Macmillan Cancer Support's mobile service will be stopping off in Liskeard on Friday March 8.
The service offers free, confidential, advice and support to anyone with a concern or a question relating to cancer.
Amanda Cummings, Macmillan Mobile cancer information and support specialist, said: "More than 3,340 people in Cornwall receive a cancer diagnosis every year, and each of these people require support. They need more than medical help, they also need practical, emotional and financial support. Cancer is the toughest fight many people will ever face, and the feelings of isolation and loneliness that so many people experience make it even harder.
"But you don't have to go through it alone. The Macmillan team is with you every step of the way. If you have any worries or questions about cancer, whether it's about yourself, a relative or friend, come and talk to us."
The mobile unit travels around the UK providing information and advice. Last year the team helped an average of 80 people a day in over 500 locations.It will be open from 9.30am – 3.30pm and will be positioned outside Webbs House on The Parade.
If you have questions about cancer you can also call Macmillan free on 0808 808 00 00 or visit www.macmillan.org.uk.

Police are appealing for information after a number of vehicles in Falmouth were vandalised in the last week.

The window of a VW Polo in Arwenack Street was smashed overnight last Wednesday.

Then on Friday night the rear windscreen of a Peugeot was smashed in Noweth Place.

The same night a large stone was thrown through the window of a van parked in a driveway in Trescobeas Road and a windscreen wiper torn off a Peugeot in the same road.

A mirror was pulled off a Rover 45 in Tresawle Road overnight on Sunday.

Anyone with information should contact Falmouth Police on 101.

Hundreds of children donned the traditional white and black of the Cornish flag to dance through the streets of Penzance for St Piran's Day.
Proud parents and well wishers turned out to watch around 650 children perform a dance and play instruments to mark the special event today.
"We are so lucky to live somewhere like Cornwall, we need to appreciate it and support the uniqueness of it," said Faye Taylor who was eagerly waiting to spot her daughter Fern as she passed with fellow Gulval School pupils.
"We should all promote it more."
Also watching the musical spectacle was Pauline Bray. This was the first time she had watched a St Piran's procession, having moved to the area recently and she was pleased to see such efforts being made to preserve the county's culture.
"I think we have got to keep the heritage of the town and Cornwall going," she said.
"It is important for the children to learn about their heritage."
Among the stewards helping the procession to run smoothly was town councillor and former mayor Jan Ruhrmund. She paid tribute to organiser Howard Curnow for his efforts to bring the celebration to the town and help it to grow year on year.
"This celebration is for everyone, it is a community event and that is what makes Penzance festivals so special, everyone takes part," she said.
After starting at Causewayhead, the procession made its way along part of Market Jew Street before heading down Chapel Street and along to Morrab Gardens where a play was performed to document the life of St Piran.
And to round everything off in Cornish style, the youngsters headed to St John's Hall to tuck into a tasty saffron bun.

A "major incident" plan has been enacted by the trust that runs Cornwall's acute hospitals to deal with high levels of emergency admissions, discharge delays and a Norovirus outbreak.
Two wards have been closed and three bays isolated at Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske and around 20 routine operations postponed to deal with the problems.
Urgent cancer surgery is going ahead but all other cases are being reviewed on a day-by-day basis with visitors asked ring ahead and not come to hospital unless their visit is essential
Chief operating officer at Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust, Jo Gibbs said: "We hope patients will understand the need to focus on acutely ill patients in need of emergency admission.
"Our clinical teams are working flexibly to care for patients needing admission and we have opened additional beds in our hospitals.
"Major incident status allows us to heighten our response.  We maintain regular contact with our health and social care colleagues throughout the day agreeing a combined response to minimise the impact of the current pressures."
A RCHT spokeswoman said discharge delays were caused by patients awaiting nursing home placements or care packages to support them at home, as well as community hospital beds.
Peninsula Community Health, the social enterprise that runs 13 community hospitals in Cornwall, said that it was able to accommodate six of eight patients waiting for transfer yesterday.
A spokeswoman said: "Peninsula Community Health continues to work with our health partners and agencies to relieve the current pressures and to ensure minimum disruption to patients and staff with patient safety taking absolute priority."

A university's state-of-the-art ocean tank, to test wave energy, is already proving successful in the design of renewable energy machines.

This week Plymouth University's £19 million Marine Building at North Cross in the city played host to its fourth wave energy experiment in the six months since it opened.

