Action from the net loft.

Mark, man of many meshes......

 Ivan Ellen cox Patch Harvey concludes his piece to camera recounting the previous nights call out to the aid of a coaster in danger of running aground on the Lizard - shades of a repeat of the Union Star were thankfully avoided when the MCA's Anglian Princess took the boat, less than a mile off shore, in tow to Falmouth.......

 still making the headlines, key players and skippers of the local Cornish Sardine fleet pose for soem PR shots.......

 only just half way through the year and at this rate it will be a record number of shouts for both boats......

 Dr Dave has left his mark......

 latest lunchtime menu on offer from the Mission.......

that's one big plaice the Dr bought!

The real story behind Cornish Sardines.

Local paper, The Cornishman ran a story this week on the successful re-branding of the humble pilchard as the Cornish Sardine and subsequent MSC status achieved by the Sardine Management Association - all much documented on the posts of this blog. The article goes on to describe how ring-netting was brought over from France a few years ago - which is not quite how the revival of ring-netting began - as can be seen from the following dramatic story that made the headlines in the December of 1999:


Skipper and owner, Martin Ellis had rigged his boat the Samantha Rose with a ring-net from the Mousehole boat, Renovelle in 1996 to target pilchards for salting for the Newlyn company, British Cured Pilchards.  On the night in question, now fishing with the boat Penrose, he was so successful he filled the boat to the gunwale's! The weather then freshened making it difficult to maintain sufficient freeboard to keep her afloat - with the inevitable consequences - and she sank leaving three men safely aboard the life raft!  A few years later, local filmmaker Jed Trewin captured the whole episode in a short documentary that won many accolades and was shortlisted for a prize in the Celtic Film Festival of that year. The fishery continued to grow when Newlyn skipper, Stefan Glinski launched the Highlander in 2000 fishing with his own gear rigged as ring nets. She was the first new boat built especially for Cornish Sardines.

There were a few false starts before Nutty Noah's escapades of course - the then Whitefish Industry Authority (Seafish's predecessor) sponsored trials with drift nets and some of the Mevagissey fleet and Newlyn, or more correctly, Mousehole's very own Edwin Madron used the Sarah M to chase the silver shoals in Mount's Bay.

As a side-note, little did he know at the time, but one of Martin's crew aboard the sinking boat was one Patch Harvey - later to become cox of the very lifeboat that rescued him that fateful night.

"Disbelief as £3 million in grants turned down"

So ran the front page headline of the local paper the Cornishman in the wake of the Harbour Commissioner's vote by 7-6 to turn down the chance of a £5 million pound fish market with only having to invest (through borrowings) just over a million pounds of its own money. Both sides of the story were well reported in the paper on the inside pages and no doubt there will be a number of letters to the editor in next week's edition.  


The new editor of the paper headlined the editorial section with the words, "Opportunity for progress missed? We want answers."

Fifteen at Newquay have apprentice opportunities - do you know someone willing to take up the culinary challenge?

http://www.fifteencornwall.co.uk/cornwallfoundationofpromise.htm

Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant is scouting for new apprentices to take up the catering challenge!

What does the Fifteen Cornwall training course involve?

The training begins by studying for an NVQ1 in Catering Studies at Cornwall College. While at college the apprentices also qualify for their Health and Safety and Food Hygiene certificates. This gives them a solid basis of both academic and practical achievement.The college staff give the students valuable support and encouragement during this time, building their confidence and driving them to reach their potential. 

For more information head on over to the Fifteen web site!

Things to do coming soon.

The town hall is doing its bit for 4 million people in Pakistan.....

absolutely no connection between the two....

gift wrapped new motors for Mount's Bay Engineering.....

the reddest of red mullet.....

there's a sense that it will be some time before we see an end to dragging boxes by hand all over the market.....

and Mr Knees, for one, is gutted.....

flying JDs.

Trouble - again.

Quentin and Roger from the Chloe T share their mechanical ills.......

a rare appearance from the Admiral Greenville.

NHPC meeting, The Centre, Newlyn.

Newlyn Harbour Commissioners are holding their next meeting at The Centre, Newlyn 9 am tomorrow morning. As has already been established, the public are welcome to take part in the first part of the session and can get items put on the next meeting's agenda.

Forthcoming meetings of the Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioners to be held at 9am at:
The Centre,
Chywoone Hill,
Newlyn,
TR18 5AR

17th August 2010 9am

Public are welcome to ask questions during the first 15 minutes and attend.