8 Advertiser December 2015
Latest from the Mayor’s Parlour New bus service for Torpoint, new CityBus timetable and Neighbourhood plan update Cllr. Mike Pearn MBE Torpoint Neighbourhood Development Plan
risk of ill-health and fuel poverty. Over the last four years, the programme has helped 10,400 people and reached many more with useful information and advice. This has saved 675 hospital admissions. Anyone who struggles in the winter months is encouraged to get in touch to see if they can get help. Winter Wellbeing provides information, advice and practical help for people at risk of the effects from cold and damp housing. This includes a helpline providing advice and referrals to agencies that can help households with practical measures, access to grants and information about ways people can help themselves. The freephone helpline number is 0800 9541956, operated by Community Energy Plus. The local charity and social enterprise will be providing advice about staying warm and combating damp and mould, as well as assisting vulnerable householders with applications for insulation and heating schemes.
On Saturday November 21 the Steering group of the Torpoint Neighbourhood Development Plan ran a number of consultation presentations showcasing a vision for Torpoint. The event was wellattended and prompted great discussion on how a future Torpoint could look. Full details will be published in the New Year.
New CityBus timetable
Torpoint Town Council has had a meeting with CityBus and a new timetable will be in place in January with a new route which will go into Plymouth via Union Street.
Torpoint Community College
Wardrobe bursting at the seams? Can’t fit another outfit in? Well Torpoint Community College can help! A very kind parent has donated her daughter’s prom dress to the college and this gave them an idea. Lots of you have ball gowns and prom dresses taking up space in your wardrobes which you know will never be worn again. The college would like to put them to good use and set up a ‘store’ of dresses for students who can then hire them for the prom and make a donation to a charity. We would love it if you passed these dresses on to us. Ideally they need to be clean and ready for the next person to wear. Please contact the College or pass your dress in to the reception.
Mayor’s Diary
October 16: Seventeen Thirty Club (1730 Club) presentation to Army Cadets. October 16: Torpoint & Rame Peninsula Lions Variety Concert at the Council Chambers. October 17: Royal Naval Association Torpoint Branch Dinner at the Council Chambers. October 22: Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal at St James Church. October 23: Coppola School of Performing Arts 10th Anniversary Show at the Council Chambers. 120 Children from Torpoint & Millbrook raised £300 for the Mayor’s Charity. A fantastic show well done to you all. October 28: Presentation by Katie Martin on her trip to the 23rd World Scout Jamboree in Japan at which 33,600 people from 155 countries attended. Well done Katie you did Torpoint proud. October 30: Torpoint Eddystone Rotary Club and Callington Variety Show at Plymouth Guildhall. Janine Wright from Torpoint was one of the entertainers. Well done Janine. October 31: Visited London (at my own expense) with the Hawks Cub Pack to see Charlie & the Chocolate Factory starring Noah Crump who was Charlie, Noah is a member of the Hawks Cub Pack. November 5: Clifford’s Esso Garage to present a Difibrellator for use of the public. November 6: HMS Raleigh’s Remembrance Service at Horson Cemetery. November 6: Seventeen Thirty Club (1730 Club) presentation to Girl Guides. November 6: The Federation of Plymouth & District Ex-Services Associations Remembrance Festival at Plymouth Pavilions. November 8: Torpoint’s Remembrance Service at Eliot Square. November 11: Two minutes silence at 11am at Sparrow Park. November 11: Torpoint Nursery & Infants School Remembrance Service. November 12: Kath and Bill Fraser’s Diamond Wedding Anniversary. Congratulations to you both. November 12: Torpoint Allotment Association presentation cheque of £204 for my Mayor’s Charity. A donation was also made to the Youth Club. The donations were from their Annual Garden & Craft Show. November 15: Tapathon in aid of Children in Need. Some 38 tappers joined thousands of tappers all around the country at 1pm to dance this year’s dance in an attempt to break the world record for the Biggest Tap Dance at multiple venues. You can view it on YouTube Torpoint Tapathon 2015 live! Well done to all the tappers young and a bit older!
Winter weather
Mayor Mike Pearn pictured with Danny Tweedie of A Line Coaches at the launch of the new Torpoint Circular Bus Service Congratulations on raising over £1700 for BBC Children in Need. November 16: The Torpoint Circular Bus Service started. I went along on their first trip around Torpoint and wished Danny Tweedie of A Line Coaches all the very best for this much needed service. Contact details: www.alinecoaches.co.uk or 01752 822740.
