Community Lunches 2024.£6775 was raised during the period mid May to mid September and dived between Altarnun Church Hall restoration fund and St Nonnas church. Now established in excess of 40 years, these lunches are very well attended by locals and people from outside of the village. Volunteers cook and serve, and it is to them a huge amount of gratitude must be paid. The winter soup lunches raised a further £200.

The Craft and Produce Market.Still runs on the second Saturday monthly with an array of, on average, 20 different craft and gift stalls. These vary from month to month and incorporate seasonal offerings. The stall fees collected are used for equipment and essential purchases for the church hall; to maintain its smooth running.

Altarnun Ladies.A follow on group after the WI was folded due to the difficulty in attracting new members. The group is non regulated, has no rules and no fees and as a result seen as more user friendly. Thus far has raised funds totalling £450 which has been equally split as donations to the church hall and the village hall.

Penpont Players.The group have received a best family entertainment award from the National Operatic and Drama Association for their seasonal pantomime. Simon Newel stressed that with only sixteen active members this was truly an extraordinary achievement. He passed his thanks on to everyone who supported the show and made the run a complete sell out. Funds raised are spent on new equipment and scene back drops. Active member recruitment is being encouraged with events including an open mic night.

Chatterbox. Established over 12 years and currently 20 – 30 attendees, with an age range of 3 to 90! at regular meetings in the village hall. A good opportunity to share information and possible worries and also play chess and scrabble. Refreshment is provided but there is no charge. However, a bric a brac table is set up to allow people to make a small donation, which covers costs, and any surplus is returned to regulars in the form of a small gift at the end of the year.

Knit & Natter Group.Sessions run for 2 hours weekly in the church hall. Skills are shared to include crochet, embroidery, making toys, knitting and sewing garments. Some attend just to chat have a hot drink and a tasty treat. Usually, about a dozen people who pay £2 a session, out of which a contribution is made t0 the church hall repair fund.

Fun on the Green 2025.To be held once again 5th July 2-4pm. Various stalls, games and activities on Altarnun Village Green. There will be no stall charges and the local groups who participate keep the proceeds they raise to promote their own activity.

Report from Altarnun Village Show - Barbara Hassall Chair. The August 2024 show was an outstanding success, garnering exceptional feedback from attendees regarding the guest, Ben Maguire, who officially inaugurated the event. A record number of entries were submitted, and as always, the judges were highly impressed by the remarkable standards displayed across all categories. A notable addition to last year’s show an art class dedicated to limericks, which was enthusiastically received. Due to its popularity, it will feature in this year’s schedule once again. Another successful innovation was the presentation of a rosette to every child participating in any of the children’s classes. This initiative was so well-received that it will now become a permanent tradition. Preparations for year’s show are progressing smoothly behind the scenes. It is with excitement that we announce a celebrity guest has been secured to open the event, though their identity will remain a surprise for now. For 2025, we are thrilled to introduce a new Scarecrow Class, a competition open to groups of friends, families, clubs, community organizations, and others. We anticipate this will be a fun and popular addition to the program.

Altarnun Short Mat Bowling Club Report 2025 - Lesley Secretary ASMBC.This year, the Club celebrated its 31st anniversary with a lunch held on May 8th at the Lifton Hotel, during which trophies were awarded for the annual singles, pairs, and triples competitions Our membership currently stands at a robust 27, approaching our pre-Covid peak of 30, thanks to an influx of enthusiastic new members over the past two years. We remain optimistic about maintaining this level of membership the future. Following a period during and after Covid when our weekly meetings in the Village Hall were reduced to Wednesday afternoons only, we have now twice-weekly sessions, with an additional meeting on Friday evenings that has proven sufficiently popular to be sustainable. We are a welcoming and sociable club, ready to embrace new members, and provide regular monthly updates on our activities in the Tre Pol Pen Parish magazine.

Altarnun Walkers

The group meets every Thursday morning for a 4 to 5 mile walk. Membership has marginally increased since May 2024 to 30 with over 50% walking regularly and an average turnout about a dozen. Started by Gordon Sandercock in the early 1990s, the group continues to offer local residents a friendly, leisurely walk each week within 20 miles of Altarnun without charge. There is still capacity for more walkers to join as walk groups of up to 18 are quite manageable.

Altarnun Local History Society - Peter Allen, Chairman

Membership of the Society has increased to 36 over the year with monthly meeting attendances generally over 25. In addition, meetings have attracted visitors resulting in audiences of 30 plus for external speakers. The increased membership and attendances have given the society a stable income allowing excellent speakers from a wider area to be engaged. Whilst the Society continues to look after the village archives, its focus is very much on the 10 regular meetings which have been lengthened to give members more time to socialise with each other and the visiting speaker. Over the last 12 months speakers have covered a wide variety of subjects including Trerithick Manor, the early years of Winston Churchill’s Life, the history of smuggling in Cornwall, the 1932 riot at Dartmoor Prison and Napoleon’s 10 days in Plymouth. In addition we had two evenings getting to understand the lives of Tudor women when Rosemary Grigg’s came along in costume as The Lady Katherine and then as Bess, The Lady Katherine’s Maid. With a full programme of events for the rest of 2025 and well into 2026 and an enthusiastic committee and membership, the society has a bright future and looks forward to welcoming more new members.

