Penzance Chamber of Commerce

Eleven Million Feet Can’t Be Wrong

The Chamber of Commerce was presented with a report from the West Penwith Coast Path Access Project.

The report raised a number of interesting facts. For example, recent surveys indicated that the number of people visiting Cornwall to walk the coastal path is more than three times as many as previously thought at some 5.6 million. Many visitors to Cornwall in general – and Penwith in particular – cite the coast path as an important reason for coming here. Local businesses have an enormous vested interest in the maintenance and promotion of the footpaths. Indeed last year more than half of all visitors said that wildlife was their main reason for visiting the county.

This year marks the silver jubilee of the South West Coast Path. Since one of the most beautiful, unique in flora and fauna and physically varied stretches of the entire path is in our district we should treasure it much more than many of us do. Our district has the distinction, after all, of hosting the Coast Path’s turning point.

The WPCPA project is beginning a three year art promotion this March. All businesses should be aware of this and ensure that they do everything they can join in the promotion of this immensely popular visitor attraction and to accommodate walking visitors.

Members should make sure that their businesses are “walker friendly”. This can be as simple as providing water refills or as clever as providing unusual information and guidance for walkers. Many of the extant guides are very informative as to the path itself but do not offer much in the way of detours and diversions – this is just one niche local businesses could fill. Of course you don’t have to be directly engaged in walking support to benefit from the visitor influx the path brings us. But you should at least be aware of how important this resource is to the year-round economy.

There is a tendency to think that the coast path is just “there”. Yet it takes the support of no fewer than 17 bodies (including three county councils) to keep it maintained. We should all make sure that were doing our bit to recognise and cherish our coast path.

“Progress” in Penwith Public Transport

Members were pleased to be updated on progress with the redevelopment of the Penzance Passenger Transport Interchange, especially so when they realised that this mouthful was buro-speak for the bus station. The meeting was told that a delay was brought about by the failure of a major supplier to meet a deadline but that the new station would still open at the end of March.

The PPTI is, of course, much more than a mere bus station. It is also, apparently, an art installation, soon to feature a number of works of public art all of which have more or less convincing rationalisations, according to the press release. The centrepiece will be a 6.5 metre-high work that will greet visitors to our town as they arrive by bus or train. Like most of these things it will probably appear much better in reality than in the artist’s impression. We deeply hope so. The St Piran’s cross to be fashioned in serpentine at the base of the work will also be treated to make it less slippery, although the Chamber is unaware of many motorcyclists who would like to try it in the wet.

None of the artworks will speed the flow through the interchange but at least passengers will have something to look at, doubtless quizzically, while waiting. The Chamber expressed the desire for a speedy completion of the work and that the function of the site will be improved and not merely decorated.

More disturbing news on the buses takes the form of reductions in services to outlying villages. One such route – the number 32 which serves St Hilary and Goldsithney – appears scheduled for the axe. Others will surely follow. As local anti-car measures gain pace, reducing bus services makes perfect sense. Apparently - to somebody.

Of course further “rationalisation” (also known as cuts - has anyone ever compiled a dictionary of bureaucratic gibberish?) may soon see fewer passengers passing through the interchange. This should help things run much more smoothly. Indeed if passengers could be eliminated altogether, both of the remaining buses would always run on time. There would also be a greatly reduced risk of people slipping on the decorative serpentine flag and suing. Doubtless plans on these lines are well advanced.

Joined up transport strategy anyone?

Penzance OnLine Website Hits Half Million

Penzance OnLine - the new Chamber of Commerce sponsored website - has notched up more than half a million page impressions, the February meeting was told. Developer Richard Hilder brought his laptop into the meeting to show an off-line version of the site to members.

The website is a growing resource for potential visitors, Penzance expats and those interested in doing business in our part of the world. Members and all those concerned with the economic activity of the area are encouraged to take a look at the site and to refer anyone who needs more information about the Chamber, its activities and the district in general.

It would be particularly sensible for all members to include a link from their own sites, as well as encouraging trading partners further afield to take a look and discover more about what Penzance has to offer. With 41 #1 positions on 100 searches reporting our site, perhaps we can top the million this year!

The web site can be found at www.penzance.co.uk.

Slimline Harbour Plans Welcome

Despite palpable disappointment that the more ambitious plans for the redevelopment of the Penzance harbour will now not even get onto the drawing board, members gave a welcome to the achievable aims as presented to the February meeting.

As currently mooted these plans will include a fifty metre extension and double the width of the Lighthouse Pier to give roll-on roll-off facilities to the Scillonian III’s successor and a range of practical and access improvements.

As with diplomacy, redevelopment is the art of the possible and so some redevelopment is to be welcomed. Members did express concern, however, that so much time, effort and money had been expended on proposals which now seem to have been little more than pipe dreams. Since the estimate for the development of a breakwater, necessary for a Penzance marina, would be of the order of £100,000 per metre, such a development was never likely.

Although it’s a good thing to aim high, some members felt that in retrospect the cost of the reports and feasibility studies might have been better spent on practicalities like better promenade lighting and promotion of the town.

