Seagull steals

purse and cash

A 'peck pocket' was spotted outside Barclays Bank in Liskeard last week by a couple from Looe on a shopping trip.

Walking up Pike Street they saw a large seagull flying around with a purse in its beak. The 'eagle-eyed' pair managed to keep the bird in their sights, until eventually it dropped its nest egg into the middle of the road, before escaping over the roof tops.

The purse was found to contain a large amount of money and anyone who thinks it belongs to them should contact 01503 263663, with a full description of the purse and its contents.

Rugby county

champs are off

RUGBY Football Union officials have called off this year's Tetley's Bitter county rugby championships due to the foot and mouth crisis.

It is a blow to Cornwall, who had just picked their first squad under coach Barry Trevaskis, and were due to play Hertfordshire.

Trevaskis, who has taken over from Mickey Stephens as coach, represented Cornwall 50 times as a player. He said after experiencing playing for Trelawny's Army he was looking forward 'to seeing it on the other side as a coach'.

Mum's the word –

Carolyn is a winner

A WOMAN from Polruan, Fowey, is the winner of the BBC Radio Cornwall's competition 'Mum's the Word'.

The contest aimed to find the county's best budding poets by inviting people to write a poem to celebrate Mothering Sunday. Carolyn Toms of Polruan, Fowey wrote a poem entitled 'From an unborn child to its mother'. Her winning entry was broadcast on BBC Radio Cornwall, during Tim Hubbard's morning programme Coast to Coast.

Her poem was also judged against other winners from the BBC local stations in the South West and the overall winner, from St Erth, was announced on Spotlight.

Sports trip

to Germany

YOUNG people from all over Cornwall will set off to Germany next week to take part in a two week joint project on sport and leisure with young people there.

The visit has been organised by the County Council's Education Advisory Service with the support of Cornwall Youth Service. The project is funded under the EU Youth Exchange Scheme.

The project is organised via schools which teach German and includes 50 youngsters from Saltash, Liskeard, Callington, Torpoint, Camelford, Bude, St Stephens, Fowey, St Ives, Penzance and Redruth.

Visitors flock to Eden

THE Eden Project is still managing to attract thousands of visitors through its doors, despite the foot and mouth crisis.

In less than three weeks since it opened, the £86 million attraction has welcomed 60,000 people into its biomes. The project had 500,000 people visiting the site during construction and is expected to attract 750,000 people a year.

However, at a meeting of Liskeard Chamber of Commerce on Monday, concerns were raised that visitors were being directed to the project via the A30, and therefore passing South East Cornwall completely.