Re. ‘Free dinners for flooding victims’ Helston Packet Wednesday, September 13 2017

It is unfortunate that I have to write to ask you to correct the way in which comments made by me were reported in last week’s ‘Helston Packet’

This report was written by Emma Ferguson who was present at our Parish council meeting of which I have been a councillor for many years, the report was correct however did not represent the whole context in which I delivered it. This has led to complaints from the landlord of the ’Paris Hotel’ Coverack (Ian Richards) who felt that he had been shown in a bad light by the report.

What I actually said was:

“Councillors who do not already know may wish to express and record a vote of thanks to the anonymous person not from Coverack who paid for meals to be provided free to residents of Coverack who were affected by the flood.” Following this I was asked by a fellow councillor if the benefactor was the landlord to whom I replied “It wasn’t the landlord, it was some generous person. Somebody who lives in the parish.” This comment was what I believed to be true. At the time I reported this, the person (whose name was known to me but wished to remain anonymous) was to my belief the only person involved, since then the landlord has informed me that he was covering half the cost with the benefactor and that two other members of the public had also contributed.

Printing my reply out of context and leaving out the question has caused upset to myself and others, I would be grateful if you can rectify this.

Councillor Roger Combe

St. Keverne Parish council