Christmas Display Awards Update

One casualty of the aborted January meeting was the omission from these pages of an acknowledgement of the winners of the Christmas Window Dressing Awards. This oversight is remedied this month.

The best dressed shop window in Penzance was judged to be the Dressing Room. Party World was highly commended and Card Time, Classic Cuts, Deli CoCo’s, Groovy Poodle, MJS, Nursery World and Tremaen’s all took runner up slots.

Warrens on The Terrace took the multiple award. The top three pub presentations were, in order, first – The Alexandra, second – The Crown Inn and third – The Bath Inn.

The February meeting wanted all members to be aware of the nature of the judging. These awards are not made by a conclave meeting in secret and emitting mysterious white smoke when a winner is selected. Rather, a number of Chamber members – selected at the December meeting – tour the town individually and award marks out of ten for the best dressed windows. These individual scores are then totted up and a winner declared. Needless to say, this is the most efficient (and fairest way) since achieving a consensus among members would take a month of Christmases!

Markets and Pool Plans Update

The February meeting invited member Raphael Griffin-Ravenscroft to give an update on plans both for the redevelopment of the Jubilee pool and the plans for a Penzance market in the premises of the old Vosper’s garage building at St Anthony’s.

Taking the markets first, the meeting was told that the first Saturday market will now take place on 1st March. If the market proves to be a success, the scheme will be extended to other days and an additional market may become established at the top of Causewayhead.

Penzance has been crying out for a market for such a long time that the Chamber urges members to give this venture their full support. The market will attract visitors. People who come to markets bring their purses. It really is that simple. The market will bring money, trade and goodwill into our town.

The plans for the pool which have attracted so much controversy and chatter – especially in the pages of this organ - are, Mr Griffin-Ravenscroft was at pains to stress – at the proposal stage. Nothing can happen without the permission of the elected council (which owns the pool on behalf of the people) and in full consultation with interested groups. At the core of the plans, the pool will remain a pool – the additional uses proposed are intended to make more of the site, expanding its appeal, not detracting from its key role as a summer bathing facility. Concerts, winter ice rinks, entertainments et al will make the pool more accessible, not less.

Perhaps one of the most exciting proposals is one of the very simplest. Mr Griffin Ravenscroft reported that the architect M.J.Long has been retained to investigate, among other matters, the feasibility of extending the promenade around the seaward side of the pool. This would mean that walkers on the Prom would take in the glory of the jubilee Pool rather than the forbidding gates and walls as at present. Perhaps some will be enticed to make use of the amenity.

Penzance’s “beach” deserves to be nurtured and developed in a sensitive way. The Chamber has expressed faith in the proposals and hopes that other bodies can be persuaded to give them full support.

Can We Learn Something Else Please?

Faced with another offer from an information technology training company presented in the Secretary’s correspondence round-up, more than one attendee at the February Chamber of commerce meeting raised the question: is anyone offering any other kind of training?

In this digital information age, where business is increasingly pixellated, binaried and stored in a mass retrieval system, no-one doubts that IT training is A Good Thing. And, of course, when a subject utterly baffles most people, setting up some kind of training is a good business opportunity.

However, it seems that these are the only kinds of business training we get offered these days. Where are all the trainers in human resources, tax, business practice and administration, stock control, marketing and all the myriad other concerns of a modern business? Health and Safety, even? Even as I write these words I feel the breath of Chairman Mike Waters (Safety UK) on my neck. We do know of one, then.

Cynics might point out that as so few have genuine IT skills it’s much easier to set up as an expert in the technology arena. It’s also true to say that there is still a certain patina of glamour about the bits and bytes. All the same, we need all the help we can get – business can be a scary place for all kinds of reasons.

Of course, if someone offered a one-day course in how to qualify for Objective One cash without spending your next five years profits on preparing a submission, they would be full every day until 2006.

New Members Welcome

Two new Chamber of Commerce Members were welcomed at the January meeting

Mr M.A.C.Dibben, Tarbert Hotel, 11/12 Clarence Street, Penzance TR18 2NV Tel: 363758 Fax: 331336 Email: reception@tarbert-hotel.co.uk Web: www.tarbert-hotel.co.uk

Jeannie Graham, Kalimeh Limited, Zodiac House, 11 Market Place, Penzance TR18 2JB Tel: 368368 Email: info@kalimeh.com Web: www.kalimeh.com

The Chamber now has more than two hundred members. We would like to see many more members attend and participate in the monthly meetings. Come along and have your say – and if you run a business in the Penzance area, join us today!

February Meeting Report

The January meeting having been cancelled following a conspiracy of the elements, the first meeting of 2003 took place on Tuesday 4th February.

The issue of traffic calming measures was raised again – apparently the county council is adamant that the bumps are coming despite objections. Our campaign will continue nonetheless. President of the Chamber Dennis Dowrick reported that the measures in Marazion have led to accidents and that the town council wants them removed. Concern was expressed about the scourge of abandoned and burnt out cars in the district.

In her report from the West Cornwall Group of Chambers of Commerce, vice chairman Nicky Dowrick reported that there was to be a business award for a local student – not for “the best” (as is too often the case) but for the student who has shown the most progress on the year.