Plymouth-based company Sea Wave Energy Ltd spent two days testing a prototype of a device it hopes will not only generate electricity from waves but work as a cheap desalination plant for areas where fresh water is scarce.

Dr Stuart Stripling, scientific manager at the Coastal Ocean and Sediment Transport (COaST) laboratories in the Marine Building, said another two organisations were expected to test their devices in Plymouth this spring.

"This facility is world-leading in its ability to deal with the development of marine renewables," Dr Stripling said.

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh formally opened the building last October.

The device tested yesterday in the 35-metre ocean wave basin is dubbed the Waveline Magnet, and was designed by Adamos Zakheos.

A smaller version has already been tested in the sea in Cyprus, monitored by scientists from Exeter University.

Students are also carrying out their own experiments in the laboratories' wave tanks.

On occasion, Prime Minister's Questions is reduced to little more than a shameless attempt to get a soundbite on the evening news. This was one of those occasions.

Admittedly, the policy both the Government and the Opposition were attempting to crow-bar into Nick Robinson's BBC package is a tough sell. At first glance, the under-occupancy penalty looks as dry as a bone. Perhaps something to do with parking.

Yet Labour has branded it the far more dramatic "bedroom tax", and used it as the stick to repeatedly beat the Government with in recent weeks. The Government, belatedly, has given it another name, unveiled for the first time yesterday by Prime Minister David Cameron. The "spare room subsidy", he said, also repeatedly.

It's an important distinction, at least in the world of Westminster politics. You can probably match your political stripe to whether you believe it is a "tax" or a "subsidy".

I should explain, I'll stick to calling it the civil service-approved, non-political "under-occupancy penalty".

So, the reform will affect people claiming housing benefit and living in social housing, or what used to be known as a council house. If you have a spare room, the Government wants to reduce the amount of housing benefit you get.

A tenant will lose an average of £14 a week from next month.

Those, as far as one can tell, are the facts. The rest is interpretation or, put less charitably, spin.

The Government brushed off early criticism, defending the cut on the basis that a) state handouts are "out of control" and b) small families or individuals living in large properties are denying scarce social housing from those trapped on waiting lists.

But Labour weren't having that, dubbing it the "bedroom tax" and warning the poorest and most vulnerable faced a) losing money they desperately needed or b) the upheaval of moving to a smaller home, if there is a smaller home to move into.

And while the Government hoped it might fade into the background, Labour plugged away something like this:

Labour: "The 'bedroom tax' will hit households keeping a spare room free for family members in the armed forces abroad."

The Government: "It's not a tax."

Labour: "The 'bedroom tax' will hit households where tenants are disabled."

The Government: "It's not a tax, and people with severely disabled children and people who need round-the-clock care are exempt."

Labour: "The 'bedroom tax' will hit separated parents who keep a room free for visiting sons or daughters."

The Government: "It's not a tax."

Television news has since carried a series of heart-breaking stories about genuine hard-luck cases hit by the penalty, yet ministers contend the principle of the reform holds true.

And so to PMQs. Backbench Labour MPs began the assault. Derek Twigg MP said the Government should drop the "callous" policy.

Mr Cameron said: "Let us be absolutely clear that this is not a tax. Let me explain to the Labour party that a tax is when someone earns some money and the Government take some of that money away from them – that is a tax. Only Labour could call a benefit reform a tax increase." And here's where the Prime Minister upped the ante: "How can it be fair that people on housing benefit in private rented accommodation do not get a spare room subsidy, whereas people in social housing do? That is not fair and we are putting that right."

For the record, "spare room subsidy" was mentioned seven times during its first public airing – all by the Prime Minister. The "bedroom tax" got ten mentions – seven times by Labour leader Ed Miliband.

In fact, Mr Miliband blended his latest "bedroom tax" barrage with an attack on Chancellor George Osborne's attempts to block an EU cap on generous bankers' bonuses.

"He pulls out all the stops to defend the bankers and their bonuses, but he has nothing to say to the disabled people being hit by his 'bedroom tax'," snorted the Labour leader. "He stands up for the wrong people. It is no wonder his backbenchers and the country think he is totally out of touch."

Mr Cameron was unfazed: "What we have heard today is what we hear every single Wednesday. The Opposition will not support one single change to welfare."

