Greenpeace Cornwall was in for a treat when we headed down to the Harbour Day at St Ives on Sunday!
Clarence the Cod, Colin, Lisa and I (Becky) headed down early to set up before the morning holiday makers and harbour visitors starting arriving, with one stall lined with the usual fish cards and leaflets, and Lisa manning one with cute crochet critters and cards to make a little more cash for the pot.
Clarence soon caught the eye of some tourists from their hotel balcony, and before the day had officially begun we had eight signatures in the bag! Our fishy friend certainly looked right at home on the beach. He was also popular with the lovely folk at the Save Our Sands stall, and we exchanged current campaign info as the day went on.
It didn’t take long for a steady stream of people to start visiting the stall, including the Mayor of St Ives, who was lovely and signed a fish with gusto. Luckily Helen and Zoe arrived around midday and got to work chatting to passersby and explaining the campaign in more detail to those with questions.
We were serenaded throughout the day by various musicians over on the quayside, including a choir and a folk musician. A couple of choir members popped over to sign some fish, with one happily mentioning that she had a fisherman at home that she supported!
The sun was high in the sky, truly glorious weather, but this wasn’t all good news for me and Lisa. Oh no, we porcelain skinned dolls has prepared for greyness and drizzle – I had already had to ditch my boots in favour of bare feet – not expecting such lushness. Frustratingly this included forgetting suncream, so a lot of the afternoon was spent withering under an umbrella, only thrusting out a wizened claw to collect a fish card or hand out a pen.
The harbour was full of lovely, enthusiastic people though, and by the end of the day we had collected 257 signed cards!
Helen and Zoe stayed after us burning beauties had fled for shade, and went for a dip in St Ives bay with seal, lucky folk!
Thanks to everyone who helped out and visited the stall, and kudos to Clarence, who has been folded into positions that would make a yoga teacher wince and come out the other side without a fin out of place.
Check out photos of our shenanigans and general goings on with our Flickr.
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