News

Concern has recently been expressed about the condition of St Day churchyard, especially on the St Day Notice Board Facebook page, so, hopefully, the explanation below will clear up the situation.
St Day churchyard is divided into two sections, an open section and a closed section, and we also have a burial ground, run by the Parish Council. The closed section is the responsibility of Cornwall Council and is the area from the entrance gates, running around the Old Church on both sides and finishing at the concrete marker posts (these are roughly half way between the end of the Old Church and the bottom wall of the churchyard and are not always easy to see as they don’t run in a straight line). The lower, open, section is owned by St Day Parochial Church Council (Holy Trinity Church) which has the reponsibility for its maintenance.
For approximately the last 15 years St Day Parish Council has organised the grass cutting in both sections of the churchyard, knowing that St Day PCC doesn’t have the funds to look after its section and that Cornwall Council would only provide sufficient funds for 3 cuts per annum in the closed section. In 2017/18 St Day Parish Council received a grant of £547.73 from Cornwall Council and spent a total of £2,155.62 on grass cutting in the open and closed sections, thereby contributing over £1,500 of its own funds to the grass cutting in the churchyard.
St Day Parish Council’s policy has always been to allow the wild flowers to grow during the Spring each year and then not to cut back the Spring growth until the seed heads from these wild flowers have dropped, usually sometime in June. This policy has ensured that, whilst the churchyard might look untidy for a short spell in May and June, we have a wonderful display of primroses, bluebells, wild garlic etc., every Spring.
Sadly circumstances have conspired against us this year – the extremely wet weather in February and March followed by hot conditions through June and July have meant that the seed heads have not dropped as early as they usually do. Added to that our contractor has had staffing problems with his most experienced worker leaving in the Spring, immediately before his busy period, and this has left him having to work very long hours to try to keep up to date.
He is extremely apologetic for this delay, as is the Parish Council, but he has assured me that he is now in a position to start work this week (w/c 09 July) so hopefully the churchyard will shortly be looking much better.

Sarah Moore has been appointed to serve as the Parish Clerk to St Day Parish Council wef Monday 01 July, 2018. Until the end of September Sarah will work with the current Clerk, Steve Edwards, and Sarah will then take over when Steve retires on Monday 01 October.
Sarah, who lives in Redruth about 400m over the parish boundary, has a wealth of experience of running her own departments in the education sector and we wish her every success in this new post.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has published draft recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Cornwall Council and the consultation period on these recommendations closes on 17 September 2018.
The effect of these proposals will be to reduce the number of Cornwall Councillors from 123 to 87, thus increasing Councillors’ workloads by almost 50% and making it very difficult, and maybe impossible, for anyone to hold a full time job and be an effective Cornwall Councillor. More importantly for St Day the current division of Carharrack, Gwennap and St Day will cease to exist and will become Carharrack, Mt Ambrose and St Day, in spite of the objections voiced by St Day Parish Councillors who feel that St Day is a rural parish and do not wish to see it linked with Mt Ambrose which is clearly a part of Redruth. St Day Parish Council has suggested that, in order to make the numbers balance, a part of Redruth at South Downs could be taken into Lanner Parish – South Downs is clearly linked to Lanner and there is no green belt between the two areas whereas there is between St Day and Mt Ambrose. Sadly the Local Government Boundary Commission refuses to listen.
If you feel strongly about this you can view the proposals on https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk and you can then email your comments to reviews@lgbce.org.uk

The deadline of the 31st May for applications for the above part time post is fast approaching.
If you have requested further information but have not yet submitted your application please email your application by the above date to stdaypc@gmail.com Alternatively you can send it to Kinsmans Barns, Mt Pleasant, St Day, TR16 5NB.

If you are intending to apply but haven’t yet asked for information/job description you only have two weeks to the deadline!

It was great to see so many people out on Saturday evening, 24th March, to enjoy the wonderful Lantern Parade and entertainment. Fortunately the weather (just about) cooperated although it must have made the preparations during the day very difficult.
The lanterns which Clare Summerson and Kate Beesley had made were really fantastic, especially the steam engine which actually puffed out steam, and the local children added enormously to the spectacle with their lanterns and kites, not to mention the Hornets Street Band who kept the procession moving along at a jaunty pace
St Day was illuminated as it has never been before, from the lighting up of the Town Clock to the marvellous displays in the avenue to the Old Church and burial ground entrance (my favourite) and on to the beautifully illuminated walkway at the school. When you add to that the animations which were projected onto the house wall at Market Square and onto the screen at the school the whole place was ablaze!
There are so many people to thank for the wonderful evening but first of all must come Clare and Kate and their team who have worked so hard and so long to lay on this event for everyone, the stewards who marshalled the parde and kept the traffic at bay for us, the Day-light Choir who sang in Market Square and then rushed down to the Old Church to perform again and also the people of Market Square who found somewhere else to park their cars to free up the space for the event.
And finally …… the last in the series of Signs and Wonders events organised by Clare and Kate will take place on 14th April at Gwennap Pit (this was postponed from February). As this will be the last event I’m sure it will be a great evening ….. don’t miss it!

Are you interested in hearing more about this project or even just passing on the views you already have?
Dr Hazel Gibson at the Universty of Plymouth is keen to find a diverse group of people to take part in her research to find out more about the ways we think and talk about geothermal power and how people who live in areas that have the potential for geothermal power feel about it and she will be undertaking this study over the next two years.
Dr Gibson’s work runs alongside the geothermal energy project but is a totally separate piece of research which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
If you would like to take part in this research then please contact Dr Gibson at hazel.gibson@plymouth.ac.uk or call her on 01752 584702.

Many people in St Day and Scorrier have been very concerned recently about the coppicing works currently going ahead in Unity Woods and we are happy to be able to provide below a link to an email from Tom Shelley of The Cornwall Wildlife Trust which gives some reassurances about the future. This has been a very difficult situation in that Unity Woods, whilst it is a favourite spot for many people who live in St Day and Scorrier, is not actually in St Day Parish but is in Chacewater Parish. As such any representations the Parish Council has made have had to be made through Chacewater PC.
The email reads as follows:
Unity Woods

Owing to the weather conditions last Friday, 2 March, the majority of the refuse and recycling in St Day was not collected. We have now been informed by Cornwall Council that the black bag refuse will not be collected until Friday 9 March and the recycling not until Friday 16 March. They do recognise that this is inconvenient but hope that residents will understand that it was not possible to collect in the extreme circumstances. In order that the rubbish does not get strewn around the streets in the next few days we would ask everyone who has left out a black bag to collect it and put it out again in 4 days’ time. Many thanks.