Cornwall Animal Hospital

Tommy Bray has been a real trooper supporting local charities in the Redruth area over many years. So when he called me last week to invite me in to see the work of the Cornwall Animal Hospital, I had no hesitation at all.

The Cornwall Animal Ambulance and Hospital (to use its full name) supports local people with the veterinary needs of their pets. They now have around 10,500 customers and typically have about 40 dogs a day coming through the small centre at Treleigh. They have some exciting plans for a major expansion in capacity with plans for a new extension within the next few years.

They offer highly competitive rates to help raise funds from the public but also heavily subsidised rates for those who cannot afford veterinary costs. They have a network of charity shops in the area to raise the funds to allow them to run the centre.

Today I met Vicky and other staff from the hospital. Among the animals at the centre today were a cat which was recovering after being hit by a car and a young ferret they have named Francesca who was found wondering free in Tehidy woods last week.

For many people, particularly older people living on their own, their pets provide really important companionship and the work of charities like the Cornwall Animal Hospital is an important life line.

Finding new homes

Today I visited the National Animal Welfare Trust based on Wheal Alfred Road near Hayle. The NAWT have had a branch on Wheal Alfred Road for many years but the site underwent a major refurbishment last year with completely new kennels.

Louise Barker manages the centre and explained to me how they re-home over 500 dogs and around 100 cats every year. A really impressive record. Today I met a number of the current residents. Across the country there is a real problem at the moment with Staffordshire Terriers being abandoned or given up and Cornwall is no exception. They are victims of a fashion for the breed among young men in particular, and a misguided perception that it is possible to make money from breeding them.

The NAWT has many volunteer dog walkers to make sure their dogs get good exercise and a change of scenery. They also have an agility course to keep them entertained and engaged.

Fifteen years ago I took on a rescue dog from the RSPCA. Mono was an amazingly intelligent and loving Border Collie but, like many collies, also suffered from a few issues - most notably bells and ringing phones which led to the interior of more than one of my cars being a bit torn up unexpectedly.

That we are a nation of animal lovers is proved by the fact that there are so many vibrant charities like the NAWT out there doing this sort of work with so many volunteers willing to support them.

Campaign day

We have been on a tough timetable this last 10 days. First we drove from london to Inverness, I ran a marathon, then Inverness to Manchester for four days at the party conference and then Manchester to Camborne on Thursday in time for the campaign day today.

There will be a General Election within the next seven months. We have a lot to do between now and Christmas. Today we had another 50 volunteers out campaigning - delivering leaflets in Camborne and preparing a major direct mail operation.

The issue of MPs expenses has also returned as an issue. The current sitting Lib Dem MP has launched a fresh attack on MPs from other parties from other parts of the country but she has still refused to adjust her own behaviour and has refused to curtail her use of public money on perks like extra food and promotional literature about herself. The debate is going to run and run.

The big speech

I have spent the last four days at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. There is an enthusiastic mood - but also a strong sense of caution and a focus on what is needed to win the election. Nothing is being taken for granted. The truth is that we go in to this election with fewer MPs than Michael Foot had in 1983 - and although there is now widespread disillusion with Gordon Brown, there is still a big task ahead.

I worked for David Cameron as his Press Secretary until the end of 2007. Party conference was always a demanding time. The diary would be a nightmare, there were so many media interviews to try to fit in and it was tough keeping things to time.

I supported David Cameron from the very start because I think he has the judgement and character to become a great Prime Minister. It is an important mark of a leader that they are able to rise to meet new challenges and David Cameron always has. His speech today was no exception.

I think what people saw today was someone who is ready to lead the country, not just the party. And there is no doubt that Britain needs change and leadership.

The marathon

We set off on Thursday for Edinburgh to break the drive to Inverness in time for the marathon on Sunday.

It was a long drive with a lot of road works. But the scenery on the drive yesterday to Loch Ness was stunning.

I got up early at 6.30 today. I needed to get on the bus to be transported to the start line. There was a bit of a hitch with the buses - three didn't turn up, which meant the departure to the start was delayed by almost an hour and the start of the race was also delayed until 10.50.

I had hoped that the Loch Ness marathon would be fairly flat - and since much of it runs along the side of the Loch it seemed a reasonable hope. It started well, beautiful scenery and, if anything, a little bit down hill for the first 5 miles.

But six miles in I started to get a bad blister and the course was actually quite undulating. Everything was fine for the first half. I went through thirteen miles in just over an hour and a half and well on course for my target time of 3 hours 30 minutes.