Dates for your Diary
Dec 11: Best Tree presentation and Christmas Raffle 6pm at St James Church Dec 12: Big Band Concert at St James Church 7.30pm. Tickets on the door. Dec 13: The ‘Big Sing’ Community Carol Service at 6pm St James Church. Dec 18: Joint Choirs Christmas Concert at St James Church at 7.30pm. Dec 20: Christingle Service at 4pm at St James Church. Dec 24: Midnight Mass at 11.30pm at St James Church. 2016 Dates: February 26: The Torpoint Lady Singers Annual Dessert Event at the Council Chambers. May 21: St Columba and Torpoint RUFC Club Dinner at the Council Chambers. June 12: The Queen’s 90th Birthday celebration - details to follow. June 18: Torpoint Twinning - A Taste of France Event, Benodet Park, 2pm. July 2: Maryfield Church Fete. July 9: Andy T Charity Day at St Columba and Torpoint Rugby Club. All day event. July 16: Torpoint & Rame Peninsula Lions Club Fete in the Community College Grounds. August 7: Annual Classic Car Show Mount Edgcumbe Park. September 3: Proms on the Peninsula at Mount Edgcumbe Park - further details later. September 24: Torpoint Carnival.
Congratulations to:
Sienna Vigus-Huggins who will be performing in the Theatre Royal Pantomime Cinderella.
Thanks To
Andy Martin for arranging the PA system for the Remembrance Service at Eliot Square and relaying the service on a screen in St James Church for anybody who had difficulty in standing outside. The Friends of Thanckes Park (FOTP) who have planted at least 1,750 bulbs around Thanckes Park (The Lawn) which in the springtime will emerge and make the park a more colourful place to be. The bulbs were donated by Antony Estate for which FOTP are very grateful. The areas where bulbs have been planted have been marked
with appropriate signage to enable those using the park and the grass cutters to be aware of them, please help to keep this park looking good for the future. Meanwhile why not join the FOTP committee: all are welcome. If you’re not a member, you can join. FOTP needs volunteers to serve on the committee, please consider volunteering. Please come along and offer your support your park needs you today more than ever before! Best wishes and good luck to Torpoint’s table-tennis ace David Wetherill who has almost certainly booked his place in the Great Britain team for next year’s Rio Paralympics by winning his first medal in a major competition. David has also added a team silver to the individual bronze medal already bagged at the ITTF Para Table Tennis European Championships in Vejle, Denmark.
Warning as reports of new wave of scam calls received from all over Cornwall
Cornwall Council’s Trading Standards team is warning of a new wave of scam calls after more than a dozen reports of a man telephoning householders purporting to be calling from Cornwall County Council investigations department. The male caller identifies himself as either Michael or Peter and says that he is investigating accidents that the householder has been involved in. Cornwall Trading Standards Officers are warning the public that these calls are bogus. Senior trading standards officer Gary Webster commented: “The scammers appear to be ringing people and asking about accidents that they have allegedly been involved in – whether they have been or not. “It would then just be a short step to the scammer offering help in claiming or even offering compensation and potentially asking for bank account or other personal details.” If members of the public need to verify the identity of a Cornwall staff member they can call 0300 1234 100. If you are concerned that you, or someone you know has been a victim of a scam, please seek advice from Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06. You can also report the matter to Action Fraud on 0300 123 20 40.
The Winter Wellbeing programme This is the fifth year that organisations across Cornwall have joined forces to run the campaign that aims to reduce preventable winter deaths and help those at
Cornwall’s gritters are on standby to deal with forecasts for ice and snow. Having put together the annual winter service plan, Cornwall Council and CORMAC are reminding members of the public to make sure that they drive safely according to the road and weather conditions. The council is responsible for over 7,520 kilometres (4,530 miles) of roads – one of the largest road networks in the country - ranging from principal roads to narrow country lanes. Last year the authority spent £1.1m keeping Cornwall’s roads safe during the winter with the fleet of gritting lorries using 7,750 tonnes of salt on over 75,600 km (47,000 miles) of the road network on the 58 occasions gritting took place. The A30 from the boundary with Devon to Penzance and the A38, which are the main trunk roads through Cornwall, are the responsibility of Highways England which manages its own winter service. Highways England uses Cornwall Council’s salt barns as the base for its own gritting operations. It takes around three hours to treat each of the council’s 25 pre salting routes. CORMAC staff are on standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week - including Christmas Day - to enable them to respond to emergency situations at very short notice. The salt used by the council is provided from salt mines in Northern Ireland. Every year the council pre orders salt which is then stored in a number of covered barns based in highways depots throughout Cornwall. It currently has around 19,500 tonnes of salt ready for use this winter and will, as usual, buy additional stock during the winter months if required. CORMAC staff monitor the weather conditions throughout the day and night, liaising closely with forecasters specifically employed for this task. They also use information from 22 roadside sensors which measure road surface temperature and other factors such as salt levels, precipitation, air temperature, dew point and wind speed which is then relayed back to both the forecasters and highways staff. This information is used to decide if and when to carry out the pre-salting treatments. If you find a dangerous situation on any road please, safely, let the Council know. This year as in previous years, the council will be using Twitter (@CornwallCouncil) to provide information about disruptions to services such as school closures caused by the snow and ice as well as posting the information on its website, www.cornwall.gov.uk. You can also follow @cormacLtd for details of when the gritters will be going out across Cornwall. On behalf of Val, my family, Town Councillors and Council Staff I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.