Having lived in Hayle most of my life  (26 years), I moved away in 1998 due to the loss of my job (Unigate Closure), I return each summer with the family to visit old friends and take my 3 children to  Hayle Beach.

 

Last summer we parked our car next to the old electric works site and started to walk towards the beach, as we got closer one thing that was apparent there was no gentle slop leading onto the beach, but a sudden drop. We continued around the corner towards the Bluff but instead of the usual sandy beach we were confronted with stones, rubble, rusty wire, sand banks falling down & NO BEACH !!!  

 

My children asked "where's the beach Dad", at the time I wasn't sure where the beach had gone, but having come back for Christmas & catching up on the local news in the papers (thanks to the mother in law saving the Cornishman), it seems the shinny JCBs on the beach have taken it away. What are they doing with the sand? Keeping the channel clear? Is the sand being sold? Who gets the profit? Lets face it somebody is making money somewhere, the JCBs are not there out of the kindness of their heart!!

 

I seem to remember Lock Gates in several places around Hayle which were used to manage the harbour & channel, these were built by our ancestors, did they get it wrong or is there no money in someone opening a lock gate to maintain the channel ? I guess the lack of care has made these Lock Gates useless  now & repairing them costs money. Maybe the profit from the sale of all that sand could have been used to repair them.

 

One thought for the local councils of the area is that if I come back to Hayle in the summer & notice the disappearing beach you can bet holidaymakers will notice it, I stay with family. They are paying large sums of money for a sandy beach which seems to be disappearing fast. Ask yourself would you be impressed confronted with stones, rubble, rusty wire, falling sand banks, my children weren't and they are the visitors of the future !!!