And there is Westminster politics in a nutshell. Labour says the Government is too easy on the rich; the Government says Labour is too weak on welfare. Expect the same next week and beyond.

Experts are urging all-out war on deer which could see almost a million animals being shot each year in the UK – with the Westcountry likely to be one of the hotspots for a cull.

The call to arms was made yesterday after new research showed that only by killing 50% to 60% of deer can their numbers be kept under reasonable control.

This is slaughter on a far greater scale than the 20% to 30% culling rates recommended before. With total deer numbers conservatively estimated at about 1.5 million, it could result in more than 750,000 animals being shot every year.

Deer are said to be having a devastating effect on woodland, damaging farmers' crops, causing road accidents and threatening danger to public safety in urban areas.

Roe deer are a common sight in Westcountry cities, grazing parks, roadside verges and even roundabouts in and around Plymouth, according to local marksmen who control them.

Elsewhere, across the rural Westcountry, farmers' crops are being targeted by increasing numbers of deer.

However, any policy to radically increase the number of animals culled is likely to be controversial with animal rights organisations and some conservationists. Nevertheless, research from the University of East Anglia has concluded that stepping up shooting by trained and licensed hunters is the only practical way to keep deer populations in check, for the benefit of the countryside overall.

Dr Paul Dolman, from the University of East Anglia, said: "I don't think it's realistic to have wolves and brown bears in rural England. In the absence of natural predators, the only way to manage them is to shoot them."

Although they were kept on private land belonging to the nobility, native wild deer were virtually unknown in England for 1,000 years until their re-introduction by the Victorians.

Today, there are more deer in the UK than at any time since the Ice Age. Although it has been suggested that they could number more than 1.5 million, no-one knows for certain how many there are.

Each year more than 14,000 vehicles are severely damaged and about 450 people injured or killed on British roads as a result of collisions with the animals.

Deer also strip woodland of wild flowers, brambles and shrubs, and disturb the ecology to the point that native birds are lost. The fact that nightingales are now so rare is largely blamed on deer.

Britain has a total of six deer species. Roe deer and red deer – common in the Westcountry – are the only two species native to the UK. Four others have been introduced from abroad since Norman times. The most recent newcomers were the muntjac deer and the Chinese water deer, which became established in the wild in the 1920s.

Expanding areas of woodland surrounded by farms, together with the lack of natural predators, have provided perfect conditions in which deer can flourish. And, like foxes, they are now starting to feel at home in urban environments, said Dr Dolman.

"There have been no accidents yet but it's only a matter of time. These are large animals with sharp antlers. If you had one cornered in a school playing field, it could be nasty," he added.

Landowners such as the National Trust would have to help organise culling with support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). And the meat should be eaten. "We're talking about putting venison steaks on your family table or eating venison at gastropubs," said Dr Dolman.

This year sees a bumper week of activities and events to encourage everyone – including potential apprentices, employers and parents/carers – to get involved.

South Devon College is ideally placed to lead on National Apprenticeship Week, March 11-15, as one of the biggest apprenticeship services in the South West, and also having been judged independently as the best apprenticeship provider.

You can 'Have a Go' at: hairdressing, carpentry, professional chef, plumbing and motorcycle maintenance.

If you want advice on applying for an apprenticeship and would like to talk to employers and current apprentices, there are Employers' Jobs and Apprenticeships Fairs. For further advice, there are sessions in Newton Abbot and Torquay.

In Paignton and Heathfield, employers can talk to other employers who already have apprentices, and there's information about new apprenticeship frameworks for 2013, including those linked to the South West Energy Centre.

To see the detail of the whole programme, visit www.south devon.ac.uk/apprentice. For more information, ring 01803 540600 or email apprentice@southdevon.ac.uk

A major housebuilder has identified the Westcountry as a key target after announcing plans for 551 new homes which is expected to help create hundreds of jobs.

The construction by Barratt Group, has been welcomed by housing experts as a step toward easing the region's housing crisis.

Latest figures from the National Housing Federation (NHF) show less than 60% of the new homes required are being built across the greater South West.

David Wilson Homes, part of Barratt Developments, said it has responded to rising demand across Devon and Cornwall, revealing seven new projects in Exeter, Plymouth, Newton Abbot and Ermington.