But it got tough at 17 miles. There was a long haul uphill to Inverness once we left the banks of the Loch. Three miles in fact. So, at just the moment when I was starting to flag, I had to start climbing a three mile hill. Four miles in to the marathon I had overtaken a man in his 50's who was suffering. "He won't make it" I thought. But amazingly he came past me on this hill - still sounding like he was suffering. That will teach me!

But I managed to keep things on course and, although the second half was obviously slower than the first half, I crossed the finishing line in 3 hours twenty nine minutes and 34 seconds. It was a reasonable time but I don't think I will be in a hurry to do another!

Delivering the message

It has been a weekend of walking. Last Saturday we had another campaign day to prepare the next major direct mail operation and to deliver our latest piece of literature – a newspaper. We managed to make a big impact in the first week, especially in Hayle, but there is more to do.

On Thursday I spent time in St Day, on Friday I joined the team in Stithians and the surrounding hamlets where we made very good progress before making a start in Mount Hawke in the afternoon. I finished today by joining the Illogan campaign team and helping them make inroads into Pool.

It left me enough time to pop in to Camborne town square to meet Sue Winter and the other volunteers from the Trevu campaign. They have worked tirelessly to keep the children’s centre going and were collecting signatures today.

I have been closely following this case. Last November, the previous Lib Dem council decided to shut down the centre at Trevu without any consultation. Time is very tight, but the new administration at Cornwall Council has re-opened the decision and started a genuine consultation process. There has been a lot of media speculation about what might or might not happen. Conservative councillors have been working very hard on the case. In the next few weeks we will see whether they have managed to reverse the decision of the old regime at the 11th hour.

I have also been trying to keep up the training. It is now just three weeks until my marathon. Last Sunday I ran 18 miles which went surprisingly well and I managed to get around in 2 hours 25 minutes and felt that I could have done further. This week has not been so good. I have been suffering from a cold since Wednesday and when I tried to get another 16 miles under the belt on Thursday, the combination of a bad cold and the heat of an unusually fine day took its toll.

But tomorrow I have my first race - a dry run. A 10k race along the banks of the Thames back in Kew in aid of the local church. I am hoping the cold will have eased enough for me to get around in a half reasonable time. But we will see.

Devoran to Portreath...in the rain

The weather forecast was so bad for today that we had a call from John, our instructor at the HRCST, last night to say that there would be no sailing today. It was breezy enough yesterday. We made a start and got to grips with the basics but it was not really beginners weather!

So today I decided to get in a long run instead as part of my marathon training. There have been a lot of ups and downs to my training in the last few months. The local elections campaign limited the time that I had to train. In June I twisted my right ankle and then in August I twisted my left ankle for good measure.

But I have made steady progress. I am now in the middle of the hardest phase of my training - for the last four weeks I have been increasing the length of my longest runs. On Saturday I ran 16 miles. Today I needed to run 14 miles.

Bike Barn is a relatively new but successful business founded by Roger Knight and his wife at Cambrose near Portreath. They hire bikes but also put a lot of energy into promoting the mineral tramway cycle route that runs coast to coast from Portreath to Devoran, down near Mylor through some stunning scenery including the Bissoe valley nature reserve. It is relatively flat and runs for twelve miles in total.

When I visted Roger a month or two ago he was in the middle of preparations for a fundraising event that takes place this month to raise money for a project to make cycling more accessible to people with disabilities. It is a great idea and the mineral tramway is a fantastic route to run such a project from. David Cameron had signed a bottle of Whisky for me which I dropped down to him as an auction prize.

I also told him I would come back to run the full length of it when I was fit enough and today was the day. I was dropped off at Devoran. It seemed a long way there by car and there was heavy rain as I started - which continued throughout the whole run. But it helped keep me cool.

In the end I went all the way to Portreath and then the two miles extra back up to Bike Barn which made a total of 14.3 miles...in a time of 1 hour 56 minutes which was ok given the weather. But I need to do 18 miles this weekend which I am not looking forward to.

Ready to set sail

Tomorrow I start the sailing course down on the Helford organised by the HRCST along with my girlfriend, Katy. I visited the charity a couple of weeks ago and said I wanted to return to run the course myself.

We are really looking forward to it. We have just got back from a few days break in North Wales near Snowdonia. While there we got in a bit of practice by trying our hand at wind surfing (in my case for the first time in over 20 years)on Lake Vyrnwy. A shaky start to say the least but I did make some progress, although I am not sure how much it will help me tomorrow!

