AS Parliament was prorogued during the last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to be back home in Cornwall full-time and reflect upon the wide variety of wonderful community events that take place in our constituency.

This weekend, it was a pleasure to attend Eid in the Park in Newquay on Sunday, and to see so many people from all different walks of life coming together to celebrate in such a warm and welcoming atmosphere. I was proud to join residents, local organisations and businesses in marking an occasion centred on gratitude, generosity and community spirit. My thanks go to Mo and the Miah family at Zaman’s for organising such a fantastic event, alongside Newquay Town Council and Newquay BID. The Miah family’s longstanding commitment to charity and community support is well known locally, and this event was another excellent example of local businesses helping bring us together in Newquay.

Also on Sunday, we saw the annual Clay Country Plant Fayre, where I was able to pick up a pot of thyme – which is so often in short supply in my life right now. It’s a truly impressive and well-attended occasion – held at the Roche Victory Hall – and featuring some of Cornwall’s top horticulturalists.

May Bank Holiday weekend saw the Du Maurier Literary Festival in Fowey, and the Cornwall’s Food & Music Festival 2026, a free celebration of global street food and drinks. If you missed out, on Saturday, May 30, there will also be the Eat St Austell Food festival, held in St Austell town centre. The event aims to bring local food, drink, and produce from within 30 miles of our town, showcasing our incredibly talented local farmers, bakers, brewers, and more. We have some incredible local businesses and one of the best parts of being your MP is having the opportunity to meet so many of them.

I’ve often said that I believe that high streets are the beating hearts of our community - places for us to gather and come together – and this event is another fantastic example of why the hight street and town centre is so important - I wish the event organisers good luck and hope that it is a great success!

I’d like to again express my thanks to all of the organisers of these incredible events and the ones I haven’t had a chance to mention. It often feels like politics is descending into a nasty mess of polarisation and divisiveness, and, against the backdrop of that, community events have never felt more important. They remind us that we all have so much more in common than what divides us – shared local history, culture, and heritage, the desire to support our local businesses and to see our town centres be rejuvenated, and, in the case of St Austell, a widely shared distaste for the Earth Goddess statue – at least in its current location – something which has been making the headlines recently.

So once again, thank you to the community event organisers in St Austell and Newquay for your invaluable work.