Launching the clutch of new development at one of the sites, Hillside Gardens in Pinhoe, Exeter, Barratt Group chief executive Mark Clare yesterday said improvements in the mortgage market had loosened the purse strings.

"The good news for home buyers is that the mortgage market is now improving and we are expanding our business," he added.

"Customers have been locked out of the market by the need for a huge deposit and it's great news that this is finally changing – customer interest is the strongest I've seen for five years.

"There is a chronic shortage of new-build homes, particularly detached family homes in Exeter."

Barratt are not alone in developing new programmes, according to Tim Jones, chairman of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership.

"Many of the major companies are reporting confidence in the market," he added. "It is very encouraging and a marvellous way to kick-start the economy and create jobs."

The NHF, which annually lays bare the shocking state of the housing market in its Home Truths report, said just 16,100 new homes were built in the year to 2012 across the South West.

This was against the formation of more than 27,000 new households in the same time, leaving a shortfall the size of a small town each year.

Peter Jones, spokesman for the NHF in the region, said in Exeter, where 413 of the announced new properties would be built, the average home costs eleven times the average salary. But the additional construction of 132 homes by Devon and Cornwall Housing Group would help ease the severe lack of affordable homes, he added.

PJP BAND – the great white hopes of South West rock – release their long-awaited debut album And So It Goes on June 3.

However, from Monday as a special thank you to local fans, PJP Band will be releasing a very early pre-release double-12" vinyl (2 x 45 rpm, 180 gram platters) of the album in a quality gatefold sleeve.

This vinyl version will only be available in the South West with a limited run of 250 copies. The 13-track double-vinyl will include five unheard tracks plus live favourites Karm & Condition, I Am A Racer and Sweet Tokyo.

Each record will include a download code also, to enable fans to get their hands on a digital version of And So It Goes once it is officially released. The vinyl will be available to buy in local indie record stores and via www.thepjpband.com

And So It Goes is a very local affair. The Launceston-born and now Plymouth-based PJP Band recorded the debut with producer Pete Miles (The King Blues, Sonic Boom 6, We Are The Ocean, Dry The River) near Totnes. Also featured on the album are Plymouth's blues guitar maestro Vince Lee, Becca Langsford and Cornish composer and brass wunderkind Simon Dobson.

If you have one of those newly fashionable gramophones, I urge you to buy the vinyl version in order to hear this thrilling selection of songs as soon as possible.

I've championed Patrick James Pearson (the PJP in question) since he emerged fully formed as a one-man keyboard-bashing punkified Bowie neophyte in 2009.

He wrongfooted fans by then forming a trio – now a quartet with added guitar – and taking his demon-wrestling songs down a far more hard-hitting route.

The album starts with crazed polemic before Disciplines punches your face while tweaking your nipples – a song of defiance, its shout of "We are a mountain top / You can't bring us down without an avalanche" could be PJP's credo.

Pearson spits in the eyes of pigeonholes – you could call his music hardcore, but he is too much of a quality songwriter and the tunes too big to fit into that limited genre.

Might Or Moses is a poppier affair which ends in an almost samba groove. PJP's voice is the central instrument here and throughout; a wired almost theatrical croon selling astute if veiled lyrics like Situationist slogans writ large.

Olé, We Ain't Prey is no relation to Bowie's I Pray Olé, although the music does resemble the grand dame's Scary Monsters era at times. The irresistible terrace chant chorus, once in your head, will never be dislodged. As anthemic as prime-time Arcade Fire.

New single Vicious Luck is a new wave belter with evil synths; a lovely burst of Stranglers-like Hammond organ adds to the feeling of sneering malevolence.

It's followed by former single I Am A Racer, which now sounds like the planet-sized hit it, criminally, wasn't ... but could be yet. As fitting a driving tune as PJP has in his canon.

Sweet Tokyo is the one song salvaged from his solo days – Elton John de-wigged and flogged. If it all goes tits up for Pearson, tunes like this show he could plant a musical bomb on Broadway.

Next up is Karm & Condition, a boisterous Sixties-indebted garage rocker with added mariachi trumpet; Lust For Life's naughty younger brother.

The Chalk Divide demonstrates the depth of PJP's songwriting talent, being totally different from what's gone before – a ragged Dylan-esque class war ballad with the sort of raw textures that would make Cobain proud.

A mournful organ plays throughout Stone Cold Cinema – Pearson's open-throated roar during the song's close is spellbinding.