It is also time to start planning the campaign for the next few months. We have had a busy time with the local elections and then the Camborne Town Council by -elections. It was great to see Stuart Odgers elected in Camborne South, he will make a fantastic councillor.

Realistically, we are now in the final 8 months before a General Election and the time will fly. We have made a strong start in the last 8 months but there is more to do. One of the things we need to do is work out what the main themes in the local campaign are likely to be. Cost of living? housing? social breakdown? economy? unemployment?

The issue of MPs expenses dominated the summer and has been getting less attention lately. But the local Lib Dem MP has just appointed a new Campaign Agent and he has apparently decided to re-ignite the issue and make attacks on other politician's expenses a central plank of her campaign. A curious decision given her own record.

Camborne Town Council

Last night I went along to the boat party for Camborne Town Council. It was organised by the Mayor, Bill Jenkin, but it was a real cross party affair with many of the councillors present from all parties and others who have been involved in helping their work. There was a bit of drizzle but not enough to dampen spirits and we finished the evening by watching the fantastic fire work display to mark the end of Falmouth Week.

We have by-elections in Camborne next Thursday for the Town Council. Two Lib Dem councillors who were unsuccessful at the Council elections in June have now chucked the towel in and walked away from their responsibilities to the town causing costly by-elections. But it also provides an opportunity to get some fresh blood on the Town Council with fresh ideas. We have two great candidates in Stuart Odgers and Vince Young who both have deep roots in Camborne and have a love and commitment to the town. I have been helping them both this week and they are getting a good reception.

With the row over MP's expenses, it is easy for people to forget that town and parish councillors are not paid and receive no expenses. They give up their time for free and the reason they do it is for the town they care about. That counts for something and the candidates in this election, whatever party they are standing for, deserve a bit of respect for putting themselves forward.

Waste not, want not....

I was running a little late for my visit to the SOFA project off Dudnance Lane at Pool. Before leaving I snatched a look at their website and, from the photos, worked out that they were in one of the old units opposite the bridge that heads up to Piece near the leisure centre. Better get going. But on arrival it was clear they had moved so it was time to roam around some of the other units nearby until I found the right place.

The SOFA project is a charity that tries to kill two birds with one stone. They recycle bulky furniture and white goods to reduce the amount of waste we chuck into landfill and at the same time give furniture to people who are in need and trying to set up a new home. Daphne is the Chair of the charity and David is the manager. They are both fizzing with ideas when I meet them. They have recently relocated to a new unit that gives them much more space and far better facilities.

SOFA is a charity but also has a commercial arm to their operation. There is evidence that they have reduced the amount of bulky waste going to landfill where they have been used by up to 37 percent and they help 500 families a year to set up home.

We need more of this sort of solution but it requires some imagination. You need people who know what they are looking for to run the waste disposal operations of the council so that goods which have a value to someone else are recognised and salvaged in time.

Gaining confidence through sailing

John Green founded the Helford River Childrens Sailing Trust about ten years ago and could never have imagined how successful it would become.

I met John a few months ago and he told me about the work of this ground breaking charity which aims to build individual confidence in children by teaching them to sail on the Helford. There are now around 15 local primary schools involved and around 350 children a year go through training there. In total, the charity has benefited some 3500 children and the heartening thing is that some of the 150 or so volunteers helping now went through the programme themselves in the early years and so know the benefits and are doing their bit to put something back.

I met Alison Collins, the current director of the charity, at the Ferryboat Inn near Mawnan Smith. I wasn't sure whether we were going out on the river today or not so must have looked hopelessly ill-prepared to her when we first met! But I had boots and a jacket in the car and was soon ship shape and ready to jump in the boat to go out to see their training work.

They aim to have two volunteers for every six children in training. Today I met Sarah, Adrian, John and Lee who were supporting Ailsa, the head coach, who works on the scheme four days a week during the summer months. You could tell that there was a great chemistry between Ailsa and the children she was teaching to sail.

The significant thing about this project is that is focuses on developing the individual confidence of children and a lot of effort is made to make sure that the charity reaches children from disadvantaged backgrounds and that they are given the opportunity to take part. They never ever charge for their lessons.

The children are given their own boat and must make their own decisions. Early learners are required to sail a boat from the south bank of the Helford to the north bank on their own, keeping concentration and making their own decisions. If they get it wrong, they fall in the water. There is no one else in the boat to help them (although volunteers are nearby to advise and to help those who fall in).

