New beginnings a month after Storm Goretti

It's a month since Storm Goretti brought devastation to Cornwall, bringing down trees, lifting roofs and leaving homes and schools without power. But four weeks later, some public gardens and businesses say the storm has provided them with an opportunity for renewal.

The night of 8-9 January is one people in west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly will never forget. A government alert blasted out on mobile phones warning people to batten down in the wake of a red weather warning.

And the warnings were not exaggerated. Winds, which reached 99mph on the Isles of Scilly, brought down trees, damaged roofs, left homes without power and water and a man died when a tree fell on his caravan in Helston.

Goretti was described by the Met Office as one of the most impactful storms to hit Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the last 30 to 35 years.

But a month later there is resurgence. Penlee Park in Penzance, which lost several trees, says it will replant with rare and endangered species.

Gardeners are working out how best to replace 100 lost trees at St Michael's Mount and Trevow theatre group in Helston raised the money to fix its roof and repaired it in just six days before re-opening.

St Michael's Mount lost around 120 trees on its northern slopes during the storm and further trees have been so badly damaged they will have to be chopped down.

But the National Trust, which manages St Michael's Mount with St Aubyn Estates, said the trees were a relatively new addition, having been planted around 100 years ago to make it more attractive.

Work is ongoing to remove the trees and is expected to take around a month to complete.

Head gardener Darren Little knows the island well, he has lived there for most of his life and is working long days with teams of tree surgeons and other contractors to get the island cleared.

When the work is completed there will be a large open space on the side of the island facing the mainland, he said.

"Before we decide what to replant we need to finish clearing the fallen trees and give ourselves a blank canvas," said Little.

"When that's done in the Autumn we'll all sit down and decide what to do, it's an opportunity to redesign the whole northern side of the island for future generations to come."

The southern side of the mount was left undamaged by the storm because of the wind direction.

Little added: "The Mediterranean gardens were in the lee of the strongest winds and they're looking amazing at the moment ready for when the castle opens to the public in March and the gardens open in May."

"This spring visitors to to the island will see flowers like bluebells, snowdrops and daffodils visible in the space where the trees once stood."

Penlee Park in Penzance also lost several large trees during the storm and the clear up work in ongoing, but parks managers are planning on changing the park for generations to come by introducing different tree species.

The fallen trees are being cut up, then the smaller branches are being put through a wood chipper.

Amy Simons, operations manager at Penzance Town Council which manages the park, said: "We'll use the chippings back in our other parks, we put it down and it will help with nutrients for shrubs and other trees and it will also make our gardeners happy because it'll keep the weeds down.

"We're looking at replacing some of our stock with native English species, especially some which are endangered like the black poplar.

"It will be fun to plant something new and interesting and for me it's a really important part of my job because these trees are going to be here for generations and making the right choices is really important."

A few miles away in Helston a community's fightback from Goretti has taken some by surprise.

Trevow is a performance space in a disused chapel in Helston run by a community interest company. It had just used a grant of £100,000 to refurbish the site which had been empty for six years.

Creative producer Guy Watson has been the driving force behind the project, taking the chapel from a Cornwall Council scheme to re-purpose old chapel buildings and applying for grants to create a new space.

He said he was devastated when he encountered the storm damage but refused to be defeated.

"There were eight holes in the roof and there was bits of tree everywhere.

"But we wanted to get up and running again as soon as possible and going down the insurance route would have taken too long.

"So we put out an appeal and raised all the money we needed and got the whole thing fixed in just six days.

"We're back open again this weekend so what was a really bad news story became a really good community news story."

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