Beach Ices at Praa Sands
Ice meeting the sand at the base of the low cliff behind Praa Sands Beach, West Cornwall. 6th January 2009....
Icicles at Trewellard Bottoms
Water seeping through a wall is turned to icicles, ate Trewellard Bottoms, where Geevor Mine meets the sea....
Winter Sunset at Levant
A late afternoon scene, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall. 7th January 2009....
Winter at Levant
The old electricity generator building, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall, during the recent cold snap. 7th Jnauary 2009....
I am so delighted that you manage to get together on these occasions to share something that you're enthusiastic about and really mind about.
There's nothing, I think, like safety in numbers and I only hope, as far as the numbers are concerned, that you can work at raising the awareness amongst people in this country of the sheer joy and glory of the Prayer Book. And how, as I was saying to some of you whilst going round, it has this remarkable ability to link generations.
It does seem to me that one of the great tragedies of our modern existence is that all the signposts, all those marvellous ‘little country lanes' that people used to know and walk down, have all been destroyed, so that there are so few things that anybody can share with their grandparents if you are younger, which I think is a real and tragic loss. How you knit back again some of these lost aspects of life, how you join the roots again which have been severed, is something, for what it's worth, that I've been trying to do for the past thirty years.
It does gives me enormous pleasure as your Patron to join you at your Annual Conference. It is particularly appropriate that you have chosen to meet in Oxford to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the martyrdom in this city of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.
For us, today, the questions are: what do we do when we have grown and prospered, when we have much of what we need and more? Do we continue regardless, not asking certain questions in case the answers are too challenging? Do we carry on spending, consuming, often wasting, until there is insufficient left for others in the world who do not have access to our resources? And do we carry on until there is nothing left for those who come after us?
Of course not: and we are starting to reflect on these issues, very much including the Prime Minister, the Bishop of London, Lord Browne and many others of you who have been good enough to come here this afternoon.
Our main accounting for sustainability conclusions may well encompass a variety of approaches. It may be possible, for example, to take forward some elements of what I understand is referred to as “full-cost accounting” and incorporate key environmental costs in published audited accounts.
A crucial issue in changing the behaviour of companies is persuading or requiring them to give more information to consumers about key environmental and social issues, such as the greenhouse-gas cost of their products and services. It is, perhaps, only through consumers and shareholders having access to such information that organizations will come under real pressure to change.
There was a time when we could say that there was either a complete lack of knowledge, or at least room for doubt, about the consequences for our planet of our actions. That time has gone. We now know all too clearly what we are actually doing – that’s the problem, that we know now - and that we need to do something about it urgently. Better accounting must be part of that process.
We will all have to account for our actions to our children and grand-children, and if we don’t get this right, how will they ever forgive us?
Ladies & Gentlemen, the strongest and most vibrant democracies in the World are those where the People feel a sense of ownership in the political process.
Ladies and Gentlemen it is not for me to offer your great country advice. But, if I may, I would like to offer the observation that as I travel around the World I am increasingly convinced that Tolerance and Reconciliation at community level are essential foundations for the success of a Nation as a whole.
Minister, ladies and gentlemen. I am so pleased to be able to join you today in your discussions of the importance of local identity when considering the prospects of vast tracts of new housing in our “fast-track” production age.
No-one, it seems to me, has been quite so articulate in drawing our attention to the hidden cultural wealth of the myriad “local identities” in this country than Bill Bryson – identities which, to our detriment, we so often take for granted – and it certainly seems to me ironic that it takes someone from another country to point out to us what is so special on this “small island”!
From all my many journeys across the country, I have always noticed how by traversing a hill or a moor one enters a completely different place, with changed materials, a different dialect, and different ways of building, embodying centuries of adaptation. What Mr Bryson undoubtedly “uncovered” in his book, Notes from a Small Island, was an intricately woven tapestry of local communities which have responded to their geography and climate and, evolving over time, have been able to develop and celebrate their local identity.
It has always seemed to me that this is a nation of people who are proud of their distinctiveness, and do not want to be presented with an environment of soulless homogenization. After all, this is so contrary to the individual character, wit and irony of the British people...
I am acutely aware that as Duke of Cornwall I am a substantial landowner myself and that I, personally, have a role to play. Some of you may have heard of Poundbury, a Duchy of Cornwall development on the edge of Dorchester where, from the beginning in 1989, I insisted on a mix of privately-owned and affordable homes equally well designed and built.
The Duchy is also seeking to identify where there might be opportunities for land on the estate to be considered for affordable housing under the exceptions policy. We have written to all Parish Councils in areas where we own land to offer help with smaller schemes, of perhaps five or six homes, if there is a need for them.
Rise in county's road death toll
The number of people who have died on Cornwall's roads rises in the last year to 35, police say.
Film con man ordered to pay 100K
The man who swindled almost 2m in a film studio scam is ordered to forfeit 100,000 by a judge.
Triplets survive against the odds
A woman from Cornwall who gave birth to triplets 14 weeks early describes their survival as a "miracle".
Call for inquiry into fire centre
Fire chiefs demand a public inquiry into the delayed opening of the regional fire control centre.
Prison sentence for benefit cheat
A man who admitted swindling more than 51,000 in benefits over a six-year period is jailed for 18 months.
Divers face trial over shipwreck
Three Cornish divers accused of plundering a shipwreck off the coast of Spain are to be tried in a Spanish court.
NO TO NUCLEAR WASTE IN CORNWALL - MPs
Proposals to bring nuclear waste to Cornwall have been described as absurd and irresponsible by Cornish MPs.
Route Partnership Plan for Penzance unnecessary
Their plan having been rejected by the public in the final exhibition in Septmber with 90% against the Route Partnership have decided to try again in mid January after a mailout and poster campaign.The Chamber of Commerce has been at the forefront of this campaign.