I think developing individual confidence in children is vital. Sometimes people can over emphasise "team work" as an attribute in working life. It is, of course, important. But the truth is that individual ability and the confidence to exercise judgement is more important and it is best learnt young.

I never learnt to sail, despite being brought up in Cornwall. But I am told they have a course for adults in September so might just give it a go.

Carnival time

Last night was Hayle Carnival. It has been a few years since I last attended. When I was younger we used to lend the farm lorry to be used in a “cowboys and indians” themed float which was organised every year by John Eddy and always went along to watch.

Although the weather has been unsettled in recent days, this year it stayed fine for the carnival. I knew quite a few of the local farmers driving the tractors that pulled the floats. Martin and Andrew Richards and Chris Eddy had all been called on to do their bit.

Probably the most energetic (and certainly the noisiest) float was the Hayle Rugby Club team who wore green and black wigs and danced to loud music - stopping at every pub to make an impact. Not far behind were the Hayle Samba team. There were a lot of entries. Several scout groups, many other community groups and charities and my old friends at Praze YFC who dressed up as nurses and pushed a giant cot through town in aid of the Precious Lives Appeal.

It is the time of year for outdoor events and this weekend there have been a lot of other celebrations. I enjoyed a cream tea at Penponds yesterday and today have spent the afternoon at the Redruth Fun Day in Victoria Park and later on at Portreath Harbour for their own celebrations. But at Portreath there was some concern that one of the lads taking part in a greasy pole competition had been banged on the head and had to be taken to hospital.

Trevu Road

The sleeper service is by far the best way to travel to Cornwall, but I generally try to get a good night's sleep the following night to make up for the tiredness from travelling.

But tonight that's not going to happen. My brother Giles needs help calving a cow at 12.30 am. It is all a bit difficult and complicated but ends well with a healthy South Devon calf born shortly before 2am. I have been out of farming for the best part of ten years now, but don't think I did too bad considering that!

Today is also the launch day for the new Camborne market. It has been organised by Ivor from CPR Regerneration and he has done really well. There are numerous stalls ranging from fresh fish to sweets, crafts, T shirts and jams. I bought some sweets and some outstanding pink grapefruit marmalade from a local producer who grows much of her own fruit.

I then move on to do some canvassing around Mount Pleasant Road with Stuart Odgers, our candidate for the Town Council by election in Camborne South. We have a lot of by elections on the Town Councils this summer as Lib Dem councillors defeated in June retire from politics altogether. Stuart is the perfect candidate for this area. He has lived in Camborne all his life, has been a governor of the local primary school and is very well known and a good listener. But the election date is set for the 20 August and getting people out to vote will be the challenge.

While there we bump in to Sue Winter, who has been running a very successful campaign to keep the children's centre at Trevu Road open. I met Sue and some of her colleagues last week to discuss the issues around the children's centre and it was good to have an update.

Late last year, under the old Lib Dem administration, the County Council took a decision to close the children's centre at Trevu Road without adequate consultation. It is clear that the decision needs to be revisited and some common sense injected. Dave Biggs, the Conservative councillor for Camborne West, has been on the case and organised a meeting with Kevin Lavery last week where assurances were given that no rash decisions would be taken.

The old grammar school on Trevu Road is a beautiful building and the sort of place that should be kept as a community resource in my view. A consultation is promised and I think it is very important that such a consultation is genuine and looks at all options that would enable the children's centre and other facilities to continue to be offered from the existing building. The terms of reference of any consultation must be correctly drawn.

Just time to do another run...in the rain again - before heading to the Camborne RFC barbecue held here at Trevaskis. The weather has been awful but the club enjoyed the night out and we had put up some cover just in case. The team are getting geared up ready for the next season. Their first friendly match is in about three weeks time and the season starts again properly in little more than a month. Doesn't seem long since the end if season party at the Lowenac...

a long day

I arrived in Camborne on the sleeper train at 7.30 am. My father has a meeting in London today and so we arranged to meet at 7.45 at the station and then I would drive the car back. It has been pretty miserable weather the last couple of days. It is still raining this morning but I had time for a coffee in the new cafe that has recently re-opened on the station.

