LAUNCESTON Town Council held its annual meeting at Launceston Town Hall on Wednesday, April 10.

Outgoing mayor, Cllr Margaret Young, summarised the year, thanking everyone for their support and how much the town has to offer.

After a short tea, the town council presented 33 local organisations with grants, totalling over £20,000, the vast majority which were for £420.

The first to receive that sum was the Cornwall Air Ambulance who were represented by volunteer Paul Ford.

Paul said: “I’d like to say a big thank you for this. Today is a momentous day as we aim to get closer to be able to get a new helicopter. Last year we reached out to the public to ask for £2.5-million, to go with the £5-million we already have and today we went over the halfway mark. Hopefully by April 2020 we’ll have a new helicopter which will be faster, bigger and provide a better service, it’s your helicopter.”

Next up was the Launceston Memory Cafe, with Cym Downing and Michelle Burgess in attendance to pick up the £420 cheque, which will go towards an outing for their members.

Cym said: “We’ve had a really successful year again. Lots happened including raising £4,000 which is really good. Our major fundraiser is on May 3 at Trethorne, which is a Johnny Cowling evening.”

Launceston Eventide Trust provide a chiropody service and home visits when a patient is housebound. They received £300, while Launceston Football Club got the same as the memory cafe and air ambulance.

Finance director Peter Stevenson, said: “We’ve got four clubs within the club and provide a service for disabled players. We cater for eight to 16-year-olds in our youth and the money will go towards the new 4G pitch at the college.”

Launceston Youth Project’s Pat Orridge talked about their good plans for the youth.

She said: “We’re working really hard and have got great plans to support the youth and there’s a new mental health service being funded by Mental (Health First Aid) England. They’re supporting our efforts at the centre.”

Yana Weaver, supervisor at Cruse Bereavement Care in Cornwall, thanked the council for the £420 which will go towards recruiting and training a volunteer.

Celia Knight and Rosemary Phillips were there on behalf of the The Launceston Folk Dance Group.

They said: “It’s our centenary next year. We’re based at the St John Ambulance Hall from 8-10 on Tuesdays, where a friendly welcome awaits you. We also hold two dances a year in the town hall.”

The Launceston Youth Partnership Limited was represented by trustee Graham Verrall.

He said: “The old orchard centre on Market Street was in danger of closing down back in 2013. But with the help of the town council it’s now a community hub, has excellent facilities, including two large, and it’s somewhere where people can come. It’ll now be there much longer.”

The grant will go towards paying back the loan.

Cafe Scientifique was represented by chairman Paula Hooton and treasurer Cherry Warne and were awarded £420 to be used as prize money for children.

Addressing the near 100-strong audience, Paula said: “We’re now in our ninth year and have 300 members. Its success is attributed to the high-quality speakers we invite to our monthly meetings, where the topics vary from physics to inventions, geology, astronomy, environment and health.

“Once a year we give Launceston College Aspire students an opportunity to give their scientific presentations and we award them prize money. This year’s is on July 16 at 7pm in the Eagle House Hotel and you’re welcome to come along.

“This will be our third year of student presentations, and this generous grant from the town is very much appreciated, so, on behalf of our members and students competitors, thank you very much.”

President Rosemary Freestone was on hand to collect £420 on behalf of Launceston Women’s Institute, which will go towards work such as the replacement of shrubs, trees, gravel and general maintenance of the roundabout at Pennygillam.

Rosemary said: “Thank you very much to the town council for this money. In the year 2000 we took on the running of the roundabout at Pennygillam.Back then I could do all the wheelbarrowing and gardening but it’s slipped. This money will allow us to pay someone to help us with the work.”

Launceston Town Band committee member Alison Lea said that their £420 will ‘go to refurbishing the band room’.

After receiving their sum of £420, treasurer of The Elfords, Geoffrey Pugsley, said: “Thank you. This will enable us to continue with our craft group for people with mental health issues.”

Kate Stringer represented Launceston Pre-School, who got £420, and said: “This will allow us to continue to provide affordable childcare for working families.”

The Launceston Street Pastors received the same amount with Rachel Bate and Bill Polino on duty.

They said: “We’re about caring, listening and helping people in Launceston on a Saturday night but we’re all volunteers. The money we’ve received tonight will pay for the increase in rent on the building we use and also go towards the training of new volunteers.”

Centre manager Sarah Vinson was on hand to collect £500 for the Launceston Money Advice Centre.

She said: “On behalf of the centre and the clients, thanks for this grant. This is a massive help as it will help us deal with a massive backlog of paperwork to buy a shredder. We’ve also got two new advisors and this will go towards training those.

