to hold the fair in a good sized field separate from the main heritage activities. I had thought they had run this event before but evidently this was my imagination as I was told that this was definitely the first of what it is hoped will be an annual event. The organisers were rewarded with a good response in terms of spectator numbers even though there hadn't been a lot of advertising. It was definitely the sort of event that suited Morwellham, nothing over the top, just a pleasant day out for a family, or individuals come to that. Heavy horses, ferret racing, a sheepdog rounding up ducks, a bouncy castle, dog competitions (well done 'Gypsy', your proud owner must have felt like an Olympic champion collecting the rosettes), various stalls, these were some of the activities going on.

Oh, I almost forgot, 'The Rubber Band' were there to entertain as well. Following an earlier occasion this year at Morwellham when the band got a soaking they quite reasonably asked to be placed under cover this time round. So they found themselves in a fairly large gazebo at the top of the field, right next to the person doing the hot dogs, it's a wonder they didn't play 'Smoke gets in Your Eyes'! Even with the gazebo they had there wasn't a lot of room to spare and if the two or three other members who weren't able to come had been there I think that there would have been quite a squeeze.

The organisers had repeated a mistake that I must admit I had made not so long before at a different event. This was not providing any seating for those who wanted to specifically listen to the music, without anywhere to sit there is a tendency to just drift past They had thoughtfully deposited some hay bales around the periphery of the main events ring in the time honoured way but not near the band. I shall have a quiet word with someone to rectify this before next year's event!

Cotehele Quay and Morwellham events

We have a quite amazing but relatively little known heritage here in the Tamar Valley. Some money is now coming in to encourage people to see and understand what the area is all about and this weekend I was invited to events at two local venues. On Friday evening I went to Cotehele Quay for a preview of the extensively revamped little museum there which now is 'The Cotehele Discovery Centre' no less. Whilst Cotehele House can fairly be described as "the jewel in the crown" so far as the larger estate is concerned the area of Cotehele Quay has a particular resonance for me. The museum has been there for some years now relating the story of that bit of the Tamar and the industries that are round about. But it was in serious need of updating and I have to say that the National Trust have done a sensitive and high quality job with it. I found myself involved with a focus group during the time the redesign was taking place and thanks to much hard work by Rachel, the coordinator, in particular it has all come together for the opening to the public over the weekend.

That was Friday. On Saturday morning I joined a number of others in testing out one of a series of trails that the Tamar Valley AONB are putting in place to make the local area more accessible to walkers, cyclists and horse riders. This one was mainly in woodland and everybody seemed to agree that the way marking was quite confusing. A certain number of changes will take place before officially opening to the public. Then it was on to Morwellham on the Devon bank of the Tamar for the reopening of the restored Great Dock there. A number of civic dignitaries attended to make their speeches but unfortunately just as they started we had a heavy shower. Prior to the official bits 'The Rubber Band' were able to squeeze in a couple of pieces but then had to hurriedly cover their instruments as the rain came down. After lunch the band were able to play under cover and for much longer in another part of this large site and it was fascinating to watch some of the visitors there toe tapping to the lively music, I don't think they could quite believe their luck having the chance to listen to a live band all for free! The weather wasn't bad after that shower at one o'clock but why did the rain have to choose just the moment it did to drench everyone?

Time was when you had to pay a fairly substantial entry fee to visit Morwellham which was quite off putting for families. Now it is open access although quite reasonably you have to pay for some of the activities available and I believe a car park charge of about £2 is on its way. There is a new version of their website here. To intending visitors I would suggest putting aside most of a day to see Morwellham properly particularly if you are going to walk the nature trail as well; it is a very special place.

A birthday invitation leads to a wonderful day

Nearly a week ago, last Friday to be precise, was the date of my 65th birthday. This was celebrated very quietly with my best friend inviting me round for a meal in her cottage. I've never been one for splashing out on a do for my own special day - I shared number sixty with my family it's true but this is the exception to prove the rule. Besides I've seen garages with more floor area than my tiny Cornish cottage and anymore than two guests would constitute overcrowding! In a nutshell I would have to hire the Public Hall in our village or some such venue but I'm not sufficiently extrovert anyway to want this for myself.

However ... when someone you particularly like kindly invites you to celebrate their birthday with them (and it was one of the significant ones) then yes I would be very happy indeed to join in. So on Sunday we met up with about 60 people for Lorna's special day. I should explain that there weren't 60 people all in one place at the same time because Lorna had spread the celebration through the day starting with a mid morning to mid afternoon visit to the wonderful attraction of Morwellham Quay on the banks of the Tamar. This was a very relaxing few hours and included time in the reconstructed Victorian school which was both entertaining and thought provoking as the school's mistress explained how harsh things were back then.

In the evening it was round to Ted and Lorna's home for an informal get-together with some wonderful food, enjoyable conversation and live music (!) courtesy of 'Doc 'n' Ted'. This very congenial gathering coupled with the walk earlier in the day at Morwellham was a super way to share a special day. As I said before it's not the sort of event I would want for myself but we both felt very privileged to be invited and then to have had such an enjoyable time. Our hosts had gone to great trouble to ensure the day would be a great one for everybody, they even arranged for the threatened rain to stay away at the critical time!

Thanks Ted and Lorna for a really memorable day.