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Tickets have gone on sale for the 2022 Royal Cornwall Show. This year’s event will be held at the Royal Cornwall Showground in Wadebridge from June 9-11. It will be the first show held since 2019, after the cancellation of the past two years due to the Covid pandemic. For 2022, safety procedures have been revised due to potential Government guidelines that may be in place at the time of the event.

Therefore, single day tickets will be date specific, and visitors will only be able to access the show on the day they select when purchasing their ticket.

Memberships can still be used across all three days, and members will not need to confirm which days they will be attending beforehand.

RCAA secretary, Chris Riddle, said: “In 2019, the show welcomed over 110,000 people through its gates across three days, and once again in 2022 we will have the best in live entertainment, shopping, food and drink, livestock, and much more.

“The team are currently hard at work, getting ready to welcome everyone back.”

CHOOSE B CORP

Newquay-based sustainable and vegan marketplace, Choose Conscious, has become the 16th business in Cornwall to achieve B Corp certification.

It joins the likes of Leap, Finisterre and Origin Coffee to be certified by B Lab, the notfor-profit behind the B Corp movement, as having met rigorous social and environmental standards, representing its commitment to goals that aren’t just about profit.

Founder Rebecca Wilton said: “It was important to me to have a clear set of achievable goals underpinning what Choose Conscious is about and how it operates, something transparent and accessible, becoming a Certified B Corp gives me the confidence that we are doing that, along with the tools to monitor performance and continually improve.”

FLEXI WINNERS

Sustainable packaging company Flexi-Hex was named Overall Winner at the Cornwall Sustainability Awards.

The Porthleven-based business received the accolade at an awards ceremony held at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro, along with the Circular Economy award. Other winners on the night included Newquay Community Orchard (Growing Greener - sustainable food and farming), Falmouth Harbour Commissioners (Environmental Growth) and Fluid Branding (Carbon Neutral).

Flexi-Hex co-founder and operations director, Will Boex, said, “The whole team at Flexi-Hex feel honoured to have won the Circular Economy award, especially as we were nominated alongside some amazing companies pushing the boundaries of circular economy and sustainability.”

Turn to p46 for more details

NEW LEP DIRECTORS

PROFESSOR LISA ROBERTS DAN JAMES

EMMA STRATTON

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has appointed four new directors to its board.

The new directors – Exeter University chief executive Professor Lisa Roberts, Eden Project development director Dan James, Red Hotels CEO Emma Stratton, and Ann Vandermeulen, development manager at FSB Cornwall - are being co-opted for a fixed-term of one year. Commenting on the new appointments, LEP chair Mark Duddridge, said: “These are all tremendous opportunities for Cornwall and Scilly to lead the green industrial revolution and attract investment to grow our economy and the skills of tomorrow.

“These appointments bring considerable new private sector strengths to the LEP and I’m delighted to welcome our four new directors at this important time for our area.”

ANN VANDERMEULEN

NEWS IN BRIEF

Law firm Stephens Scown has appointed its first people development director. Mark Shepherd has extensive management experience having held a range of senior leadership roles across the John Lewis Partnership.

Cornwall-based sustainability champion Matt Hocking has become a non-executive director at leading UK ethical eyewear and B Corp brand, Pala. Hocking, the founder of design agency, Leap, said: “I’m thrilled to join the Pala Eyewear team helping shape their global future. Their detail and commitment to seeing the world better are inspirational.”

Newquay-based resin bound driveway specialist Oltco won the Sustainability Warrior award at the 2021 British Franchise Awards.

The Cornwall Christmas Fair at the Eden Project raised an all-time high of £73k for Cornwall Community Foundation, smashing fundraising records since the event began 30 years ago.

The Truro branch of Handelsbanken has relocated following a period of sustained growth. Handelsbanken Truro is moving to 1 Poltisco Wharf, Malpas Road in the city, to accommodate its growing team of banking and wealth management experts.