On first listen Long Time Runner feels like an also-ran but wait for the crescendo. Oh my ....

This long but cohesive album continues with So It Goes, the one track which bears the hallmarks of one of his key influences, At The Drive-In. A musical kick to the solar plexus with added time signature changes to keep you on your feet.

The truly rousing collection ends with EMBRACEHER, which starts as a Tin Pan Alley piano ditty and builds with a gospel slow-burn.

This calling card for a major talent should take PJP and his band far from the confines of the South West.

You can see the PJP Band on Friday, March 15 at B-Side, Bunters, Truro with Black Tambourines, Saturday, March 16 at the Studio Bar, Penzance and Friday, March 29 at Carriers, Bude.

For more details and videos see www.thepjpband.com and www.youtube.com/user/thepjpband

As part of Cornish promoter Duelling Kazoos' pop-up arts fair at Toast in Falmouth on Wednesday, March 13, there will be a chance to hear the album.

Jack Nowell knows he has still got a lot to learn, despite starting Exeter Chiefs' last six matches.

The 19-year-old has forced his way into the side with some impressive displays on the wing or in his usual position of full-back.

Now, after another good outing in the thrilling 27-16 win at Harlequins last weekend, which completed the league double over last season's domestic champions, Nowell is keen to keep on developing.

The Sandy Park academy player was initially handed a chance to impress in the LV= Cup in November and grabbed it with both hands, starting the next two Aviva Premiership matches and also playing at home against the Scarlets in the Heineken Cup.

After taking a bang to the head, which ruled him out of England's opening Under-20 Six Nations matches, Nowell capitalised on Gonzalo Camacho's hamstring injury to reclaim his place in the side.

"I've had a good run of games with the team but I've got to remember how old I am," he said. "I've still got a lot to learn and I know that.

"To be given the chance by [coaches] Rob Baxter and Ali Hepher to play for the Chiefs every week has been really good.

"I've got to take every game forward but there are a lot of positives to take from the games so far."

Nowell found himself up against former British and Irish Lions wing Ugo Monye last weekend at The Stoop and shaded the contest, keeping his more experienced opponent quiet.

He also played his part in attack for Exeter as they recorded their first league double over any side this term.

Nowell said: "It's cracking to have done the double over the league leaders. Especially up there, our second away win [in the league].

"It took a while for it to come but it's about trying to build the pressure. We carried on going through with it and luckily we got a couple of tries at the end.

"We needed the win the week before against London Welsh and that gave us the stepping stone to get the win at Quins."

The Chiefs' win in the capital left them eighth in the table as seventh-placed Bath also won. However, they are now just five points off fifth-placed Gloucester as the middle of the table is very congested.

Nowell said he and his team-mates, who have spent this week away from training, are looking to make their way into the top half to possibly qualify for the Heineken Cup.

"The goal is to get as high as possible. Top six would be brilliant to get in the Heineken Cup again," he said.

"We want to keep moving forward for the rest of the season now."

While the majority of his Chiefs colleagues have put their feet up and rested any bumps and bruises, Nowell has joined up with the national Under-20 squad ahead of their match with Italy this weekend.

Having missed the matches against Scotland, Ireland and France, Nowell is keen to make up for lost time with his junior international team-mates.

"I want to keep playing in the [Exeter] first team but first I've got the Under-20s for the last two games against Italy at Northampton and then Wales in Wales," he said.

"They're going to be two tough games but I'm looking forward to getting back involved with them.

"I missed the first three games this year but it will be good to get back with the team again."

Nowell's displays this season have seen him nominated for the LV= Breakthrough Player Award.

Voting for the award is now open at LV.com/rugby, but voting closes at 11.59pm on Sunday.

Throwing large quantities of over-quota fish back into the sea – dead – was condemned as a scandalous waste of a precious food resource for years.

Now, finally, the policy is to be phased out following a vote in the European Parliament. Other methods are to be employed to prevent over-fishing of certain species.

Fishermen – and consumers – ought to be the winners. But what about seabirds, many of which now survive on a diet substantially made up of discarded fish?

Research carried out by Westcountry-based scientists suggests despite the initial loss of food, some species of seabird could successfully return to their natural foraging habits following changes to European fisheries policies.

Scientists at Plymouth University believe the lack of discarded fish could have a negative impact on some seabirds, which have become used to following the fishing vessels and are increasingly reliant on their discards.

