A mermaid, a quiz and a rockpool: Falmouth’s beach safety day

Turn up at Gyllyngvase Beach on the right Tuesday this August and there’s a fair chance you bumped into a mermaid. Not a real one, but Hotch Potch Theatre’s washed-up storyteller, spinning sea tales on the hour between sandcastle building and a mobile rockpool session, all part of Falmouth‘s Beach Day.

The event brought together Cormac‘s Beach Management Team and a long list of local organisations for a free day of hands-on coastal activities, aimed squarely at getting families thinking about how to enjoy the beach safely without it ever feeling like a lecture.

📷Credit: Cormac

What was on, from mermaids to marine life

Between them, the stallholders covered pretty much everything a day at the beach can throw up. Hotch Potch Theatre’s mermaid told stories on the hour from 11am to 2pm, then wandered the sand on her “land legs” for photos and chats. The Rockpool Project brought a mobile rockpool so children could get face to face with the creatures living in the shallows, without disturbing a single real pool. The Dracaena Centre ran beach games between 2pm and 3pm, ultimate tag, dodgeball and stuck-in-the-mud among them, before a youth volleyball session took over for the hour after. Rewind Radio pitched up with a branded marquee as part of its “Rewind on the Road” tour, and the Children’s Sailing Trust let visitors try their hand at knot-tying and the basics of becoming a sailor.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust talked wildlife and marine rescue, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek explained how they care for stranded seal pups, Plastic Free Falmouth ran a beachcombing session, and Sand Safe staffed a stand on beach safety essentials.

📷Credit: Cormac

Cormac’s new Beach Safety Quiz gets its first outing

Cormac’s own stand had a fresh addition this year. Sue, Cormac’s Senior Beach Officer, said:

“It was a great opportunity to talk directly with beach users about the work we do, share practical beach safety advice and answer questions in a relaxed and fun environment.

We also had the chance to try out our new Beach Safety Quiz and colouring sheets, which proved a real hit with both children and adults! The resources have been developed as another way of engaging families with important safety messages, while making learning about the beach a little more fun.”

The quiz, a “Beach Detective Challenge” worksheet, asks children to spot safety kit around them, lifebuoys, lifeguard flags, litter bins, before testing what they’ve learned with a short set of true-or-false questions. A companion colouring sheet lays out the same message in picture form, from swimming between the flags to keeping dogs under control near other beach users.

📷Credit: Cormac

A team effort along the coast

The full list of stallholders on the day ran to Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Plastic Free Falmouth, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, the Children’s Sailing Trust, Sand Safe and several more besides, each running their own corner of the beach for the afternoon. Cormac thanked everyone involved in organising the day, and everyone who stopped to chat at the stall.

The team’s work doesn’t stop when the gazebos come down. Beach safety inspections, checks on public rescue equipment, responses to stranded marine mammals and bathing water quality monitoring all continue along the Cornish coast long after the bunting from Gyllyngvase Beach Day is packed away.

📷Credit: Cormac