Padstow Christmas Festival is approaching 3rd, 4th & 5th December and we are promised a SNOWFALL SURPRISE this year - intrigued? Although at this rate we’ll have real snow! Get in the festive mood with late night shopping, Santa's grotto, carol singing, beer festival, live music, cooking demonstrations, fireworks, parade, workshops for children and don't forget to come and see us!
FREE CHILD ADMISSION at the Hatchery with every full paying adult for the 3 days of the Festival.
Matt has already proved a valuable member of the team and we are hoping to secure funding elsewhere in order to keep him and his new found ‘lobster skills’ on board.
Hatchery technician Charlie Ellis said, “we like to rotate our display animals when we can so they don’t get too used to a small territory and a hearty diet of mussels and fish, and Thermidor is our longest serving display animal. David is due to be releasing some of our hatchery-reared juveniles into the wild soon, and he’s agreed to take Thermidor out at the same time. She’s also now matured to the age where she’s ready to start breeding; this year she laid thousands of eggs but had no male around to fertilise them, so it’ll be interesting to see in the future, if she is caught pregnant, whether the next generation of lobsters we raise here at the Hatchery will be orange!”.
Replacing Thermidor in the visitor centre is a crawfish, or Spiny Lobster, a locally rare species with enormous antennae and a spikey armoured shell, who is settling nicely into her new home.
Congratulations to Hazel Thwaites from Surrey who won the amazing raffle prize of 2 nights dinner, bed and breakfast and flights to the Isles of Scilly, staying at the luxurious Hell Bay Hotel. Thank you to the sponsors of the raffle, Hell Bay Hotel and Isles of Scilly Travel. We were able to raise £1,500 from raffle sales.
The raffle was drawn at our Race Night at The Old Custom House in Padstow, thank you to Linda who let us take over the pub. We had a really fun evening and some of the luckier people went home with winnings, others, like myself bet on all the losing horses! We did another raffle on the night with all the the losing tickets from the races because Bedruthan Steps Hotel had heard about our fundraising evening and sent us a beautiful package for a spa day for 2. Sue Gregory was the lucky winner.
Thank you also to The Metropole Hotel who sponsored a race.
Ramsgate’s award-winning Eddie Gilbert’s restaurant is celebrating British Food 
Each time customers order Eddie Gilbert’s seafood platter, the restaurant will donate £1 to the Hatchery. The platter, which costs £36, for two, includes a whole lobster, a dressed crab, smoked salmon, oysters, crevettes, cockles, ceviche of scallop and brown shrimps.
“We have always been focused on sourcing the freshest, highest quality seafood, sourced as locally as possible – we don’t sell exotic endangered species like blue fin tuna,” said proprietor Jonny Dunhill, who also owns the wet fish shop and gourmet fish and chips takeaway that operate at street level beneath the first floor restaurant. “It’s in the businesses’ long-term interests to promote sustainable fishing.”
Clovelly Estate holds a festival each year to pay tribute to Clovelly's famous lobsters and crabs with a day of live folk music, a lobster hypnotist, quay kitchen, wine and beer tasting, local food stalls, prize draw, arts and crafts stalls, live exhibits, photographic exhibition and entertainment for the children too.
Last year and this year, the money raised will be donated to the National Lobster Hatchery. We will will be releasing baby lobsters just beyond the harbour and we will have a stand on the quay where you can come and see our baby lobsters up close and personal, adopt your own lobster or buy some lobster goodies.
The Red Lion Harbour bar will be offering delicious seafood, crab and lobster platters, each with a complimentary glass of champagne, for £14.95.
See you there!
We’re organising another fund raising event with a difference. Do you fancy your luck on the races? The event will take place at the Old Custom House in Padstow on Friday 8th October 2010 from 8pm onwards. We will be hosting an entertaining evening of horse racing, you will be able to bet on choosing the winning horse for each race.
Entry is free, you don’t need to book. Just come along, support our baby lobsters, have fun and go home with your winnings.
We will also be having another raffle but this time there is only one prize and it’s sensational! Imagine yourself and someone special to you, flying over to the Isles of Scilly and staying for two luxurious nights at the exclusive Hell Bay Hotel on Bryher. Tickets are on sale now for the raffle, so please phone us on 01841 533877 and we can take your payment over the phone. Tickets cost £1 each.
We are also offering businesses the chance to sponsor a race, there will only be 8 races so don’t delay. For £30, a race will be named after your business, so for instance ‘the Padstow Bakery Derby’ and the business names will appear on the race card.
Thank you to the sponsors of the event: The Old Custom House, Hell Bay Hotel, Isles of Scilly Travel.
On the 9th July the Lobster Hatchery took 1000 baby lobsters over to the Isles of Scilly to be released back into the wild. The release was made possible with the support from the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company who gave us a free crossing for the lobsters, staff and equipment and also to the Hell Bay Hotel who laid on the accommodation, boats and local knowledge to be able to release onto perfect lobster ground.
We were up with the sunrise at 4am and on a tight schedule. Westcountry ITV News joined us at 5am to film us packing up the last few lobsters at the hatchery and then followed us to Penzance where our lobsters were craned on to the Scillonian.
As we drifted slowly along the channel between Bryher and Tresco the baby lobsters were poured into a box on the boat where sea water was pumped directly out of the sea into our release box at one end and out down a wide necked tube the other end, directly to the seabed. Lobsters at this stage in their life cycle bury under the gravel for two years and they are very rarely seen in the wild during this time, by people, but most importantly predators.
