Tonight in print, the lighter side of Penzance in the dark - from 8 to 8.

Penzance Exchange Gallery - all quiet in the print room this morning.

23 artists ranging in age from 19 to 83 will descend on the Exchange Gallery in Penzance tonight as Museums and Galleries up and down the UK take part in the Museums at Night creative event.


The intrepid 23 are tasked with the daunting task of meeting, greeting, thinking, deciding, creating, producing and finally printing a book in the space of 12 hours commencing at 8pm this evening 'till 8am on Sunday morning!


There's a posting here from Cat Gibbard on the Museums at Night blog and ongoing details, as and when they happen will appear, on Newlyn Gallery's Twitter page here.

Museums at Night trailer from Culture24 on Vimeo.

It's pretty much black and white today.

 Live life by the sea........

 print workshop at the Exchange Gallery.......

 the Admiral goes Dutch.......

Cornwall Geo-environmental are in the Jubilee Pool which has a few leaks to be plugged before it can open, where would all the water go?.......

 Newlyn Gallery's smart new tile job showing signs of wear.......

 specialist degree course on show from Falmouth Art, Curatorial Practice........

 Tom's on watch as the sun breaks through......

 been here before - more coming on this soon.......

 diversity........

 under the new Harbour Constitution, three of the current commissioners posts are required to be renewed - applications are welcomed from interested parties.....

  making waves......

on mixy mackerel fishing this morning.........

 boxed for the market......

 Frank, skipper of the Silver Dawn, keen to get in some practice for of the Fishing for Plastic scheme.....

 while Chivers' junior sticks to what he knows best.......

 maybe he should think about applying, methinks there's one or two in the fleet who might struggle with the waist measurement requirement........

 small, small, medium, small, small, medium........

 a keen eye and deft hand.......

 a meeting not to be missed for the Under 10m section of the fleet,be at the Mission in Newlyn to meet reps from Defra/MMO and voice your concerns, could be a lively meeting....... 

a warning from the local constabulary with regard to the theft of kit at Hayle and Mousehole.

CFP - keep posted on the CFP

With legalisation at local, national and pan-European levels affecting many fishermen on a daily basis being 'kept in the loop' is more important than ever these days. A web site dedicated to following all things Common Fisheries Policy-wise should be high on any fisherman's reading list.

CFPReformwatch.eu does its best to pick up on any and every snippet of information coming out of Brussels and other relevant departments carrying the CFP tag. Forewarned is forearmed - knowledge is power - old but in the case of the hugely complex industry that fishing has become - cliches that are all too true.

What grieves the smaller and inshore fisherman most is how much of the legislation that directly affects them is down the hugely more powerful section of the Euro fleet whose boats catch or even discard more in a month than they would or could catch in a lifetime. Yet, with increasingly stark stock statistics making their way into the public domain and conciousness it is many of the smaller guys who are least able to diversify, move fishery or re-locate and have to bear the brunt of the quota cuts and other legislative mechanisms like no-take zones and protected areas.

Here's the latest response from the quota-sharing suggestion from Brussels and one from Scotland's Environment Secretary, Richard Lockhead.

5 4 8 at 2 4 Street, Mousehole.

The table is set.......

time to read the menu, with local fish dishes to choose from......

 and, despite being Thursday night, this was the last bass........

 and the last but one skate........

 as the evening sun goes down the ambience warms.......

all too soon it's time for some home-made apple and pear sorbet to round off a superb meal - hats off to the girls front of house - a big improvement on last year.


Email or ring 01736 731164 to check the day's menu - which changes according to the availability of local fish and be sure chef Jeff Wardell can do his best to please.


Check out a sample menu.

Coastguard consulation chaos contiunues - cause to cheer or cry?

It seems that the huge pressure undoubtedly placed on the Governement department responsible for the Coastguard Cuts Consulation document has paid off - stand by for round to of the consultaion process to begin all obver again later in the summer! 

Here's all the gen from the Labour Party's shadow transport minister, Maria Eagle:

In a letter to Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Maria Eagle MP, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has revealed that the consultation on proposals to close more than half of the UK’s coastguard stations is to be reopened again in the summer. The consultation only closed last week, on Thursday 5th May. Yet the Secretary of State for Transport is still insisting that the consultation is now over.

The Department for Transport has come under further pressure today with the release of a letter from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Mike Penning MP to the Chair of the Transport Select Committee in which he gags coastguards from speaking to the Select Committee. Coastguards have subsequently expressed fears that they could face consequences for having made public submissions to the review after the letter raises the suggestion that they may be in breach of their ‘terms and conditions of employment’.

Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle MP has now written to the Secretary of State for Transport, Philip Hammond, urging him to abandon plans which would see only three coastguard stations offering round the clock cover.

Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, said: “The Tory-led Government has been forced to agree to another period of consultation because they know that Britain’s coastal communities have serious concerns about the scale of the proposed cuts to the coastguard service. To close more than half of the UK’s coastguard stations in one go, leaving just three offering 24-hour cover, is a cut too far. Instead of conceding yet another consultation, Ministers should now abandon this ill-thought out madness that will leave our coastline a more dangerous place.

“The Transport Secretary should also remove the gag he has placed on coastguards speaking out against the plans and stop his Ministers making threats about the terms and conditions of employment of those who risk their lives to protect our coastline.”

Full page here.

Night moves at the Exchange.

Newlyn Art Gallery and the Exchange will oversee the creation of a unique printed book this weekend as their contribution to the nationwide project, 'Museuem's at Night'. The challenge - from 8 pm on Friday evening to 8 am on Saturday morning, artists, writers and printers of an indeterminate number will contrive, create and produce a single book.

“Because of the nature of the exhibition, a lot of local creative talents are coming into the gallery. They’re naturally drawn to creating A Book of the Night,” explains Gibbard, who is a dab hand at using exhibitions to galvanise education and events.

No doubt the Exchange will be keen to see anyone passing pop in and sample the creative ambience of such an event at first hand as the book takes shape - courtesy of local bookbinders, PZ Conservation.

View Larger Map

The Exchange Gallery is just off the main drag in penzance and adjacent to the historic Chapel Street.

12 5 11

Sunshine later.......

the AA has been on the megs again.....

still time to weigh up an inshore trip......

with these quality monk tails sure to entice the qulauity end of the market......

along with these monk cheeks.....

visiting working boat Sadia with a new coat of paint......

which is what the old sidewinder come netter Excellent could do with......

so that she loks as good as she did the day she sailed to the Brest Festival in 1992.....

see those crabs coming ashore by the bongo-full....

astern then ahead for Jake........

and then out through the gaps.......

aboard the CKS, hoping the clouds will not unload their cargo on the harbour again today before the paint job is finished........

it's a close call this year between the two lifeboat crews and set to be a record number of call-outs at this rate...........

worth catching this wave.......

St Piran's port fan.......

an early delivery for the Newlyn Charity shop, site of Lloyds Bank in day's of yore.