George Le Hunte has lived in Cornwall most of his life and worked for Holmans for many years. Today he is the Chairman of Camborne Chamber of Commerce and it is my first meeting of the day. Tomorrow Camborne is launching a new fortnightly market in the town square which is supported by the Chamber. We also discuss the regeneration of the area and the steps needed to try to get some new retailers in Camborne to help draw in more people.

I spend the afternoon in Stithians knocking on doors to discuss local concerns with residents. We did well in Stithians in the local elections. Although an independent councillor won in the end, Mary Sheppard pulled in a lot of votes and put us on a solid footing for the General Election. When out canvassing it is not often you get invited inside for a chat but today it happened twice. I think we could do well here.

Later today, it was time to get my running kit on again. The RNLI have organised a fundraising 10k race on the sand down at Hayle. Ted Williams thought it was about time to start some races in preparation for the marathon and where better to start than Hayle beach. After a strong start, I languished for a couple of miles in the middle before getting it together again and crossing the finishing line in 43 minutes which is not bad for 10k on wet sand but much slower than I used to manage!

Increasing the pace

I started the day with another training session at Treslothan with Ted Williams at 9am. I have made some progress in the last two weeks. Last time my times for each lap were averaging 7 minutes 20 and today I had got them down to 6.30 which is a good step forward. I am now running six times a week and the training seems to be back on track. But I only really have two months until the marathon.

Next up, was a Cornish Fayre at Camborne Church organised by Mike Firbank. Mike has been heavily involved with the Camborne Street Pastors idea and I met him earlier this year at the launch of that project. It was good to have the chance to discuss progress with him. They have now trained more street pastors and have continued to go out every Friday and are getting more young people involved.

Later that afternoon, it was time for a trip down to the south of the constituency to Trebah Gardens where Clare Vickers is head of marketing. I have known Clare for a number of years and her husband Johnny even longer. A few weeks ago I bumped into them both at Truro and said I would make a visit before the summer was out.

Cornwall’s gardens are now an important visitor attraction and the best of them are in the Camborne and Redruth constituency. Trebah attracts around 100,000 visitors a year. While there I met Nigel Burnett, the Director at Trebah. The bad weather last year was a blow to the tourism industry in Cornwall but this year visitor numbers are up a bit and the weather, while unsettled recently, has generally been a bit better, especially in the spring and early summer. The famous hydrangea gardens were spectacular today. No surprise that people keep coming back here!

We finish the day with a dinner at Illogan. Mary Grigg has been a strong supporter of the association for many years and organises an annual supper for both supporters and people interested to hear more. Last year she had around 50 people attending but this year that had climbed to 80. As we move into a general election year, people are starting to think about politics more and there is a growing appetite for change.

Getting to grips with the issues that matter

The last couple of days have been a busy time dealing with constituency case work. There has been a steady rise in the number of people coming to me with problems that they need help with ranging from housing and pensions to the application process for technology development grants and the controversy over the future of the Children’s Centre at Trevu Road in Camborne.

Trying to help people sort out problems is the bread and butter work of an MP. I have always thought that candidates should try to do their bit too. In some cases people come to me because the current MP has been unable to help them. In a small minority of cases they don’t even get a reply. But the story is familiar. They write with a problem. The MP goes through the motions of sending a letter to someone else. They then receive a fob-off reply which is forwarded back to the constituent with a note saying “I hope this answers your query”, although it seldom does.

I see one of the most important roles of an MP as trying to cut through the bureaucratic nonsense that plagues so much of life today. There are now far too many laws and regulations and each one brings with it a whole set of procedures and tick box routines that public bodies go through but which increasingly lose touch with reality and people’s day to day problems. In the end, people feel it is impossible to be heard and it is one of the reasons for disillusion in the government and politics.

Training in Treslothan

Today I met Ted Williams again for a training session. I remembered saying we would meet some time in the morning and so phoned him at 10 am to see what time he wanted to start. He actually though we had agreed to meet at 10 and was ready and waiting. Better get my skates on!

The weather was bad - a lot of drizzle but at least it was cool.

My marathon training has been going better this week. The injured ankle is now completely healed.

We marked out a circuit of 1900 metres in the woods at Treslothan just outside Camborne and I did three circuits. We finished with some hill sprints to try to increase strength. The pace was about right - 6 minute miling - and Ted reckons I might make it yet...

Making Camborne and Redruth an international centre of excellence

Today we hosted a national marine energy summit at the Tremough Campus in Penryn with our front bench energy and climate change team travelling to Cornwall to see what we can achieve.