The meeting heard that the chairman will attend a meeting of the West Cornwall Local Strategy Business Partnership formed to encourage ships to visit our part of the world.

The meeting approved plans to write in support of the establishment of a Cornish assembly. The feeling is that Cornwall will remain neglected if lumped in with a South West region.

Objective One funding is still, the meeting heard, not reaching the smaller businesses for which the money was intended. The grant application process is too complicated and too many petty restrictions are applied. This has resulted in multinationals (with the resources to prepare submissions) garnering the lions share of the cash while the SMEs miss out. Under one scheme, 100 free computers were offered but the qualification requirements were such that, to date, only three have been distributed!

The meeting reiterated the view that small businesses are the engine of economic growth and that those charged with distributing resources need to recognise that fact.

A general appeal went out for more members to attend the monthly meetings – your forum your voice. The meeting expressed a heartfelt vote of confidence in our chairman, Mike Waters. Mike’s sterling work on behalf of the business community is given added weight by the active participation of as many businesses as possible. So come to the meeting and make sure your voice is heard. The next meeting will be at the Queen’s Hotel on Tuesday 4th March at 7.30pm – and as a further incentive Penzance District Council chief executive Jim McKenna will be present and available for questions.

Picturing Penwith - in Black and White

A local photographer with a national reputation is celebrating fifteen years in the business. Howard Phillips has been running his photographic company in Penzance for a decade and a half – although he has been taking pictures in the region for much longer than that. In fact ever since he purchased his first camera as a boy in the sixties, he has been capturing the people and places of Penwith with a combination of technical expertise and an artist’s eye.

Recently Howard has been working more and more in black and white – a form he finds more dramatic, more intimate and more engaging. In fact, paradoxically, in today’s colour-saturated world, black and white can feel more ‘real’.

More and more customers are requesting black and white – those who commission portraits find they seem to have greater depth and character; newlyweds like the romantic feel; youngsters find the medium ‘cool’. Now Howard has taken the simplicity of the genre a stage further. In the last year he has been using only natural light in the composition of many of his pictures.

“It seems to give the photos a timeless quality – hard to define but clearly there,” says Howard. “Landscape shots of course are nearly always lit naturally but the still life pictures are given a much more rounded, deeper feel by the use of window light rather than artificial studio lighting.”

So does he think that black and white photography is the only true form (rather like those music buffs who insist on listening to everything on vinyl rather than ‘inferior’ CDs and tapes)? ”Not at all,” says Howard. “I am very happy working in colour and greatly enjoy the technical benefits that digital photography permits. I am just as comfortable in either medium. But if I am pressed for a favourite, I do come down in favour of black and white, and in favour of natural rather than artificial light. It is a personal thing but I believe it is more of a test of the photographer’s skill – and the creativity takes precedence over the technical elements.”

Howard’s skills will be demonstrated in Penzance next month when he holds his first ever exhibition in the town. It will take place at Penzance Arts Club and runs from 22nd March to 4th April. “It is very exciting, Taking the pictures has been a real pleasure. And to continue the musical analogy, the exposed film is like the score of a symphony, with the exhibition being the performance,” he says, echoing the words of the great American photographer Ansel Adams.

Howard has travelled all over the world, so although most of the images making up the exhibition were taken in West Penwith some are from further afield. Critics who have had a preview of some of the pictures are impressed: “Look out for the photo of a bowl of pears - with a depth and softness like that of Chardin and for the echoes of Andy Warhol in the ‘paint brushes’ still life,” said one. Yet Howard, while flattered, does not particularly agree with making comparisons with certain artists. “Although these pictures show a depth of feeling, they are not usually statements – most are simply observations,” he concludes. Howard Phillips can be contacted on 01736-366567.

Join the Chamber

The Chamber of Commerce represents the interests of local business with the County, District and Town Councils, Government agencies and public bodies. It actively campaigns on issues affecting the business community as well as issues affecting the community as a whole. This requires finances and direct involvement by committed people, and deserves the support of every business in the region.

Our Chairman is coordinator of the West Cornwall Group of Chambers and the Cornwall Business Partnership. He is a member of the Priority Management Group 3, which approves Objective One funding in the area of Learning and Skills development He is also a member of the Penzance Regeneration Steering Group that has worked on the submission of an Objective One bid to greatly enhance the prosperity of the town and its inhabitants. Other members represent the Chamber on such bodies as the Police Consultative Committee and Tourism Committee.

All businesses have problems from time to time, and it has been proved that representation from a Chamber Officer on behalf of the member concerned can greatly enhance the prospect of a satisfactory conclusion. With major issues, such as the Penzance Regeneration Project, West Cornwall Hospital, Objective One and so on needing input from the business community there has never been a better reason for all businesses to become Chamber members - the greater our membership, the bigger our voice. JOIN NOW!

We invite membership applications from individuals and businesses large or small. For further information, visit the Membership Enquiry or Membership Application pages on this site.

Forthcoming Meetings

The next monthly Chamber Meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 4th at 7.30pm at the Queens Hotel, The Promenade, Penzance.

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PENZANCE - THE PLACE TO BE

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