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Success for HfC
Hall for Cornwall has won a national award for its fundraising campaign 'Loved to Bits' beating the Welsh National Opera and Wolverhampton Grand to the prize.
This year has seen a double celebration for the Truro based theatre.
Not only is Hall for Cornwall celebrating its 10th birthday, but also its win at the TMA awards.
The theatre won the national award for its fundraising campaign 'Loved to Bits'.
The award was presented by the Theatrical Management Association.
The Cornish theatre has now been nominated for the TMA awards more than any other regional theatre in the country.
Loved To Bits
Since 1997 more than 6m people have used the theatre, this is a far greater number than initial expectations. The massive use has come at a price, with the building showing worrying signs of wear and tear that need dealing with.
Hall for Cornwall is 10 years old
Forecasts show that an extra £150,000 per year is needed to deal with the problems. In addition there is the ongoing shortfall in funding which adds financial pressure.
In the face of these problems the management took action and the 'Loved to Bits' campaign was launched to try to protect the future of the theatre for Cornwall.
So far the campaign has raised over £86,000. The money has come from voluntary donations, the 'per ticket' Theatre Fund payment and the Friends scheme.
The support of people in Cornwall has meant that Hall for Cornwall has been able to completely recover the seats, fit a hoist to enable the safer and speedier arrival of shows and refurbish the coffee shop area.
"We are really grateful to everyone who has donated to the Loved to Bits campaign so far … the fundraising continues, this year we are looking to tackle the damp problems and maintenance on the roof - this is a campaign that needs to keep going," says Tim Brinkman from the HfC.
SOS Centenary Celebrations
The clocks were turned back 100 years in November to celebrate the centenary of of the SOS signal. BBC Radio Cornwall's Euan Mahy has been finding out more. Hear his report...
One hundred years ago on 3 November 1906, the Berlin International Wireless Telegraph Convention was signed by representatives from 19 countries.
This important meeting established a maritime calling and distress frequency of 500 kilocycles and SOS as the international distress signal.
Now, a century later, the Radio Officers Association are launching a campaign to establish the frequency of 500 kc/s as an international heritage frequency to be kept, using morse code as a tribute to the tens of thousands of lives that it saved.
The site of the Poldhu Marconi Centre

To champion their cause the enthusiasts operated a special amateur radio call sign GB500KCS on Friday 3 November from the Lizard Marconi Wireless station and on Saturday 4 November the same happened at the Poldhu Marconi Centre.
BBC Radio Cornwall's 'Cornwall Connected' show covered the event. Click on the link below to hear Euan Mahy's interview with David Barlow from the Radio Officers Association:
The Lizard station is located in the original 1901 hut which has been restored by the National Trust. It is the site where the first recorded SOS handled by a shore station took place in 1910 (two years before the Titanic).
The frequency of 500 kc/s was monitored by Lands End Radio continuously for 86 years and it handled many distress calls perhaps the most remembered being the Flying Enterprise and the Torrey Canyon.
The Radio Officers Association are not only seeking the support of Ofcom but will be lobbying international organisations such as UNESCO to establish 500kc/s as a heritage frequency.
The Association wants to maintain the frequency so that future generations can hear how incidents such as the Titanic disaster were handled by wireless operators. It would also serve as a tribute to the tens of thousands of lives saved by 500kc/s and the SOS distress call.
Analysis
These 2 campaigns are both celebratory campaigns, 1 celebrating 10 years of Hall for Cornwall and 1 the centenary of the SOS signal.
The Hall for Cornwall celebration is being used both to celebrate the 10th anniversary and to promote Hall for Cornwall and try to raise more funds for the project to continue into the future.
The SOS centenary celebration is mor of a commemorative celebration, being used to celebrate all of the lives that have been saved and promote the preservation of this frequency.
In relation to our campaign, the Hall for Cornwall is the most relevant, as we are hoping to not just celebrate the fact that the SCITT is 10 years old but also promote the SCITT and increase awareness of the course, hopefully generating interest in potential future student teachers.