But they say others could return to using foraging as their sole source of food, as long as there are sufficient numbers of fish to meet their needs.

Dr Stephen Votier, Associate Professor in Marine Ecology at Plymouth University, led a recent study examining seabirds' foraging habits. He said: "Policy changes can have unforeseen consequences, and the recent decision on the EU discards policy will pose challenges for a number of species. Many seabirds have come to rely to some extent on fishing vessels for food and globally, commercial capture fisheries generate huge quantities of discards. However, we believe there is a level of resilience among seabirds which means they will be able to overcome these challenges."

The Plymouth University study focused on populations of northern gannets on Grassholm Island, in Wales, with tiny cameras and GPS trackers being attached to birds to monitor their foraging habits.

The cameras captured more than 20,000 images, allowing scientists for the first time to analyse where the birds had flown to source food, precisely what they had fed on, and other details such as their sex and reproductive status.

The findings showed 42% of birds regularly targeted fishing vessels, as well as searching for naturally occurring prey, while a gender breakdown showed 81% of male gannets used fishing vessels to source food and 30% of female birds did so.

Dr Votier added: "We have used cutting-edge technology to reveal the private lives of seabirds at sea – in this instance how they interact with fisheries – and the findings suggest scavenging is more common in this species than previously thought. This suggests a discard ban may have a significant impact on gannet behaviour, particularly so for males. But a continued reliance on 'natural' foraging shows the ability to switch away from discards, but only if there is sufficient forage fish to meet their needs in the absence of a discard subsidy."

The research study, which also involved scientists from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chize in France, was conducted under licence from the Countryside Council for Wales and the British Trust for Ornithology.

The full findings are published in the latest issue of the PLOS ONE scientific journal.

"HE will never walk, he will never talk. And he'll probably end up a vegetable."

Those were the first words delivered to my parents by a specialist after their second son – my brother – had been brain-damaged at birth.

Given that verdict on their one-day-old baby, my parents were asked whether they wanted to end my brother's life, suggesting it would probably be for the best.

This was the late 1950s and it has always been my belief that things have improved beyond recognition since those days; that parents would never be put under that sort of pressure.

So last week's revelations about the comments of a local councillor in Cornwall that 'disabled children cost the council too much and should be put down' sent a shiver through my body.

This is the 21st century – yet there are people in this country who still think the way this councillor did.

Only the fantastic response from the good people of Cornwall prevented me from having sleepless nights.

This newspaper's website had a huge feedback, overwhelmingly criticising the comments, and Laurence Reed said he had never known one subject conjure such feeling and response among his phone-in audience on BBC Radio Cornwall.

To all of those who were prepared to stand up and be counted in support of the disabled, my heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you.

People say there is never any good news in newspapers. Well, let me give you some.

My brother is alive and well in Cornwall; he has learning disabilities, yes, but he can walk, he can talk (boy, can he talk), and he will be celebrating his 54th birthday next month. With his wife.

Yes, his wife. Nine years ago he married a Down's syndrome woman, and they live happily in sheltered accommodation, generally enjoying their independence.

As a family, we still have to fight for their rights, each and every week of the year; local authorities and care teams provide a certain level of service, but nothing like as good as you would want a loved one to receive.

It is nothing new for us to have to push authorities to provide the service they should be doing. It's exhausting at times but after 50-plus years, you get used to it.

My brother has been through more in his lifetime than many of us could ever imagine, and it seemed grossly unfair when he was hit by cancer not once, but twice; and still receives regular check-ups at Treliske.

But I'll tell you this: he is one of the happiest human beings I have ever met, and he puts many 'normal' people to shame.

He has brought great joy to our family; I am privileged and proud, never ashamed, to say he is my brother. I was 18 months old when he was born, and we have grown up together. I used to walk him to school in the early years, and we were regularly spat on by older pupils because of what he looked like. I was only 5, but I've never forgotten.

My dear mum and dad had to fight for everything when he was going through his school years, to get him the education he deserved. But get it they did, and look at him now.

He can read better and faster than most of us, he can use a computer with assistance, and he can certainly find the sports news on his television.

He loves his football, always has done. He's still a season ticket holder at Nottingham Forest, like me, and we sit together in the stand. He shouts with the best of them, and a defeat hurts him as much as anybody else.

