Community Creativity Enterprise
Par Bay’s Community Centre – Cornubia Hall – is a major part of Par Bay Big Local’s legacy, funded by the National Lottery. It has been refurbished to provide a vibrant venue to serve the communities of Par, St Blazey and Tywardreath, helping to build a more resilient community by fostering social enterprise, encouraging creativity and promoting healthy living.
At the heart of our activities is the premise of ‘community, creativity and enterprise’. Consequently we attempt to find innovative solutions to challenges in our community. These are wide-ranging because we serve areas of extreme economic deprivation, rural isolation, and residents with significant needs caused by ageing.
Keep up to date on our Cornubia Facebook Page.
Tenants
We have 4 tenant spaces: two offices upstairs currently leased by the NHS Primary Care Network, a shop at the front of the building and a studio at the rear of the building.
Three Harbours NHS PCN Team
Our two upstairs tenant rooms are now the home of the Social Prescribing and Diabetic teams. This close link has allowed us to move forward with providing support for those in isolation and depression. They run regular diabetes support workshops, a Pain Café and Falls Prevention sessions. A pop-up vaccination clinic proved successful.
Under the Sun Ceramics Studio
Gill’s pottery classes are increasingly popular -a source of mental wellbeing and entertainment as well as learning new techniques. There is a steady stream of beautiful and amusing pottery produced and we look forward to their exhibition in October.
You can follow Under the Sun Pottery Studio on their Facebook Page.
Community Crafts
The shop front reception area has been let as a retail space showcasing and selling the work of a wide range of over 40 local artisans.
Venue Hire
Alongside the Hub activities, Cornubia hosts a wealth of community, health and wellbeing, and recreational activities. These include housing three dance schools for children and young people, martial arts groups for all ages, NHS workshops and clinics, arts and games groups, and a flourishing community garden.
Either of the two main halls, or the community kitchen, can be rented for private use, and are often used by organisations for group training or events. Along with free internet access, we can now offer venue hire for community use, a community activity room with a modern kitchen, ground floor hall with accessible toilet, a small interview room, and first floor hall with a sprung floor.
Dance and Drama groups
A range of dance classes and workshops, including ballet, sosa, hip-hop and street dance, tap, jazz, Spanish, contemporary.
Community wellbeing groups
Wellbeing support groups, Knit & Natter, Canasta, Whist, Corn Hole, creative workshops, painting workshops and computer support.
Sports
Tai chi, Karate, Tae kwondo, Judo-new this year with large numbers of under 8s who can attend free of charge
Income and Fundraising
Community Fairs
Community Fairs have raised funds to help with the purchase of an evac chair for the wheelchair refuge area along with other essentials.
Concerts
We are supported by several local choirs who come along to our Feel Good Friday sessions
Donations
Other donations have helped provide much needed signage back and front with regular donations to the Hub activities.
2020 – A Challenging Year with Covid
Jan – March 2020
The year started well with Winter Wellbeing workshops offering pottery, crafts, poetry writing and other activities.
The local police ran monthly drop-in sessions to allow residents to share any concerns.
We were delighted with our new kitchen and Community Room. What a luxury to be able to wash up cups in a sink after years of “camping”. This will be a really flexible area for use as a meeting room or “memory café” or small cooking workshop. We will be inviting community groups to fill a display shelf to promote their activities once we have prepared the shelf units.
No sooner had the kitchen been completed the pandemic spread and lockdown was enforced.
April – August 2020
What a strange time this was. Our community support was focused on the Community Garden but we were able to provide information in the front window for those with no internet access.
We were pleased to be able to offer support for the St Blazey Reuse, Recycle food provision for families in difficulty and the Kernow Youth Family Food boxes.
Meetings were made via Zoom. Community groups were able to use the Community Trust Zoom account to arrange meetings.
Made by the Sea craft shop was extended into the reception area to allow social distancing. Over 20 local creatives exhibit their crafts in Cornubia. This came into its own later in the year for Christmas presents. A virtual shop window was used on the Facebook page while the shop was closed. We really do have a great pool of artistic talent in our community!
September – December 2020
In September we were allowed to run mutual support sessions to relieve anxiety and depression.
Reachout Creative Futures (a small 16+ NEETS group) and CRCC Work Your Way (providing support into work) are two new groups we were delighted to have as part of the team. We welcomed back old friends – Knit and Natter and Tai Chi, both providing mutual support for companionship and mental wellbeing.
Under the Sun Ceramics was able to move into the refurbished studio at the rear of the building with small socially distanced groups.
Roofing works started over the summer months which meant the upper hall had to be kept closed. Restormel Reupholstery provided the protective padding for our posts in the lower hall for Ashita Kai Karate Kids, Celtic Warriors Taekwondo group and also for Capitol Dance who were a welcome addition to our activity groups.
