Kazam News

An innovative Saltash company has been crowned Cornwall’s Business of the Year as the best of the county’s businesses were rewarded at the Cornwall Business Awards.

Composite Integration took the coveted overall title alongside the award for Business Innovation of the Year in recognition of its groundbreaking work in creating new, environmentally-friendly methods for precision-moulding large plastic components.

The presentation was witnessed by 300 of Cornwall’s business and public leaders, who crowded into St Mellion International Hotel Golf and Country Club on the evening of May 14th to see the winners revealed and hear some well-chosen words of advice from straight-talking jewellery magnate Gerald Ratner.

Martin Brooks, chairman of the Cornwall Development Company who organised the event, said: 'The Cornwall Development Company is delighted by the way, year after year, businesses in the county rise to the occasion and we have been very impressed by the quality of entries this year, which have set a new benchmark.'

Two swimmers from Cornwall will be among the competitors at the Paralympic World Cup which gets underway in Manchester on Wednesday.

Johnathan Fox and Matt Whorwood, who are from Newquay, both go into the competition with Beijing Paralympic medals under their belts.

Fox won silver in the 100m backstroke, while Whorwood took two bronze medals in Beijing's Watercube.
The duo train together with Newquay Cormorants Swimming Club.

Cornish Pirates have signed South African lock forward Roderick Labuschagne from Italian side Treviso.
The 29-year-old, who is 6ft 6ins tall, is the third new lock forward to sign for the Pirates following the arrivals of Mike Myerscough and Luke Collins.

Labuschagne said: "My mother is British but she emigrated when she was in her early 20s.
"She was really thrilled that I signed with the Pirates as Cornwall was always her favourite holiday destination."

The Durban-born player, who had spells with French sides Peringueux and Grenoble added: "From what I've heard it's a great rugby county where the supporters really get behind their team."

Labuschagne has also played for Natal Sharks under-21s and Natal Wildebeest in South Africa and spent a year in New Zealand with the Bay of Plenty Steamers.

A large number of goats in Taiwan may have died of exhaustion because of noise from a wind farm.
A farmer on an outlying island told the BBC he had lost more than 400 animals after eight giant wind turbines were installed close to his grazing land.

The Ministry of Agriculture says it suspects that noise may have caused the goats' demise through lack of sleep.

The power company, Taipower, has offered to pay for part of the costs of building a new farmhouse elsewhere.
A spokesman for the company said the cause of the goats' deaths still needed to be investigated, but that it doubted the goats died from the noise.

Before the wind farm was built about four years ago, farmer Kuo Jing-shan had about 700 goats.
Shortly after the electricity-generating turbines were installed, the 57-year-old says his animals started to die. He now has just 250 goats left.
"The goats looked skinny and they weren't eating. One night I went out to the farmhouse and the goats were all standing up; they weren't sleeping.
"I didn't know why. If I had known, I would've done something to stop the dying," he told the BBC's Cindy Sui in Taiwan.

Plausible
A local livestock inspector from the agriculture ministry said that Mr Kuo was the only farmer to have reported such large-scale deaths.

He said his claim was plausible because of all the farmers in the Penghu archipelago, his farm was closest to the wind turbines.

"Abnormal noises could affect the normal growth and feeding intake of animals and cause them to suffer sleep deprivation," Lu Ming-tseng said.

Mr Kuo said the power company had offered to help him move but that there would be no compensation for the loss of his goats.

"It's a pain to relocate, but what can I do. I can't survive with the wind turbines," he said.

A Cornish schoolboy who was hit in the eye by a stone thrown during school playtime could now sue Cornwall Council over the incident.
Scott Palmer said he had his hopes of becoming a professional goalkeeper shattered by the injury at Tretherras School, Newquay, in July 2001.

ASKING prices for homes in the region rose by 4.6 per cent last month. The average asking price of a property in the seven-county South West increased by around £6,000 in the four weeks to May 9 to stand at £239,766, said website Rightmove.