Philip Callan, Hell Bay Hotel is really keen on getting involved with the work of the Lobster Hatchery and we hope this is just the beginning of a long term partnership. Although we have released lobsters on the Isles of Scilly in the past, we have never released so many in one trip and we would like to think that that we can make it an annual event.
We are looking for a part time Visitor Centre Assistant for the summer, 2pm – 8pm Saturday’s & Sunday’s to start immediately. Minimum wage. Please contact Dom Boothroyd, General Manager on 01841 533877. Thank you
Just to say we raised £450.32 on the night, so thank you to the Fishermans Friends of Port Isaac who sang in aid of the hatchery and our baby lobsters. It was a brilliant night, great singing, the sun shone and the sunset finished off a perfect evening.
It’s been a long wait and I can only apologise for those that have been waiting for a long time for their adopted lobster to be released, but the hatchery is swarming with baby lobsters now. In fact, this morning we had to do an emergency release to allow space for the younger lobsters coming through. With the cold winter, we were not getting in berried hens (female lobsters with eggs) until March and they have not hatched as early as the last few years either (again due to the cold temperatures).
877 were released at the beginning of June at Harlyn by the Harlyn and Bristol Dive Club
40 were released at Trevose Head, 40 at Mylor, and this morning, 150 at Mother Ivy’s Bay and 150 at Trevone.
Next stop, Isles of Scilly where we hope to release 1,000 – looking forward to that!
You will have heard of Fishermans Friends by now, with their recent success of attracting a £1 million record deal with Universal. Or may be you have been lucky enough to hear them sing on the Platt on a summer evening at Port Isaac, with the fishing boats and beach as a back drop.
It really is a magical experience, pint in hand and singing along to the sea shanties. They start at 8pm no matter what the weather. See you there.
We’re still getting 600 larvae through a day so it’s all good.
It’s with thanks to South West Water that we were able to get this children’s interactive bench commissioned.
to help us out over the summer. Hours 3pm - 8pm approx Position available from July
Minimum Wage
Application by CV to General Manager info@nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk
closing date 21/05/10
Get the date in your diaries and check out the website for more detail.
Porthilly Farm in Rock will play host to the inaugural Rock Oyster Festival over the weekend of 19th – 20th June this year. The festival is being organised by a team of locals whose passion for the shellfish of the Cornish coast has convinced them to hold an event which celebrates and champions the sustainable seafood.
This will be the first oyster festival ever on the North coast of Cornwall.
http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/events/2010-06-19-rock-oyster-festival-2010.htm
Tomas F. Wyatt Reguera is with us for a 3 month work placement which is part of his course at IGAFA (Instituto Gallego de Formacion Acuicola) in Galicia, Spain. Tomas has done a lot of lobster culture work and has experience with green water techniques so we are benefitting from their knowledge as well.
It’s tomorrow – the event is upon us. We are completely sold out and so only those that have pre-booked their tickets will be allowed entry.
Just to confirm that arrival time is 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Pescadou Restaurant is next door to The Old Custom House on Padstow Harbour. The itinerary is as follows:
Feel free for a glimpse of the menu, auction and raffle prizes by clicking on the above links.
What a day we had, starting with a ferry trip from Rock to Padstow, a quick exploration of the beach, past the fishing boats and harbour and onto the hatchery where they met baby lobsters, crabs, shrimps, giant lobsters and even Larry made an appearance (our 6ft cuddly mascot).
They got up close and personal with one of our mummy lobsters, laden with eggs, a unique sighting of a baby lobster moulting (bursting out of his exo-skeleton) and for lunch, pasties all round.
The hatchery hasn’t been spruced up since it was first built in 2000, its now a gleaming white, even our logo got a make over.
The special rates are as follows:
March dinner, bed & breakfast from £99 per room per night
April dinner, bed & breakfast from £130 per room per night
If you are lucky enough to take up this opportunity, the Metropole Hotel would like to donate the cost of your entry fee to the Lobster Hatchery which means you are welcome to come in and catch up with our resident lobsters and crabs.
For hotel details please refer to their website: www.the-metropole.co.uk or phone 0800 2300 365. Please quote ref. NLH2010 when booking.
The Lobster Hatchery is holding another fund raising event at the Pescadou Restaurant in Padstow. This year the tickets will cost £29.50 per person. For this, Pescadou will provide a three course dinner and a glass of wine, followed by a cabaret.
Last years event was a huge success and raised over £2000 for the hatchery from ticket sales and the auction. We had some amazing prizes last year and are doing our best to put on another exciting selection of packages to bid for.
The hatchery will receive half of the proceeds from the ticket sales plus the profits from the auction. Our aim this year is to improve on last years success both in numbers attending and the amount raised.
MENU
Starters
Pescadou Crab and crayfish gumbo with rouille parmesan crouton
Home oak smoked chicken with a pineapple salsa and minted crème fraiche
Indian Spiced smoked haddock kedgeree topped with a poached free-range egg
Mains
Roast chunky fillet of hake over bouillabaisse of clams and mussels
Roast duck breast on a colcannon potato, kale and blueberry port reduction
Thai vegetable curry with a coconut rice cake and char grilled lime and melon salsa
Sides
Minted Cornish new potatoes
Baby Carrots in tarragon butter
Purple sprouting broccoli with toasted pine nuts
Desserts
Sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce, sherried sultanas and clotted cream
Vanilla Crème Brulee with roast plum compote and rich chocolate shortbread
A selection of Cornish cheeses with Healey's cider farm chutney and wheat crackers
and if you are feeling really generous we’ve got a lovely big red cuddly lobster to go with it, on special offer for £8 instead of £12.
