Chamber Chairman Patricia Finney has recently completed a study of traffic and shopping in Penryn, to understand whether Pedestrianisation would be a good thing for market Street and the centre of town.  The issue is bound to spark debate with both views wanting to be heard.

 

Read here for patricia's article and see her make her case.

CHAIRMAN’S NEWSLETTER – October 2010

WHAT? PEDESTRIANISE MARKET STREET?
ARE YOU CRAZY?

Those of you who saw my ugly mug on page 3 of the Falmouth and Penryn West Briton (23 Sept) will probably already have views on this. But firstly I need to apologise to the Chamber and Committee – when I spoke to the West Briton it was just as a private person with an opinion, not officially as a spokesperson for the Chamber of Commerce. I'd hoped to be able to report on the opinions of the members, but as they weren't at the meeting (apart from two stalwart regulars), I couldn't. Unfortunately, that's not how it came out in the paper and I apologise for that.

I do not apologise for what I said: despite an enormous amount of effort by many dedicated people, Penryn's Market Street is not the vibrant bustling heart of the town, full of thriving shops and activity, which I believe it should be. Frankly, it seems rather empty for far too much of the week, footfall is low and the place was never designed to cope with the modern traffic that roars through it and clogs its pavements. That's why I believe we need a campaign to bring people into Market Street. My suggestion is to take the cars out (while allowing buses and taxis) and then use the space for attractive, well-publicised events such as markets, exhibitions and public performances.

So if you don't agree, what's your better suggestion? Come to the meeting at the Town Chamber at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 20th October and make your views known. I'm afraid that for reasons of space this will be a members-only meeting.

Best wishes
Patricia Finney
Chairman, Port of Penryn Chamber of Commerce

CHAIRMAN’S NEWSLETTER – September 2010

First of all, any of you who were at the 1920s themed August Bank Holiday Town Fair may have noticed a suspicious-looking character in a gangster outfit waving a large gun and claiming to be "de Chairman of de Penryn Chamber, which you should consider joining, know whadda mean?" I can only apologise for this person's threatening behaviour!

Luckily the presentation of the Chamber- Falmouth & Penryn Packet Business of the Year Award went without a hitch – the winner was Macsalvors@the Boathouse for the second year running. Many congratulations!

Thanks to the kind generosity of the University and Tremough Campus Services, we now have a Chamber noticeboard in the student shop at Tremough. To advertise on it (free to members), please send a postcard-sized poster to:
FAO Nigel McAlwane, Tremough Campus, Treliever Road, Penryn, TR10 9EZ.

Remember that our meeting is this Wednesday 15th September 2010 at 7.30 pm in the Council Chamber. Make sure you come so your voice can be heard – especially as I am going to propose a radical solution to the problems of Market Street and would really appreciate feedback.

Our last meeting in July was inquorate and we went and joined in the Penryn Week quiz at Miss Peapods, so there are no minutes. You will need to bring the June minutes with you to the meeting.

PLEASE let me know if I can leave you off the very expensive snailmailing list. Do you really need more paper in your office?
I've put a note on the envelopes as well!

best wishes
Patricia Finney
Chairman, Port of Penryn Chamber of Commerce

CHAIRMAN’S NEWSLETTER – mid-July 2010

Dear Members of the Port of Penryn Chamber of Commerce:

These minutes are a little late this month - due to me being across the Herring Pond haranguing the Yanks about my latest Elizabethan crime novel, A MURDER OF CROWS.

I have just talked to the Falmouth & Penryn Packet who will be launching their Business of the Year competition in conjunction with the Chamber - make sure you look out for the nomination vouchers in the Packet. You can also download a form from their website, www.falmouthpacket.co.uk. The prize is a trophy from the Chamber to display for the year and £350 of advertising in the Packet - plus some very good editorial about your business.

The talk that was to be given by Andy Brigdon about the Fal River on Wednesday 21st July will now be given by his successor Mark Killingback on Tuesday 20th July at 7.30 in the Town Hall - check with the Town Council for any further information.

Best wishes
Patricia Finney

CHAIRMAN’S NEWSLETTER – 21 April 2010 – STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS!

THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Chamber event on 19th May 2010, 7.00 pm at Penryn Town Hall.

Tim Light, Managing Director of the King Harry Ferry Company will be speaking about the Fal River Festival and the King Harry Ferry. The talk will be an open one so that anyone interested can attend and the formal chamber meeting will happen afterwards (and will be as short as possible!)