The St Clair House care home is under new ownership after being bought for an undisclosed price by Mr Mike and Mrs Christine Westmore of Jammac Ltd, a group comprising five care homes in the area, who plan to further improve and extend the home.

PR and digital marketing agency Barefoot Media has appointed two new members to its team.

Laura Sherlock, who was previously an intern, has been made a junior account manager, while Natalie Lake, who graduated from University of Plymouth last year with a marketing degree, joins as account executive.

£500K INVESTMENT PACKAGE

Logan Electronics has secured a £250k equity investment from the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF), as part of a larger £500k funding round.

The deal was led by the FSE Group, the appointed fund manager for CIOSIF, with the investment enabling Logan Electronics to continue its recent growth (sales almost doubled in the first six months of the company’s current financial year) and help fund a move to new premises in Redruth this month from its current base in Ponsanooth.

Logan Electronics, which is an independent sub-contractor specialising in the manufacture of electronic and electrical cable and wiring sub-assemblies, was established in 1980 and supplies a range of Blue Chip customers.

CEO, Chas Holt, said: “We have an excellent team here in Cornwall and the new purpose-built facility on a 4,000sq m site in Scorrier, Redruth, will enable growth to continue. I am thrilled to be leading the business through this exciting time when supply chain management will be key to economic prosperity in the UK.”

Ralph Singleton, head of funds, Cornwall at The FSE Group, added: “We have been tracking the progress at Logan Electronics for some time, and with some like-minded co-investors who also see the longerterm trend in ‘onshoring’ sub-contract manufacture, we are pleased to be providing funding. The business now has all the tools in place to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.”

FUTURE OF THE HIGH STREET?

New repair cafés where people can mend and modify clothing and creating “20-minute neighbourhoods” would help to revitalise Cornish high streets, a new report says.

The Duchy should learn from initiatives in the USA, Australia, France and Amsterdam to create vibrant spaces for all, experts have said.

High streets have declined over the past decade because of online shopping, and now the coronavirus pandemic. Researchers from the University of Exeter’s Institute for Cornish Studies have analysed initiatives around the world to discover the support and fresh ideas which could work in Cornwall.

In a new report they say repair cafés, and spaces to share expertise around making, mending, and modifying clothing would create experiences which would tempt people back to high streets.

Phoebe Lawlor, who conducted the study with Dr Joanie Willett and Professor Clare Saunders, said: “The high street has to evolve and elevate itself into something more than the same few shops, the next step is paramount.

“Retailers now have centre stage to change the future of real-life shopping by stepping up, buying responsibly, stimulating and engaging customers with exciting and inviting window displays and good merchandising whilst having a warm welcome and offering good customer service making it a retail experience.”

WORLD FIRST FOR CORNWALL

In what is believed to be a world first, British Lithium has produced lithium at pilot scale from the mica in granite in its new pilot plant near Roche.

Funded by Innovate UK, the pilot plant has taken just seven months to design and build and uses patented technology in a sustainable production process.

The pilot plant design is based on four years’ intensive research and development and is the latest milestone in British Lithium’s progress towards full operational status. All UK car manufacturing will convert to electric vehicles by 2030 and lithium carbonate is a key component in the batteries required to power them.

The company’s pilot plant approach incorporates all processing stages – from quarrying through to high purity lithium carbonate production.

Chief executive Andrew Smith said: “New processes are normally piloted during the definitive feasibility stage but, as lithium has never been produced commercially from mica before, de-risking our proprietary technology is an important step in developing our project.

“Doing it now allows us to operate in real world conditions using actual site water and locally sourced commercial reagents. We’re delighted with the rapid progress we’ve made, but there’s still a long road ahead in terms of refining and optimising the process.”

British Lithium will be manufacturing 5 kilograms of lithium carbonate per day from early this year in its pilot plant – enough to demonstrate its commercial value to customers. Once the process is fully developed, work will begin on building a full-scale plant.