
Cornish surf life-saving club wins King's Award
A Cornish surf life-saving club has been presented with the King's Award for Voluntary Service.On Thursday, Holywell Bay Surf Life-Saving Club was paid a special visit by Lord Lieutenant Sir Edward Bolitho, the King's representative in Cornwall.Members were given the highest accolade a voluntary service can receive, for the club's impact on young people, with more than 8,000 hours of time volunteered every year.During the visit, Sir Edward cut a ribbon to officially open the club's newly renovated headquarters.
Sir Edward revealed the award was only the second time it has been given to a surf life-saving club.The club's chair and secretary, Steve and Becca Peck, were also invited to Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles III at a garden party in May.Speaking after the opening ceremony, Mr Peck said the renovation had been made possible through "generous donations of both time and money".He said: "Over the spring, an essential new roof has been fitted to the club house, along with other improvements, including solar panels and better storage for kit and life-saving equipment."The club house will now be watertight for many years to come, so a huge thanks to everyone who has helped along the way."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
How deleting your old emails could help England avoid major water shortages
Deleting old emails is one way environmental bosses say people could help England avoid a water shortage in 30 years' time. The Environment Agency says the country is face a shortfall of nearly five billion litres a day if urgent action is not taken. The regulator claims an increase in population, up eight million by 2055, will lead to a big rise in demand for water, for everything from washing clothes to leisure activities on golf courses. At the same time, bosses say climate change will reduce the amount of available water due to hotter, drier summers. And they say the building of more UK data centres, driven by a demand led by the emergence of AI, could also have an impact, as each centre use a large amount of water to cool systems down. It is estimated that large centres use around 360,000 litres of water a day, report Among five small steps the public can take to help stop a water shortage, the EA say they can delete old emails that take up space at the centre, which are predicting to make up 6 per cent of UK energy consumption by 2030, according to National Grid. Other measures are shortening showers, turning off taps when brushing teeth, using full loads for dishwashers and washing machines, collecting water for garden use. The EA also wants water companies to manage demand for water from households and businesses, and halve the amount of water lost to leaks. It also says supplies will need to be boosted by building new reservoirs, desalination plants which turn seawater into drinking water, and schemes that can transfer water from wetter parts of the country to drier areas. EA chairman Alan Lovell said: 'The nation's water resources are under huge and steadily increasing pressure. This deficit threatens not only the water from your tap but also economic growth and food production. 'Taking water unsustainably from the environment will have a disastrous impact on our rivers and wildlife. 'We need to tackle these challenges head on and strengthen work on co-ordinated action to preserve this precious resource and our current way of life.' The warning comes in the Environment Agency's national framework for water resources, published every five years and setting out the actions needed by utilities, regulators and businesses and the public to manage under-pressure resources. It is published after England's hottest spring on record, and the country's driest for more than 100 years, with the North West and Yorkshire in drought and some reservoirs at extremely low levels.


The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Sudoku 6,934 medium
Click here to access the print version. Fill the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9. To see the completed puzzle, buy the next issue of the Guardian (for puzzles published Monday to Thursday). Solutions to Friday and Saturday puzzles are given in either Saturday's or Monday's edition.


BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Disabled veterans face eviction over charity cash troubles
An estate for disabled veterans is facing demolition after its charity landlord revealed plans to sell the land to estate in West Lothian has been home to tenants of Sight Scotland Veterans – formerly Scottish War Blinded – for the charity has now told residents to find new homes within a year – with 27 of them facing life on the housing comes after Sight Scotland Veterans faced losses of more than £18m over the last four years. The charity said it was working with residents and no one was facing immediate eviction. 'Every man for themselves' Linburn Park sits on the former Linburn estate, which also houses a military museum, a veterans centre and a community contains 23 homes – 10 of which have lain empty in recent decision affects a total of 13 residential properties on the site, including seven veteran tenants with vision impairment and six private also impacts three non-housing tenants - a military museum, a farmer and a garden Mackie, 71, has lived on the estate since 2015. He is partially sighted and has mobility showed BBC Scotland News a map of the proposed development site in said: "This lot is all going to go and when it does, it's because they're selling the land to a developer."We've heard 40 houses are going up, 50 houses, 400…"I asked at a meeting if [the charity] is going to give us help to find new houses. They said, 'Oh aye, we'll give you a letter that says you're out in 84 days.' That's it."He added: "It's every man for themselves. We'll have to go on the housing waiting list."There are currently 10,820 on West Lothian's list, including 1,260 live homelessness cases. Like the other residents, Mr Mackie was first made aware of the plans in a meeting on 3 June at the village community then received a letter from Sight Scotland read: "Unfortunately, it is no longer financially viable for our charity to run the estate as it is. Many of the houses are vacant, some are in disrepair and the estate is costing us more than we are earning from it."The central part of the Linburn Estate – excluding the Centre and Centenary Hall – was approved as a potential housing development site by West Lothian Council a number of years ago."Given our current financial situation, we now intend to sell the surrounding land to a housing developer and inform the council of our intentions as part of the Local Development Plan."The letter added that no deal had yet been made with a residents got in touch with Your Voice, Your BBC News. Two doors down from Mr Mackie, veteran Craig Kirkland has lived in Linburn Park with his wife Caroline for 18 53-year-old is a former infantryman with King's Own Scottish Borderers who is blind in one eye and suffers from post-traumatic stress moving there, he was the estate's groundsman and owns a parcel of land nearby and raises Kirklands said they believe homes in the estate have been left empty on continued: "It means we will need to find somewhere else. We have 12 months' notice, give or take a few months' leeway."They said if we had a private let, they'd help with the deposit. How can I go into a private let?"The couple sold their Lanarkshire home in the 2000s and signed a tenancy agreement with the believed they would stay in the community for the rest of their 52, added: "At my age, I'm not going to have a mortgage. We'd sold our house to be here."The tension here has been very harsh in the last few weeks." 'We will be homeless' Not all of the tenants are veterans. The housing was opened to private tenants due to a lack of demand from veterans with sight Fisher, 39, has cerebral palsy, learning difficulties and hearing was offered a tenancy at Linburn Park 15 years ago. His parents Kim and Paul Forbes sold their own home and moved to the area to be Keith's full-time Forbes said: "We came out here thinking it was for a lifetime, and this house would be Keith's forever."We thought we were going to here for the rest of our days. This news is devastating for all of us."She continued: "To get the three of us in a home together would be rather difficult."Keith would go into supported accommodation, which would mean he would leave the family home, and we would apply to get accommodation for over-65s."Other than that, there is no way we can go to anybody else. We will be homeless, which is very sad." Local MSP Angela Constance – who is also the Scottish government's justice secretary – met with residents to hear their concerns last told the BBC that she contacted Sight Scotland Veterans who "outlined at the top level the financial issues that they are wrestling with"."It is my job to represent my constituents and the veterans that are residents here in Linburn," she said."It has been deeply distressing. They have felt as if the rug has been pulled from under their feet."Constance said the site's history dated back to the end of the First World War. She added: "When people came to live in this community, they were told they had a house for life. That has been taken away from them."Sight Scotland Veterans – named Scottish War Blinded until 2017 – has the same board as sister charity Sight Scotland, previously known as Royal 1946, Royal Blind paid £14,000 for the estate. It was transferred to Sight Scotland Veterans eight years the decades, Linburn estate developed into a campus offering workshops, tuition and therapy for blind veterans. It also provided in recent years, both charities have faced financial strain – with the veterans' charity posting budget shortfalls between £4m and £6m each year since 2021. 'Veterans are living longer' Chief executive Craig Spalding said the number of supported veterans had increased from 1,500 to 5,500 in recent said: "Veterans are living longer, which is of course welcome, but it has resulted in more age-related sight loss and a greater need for support."Mr Spalding said income was limited and depended largely on fundraising and investment added that between 2020/21 and 2024/25 it supported services from its reserves, which have been reduced from £61.8m to £ Spalding added: "Running the Linburn Estate alone has generated a loss of almost £1m over this period."To secure our services beyond 2031, we now need to generate additional income through the sale of land, investment in income-generating assets, and increased fundraising efforts."Mr Spalding told the BBC the charity was working closely with each said: "We wish to make it clear that no one faces immediate eviction."We have started open and transparent discussions to outline our intention to sell the land for development. "Our priority is to engage constructively with all those affected and to work together to find solutions that are fair, respectful, and take everyone's circumstances into account."A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: "The council has not received a planning application or granted consent for the redevelopment of the veteran's village at Wilkieston."However, we are preparing a new Local Development Plan for West Lothian."Through the 'call for ideas' part of this process we have been made aware by Sight Scotland that they wish to dispose of this site for market and affordable homes."The spokesperson added the local authority was reviewing all of the proposals and would publish a proposed plan "in due course".