Chamber event on 16th June 2010, 7.00 pm at Penryn Town Hall.

Matthew Rogers, Station Manager of The Source fm Community Radio will be speaking about the radio station and also about the new community-generated radio soap opera "Carrick Roads" which will be launching on Source fm very shortly. This talk will also be open to anyone, with the formal meeting afterwards.

Andy Brigdon will be speaking about Penryn River before the meeting on 21st July, during Penryn Week.

A new opportunity to advertise on a notice board at the shop on Tremough Campus will be available only to Chamber members from the beginning of May.

CHAIRMAN’S NEWSLETTER – April 2010

Dear Members of the Port of Penryn Chamber of Commerce:

This time I'm trying to get all the Agendas and Minutes out in better time – you should already have had them via email. Let me know if you are happy to stop receiving hard copies as well - this will save the Chamber money. By the way, would anyone out there who enjoys bringing order to chaos like to organise me? I'm quite biddable, really.

These Minutes and Agenda are for our 21st April meeting. Please do come along and tell us what you want. Plans are afoot for both a Pasty Party fundraiser for the Chamber during Penryn Week in July and a Business Event in the Autumn – we need people who are willing to help organise both these events. I am also looking for speakers who would be willing to talk at future meetings: I'm especially interested in hearing from businesses who are at the cutting edge of eco-friendly power and manufacturing.

I'm now going to change hats (incidentally, I have a number of excellent real hats, including one that could easily have belonged to Dick Turpin...)

One of the other things I'm involved in is organizing the Penryn Mayday Festival which will be happening this May 3rd Bank Holiday Monday. We'll be dancing down Broad Street and round a maypole in Memorial Gardens, there will be music and a street market and a big event in the evening at the King's Arms.

I've taken the liberty of enclosing with these Minutes a leaflet about subscriptions for the Penryn Mayday Festival Society: I hope you will take a minute to look at the leaflet and consider sponsoring the Festival through the subscription form. The leaflets will be going out all over town in the next couple of weeks and will be available at the Festival. If you need to know more, please ring me on Truro 264656.
Many thanks, Patricia Finney

CHAIRMAN’S NEWSLETTER – February 2010

Dear Members of the Port of Penryn Chamber of Commerce:

Firstly, I would like to welcome six new members: Tina Westall of Kernick Supplies, Alex Cockle of Kernow Music School, Nick Swallow, Environmental Consultant, Barbara Bole, Ival Ferrier of Tristan Garage, Janie (?) Smith of 8Wire design. [check]

As I keep telling everybody I meet, these days nobody listens if you’re just one person – it’s very important to get together with other businesspeople so we can have a more united and therefore louder voice. The Chamber of Commerce exists to promote, support and if necessary protect all businesses in Penryn. We want to know what you need – what would help you to conduct business better, to weather the recession and expand in the future? You can email me with suggestions or write letters – better still you could attend our meetings and tell us direct! We have plans for special Chamber meetings which might even include the proverbial knees-up in a brewery!

One fund-raising event that we are planning would be a Penryn Pasty Party to take place during Mayor Mary May’s Penryn Week at the end of July, with a cup for the Best Pasty and perhaps some other prizes. We would love to hear from anyone, member or not, who has ideas or suggestions for this.

One subject that keeps coming up over and over, and has done for years, is the problem of parking in Penryn. It’s a very difficult matter and one the Town Council has been deliberating for years as well.

The fact is, the centre of Penryn was built at a time when a horse and cart was the largest vehicle that might need to come through and when most people walked everywhere (and were a lot healthier for it). Nowadays even perfectly fit people want to park right outside the place they want to visit and not walk at all – and I’ve been just as guilty of this kind of thinking. This causes disruption to everyone else and can even be dangerous. Nobody wants to pay for parking but free carparks then suffer from people who leave their cars in the same spot for weeks at a time. There’s a tension between the needs of residents to park their car near where they live, the needs of people who work in Penryn and the needs of shoppers who might want to come to the shops. Supermarkets understand this and provide acres of free carparking precisely in order to attract customers who like the convenience – which then takes away business from the centre of Penryn.

We are in urgent need of some genius-level ideas to solve this problem. The simple answer would be to build a multi-storey carpark – but where could it go in a small pretty town like Penryn without ruining the place? An out of town park-and-ride facility might help – but wouldn’t that then take more trade out of the town?