“But the people who are using the centre is going up. We had 72 in 2017 and by the end of this year we’ll have 120 at the current rate, and it’s a wide-range of people including young mums who don’t know how to cope, vulnerable adults where their children become adults and lose benefits don’t know how to cope and so on. There’s no other facility like this around.

“We have people coming to us from all over the place such as Camelford, Holsworthy, Lifton, Bude and Saltash. It’s a huge footprint and there’s no-one to help. So thank you so much.”

Launceston Choral Society is spending their £420 on a new portable PA system. Chairman Mike Warne said: “It’ll go towards a new PA system which we need now. It’ll be independent to the sound system at Central which doesn’t always work too cleverly.”

Girlguiding Launceston were represented by co-ordinators Sarah Fuge and Beth Martin.

Sarah said: “Beth and I represent three units at Tregadillett. Girl Guides started in the early 1900s and is the largest female only in the UK — it gives girls their own space and own voice away from boys.

“Girlguiding as we are known is well over 100 years old because we are regularly updating and reinventing what we do.

“We’ve been in Launceston since the early 1940s and currently have two Rainbow units, five Brownie units, two guides and one senior section, so units can take girls from the age of five up to being an adult.

“Our new programme was introduced in September 2018, with all units being required to use it by September 2019 to develop skills using games, activities and fun.

“The new programme is split into six themes that are increasingly more difficult as they progress. Girls have the opportunity to try new things in a safe environment which will help them on their journey to independence.

“Money will be used to buy the new programme resources at Tregadillett so we and the other volunteers can support the girls for the next 100 years.”

Launceston Cricket Club’s secretary and junior co-ordinator, Bill Glen, was on hand to receive £420.

He said: “Cricket is a sport that is often misunderstood but with a World Cup this summer, cricket is very popular in this area. The money will help with juniors’ development, equipment and coaching for children aged five and above.”

Launceston Youth Hockey Club enjoyed an excellent 2018/19 season despite being unable to train on a full-sized pitch.

Tracey Smith and Fiona Berry collected the grant and said: “We have lots of young girls and this money will go towards reducing subs and enable more young people to play hockey.”

Southgate Colts were also given £420 towards purchasing new equipment suitable for the recently-formed under 8s.

Chairman Andrew Moss said: “Thank you for giving us this money. This will go towards our mini soccer schools as we need another set of goals.We cater for all levels of play, boys or girls and we want everyone to enjoy their football, especially with the new 3G pitch on the way.”

£1,000 was given towards the upkeep of St Cuthbert Mayne and the Launceston Parish Churches.

John Ellison spoke on behalf of both the Launceston CCTV group and Launceston In Bloom, who were awarded £3,000 and £500 respectively.

Speaking before John addressed the audience, Cllr Young said: “The CCTV do a sterling job. Figures show that they reducing crime in Launceston and have also drawn praise from local inspectors.”

John added: “Thanks for your support, cameras are now up to ten this year. There’s now one at Coronation Park and one at the leisure centre which is connected to the police station.

“We like to think we play a part in the community. We have four volunteers, two each week who do from 9pm-1pm every Saturday night and sometimes they even stay until 3pm. We’ve got a very good working relationship with the Street Pastors and the police and we’ve also got a fifth volunteer who is in training. It’s a privilege to work with the police, they handle everything in such a calm manner.”

John then explained Launceston In Bloom continues to thrive despite the death of Margaret Wills.

He said: “Thanks to Launceston In Bloom, Margaret Wills who passed away last year, we can keep her legacy going. We’ve got a lot of ideas to get the community involved, so please come and join us. We’ve also taken on the war memorial, and that allows us to do greater things.”

Launceston Carnival secretary Jackie Parsons collected £500 which will be used towards insurance costs, and joked: “Hopefully this year it’ll actually go ahead.”

The Charles Causley Festival is one of the highlights of the calendar in the town, and they received £2,000, the second highest on the evening.

Malcolm Wright said: “There are many towns in the UK who have a famous literacy figure but not many can say theirs was born, brought up, worked and died in the town.”

Charles Causley is important to the town’s heritage and its tenth anniversary is coming up in the first week of June.

The final organisation to receive was Launceston Community Transport, which is more commonly referred to as the Little Red Bus. They were represented by manager Kevin Mathison and treasurer Moira Wilding.

Kevin said: “We’re pleased and delighted to accept the grant, our tenth anniversary is on Easter Monday, April 22.”

Moira added: “All volunteers including trustees would like to thank our volunteers both past and present for their hard work over the years so we can carry on.

“We’ll continue to provide a service for the people of Launceston. Isolation is a big problem and its about providing access for people who don’t have that as an option.”

Cllr Young then brought the meeting to a close and thanked everyone for attending.