Tre Pol Pen – Altarnun’s Parish Magazine– Peter Allen, Editor

Tre Pol Pen, now in its 20th year as an independent community magazine, continues to provide Altarnun with a mix of news, articles, puzzles and community group reports each month. With 48 full colour pages for just 75p it offers good value for money and has sold an average of 165 copies each month over the last year. It is well supported by local businesses with advertising revenues subsidising printing costs. There are 27 regular contributors and a small committee getting the magazine together each month. The magazine is financially viable and has no immediate plans to increase the price despite increased printing costs. In terms of the longer term viability of the magazine there is a need to appoint a co-editor and manage the transition to a new desktop publishing software package following Microsoft’s announcement of the withdrawal of MS Publisher in October 2025.

The Christmas Lights Team –Peter Allen on behalf of team

Altarnun’s Christmas lights have grown more spectacular every year and are becoming a much anticipated annual event. Following generous support funding from the Parish Council in 2024 an ambitious display was installed around the two bridges in front of St Nonna’s by the 7 strong Christmas lights team. Unfortunately, very stormy weather forced the cancellation of the ‘Big Switch On’ and then heavy rainfall brought debris down the river which snagged parts of the display. The lights suspended above the river were destroyed but were recovered and disposed of safely. The new infrastructure boxes and cabling purchased in 2024 survived the weather and remains fit for purpose. The 2025 display has been designed without lights across the water eliminating the risk of damage from high water levels. Funding from Unite and the management of Davidstow Creamery will allow the replacement of lights lost in 2024. The support of Trenarrett Tree Services and their cherry picker has proved invaluable especially now that the Christmas Tree is over 20 feet tall. The big Switch On is scheduled for Saturday 6th December

Altarnun Village Hall– Peter Allen Chairman

The committee have managed the hall well and it continues to be a popular venue for clubs, societies, village events and private parties. The closure of Altarnun WI has resulted in some loss of regular income but that has been more than offset by the increased use of the hall by the Altarnun Table Tennis Club, Short Mat Bowls and the Karate Club. Overall the hall is in good shape with some routine maintenance to be completed over the summer and has strengthened its financial reserves with funds raised during Fun Fortnight 2024 and other donations. The current rental income is covering routine running costs and, because of a much lower priced electricity contract, is not expected to rise in the near future. The £6.50 per hour remains very affordable for clubs and private hirers especially when the facilities provided are considered.

The Village Hall Management Committee now holds funds on behalf of the Altarnun Lights Team and the funds previously managed by the WI on behalf of the community designated for improving the village planting and flowers. The Hall Committee have managed the response to the Prevention of Terrorism Act proposals regarding preparedness for terrorist attacks and whilst the hall is in scope of the act its capacity is below the threshold for there to be a requirement for policies and procedures to be developed and adopted. The transfer of the Bookings Secretary role from Tricia Allen to Jane Watson was completed smoothly in February 2025.

The committee continues to actively co-ordinate Fun Fortnight and support Fun on The Green to help raise funds for local clubs and societies as well as the village hall itself. The committee was particularly pleased to share the proceeds of the Altarnun Ladies Easter Extravaganza and accept the matched funding for the proceeds of the quiz night and fun fortnight raffles from the Barclays Bank Community Fund.

Altarnun Twinning Association – Peter Allen - Chairman

The Twinning Association is maintaining contact with the Gueltas Jumelage (their Twinning Association) but since Brexit and the pandemic the interest of residents in both communities in visits to their twin village has been low. Costs of travel, post Brexit bureaucracy and slow progress in rebuilding enthusiasm for Twinning between France and UK are the main reasons. A visit by the Chair and Secretary of the Gueltas Jumelage in February 2025 coupled with regular articles in Tre Pol Pen contributed to maintaining the link over the last year. ATA still contributes to the Gueltas Bulletin a quarterly newsletter published by the Marie in Gueltas.

Fun Fortnight 2025 – On Behalf Of Local Organisations

Fun Fortnight 2024 was a success with 11 events including the Village Show leading up to the August Bank Holiday weekend all of which were well attended and helped raise funds for village clubs and societies.

The programme for 2025 starts with the Dog Show on Sunday 10th and ends with the Village Show and open air Songs of Praise with Launceston Town Band on the Bank Holiday Sunday. Although the Penpont Players are holding and ‘Open Mic Night’ instead of their longstanding Race Night, all regular Fun Fortnight events will be back. The final Programme will be published in the July Edition of Tre Pol Pen.

Notice Date: 23/05/2025