Nine shops fall victim to vandals

By Helen Thomas

A wave of mindless vandalism has swept through Falmouth's town centre during the past week, leaving at least nine shops counting the cost.

Several windows have been smashed, dustbins have been pushed over and security grilles protecting some shops have been bent and damaged by the unknown assailants, who strike at night.

The Falmouth Book Shop in Church Street fell victim on two occasions in just one weekend.

The first incident happened during the night of Friday, March 11 when someone tried to get into the rear of the shop. Fortunately, they did not manage to enter the shop, but some damage was caused to the roof.

The culprit must have cut himself badly as there was a considerable amount of blood in the area.

The bookshop staff had only just completed clearing up after the break-in when the shop was attacked by vandals, who smashed one of its door panels. This happened on Sunday night and was discovered when the manager turned up for work.

Other shops attacked over the past week include QS and WH Smith in Market Street; De Wynn's Coffee Shop and Westward Golf in Church Street; Halfords in Market Strand the Vale Garden centre in Berkeley Vale and Animations in Quay Hill.

Hotel chef tackles blaze

The head chef at the Hotel St Michael's in Falmouth turned fire fighter on Monday evening when he tackled a small blaze in the hotel laundry.

Mr Patrick Quinn was working in the kitchen when smoke began to appear in the restaurant, and while the fire brigade were called Patrick sprang into action.

The problem arose when a dryer in the laundry overheated and caused a small fire in the room.

"There were quite a lot of extinguishers there and I soaked everything with water," said Patrick.

"Then as it was a dryer I used a powdered chemical extinguisher to get into that.

"I kept it under control until the fire brigade arrived. It is lucky I had seen a few episodes of London's Burning so I knew what to do," he laughed. "Afterwards I went back to serving dinner."

Patrick is keen to stress the situation was completely under control and there was no danger to staff or guests.

The fire itself was only a part of the problem. Staff were kept busy for most of the night cleaning up and the manager Mr John Dartnall also came in and worked in the laundry until the morning to ensure the bedding and linen was ready for use the next day.

'Bomb proof' bins hit by vandals

By Helen Thomas

The bomb proof bins installed in Falmouth's main shopping centre following the IRA attack on Warrington have not proved to be vandal proof.

Carrick councillors agreed to install the special bins made out of anti-ballistic material following the bomb attack on Warrington last March when two young boys were killed.

Even before that IRA attack, directors of a national high street retailer contacted Carrick and requested that litter bins should be removed from around their store because of terrorist activity elsewhere in the country.

After the Warrington bombing, Carrick's chief environmental and community services acted quickly and all the litter bins were removed from the shopping centres in Truro and Falmouth in just two days.

Later in the year they were replaced with eight bomb proof bins, but these have not proved a success.

Mr Paul Langford says in his report to Carrick's environmental and community services committee: "Within a matter of days the four in Falmouth were shattered and destroyed

"From their locations it is reasonable to assume that a vehicle, in one case, and vandals were to blame. No replacements have yet been sited as the need during the winter period is obviously less than than during the summer season."