EDUCATION AND PUBLICITY

In the news, our biggest coups of the spring and summer have been marine-related - the launch of Seaquest, the shark invasion, the US Navy at Kennall Vale and even a nautically themed school grounds development.

There's far too much going on in the education and publicity section to cover in this small space but I hope the following examples will give some idea of its role in the Trust. Hundreds of volunteers contribute to this work; whether the time they can offer is substantial or just occasional, it is nevertheless vital. Here's a small job, if you're interested: can you cut out articles on the Trust from your local paper? Evidence of our publicity value can make all the difference when it comes to attracting large sponsors to the Trust. The St Ives Times and Echo, Sunday Independent and East Cornwall Times are among the papers not being scanned at present.

IN THE SCHOOL GROUNDS

Our biggest school grounds redevelopment project is at Bishop Cornish Primary in Saltash, where over £10,000 from the County Environmental Trust, which administers Landfill Tax grants, is allowing us to make major improvements to the site's wildlife and educational value. The Local Projects Fund (administered by the Civic Trust on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions), Whitbread and Volvo are among the sponsors of two slightly smaller projects at Upton Cross Primary, near Liskeard, and Truro Nursery.

Thanks are due to teams from the Prince's Trust and Tavistock and District Conservation Volunteers, who are helping the schools' own volunteers with these heavy tasks, and to the Trust volunteers leading the work: Terry Geater at Saltash and Bena Smith, Nic White and Tom Knight at Truro and Liskeard. As I keep emphasising, the Trust has only one member of staff employed specifically for education; these projects simply would not have happened if Terry, Bena, Nic and Tom had not stepped in to lead them. If anyone else has the knowledge and practical skills to advise on habitat development and supervise tasks, and is willing to join our team, I will be delighted to hear from you.

IN THE COMMUNITY

This summer's largest Fox Club and Watch gathering was 95, thanks to the Helford Voluntary Marine Conservation Area Group's Wildlife Cruise for World Oceans' Day in June. Our extremely varied programmes of events are far from exclusive to Fox Club and Watch members - we insist that the parents come along with their children to be entertained and informed, and our service is well used by families both within and outside the Trust. From October this year, the events are being organised by members of our Education Committee rather than myself - please give them every support.

There's just enough room to mention a couple of the community conservation projects which we have guided, both of which were funded by Rural Action. The first concerns Truscott Pond, on which we are working with Launceston Branch - see page 18 and a report in the next issue. In the other, at the Morley-Tamblyn Lodge day care centre in Liskeard, a disused sewage plant has converted into an unusual round pond. If ponds seem to figure prominently in our work, it's no accident - our teacher contacts agree that a pond is a must for studying life.