Queen to visit port on Royal yacht

THE Queen and Prince Phillip will be visiting Falmouth in May.

The couple will arrive on the Royal Yacht Britannia, which is due to tie up in Falmouth Harbour on May 30.

Despite the popularity of the monarchy being at an all-time low at present, the visit is expected to be a highlight of the year with thousands of people turning out from a county which has always had strong royalist ties.

Few details have been released by Buckingham Palace about the visit but a spokesman for the Royal Household confirmed the Queen and Prince Philip would be visiting the county and come ashore in Falmouth.

It was part of a tour which would then take the Royal Yacht and the royal couple on to South Wales and eventually Bristol.

Earlier in the month the couple would be visiting Exeter University and the Devon County Show.

For one Falmouth man the visit will be particularly important. The day of the Queen's visit also signifies the final day in the reign of town mayor Geoffrey Evans who, by coincidence, was mayor of the town the last time the Queen visited in her jubilee year, 1977.

Mr Evans accompanied the Queen as she came ashore at Falmouth from the Royal Yacht 17 years ago.

They talked about Cornish pasties and, as they made their way from the town hall, a little girl rushed up to her and presented three pasties. It was not a planned gift but Mr Evans agreed he could relax and have a good laugh with the Queen, who later told him she had sampled each one.

Poldark will be back

The stories of Winston Graham's Poldark are to return to the television screens.

A new series based on one of TV's best-loved costume dramas of the 1970s is being revived by HTV and filming could start soon.

The new drama will be based on the final four Poldark novels by the author - the books are based between 1810 and 1815, ten years on from the end of the last series made almost 20 years ago.

The series has been commissioned by the ITV network and like Wycliffe, has delighted HTV.

It has also pleased the Poldark Appreciation Society whose members have regularly held reunions in Cornwall completely attired in costume of the period. Among them is John Baskcomb who lives at Sithney and played the notary.

The society has campaigned strongly for a new series to be made as well as for the originals to be repeated.

When the BBC, who made the programme, in the 70s released them on video and they become an instant hit.

Blast it! Now village faces new nuisance

AS a public meeting is called in Mabe tonight to discuss local complaints about blasting at Carnsew quarry, another quarry has announced it will be blasting in the area.

Camas Aggregates, which was a part of ECC Quarries until last year, has announced that it will have to begin blasting at the newly-reopened Kessel quarry. The quarry has been closed for a year.

In a public notice they have reassured local residents that every effort will be made to minimise disturbance and have provided a contact phone number.

They have owned the quarry for 18 months and will produce stone for road making and construction. A bitumen coating plant has been installed for road surfacing.