I had been pushing for the party nationally to hold such an event in Cornwall since the spring. This part of Cornwall has a great track record in invention and pioneering new ideas. The steam locomotive was invented here. One of the biggest challenges facing our generation is how to keep the lights on when the oil runs out and I believe wave and tidal power can be part of the solution. Cornwall, with its huge coastline, is uniquely placed to become a world leader in developing these new technologies.

I first visited Tremough back in January soon after being selected as the candidate. I think it has real potential to become an international centre of excellence. It is already doing some leading work on the design of moorings for wave devices which is an important challenge that must be overcome. Some of the academics leading the work at Tremough were at the conference today to brief the Conservative front bench on their work.

I picked up Greg Clark (Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change), Greg Barker (Shadow Minister for Climate Change) and Baroness Wilcox (House of Lords front bench) at 7.30am from Truro. They had travelled down on the sleeper train.

The day started with a visit to A&P in Falmouth Docks to meet Mike Reynolds and his head of operations, Jez, to discuss the role that they will play in maintaining and possibly manufacturing some of the wave devices.

Over 60 people attended the summit held at Tremough. We had the country's leading experts in marine energy technology and people had travelled from across the country - and from as far afield as Scotland to come to the hub of marine energy innovation in Cornwall to help inform Conservative policy in this area.

We had presentations from Luke Myers from the University of Southampton, Merlin Hyman from Regen SW, Nick Harrington, who works for the RDA and has been leading on the Wave Hub project and Ken Street from Bodmin based Orecon who are manufacturers of wave devices.

It was great to get so many industry experts in the same place at the same time- and for such an event to be taking place in the Camborne and Redruth constituency. Greg Clark explained that a future Conservative Government would be aiming to develop marine energy parks as centres of excellence for these new technologies - and that Cornwall was well placed to become the first. Now is the time to take the initiative.

Getting back on track

I said I would meet Ted Williams at Camborne Rugby Club. This Thursday afternoon is when the Cornish Rugby Sage group meets - an informal grouping of former rugby players from Cornwall.

As I approached the club I was dragged inside by Ted. They were singing old Cornish songs. Singing is not my strong point but I did my best on the last few, including "Trelawney", the Cornish anthem.

Ted agreed to become my marathon coach at the start of the year. I am running the Loch Ness marathon in October in aid of Cornwall Hospice Care. The hospice helps hundreds of families every year.

I made a strong start training earlier this year but during the hectic days of the local elections campaign in April and May, my training slipped. On top of that, while on a short break in Jersey in June, I twisted my ankle out on a long run which set me back by another two weeks.

So after the singing, we discussed how to get my training back on track. We agreed that time was short. I will need to build the mileage back up by running more frequently - and running twice some days so that the risk of injury is reduced but the work to build stamina for a marathon is done. It starts tomorrow....

All change for Hayle

Tonight we had a meeting at the White Hart in Hayle to establish a new campaign branch in the town. We made strong progress in Hayle during the local elections, although sadly not quite enough to win either of the seats which went to candidates standing for the Independent Group. Tonight we had a strong turnout and there is a lot of enthusiasm.

Hayle was previously in the St Ives constituency. Following the last round of Boundary Commission changes, Hayle has been put together with Camborne and Redruth for the next General Election. The current MP for the area, Andrew George, decided not to stay with Hayle but instead to focus on Penzance next time. So there is no incumbent MP for the town.

These are exciting times for Hayle. After years of dithering, plans to redevelop the harbour have now finally been approved which could transform the prospects for the area. Hayle has the longest and the best beach in Cornwall and it is second only to Newquay in terms of the numbers who go there to surf or take a family holiday. The estuary is also an important centre for bird species - but this will not be affected by the plans for the Harbour.

Alongside the plans to develop the harbour area into a marina there will also be small 'incubator' industrial units to support new businesses and create new jobs in marine energy technology linked to the Wave Hub project. In a couple of weeks, the Conservative Party is hosting a national Marine Energy Summit in the consituency - recognition of the fact that the advent of Wave Hub at Hayle has the potential to make this part of Cornwall THE international centre of excellence in these new technologies.

I have many memories of the White Hart in Hayle and have known Mike Bows, the proprietor, for about fifteen years. I often stayed there on visits back to Cornwall and when I was younger it was a watering hole we would visit after the Smugglers Inn at St Erth Praze on the way to the night Club at Penmare (now knocked down and turned into houses)or 'the Bluff' on Riviera Towans for a night out.