Figures reveal

rise in crime

FIGURES from the police show that reported crime rose in Torpoint last year.

The statistics reveal that there was, on average, one additional crime each week compared to 1999.

The total for 2000 was 623 compared to 571 in the previous 12 months.

This year has started off with a drop in reported crimes. The first two-and-a-half weeks saw 40 crimes compared to 48 in the same period last year.

The crimes committed included seven burglaries, five assaults, two incidents of arson, 17 car crimes, three thefts, one harassment case, one incident of criminal damage, one drug-related case, one dog out of control and one incident of offensive material sent through the post.

Police reported that seven out of the 40 crimes had been detected in a short space of time.

Retailers sought for

country park shop

EXPERIENCED retailers are being invited to bid to run the information point and gift shop at the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park near Torpoint. The shop, based in the Cremyll Lodge, provides information and sells guidebooks, sweets and souvenirs to visitors to the park. A three-year concession will run from Easter this year.

Scouts search for

canoe store

A REQUEST from the 2nd Torpoint Scout Group to store canoes and trailers at the Marine Drive depot in Torpoint has been turned down.

The town council decided on health and safety grounds that given the derelict nature of the site it could not offer any facilities to the scouts at present.

And because new units likely to be built on the site of the former Caradon District Council depot will be for businesses, there would be no storage space available in the future for the scouts.

However, the town council agreed to approach the district council to see if the scouts could use any lock-up garages in the town.

Tiger cub to

visit library

A TIGER cub will be visiting Torpoint Library during the school half-term holiday next week.

The cub, from Dartmoor Wildlife Park, will be joined by an owl, a reptile and a creepy-crawly at a special children's event on Friday, February 23.

It will be the first time ever that a tiger cub has visited the library in the town centre.

The Animal Magic event will run from 10.30am to 11.30am and a limited number of tickets are available from the library at £1 each for children aged 11 and under.

Scheme could

save heart

attack victims

A COMMUNITY-based scheme which could help save the lives of heart attack victims is being considered for Torpoint and the Rame Peninsula.

Local organisations are being invited to discuss the possibility of setting up a project which would see a team of volunteers with portable heart resuscitation sets available on the peninsula.

These trained volunteers would respond quickly if someone on the peninsula had a heart attack.

The idea is being promoted by two local GPs, Dr Kevin Mattholie and Dr Francesco Scaglioni, and by retired chartered engineer John Kelly who lives in Torpoint.

John said that a scheme involving the sets, generally referred to as defibrillators, could prove very worthwhile.

"In Britain each year some 20 percent of deaths from heart attacks happen in public places and many of these people can be helped if such equipment can be accessed quickly," he said.

"Whilst the ambulance service, Kernow-Doc and some GPs will have this equipment, because response time is important it has become increasingly recognised that strategic positioning of these units together with trained operators can be very effective within a community.

"It is thought that Torpoint and the Rame Peninsula in general because of its geography provides a location where such an approach could be very beneficial to the community."

Dr Mattholie, who has a surgery in Torpoint, said: "We are in the early stages of the project, looking at its feasibility.

"Basic training would be given and a rota of volunteers able to respond quickly would have to be set up."

He said that after a heart attack a person's heart may develop a "fast flutter rhythm".

This is often correctable through an electric shock from a defibrillator. However, there is only a limited window of opportunity in which to correct the rhythm and possibly save the person's life.

Dr Scaglioni, who holds surgeries in Torpoint and Millbrook, said: "Treatment in the first few minutes after a heart attack can make a tremendous difference.

"Volunteers would use a 'smart' defibrillator. This analyses the heart rhythms and displays on screen what should be done."

A meeting is to be held soon to gauge support and discuss how the scheme could work locally.

Further information is available on 01752 812528.