I take him and his wife out for shopping and lunch once a week, and I am proud to do so. They are a lovely, joyful couple, and the welcome they get everywhere we go is heart-warming.

Who would want to deprive them of such happiness?

Disabled people have a part to play in our society, and they always will. They bring real joy to many, many lives.

It's some of the so-called 'normal' people I worry about.

The Westcountry's health system is facing a critical combination of pressures caused by increased demand, bed-blocking and the impact of the winter vomiting bug.

The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust at Truro has been running a "major incident" since last week as ambulances stacked up outside accident and emergency.

It has since emerged that the region's largest hospital at Derriford in Plymouth was on "black alert" – the highest warning possible – on Monday as it struggled to admit new patients.

Both the RCHT and Derriford have since downgraded their alerts, although there remains intense pressure on beds.

A spokesman for Derriford, which was forced to cancel some operations and call in extra staff, said: "With thanks to the continuing hard work of our staff, healthcare partners in the community and the ambulance service, there has been a reduction in the pressure on our services.

"We are on red alert, which means that there continues to be some pressure on our services and we are closely monitoring the situation."

Also on "red alert" yesterday was Torbay Hospital, in South Devon, which has also seen an increase in the infectious winter vomiting bug norovirus.

"Red Alert status does not prevent the hospital from admitting new patients," a spokesman said.

"The status is part of a useful operational tool which helps to ensure we can continue to provide access to high-quality care for patients.

"It involves heightened levels of discharge planning and escalation measures, incorporating additional review and assessment of patients to ensure they are receiving care and treatment in the appropriate setting.

"Our trust works in close partnership with all agencies to minimise impact of bed pressures, including South West Ambulance Service Trust, GPs, Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust, and social and intermediate care providers."

Hospitals have blamed a combination of factors for the problems including higher than average admissions, the winter bug which has closed some wards and delayed discharges – commonly known as bed-blocking – where patients are moved into community hospitals, care homes or sent home with support.

The problem has been less acute at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and North Devon District Hospital at Barnstaple, which said they were on "amber" and "green" alerts respectively.

That was in stark contrast to Truro, where the hospital had to declare a major incident last Thursday to try to cope with demand. The status was finally downgraded yesterday afternoon.

About 20 operations each weekday had to be cancelled when three wards and two bed bays were closed due to a severe outbreak of the norovirus bug.

Trust chairman Martin Watts said: "While there are still wards affected by norovirus the restrictions on visiting remain in place at Royal Cornwall, West Cornwall and St Michael's Hospitals. Visitors are asked to call the ward they wish to visit for advice before setting out.

"Outpatient clinics and the vast majority of day surgery cases are unaffected, as is surgery at St Michael's Hospital. Any patients whose routine surgery has to be postponed will be contacted directly."

Call for review of Serco's out-of-hours GP care

The firm which runs Cornwall's out-of-hours GP service is in the line of fire once more after a highly critical report prompted an MP to call for its contract to be reviewed.

Serco is said to have "not consistently met national quality requirements" in the investigation conducted by an independent watchdog.

The National Audit Office (NAO) report published today goes on to make six recommendations to bring the service up to scratch and make Serco deliver value for its £32 million pay-out.

But MP Andrew George, a member of the powerful Health Select Committee, said sterner action should be considered.

"Local people need to have confidence in the service," he said.

"It provides the urgent out-of-hours GP cover for more than two thirds of each 168- hour week as well as for Bank Holidays."

Mr George said concerns were longstanding and he was particularly worried that problems had continued to occur even after a critical report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last year.

As a result, the MP said he would be urging action in a letter to Dr Colin Philip, chairman of the NHS Kernow, the GP-led clinical commissioning group which next month takes over purchasing healthcare on behalf of residents.

"I believe that the new Clinical Commissioning Group – NHS Kernow – should undertake a thorough review of the service and determine whether it can match reasonable expectations for safe staffing, transparency and candour to give confidence that it will uphold standards of patient safety.

"If it cannot then its contract should be annulled and the service re-tendered."

The NAO examined concerns in three areas: that Serco had been unable to fill shifts with appropriately qualified staff, making the service unsafe; that performance data was altered to appear as though standards were met; and that whistleblowers were not protected.

In their conclusion, investigators said that during the course of its contract "Serco has not consistently met the national quality requirements for out-of-hours services set by the Department of Health."