It was a great relief when the new roof was completed and the scaffolding was removed.
Awards
Successes include:
- Runner-up in Travis Perkins “My Community Engagement 2018”
- Featured in a recent UnLtd film about community hubs
- Collaborative work with others for events and projects taking place at Cornubia and elsewhere
- A successful bid for funding for a Creative Civic Change project in the Par Bay area
We have a growing number of regular activities on offer to boost health and wellbeing: Tai Chi, Taekwondo, Yoga, Kettle Bells, dance and theatre, local artists’ craft workshops, gallery and shop, craft fairs, exhibitions. Craft sessions are very popular with a busy knitting group, sewing sessions and pottery all popular and small cookery workshops starting in 2020 in the new kitchen space.
Refurbishment
With Universal Credit due to be rolled out in February 2018 we decided on a “soft opening” in the reception area to create a home for a Job Club, Universal Credit support (free wi-fi plus computers), financial advice and food voucher distribution. Funding and in-kind support from Ocean Housing, DWP, Live West and Reed in Partnership helped us to reach the target opening date.
We have appreciated the support of community volunteers and local organisations in tackling the daunting task of refurbishing the former auction house and dance hall. It needed replacement windows, rejuvenating flooring, toilets, plumbing and electrical work, removal of old structures / partitions, suspended ceilings, new doorways + fire doors, lift repairs; more recently: new kitchen downstairs + creation of Community Room with additional toilet.
Future-Proofing the building
The building has been renovated throughout with a new roof, insulation, of external walls new electrics, a new kitchen, fire resistant doors. There have been many positive comments about how much warmer it has been and how good it is to have attractive surroundings. .
A solar array and bi-directional inverters, installed to tackle ever increasing energy costs, will help to future proof Cornubia to enable us to afford to run it.
Refurbishments and improvements at Cornubia have further enhanced the building, making it fully accessible and more attractive to future new users.
History
Built in 1935, Cornubia Hall was initially a dance hall, with a sprung floor,above Mr May’s electrical shop. There were regular dances every Saturday night with a live band. The whole community would go along to a big celebration after Par Regatta events in Par Harbour.
Mr May was joined by Mr Whetter and Mr Grose who used the building as an auction house. Many remember auctions run by them, and by Phillips Auctioneers and finally Bonham’s.
Cornubia Hall: Mary Bailey
Dances for Par Tennis Club were hwld twice a year in May and September (Silver Ball) 2 shillings a head.
Dances twice a year were run by Mr Whetter-he was a partner of May, Whetter and Grose- for the catholics. These dances were entertained with music by piano-accordion and drums on stage. All in the top ballroom.
Also the Par Regatta Sports Committee ran their annual August Bank Holiday dance after the regatta and carnival parade.
Sales
Sales were run every couple of weeks in the lower saleroom but antique sales were held upstairs monthly. Items of every description were sold and locals used to attend regularly without fail. The auctioneers at that time were Bill Kellow, Nick Grose, Di Osborne, Roger Tappin & Ron Jarman. Assistants were Fred Van Kempen, Martin Collings, Frank and Queenie Rowe and several others.
It was the event of the week, Sale Day.
Staff
The office staff covered the Housing and Property Sales as well as the auctions.
Maureen Hodge, Mavis Clayton, Linda ?, Joy Romany, Gwyneth Truscott. Eventually the sales packed up and the Hall was closed for a long time.
May Whetter and Grose carried on for a time with property sales only until the transfer to St Austell. The building was closed completely much to the dismay of many people.
Par Regatta Carnival by Phyllis Cloke
The first Saturday in August held the Regatta in the morning commencing at 9am, water polo, swimming and rowing competitions, sports in the field behind Par Post Office from 2pm and Carnival in the evening with the Carnival Queen and her attendants. Uncle Bill Bobe was head of organising the events. He was in charge of the gas works on Par Harbour. In the evening there was a dance at Cornubia Hall.
The Goat by Phyllis Cloke
When I was growing up on Par Harbour in the 1930‟s, my Mother, Eileen Endean always liked to enter something in the local carnival. One year she decided to make use of our goat and dog. A pair of shafts were added to a pram so the goat could pull it along. Then the dog was dressed up as a baby, with a pretty dress and bonnet. The dog was securely tied into this “cart” as it wasn’t too keen on the idea. So off we all went to the carnival. All went surprisingly well until we had to line up for the carnival procession, where we were placed in front of the Torquay Accordion Band. When the band struck up, off went the goat at high speed with my mother in hot pursuit. It was no contest really, the goat was much faster than Mother. When we arrived back home on the Harbour, there was the goat, contentedly munching grass, with the dog still in the cart.,