Obviously, the ideal solution would be to provide magic shrinking boxes for all the cars in Penryn which would shrink the cars to the size of Matchbox toys so that they could then be stacked on the pavements until needed. I’ll be sorting that one out just as soon as Mr Harry Potter gets back to me!

CHAIRMAN’S EXTRA NEWSLETTER – mid-January 2010

Dear Members of the Port of Penryn Chamber of Commerce:

We had a lovely Christmas dinner on Wednesday 13th January at the King’s Arms, Penryn – all the better for being late, I say. That wasn’t due to lack of organisation either: we have our dinner late because most of us are so rushed off our feet in the weeks before Christmas. January is much more relaxed and pleasant and indeed it was a very convivial evening, ably catered by Paul Chambers and his staff.

However, it’s lucky nothing ever puts me off my food because that was when I heard the appalling news (also in the Falmouth & Penryn Packet this week) that there were apparently plans to close off Helston Road for seven weeks from April 2010 so that the wall between the Helston Road and West Street could be strengthened.

Since this would be the fourth year in a row that there has been massive traffic disruption in the centre of Penryn during the summer tourist period, I went ballistic. There was a meeting planned for the day after by Penryn’s Mayor, Mary May, and so I contacted as many of the retailers on Market Street and Broad Street as I could, although I wasn’t sure what kind of a meeting it was!

Annemarie Hollis, our President, was able to be there and so was Michael Moore who has been a leading light of the Council and Vision committee for many years. Thanks to Mary May’s help, we and several retailers were able to sit down and clarify some important points with the Engineer, Angela Holmes, who was charming and very helpful.

Firstly, the work needs to be done because the wall is having to take the weight of the lorries and tankers going up the Helston road as well as the weight of the cars parked there. Secondly, there is no great urgency, although the top of the wall is bulging slightly. As far as it’s possible to tell, no bits are likely to fall off and the wall is not presently in danger of collapsing. It’s just that that particular job has come to the top of the list and the budget will be available for the new financial year April 2010 to March 2011.

I made the point that in a recession which may not affect bankers, but does affect businesspeople in Penryn, massive traffic disruption for the fourth year running could well be the final straw for some of the businesses in the centre of town. Was there any way the work could be done at a less damaging time of year than Easter?

It seems that it could. We agreed that January to mid-February 2011 could be investigated as a better and less destructive time to do the job. Jean Sutcliffe made the point that it was a pity the wall hadn’t been strengthened during the South West Water works that seemed to go on for ever last summer.

Speaking of which – is there anyone else out there who is planning to dig up Penryn this summer? I’m not joking: let’s try and do this joined-up thinking everyone talks about and organise it so it does less damage to businesses.

It’s hard work though very satisfying to run your own small business, but it can be soul-destroying when your income drops by half as a result of local government obliviousness to your problems. If you work in local government, think about this: you wouldn’t like it if your income was halved due to roadworks or some other unpredictable but planned activity. If the disruption can be made predictable and timed for a less busy season, that can make the difference to small businesses between survival and bankruptcy.

Patricia Finney

CHAIRMAN’S NEWSLETTER – January 2010

Dear Members of the Port of Penryn Chamber of Commerce:

As is now traditional we will be having our Christmas Dinner well after Christmas - on Wednesday, the 13th January 2010 at 7.00 for 7.30 at the King’s Arms in Penryn – the cost of the three-course meal plus coffee and mints will be £14.95. It would be helpful if we could have an idea of numbers so, if you are planning to come, please contact me by email or on 01872 264656 or text 07704 173745 before the 9th January 2010.

Secondly, please tell us what the Chamber can do to help you and you and your business even if you don’t have time to come to meetings – feel free to email me on patriciafinney@btinternet.com with anything that comes to mind. The Chamber of Commerce can be a tremendous force for good as we stop being solitary traders with no backing and become a united voice – our aim is to promote, support and protect all businesses in Penryn.
Finally, many apologies for the non-notification of the date and agenda of the last meeting. I tried to do it by email and... well, I could blame the mess on my normal pet email-gremlin but that would be cowardly. I could blame it on my Secretary, but unfortunately I don’t have one yet. I’ll just blame it on General Confusion and Major Foul-up, those two well-known criminals, and leave it at that.
So this month I am aiming to notify all members both by snailmail/hand delivery and by email. If you get one without the other (or, indeed, neither!), would you please contact me so I can update our records and make sure everyone is fully informed in future.

Patricia Finney
Chairman

Penryn Christmas Windows Competition 2009