New sellers raised their valuation in Penzance (up 7 per cent), Yeovil (5.9 per cent), Exeter (0.8 per cent), Taunton (3.2 per cent) and Torquay (1.4 per cent).

Meanwhile, asking prices fell by 1.3 per cent in Plymouth and 3.3 per cent in Truro. The annual fall in asking prices in the South West eased, but remained 7.2 per cent down on the same period last year.

Rightmove put the sharp rise down to sellers pricing homes at higher levels due to concerns about the extent to which their equity had been eroded, making it difficult for them to move up the property ladder.

Richard Copus, spokesman for the National Association of Estate Agents in Devon, claimed the market was showing signs of recovery, but cautioned against reading too much into Rightmove's figures.

He said: "Asking prices can be very misleading. It's still a buyers' market out there and they are still being very tough about what they are willing to offer. If they think it's overpriced, they won't even look at it."

He said his own firm, Newton Abbot-based Richard Copus Estates, had seen sales triple this year, and most other agents in the region were seeing transactions double.

He added: "But there is a buzz, which we haven't had for some time. People seem to be more happy."

Rightmove acknowledged the leap was more reminiscent of a boom market than the current slump, adding that the jump was the largest price increase recorded during May since 2003, when house prices were rising by 15 per cent a year.

CORNWALL is a "perfect holiday haven" and Devon the envy of the rest of England according to a new guidebook which pours buckets of praise on the Westcountry.

Set against a backdrop of recessionary fears, trendy travel book publisher Lonely Planet has compiled its guide to the highlights and lowlights of Great Britain.

Released today, the book's authors give the various pockets of the far South West glowing reviews, drooling over "Cornwall's culinary renaissance" and Devon's mix of high-octane "exhilaration" on the coast and serene churches inland.

While it cocks a snook at Plymouth's buildings that "even the architect's mother might question", the only other criticism of note is to describe North Devon's "classic" seaside resorts as "slightly faded".

The eighth edition of the guide, which saw a team of researchers spend months sampling sights, places to eat and accommodation, could provide a welcome boost to Westcountry tourism as the economic squeeze alters the way people are holidaying.


David Else, the co-ordinating author, said soaring numbers of Britons plan to escape within the UK this year. He has dubbed them "staycationers".

He said: "These staycationers can't afford all the costs associated with holidaying abroad, especially in light of the Eurozone being so expensive, and have realised that they can find better value at home.

"The fantastic summer weather forecast has been an extra incentive for Brits to stay at home and explore more of their own country."

The entire county of Cornwall, a "rugged wedge of rock" that offers "impossibly pretty beaches, improbably quaint villages and impressively craggy cliffs", is "in the midst of a renaissance".

Cooking and culture are leading the reboot, with Rick Stein's Padstow food empire and Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant in Watergate Bay the most obvious symbols of success.

It says: "Indulge in an adrenalin sports frenzy at party-town Newquay or explore global habitats at the Eden Project. Go all mystical at Arthurian Tintagel, all arty at St Ives, or all funky at a festival. It really is rather wonderful way out West."

Lonely Planet is just as gushing about life on the other side of the Tamar. "If counties were capable of emotions, those in the rest of England would envy Devon," it begins. "It's all to do with a rippling landscape studded with prehistoric sites, historic homes, vibrant cities, ancient villages, intimate coves and wild, wild moors."

With a choice between "a Michelin-starred meal at a swanky restaurant or a fresh crab sandwich sitting on the beach", the emphasis appears to be on variety. The guidebook adds: "In Devon a day's drive can take you from Exeter's serene cathedral, via Torbay's coast, to the yachting haven of Dartmouth, where Agatha Christie's mysterious gardens wait in the wings.

"Totnes provides the eco-awareness, Plymouth provides the party and wild Dartmoor provides the great escape, while the north coast tempts you into the waves."

It even looks beyond Plymouth's much-derided architecture. "Its setting on the fringes of an impressive natural harbour and just a few miles from the wilderness expanse of Dartmoor makes it an ideal base for activities," it says.