Warming Winters in Cornwall

With the dark nights now closing in there’s lots of festive events happening in Cornwall.

T’is nearly the season to eat, drink and be merry whilst enjoying Cornwall’s fabulous festive spirit. Leisurely crisp strolls along the beautiful Cornish coast, warming hot chocolates by a rustic log fire and snuggling beneath fluffy blankets whilst the sea storms ripple in - winter is not to be missed in this Christmassy wonderland.

October Half-term events

‘Freak or Unique’ and ‘Weird and Wonderful Trail’ Exhibition, National Maritime Museum, Falmouth Oct 26^th/1^st Nov

                                                                            

 Marvel at the Maritime Museum’s Cabinet of Curiosities. Make your own Indonesian Red Devil masks, soap scrimshaw and more inspired by extraordinary artefacts from their collection. Also find the fantastical things from far flung lands once sold in Falmouth’s very own Old Curiosity Shop. 

                                                                           

Myths and Legends, Tintagel Castle Oct 27th/Oct 29^th

Join TinTagel Castle for an exciting adventure this half term. Travel back to Victorian times with Florence Nightingale Richards, our castle custodian and her storytelling companion as they explore Tintagel's dramatic landscape and bring to life the legend of King Arthur and the stories it has inspired.

Come along in your best Halloween fancy dress and you could be rewarded!   

Wintry Events in Cornwall

Nadelik - A Cornish Christmas at Pendennis Castle, Falmouth 5th/6th December

                                                                         

Celebrate Christmas the Cornish way at Pendennis Castle with fireside tales, music and dancing plus find your perfect present from the range of craft and gift stalls. Enjoy mulled wine and mince pies and meet Father Christmas in the castle keep.

 Padstow Christmas Festival, Padstow Harbour,Padstow 3rd/6^th December

                                                                         

40 star chefs, and 45,000 visitors will celebrate what Padstow does best: food, drink and Christmas! One of the main festive highlights is Sharp’s secret bar. Visitors who discover the secret bar will find themselves immersed in a unique beer tasting experience like no other. Led by one of Sharp’s beer sommeliers, the sessions are guaranteed to revolutionise the way you drink and appreciate beer. Slip away from the Christmas crowds and into a very different beer drinking experience, designed to focus and heighten the senses.

Frozen Ice Parties, Carnmarth Hotel, November/December dates

                                                     

Newquay’s Winter Wonderland is coming this November and December. The Carnmarth Hotel will be hosting ?Frozen Ice Parties for children with cuddly Olaf and other mini magical characters who adorn this wonderful story. Sing-a-long with our Anna and Elsa, get glittery and take home a frosty goodie bag. Whilst the children play under supervisory Frozen on Ice child carers, parents can relax and indulge themselves with the coastal food and cocktails at the C-View restaurant. 

Rogue Theate presents Winter Wood, Tehidy Woods, December dates 11^th/30^th

                                                   

One of Cornwall 365’s winter highlights is Rogue’s ‘Winter Wood’ extravaganza, pass through the Woodland Gate and follow the twisting path. Let the faeries and woodland spirits lead the way with stories and songs. Follow the wandering path and meet Old Man Winter who will weave a tale and reveal the path to your fantastical destination, an enchanted celebration, and a wondrous festivity of wintry marvels.

There will be a show with live music, festive stories, winter wonders, free hot chocolate, a warm place to relax, sparkly face painting and the chance to make your own traditional winter decoration to take home.

Winter Getaways

Greenbank Hotel, Falmouth

      

Float away in stylish surroundings then, submerge yourself in characterful Falmouth’s history before diving into delicious food and drink. Nestled on Falmouth harbour, the Greenbank Hotel blends the best of coastal living with the finest in contemporary comfort, so you can experience life – on the water’s edge.

Enjoy a special winter deal from £99 per room per night  inclusive of bed and breakfast with an added treat of a mini Cornish cream tea at the Greenbank’s Water's Edge Bar or a drink in the Working Boat on arrival.  

St Michael’s Hotel and Spa, Falmouth

      

The ultimate way to unwind on the Cornish coast. The 4 star, award winning hotel and spa is located overlooking Falmouth Bay. Wake up to an ocean sunrise and enjoy breakfast over sub-tropical gardens. Explore hidden coves, winding streets, and artisan markets.

Whether it’s spreading out king-size style, waking up in Egyptian cotton or filling the tub with ESPA bubbles – St Michaels Hotel offers amazing Winter rates, with an added free stay for your pooches.

2 nights: From £50 pppn 3 nights: From £45 pppn 4+ nights: From £40 pppn

Carnmarth Hotel, Newquay

     

Carnmarth Hotel combines the glory of a classic British cliff-top hotel with the best of modern facilities and furnishings to create breaks with an intimate, relaxed feel.

Escape to the cooler than cool Cornish coast and stay at the impeccably located Carnmarth hotel for just £99 – includes bed, breakfast & 3 course dinner for 2 people!

Star Wars Filming on Skellig Michael

Disney owned LucasFilm has been granted permission to return to Skellig Michael this week to film scenes for one of the upcoming Star Wars movies. The UNESCO world heritage site has already hosted film crews last year and serves as the location for Luke Skywalkers hideout in the next release in the saga.