The report then notes that performance was "now recovering".

The NAO also examined concerns that Serco staff had changed performance data and that a total of 252 unauthorised alterations had taken place which overstated national quality requirements in seven cases.

The report delivers six recommendations, including urging commissioners to take a more active role in monitoring, linking financial incentives to delivery of essential quality standards and specifying minimum staffing levels in the contract.

Labour MP Margaret Hodge chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, said the NAO report made for shocking reading.

"Serco's performance in a £32 million contract to provide out-of-hours care in Cornwall has fallen unacceptably short of essential standards of quality and safety," she said.

"I find it disgraceful that Serco staff fiddled the figures on an astonishing 252 occasions between January and June 2012. This tampering presented a false, much rosier picture of its poor performance."

Mrs Hodge said the lessons to be learned were clear: "Serco needs to raise its game and demonstrate that it is accurate and honest in reporting its performance."

Dr Louis Warren, who manages the Serco out-of-hours GP service in Cornwall, welcomed the NAO report as proof it was now performing to scratch.

"Over the last six months the GP out-of-hours service that Serco provides in Cornwall has been the subject of the most comprehensive scrutiny and exhaustive series of audits possible.

"The NAO report has not only substantiated what the CQC and other reports have already shown – that the service is safe and well regarded by patients – but also confirms that we have taken swift and decisive action in response to the previous CQC report."

In a joint statement, NHS Kernow and the PCT said the recommendations would be taken on board.

"We recognise the need to ensure that safe staffing levels are maintained within this service going forward, recognising that providers have the responsibility for their staffing levels. Our role is to ensure providers' services meet all key performance indicators and National Quality Requirements. We are working with Serco to ensure all actions within the NAO report are addressed."

MP: Health scandals are 'a legacy of Labour'

A GP-turned-MP believes the Government's NHS reforms are already improving patient care, and that health scandals dominating the media are a legacy of Labour's botched handling of the service. Westcountry MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, who serves on the cross-party Health Select Committee of MPs, said damning reports into Stafford hospital and Cornwall's GP out-of-hours service reflect the state of the NHS prior to the coalition Government coming to power. The Totnes MP, a former police surgeon, said while Labour spent "gazillions", ministers "lost complete control". They became fixated with meeting "top-down targets at the expense of real patient care". Dr Wollaston said today's National Audit Office report criticising Serco, the company that provides the out-of-hours GP service in Cornwall, is an example of where the last government went wrong. Whistleblowers came forward warning of Serco staff altering performance and chronic shortages. Dr Wollaston said: "Labour increased the salaries of GPs but there was no link to any out-of-hours commitment to their patients (leading to a private sector firm to be drafted in)." Dr Wollaston has added her voice to growing calls for the NHS boss Sir David Nicholson to quit following the Francis Report, which found there were up to 1,200 excess deaths between 2005 and 2009 at Stafford Hospital. Sir David was in charge of the local strategic health authority at the time. Dr Wollaston said: "How can anyone be said to have 'command of the detail' yet overlook more than a thousand deaths at one of the hospitals for which they were responsible?" The Devon MP has criticised this Government's NHS reforms, and was central to forcing ministers to rewrite new NHS rules. Yet, while "great care" needs to be taken during a "transition", the reforms will give more power to doctors and nurses who understand patients. She cited new hourly hospital "comfort rounds" where – among other support – "nurses make sure patients have fresh water, not water that has been there for two weeks". "These are the things that are happening now," she said. Exeter Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, a former Health Minister, defended Labour's legacy of record low waiting times and record high public satisfaction. He added: "It's time this Government and coalition MPs began taking responsibility for the impact of their decisions."

Police are investigating the theft of a boat from Durgan at Mawnan Smith this week.

The Narwhal HD520 Rib and the trailer it was on was taken sometime between 8am on Monday and 9.30am yesterday (Wednesday).

It is grey with a red line down the centre and red writing. It is an open boat with a fixed centre console and a bench in the centre.

It has an Aluminium A-frame on the rear and was protected by a light grey waterproof cover which had some green mould on from being stored outside.

The RIB was fitted with a 2003 Yamaha 60HP grey/black outboard engine and was on its trailer which was an unpainted galvanised single axle with a jockey wheel and handbrake.
 
Anyone with information please contact PC Lisa Coston at Falmouth Police Station on 101.