Chair of Porthleven Food Festival Steps Down to run Cornish Fruitcakes

This blog is proposing to  follow the fortunes of a new micro-business, Cornish Fruitcakes, and report back on certain activities and characters in Porthleven, a small fishing village in South West Cornwall.
After 3 years as Chair and one of the founder members of Porthleven Food Festival, I'm about to step down at the July AGM to spend more time with my fruitcakes. Jona and I are about to launch this new venture at the Royal Cornwall Show on June 9th and so have to do so much product-tasting, it leaves no time at all for involvement in the next Festival! I'ts an exceptional group  running  Porthleven Food Festival - all on a voluntary basis- and it requires constant new blood to bring in fresh energies and ideas. The three years has been enjoyable and a privilege, working with such an active, committed, community-minded bunch. The date of the fourth Festival in 2012 will be decided at the July AGM and announced shortly afterwards.

Back to Cornish Fruitcakes: Jona is building The Old Bakery (formerly known as the garage) at Waters Edge, and is nearly finished. This will free-up the spare room and my study, though Waters Edge kitchen and Raeburn will still be the main centre of activities. During the last month, we've learnt to bake the fruitcakes, designed the website, logo and display materials, worked out pricing, had fun sourcing locally (particularly meeting the hens at Chy an Besow) and relied on all our friends to help with the tasting trials. So now to the wider world!
This image of the two of us was taken by internationally-known photographer David Penpraze who lives in Porthleven. He and his wife, Jan, recently published "Harbour to Harbour", an extraordinary collection of portraits of many of the people of Porthleven; recording for posterity a particularly rich moment in the history of this fishing village as it retains it's sense of identity and community whilst accomodating to the fresh challenges of the 21st Century. With it's historic harbour, industrial heritage and fishing fleet of about 12 small boats, the village obviously trades on it's tourism, holdiay cottages, restaraunts, craftspeople, glorious walking and more delights, but also on the myriad micro-businesses constantly thrown up by the eclectic bunch of people who originate from, or gravitate to, here.
"Harbour to Harbour "was published to raise money for the Precious Lives Appeal - a hospice for children in Cornwall called appropriately: The Harbour. Jan and David, with the help of the Old Customs House Gallery on harbourside, have raised just under £20,000 from it's publication.    jmailto:julia@cornishfruitcakes.co.uk