However, concerns have been raised this time around, most notably by An Taisce and also by Clumnist, Fintan O'Toole. The cite concerns regarding transparency, the built heritage and environment on the island. These concerns, I'm afraid, are nothing more than a cry to be noticed. The screams of those who have not had reason to be in the public eye lately. The people who live and work on the island are not about to let something disastrous happen to it, they are passionate about protecting it and educating us as to the history surrounding it. There will be less people on the island while filming it, than there would be on a normal day at the height of the tourist season. There will be representatives from the OPW and minister for the environment on hand to monitor everything during filming.

As "fragile" as many claim the island is, it has withstood centuries of violent storms with hardly a scratch. Granted, Jedi knights are a different challenge, but I think the island will do just fine. This film will serve as an opportunity to promote the island, it will bring massive revenue to the local area (particularly south Kerry) and the negative impacts are minimal. The film crew will leave the island exactly as they found it. Any concerns, therefore, are unfounded.

What happened when I posted Nazi propaganda on TheJournal.ie

Recently in the UK, someone decided to see what would happen when they posted Nazi anti-semitic propaganda on the daily mail. They took the English translations, replaced Jew with migrant and posted in the comments section. The results were worrying as they received massively more upvotes than downvotes. I decided to try the same on the comments section of thejournal.ie, posing under the name “John Rexford” to see what happened.

I had planned on continuing this experiment for longer but, to their credit, thejournal.ie have blocked me from posting anymore comments and have removed some of the more blatantly obvious ones, which would be considered incitement to hatred.

The first three comments were posted during the day, the last one on an article which was a couple of hours old. The last comment was posted shortly after 5pm. From the screenshots below you can see that the comment posted after 5 was almost completely downvoted, which leads me to think that the demographic reading the journal changes at that point. However, the comments posted during the day were the opposite. Thankfully some people, as you will see in the comments below, are willing to stand up against this kind of bigotry. Unfortunately, they seem to be in the minority among this particular readership. It must be pointed out that the reporting on the refugee crisis by the journal has been impartial and objective; they have in no way encouraged these kinds of comments or support of them. The people upvoting these comments have done so of their own free will. I doubt very much they are aware of the source of these comments.

Had I stated that I was about to post nazi propaganda, I doubt people would have voted so enthusiastically in favour of it, but this goes to show how easy it is to latch onto peoples (in this case unfounded) fears and lead them into support of something terrible. We need to learn from the mistakes of the past, not repeat them.

I do not believe the readership of the journal to be representative of Ireland as a whole and, had I been able to continue to post, I believe the evening readership of the journal would have rejected these comments completely. At least that is what I would gather based on the last two comments below.

We need to stand up to hatred and bigotry. We must remember that these refugees coming to Europe are not terrorists, they are innocents victims fleeing a warzone. They desperately need our help. The comments I posted, and their responses are below. Some of the later comments were removed by thejournal.ie before I could gather any reaction, either positive or negative, so they are not shown here.

Some Facts on immigration

Related to the UK but let's have a look.

• 26% of NHS doctors were born abroad

• The BMA advises that without immigrants many NHS services would struggle to provide effective care

• Almost 5.5 million British people live permanently abroad (economic emigrants?)

• Immigrants are 60% less likely to claim benefits than British born people

• Between 1995 and 2011, EU immigrants contributed £8.8 billion more than they gained

• Most studies suggest immigration has no significant impact on employment or unemployment

• UK had fewer first time Asylum applications in January to March 2015 than six other EU countries

• Registered Syrian refugees: 4,015,256, 2.2m in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, 1.8m in Turkey, 24,000 in North Africa. 49.5% males, 50.5% females.

• 610,000 empty homes in England, 200,000 dwellings unoccupied for over six months

or if you want more expansive info
https://fullfact.org/factcheck/immigration/blackboard_claims_immigration_facebook-47456

The Refugee Crisis, call it what it is.

Picture this, your neighbors house is burning down. The family, let's say there's 5 of them, come to you looking for help. You vaguely know them, you know one of the kids as been in trouble in school.

"No sorry, one of you might cause trouble, go back to your house, or maybe try next door".

This is the reality of what we in Europe are doing. Our neighbors across the Mediterranean, their house is burning down around them. Yet people call for them to be kept out because "there might be terrorists with them", or "we have our own problems", or worse still "we can't afford them"...as if money is more important than human lives?

We have all seen the horrific images of Aylan, the young toddler who washed up, drowned, on a Turkish beach. Do we really have to wait until enough of these people die before we act? What will it take before we decide to show some basic human compassion and help our neighbors, our fellow human beings?

"They will change our culture" you shout, "they'll take advantage of our welfare system" say more. Do you really think that people who are fleeing for their lives are worried about what benefits they can get? They want to work, make a better life for themselves. The proportion of "spongers" from these refugees will not be any greater than the proportion of spongers within a native population.

They will not either, change our culture. They will keep their culture for themselves, as is their right. Now, if the native population starts to oppress them, discriminate against them and blame them for what's going wrong in society, then of course they are going to push back, as has happened in many places in the UK.

"We should sort our own homeless crisis first". Yes we do have a homeless crisis in Ireland, well in Dublin at least. But that is a separate issue, just because we have one problem, doesn't mean we can't help with another. The homeless issue needs to be addressed, yes, but it is not an excuse to turn these refugees away.

 We need to learn from the lessons history has taught us. When was the last time there was such widespread discrimination against a particular race? How well did that work?

I live in hope that the online comments, calling to keep them out or even let them drown, are being posted by the minority who happen to be louder than the rest. Otherwise, the "Ireland of 1000 welcomes" is dead and gone. We were welcomed the world over, time for us to return the favour.