Visit by Chief Inspector of Schools

The Chief Inspector of Schools, Chris Woodhead, is due to visit Torpoint Infants School next week.

The high-profile public figure is keen to see the school which he deemed to be outstanding in his 1997 annual report.

Excitement is mounting over the event among the staff and the 400-plus pupils at the school in Albion Road.

Mr Woodhead will be visiting on Monday, April 3, and will witness how the school is run on a day-to-day basis. It is also hoped he will be able to attend an assembly.

The Ofsted supremo particularly wants to visit the school to congratulate Margaret Smith who has devoted 44 years to the teaching profession, 26 of these as the head teacher of the Torpoint school.

Mr Woodhead will also be meeting three student teachers. Karen Kennedy, Lara Chandler and Sandra Swain are taking part in the School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) scheme.

Under the scheme, the student teachers work towards a qualification while based at the school rather than at a college.

The chief inspector will be asking them and their mentors - teachers who observe, evaluate and discuss their progress - about their experiences of the scheme.

Torpoint has the only infants school in Cornwall deemed to be outstanding.

Grant request

Funding is being sought to provide further illumination for late-night shopping evenings in Torpoint in the weeks before Christmas. The town's chamber of commerce has requested help from the Torpoint Community Development Forum in obtaining funding for more light in the town centre. The forum has agreed to offer such help.

Fashion show at Infants school

Teachers will be swapping the classroom for the catwalk when they take part in a fashion show at Torpoint Infants School next week.

The school is staging a fashion show of ladies clothing which will be modelled by the teachers, support staff and parents.

School governor Louise Edwards said: "We are looking forward to the show which will feature clothes for ladies of all ages from a well-known company. It will be the first show for a number of years at the school."

The show is on Thursday, April 6, and starts at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £1 and the money raised will go towards school funds.

Books for babies

A books for Babies scheme has been launched at Torpoint Library.

The scheme, which is sponsored by a supermarket chain, offers a starter reading kit for every baby.

Library manager Kate Wilton said that each child benefiting from the scheme would receive a canvas bag containing books.

An educational charity, the Book Trust, is involved in the project which is being repeated across the country.

A pilot scheme run in the Midlands led to an increase in the awareness of books, enrolment of babies at libraries and the use of books by families.

The scheme aims to promote a love of books in children from a young age.

Millennium moments book

Visitiors to Torpoint Library are being invited to make an entry in the Cornish Times Millennium Moments book. Members of the public have the chance to share some of their thoughts on the new Millennium in the large blue book. Similar books have been signed at venues around South East Cornwall. At the end of 2000, all the entries will be bound and become part of the county's archives.

Moorings members at the sailing club

The annual meeting of the Torpoint Moorings Association was held earlier this month at the Torpoint Mosquito sailing club.

The meeting paid tribute to honorary member Jim Broad, who died last year. He had been the first chairman of the TMA, and a beach marshall, and had served for many years as a committee member.

Reports were given of the year's events and expenditure, this including donations of £400 to the town council and £150 to the Millennium committee. The town council had taken advice from the district auditor and confirmed that they required no formal income from the TMA for moorings, but this position will be reviewed annually.

The meeting gave a vote of thanks to John Foster, retiring secretary of the boat park committee. The new secretary is Make Waters who will be joined by Gordon Crago. The existing general committee were re-elected unanimously. The chairman later extended thanks to Eve Waters, who helps with recording the minutes.

Concert for the sailors

During May two of the best choirs in the county are joining together to perform a concert at HMS Raleigh, Torpoint, in aid of King George's Fund for Sailors.

The Four Lanes male voice choir with Ronald Brown as MD and Michael Uren as accompanist, and the Holman/Climax male voice choir with Roger Wills as MD and Agnes Jane as accompanist, will be appearing at the concert on May 13 at 7.30pm. The current United Kingdom champion, John Hitchens, will be playing his euphonium.

Admission to HMS Raleigh will be by £5 ticket only from 'Rally Food and Wine', Trevithick Road, Torpoint (tel 01752 814560).

Spring at Mount Edgcumbe

Mount Edgcumbe house and the Earls garden open for the season on April 1. The Earl's garden is ablaze with colour, with jasmine, aubretia, jonquils and primroses, as well as banks of rhododendron.

In the house is a special exhibition of Old Master paintings lent by the Western Morning News company. A special entry price of £2 per person (old or young) will be available on Saturdays only. Normal admission charges apply on other day. the house is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays but open from 11am until 4.30pm during the rest of the week.