Students unleash innovative surfing competition

One of the Europe’s leading surfing competition events is once again being organised by students studying at Cornwall College Newquay. 

The Surf Science and Marine Sports Science students 

The Personnel Solutions Surfaced Pro, which was held for the first time last year, was praised for offering equal prize money for the men and women’s events and the professional way it was coordinated.

Taking place at Watergate Bay on May 6th and 7th, the Personnel Solutions Surfaced Pro is the first event on the 2017 UK PRO Surf (UKPS) Tour and is being organised by higher education students from Cornwall College Newquay.

The event will see competitors from both the UK and Europe battle it out in a range of categories, and is already attracting interest with its focus on new and innovative surfing and equality in prize money for both male and female competitors.

Ellie Turner at last years competition  (photo credit-Jason Feast / UKPSA)

Programme Manager Brender Willmott from Cornwall College has been guiding the students along the way. She said: “Working with the UKPS Tour on the first event of the year gives the students a fantastic opportunity to meet elite surfers and to work with sponsors, athletes and related organisations but brings its challenges as they are just coming to end of a busy first year and gearing up for end of year assessments and exams!

Brender continued: “They are having to get focused and show real commitment to their studies and the event – it’s a great real life experience and challenging to say the least!”

Working alongside UKPS, the student’s involvement covers every element of the event planning, from marketing and promotion, gaining sponsorship, right through to the logistics of the day.

The event is organised by the students as part of their Surf Science and Marine Sport Science degree programmes at Cornwall College.

These courses cover a wide variety of elements within the surf industry and marine environment, from event planning, marketing and enterprise, board construction as well as topics such as biomechanics and oceanography.        

UKPST director Dave Reed said it was great to be “working again with Cornwall College students to organise and run this ground-breaking event”.

Finalists from last years competition  (photo credit-Jason Feast / UKPSA)

Zoe Gascoyne, a Marine Sports Science student at Cornwall College Newquay is project managing the event. Zoe said: “I am enjoying the real hands-on approach that we are receiving and its great work experience in the field of events management. Running this event with Dave Reed from the UK Pro Surf Tour has introduced me to so many new ideas and contacts in the surfing industry; it's been a great opportunity to network. I have also learnt how to work with industry professionals and it's great to be included in every step of the event planning process.”

Zoe continued: “It's shaping up to be a great weekend of surfing with some the UK's elite athletes competing to win titles as well as points on the UK Pro Tour. Watergate Bay is one of Newquay’s most beautiful beaches and with Korev Lager joining us down on the beach we can guarantee a chilled out weekend with some awesome surfing!”

Personnel Solutions have been announced as the title sponsor for Surfaced Pro.
Managing Director of the company Matthew Sherratt said it was great to be the headline sponsor for event.

“This is a new marketing direction for the company, however, with all the hard work the College students put in, we know our investment will achieve a great return.”


Our UK Pro Surf Tour from UK Pro Surf Tour on Vimeo.


For more information on the Personnel Solutions Surfaced Pro, please visit www.ukprosurf.com and to find out more about the Marine Sports and Surf Science courses available at Cornwall College Newquay, please visit www.cornwall.ac.uk or call 0330 123 2523.

Leading the UK fight against alien invasion

Conservation action groups from across the South West have been leading the UK’s battle against alien invaders.

The South West Invasive Species Forum, organised by Cornwall- based conservation group SINNG (Student Invasive Non-Native Group) alongside South West Water, was held at Roadford Lake recently with delegates from across the region attending as part of national Invasive Species Week.


The aim of the event was to coordinate action and awareness on the impacts of invasive non-native species and a range of organisations collaborated, looking at the problems these species pose and discussing possible solutions.
Animals and plants from all over the world have been introduced to Britain by people and while most are harmless, 10-15% spread and become invasive. This can lead to them harming the environment and our wildlife, impacting on the economy, or even posing a risk to our health and the way we live.

Nicola Morris

Nicola Morris, a Lecturer at Cornwall College Newquay and Project Coordinator of SINNG, explained: “Most people are familiar with the problems that Japanese knotweed can cause. But other species are becoming a serious problem such as American skunk cabbage and some animal species such as the freshwater zebra mussel.”


Nicola, who chairs both Cornwall and the South West Invasive Species Forum, continued: “I see the invasive species forums, both at county and regional level, being umbrella groups supporting a wide range of stakeholders, able to offer support, share knowledge, expertise and potentially offer practical support where possible. With such a wealth of experience in the west country from people who have been working with invasive species for many years we are in a good position to coordinate management of these invaders in order to be most effective in the control of invasive species and raise awareness of their impacts.”




“The forum was a huge success and I was pleased to see so many people in one room intent on making a difference to the environment in Cornwall by taking action on invasive species. After seeing the huge success of the Cornwall Knotweed Forum over many years I hope this South West Invasive Species Forum could also lead the way in helping to control and limit the impacts of invasive species.”

Attendees at the South West Forum

The West Country is leading the way with this type of conservation work with two new groups now established to tackle the issue on a county scale. Cornwall Invasive Species Forum was set up last year and the Devon Invasive Species Initiative has just been launched under the umbrella of the Devon Local Nature Partnership. Representatives from both groups are working collaboratively to see how they can work together on a regional scale and it is hoped that other county-based invasive species forums will be set up to support a joined-up regional approach to tackle the problems posed by invasive species.


Sue Goodfellow, Chair of the Devon Local Nature Partnership, said: “We are delighted to be establishing a new initiative in Devon, to raise awareness of the increasing problem of invasive non-native species. A diverse group of organisations has come together to take this forward all with a key aim. It is critical that local organisations, specialists and land owners and managers work together to reduce the spread of invasives.”

Student Jade Clayson speaking to the group

Student Jade Clayson from Cornwall College Newquay attended the forum as a SINNG volunteer. Jade said: “I really enjoyed the forum; I’ve spent quite a bit of time volunteering with SINNG and enjoy being part of such a good cause. It brings people together, whether working in this line of work or even having a slight interest. It’s so important for the future of our native wildlife, habitats and ecosystems and without awareness, talk and action we will lose our very important British species.
“Having these forums allows people to share their thoughts, innovative ideas, fears, plans, solutions and the more people involved, the further the word spreads.  I love the process of all the work SINNG does and I’m proud to be a part of these wonderful partnerships that involve the community to make the town and nature, a better place.”


Anyone interested in joining the Cornwall or South West INNS Forum please contact Nicola Morris on: nicola.morris@cornwall.ac.uk

More information on the Devon Invasives Initiative can be found at: http://www.naturaldevon.org.uk/home/devon-invasive-species-initiative/

Herpetofauna Workers Meeting 2017

SINNG Coordinator Nicola Morris alongside student volunteers had a road trip up to the Herpetofauna Workers’ Meeting in Central Nottingham.     

Organised by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) and Amphibian and Reptile Groups of UK (ARG UK), this two-day event is the highlight of the herpetological calendar. On offer was a full and varied programme of presentations and workshops with plenty of opportunities to network with a diverse audience representing conservation organisations, ecological consultants, statutory bodies, land managers, academic institutions and students, and enthusiastic volunteers.

Hear about the experience from two of our students who attended:

Frankie Simpson BSc (Hons) Applied Zoology and Conservation

“When I first got the email about the conference, I wasn’t so sure that it would be right for me, because my interest lies primarily within Marine. Although I am doing a herpetological genetics project and I saw that there were some planned talks on genetics and eDNA. So I decided it could be useful for me to go, and I'm so glad I did!

Just before I went, the stress of my third year uni work load had caused me to lose motivation for the course and the research I was doing. Going to the conference, speaking to professionals that are currently working within conservation and hearing about their research and what it achieves gave me back my motivation to do well within my course. It's easy to lose sight of why we do things, especially when they can be stressful, but it's going to conferences like the herp workers meeting and hearing the interesting presentations that help to put it back into perspective and re-inspire you to get back at it.

Since getting home from the conference, I've never gotten through my work faster or felt better about the quality of it. When you have those moments when you lose the motivation or have a block, it helps to take a step back and reassess where you are and what needs to be done to get where you're going. The herp workers meeting did just that for me. It also gave me an insight as to what it's like giving those types of talks. As part of our honours projects we are expected to give a presentation on our research, so I used the conference as an opportunity to gain some tips on presentations, watching people give their talks so I would know what to do when it comes time for me to do mine. Because of how well the whole weekend went I'm already planning on going to the scientific conference in December.” 

Jade Clayson FdSc Conservation & Ecology

“My biggest highlight of the whole experience I had attending this amazing informative conference was the amount of knowledge I left with. I would not say my sole interests are in herpetology, but it’s a big passion of mine. I like to branch out and get involved with all different aspects and species within conservation. I’m not really sure on my path yet.

The part that was most interesting to me was the Norfolk Pond Project, who aim to reserve the decline of Norfolk’s ponds so that agricultural landscapes contain a mosaic of clean water ponds with fewer ponds overgrown by trees and bushes. 

I found their project extremely interesting; Carl Sayer is a very passionate and dedicated gentleman. Without my words coming across as disrespectful in any way, he, unlike most of the folk in the whole room (particularly professional scientists and ecologists) did not have a large scientific background. But his love of his work shone through his presentation and I loved that. I guess the reason this was such a massive interest of mine is because his project’s work made my recent volunteer work with SINNG feel more rewarding than ever (with the most recent work on restoring Treloggan’s pond). The photographs of Carl and teams work was phenomenal, ponds that didn’t really exist are now teaming with life. The process of change over time was incredible.

Ponds are in massive decline throughout the UK, largely due to land claim, pollution and INNS. Restoring overgrown and ghost ponds encourages life such as amphibians, plants, mammals, invert’s, birds and fish.

I learnt so much on this two-day conference and met many influential important people in the field of ecology, herpetology and sciences. I left with a bigger passion for herps most definitely. The most recent scientific methodology of eDNA sampling for our protected GCN’s was news to my ears. What an amazing new piece of technology. The different areas and organisations of work going on through the UK was very interesting and it was amazing to see so many passionate people.

I was extremely impressed with the whole experience and plan to attend this event next year and I would seriously encourage any other student to go (even if not interested in herps specifically because you’d be surprised and how damn awesome they are). Snakes scare the life out of me, but I left that conference with a new-found love (although I am sure they still terrify me).”