Visitor Invasion

Bothered birds will rush to roost. Puzzled foxes will stir from their daytime slumbers in what they imagme will be sudden night-time darkness. Actually, it will
be 11 minutes past 11.00 on the morning of Wednesday, 11 August 1999, when Cornwall, Britain's most westerly county, will experience the phenomenon of the first total solar eclipse visible from the
United Kingdom mainland since 1927 · and the last until 2090.

A 42-kilometre shadow will sweep across the centre of Cornwall, stretching from the village of St Just in the west to the town of Falmouth in the east to cloak the landscape in an unearthly pall,
with granite tors and picturesque cottages glowering momentarily in the dying sunlight. Then the moon's black disc will move directly between sun and earth.

Because Cornwall will be the centre of totality, where the eclipse will be at its most intense and dramatic, organisers are flexing their organisational muscles in preparation for the biggest visitor
invasion the west of England has ever seen.

As well as the 250,000 holidaymakers who normally crowd into Cornwall in the summer, eclipse watchers are expected to swell numbers by another l.5 million and many people planning to make a three-
week holiday of it.

Numbers like these have prompted the appointment of Gage Williams, a former brigadier in the British army, as official Eclipse Planning Co-ordinator, a post funded by local government, the European
Union and the private sector.

Mr Williams said: "My job ranges from seeing street lights come on in time, to ensuring that the county can cope with the sheer volume of traffic and the ceaseless clamour for accommodation. I am
negotiating with the Ministry of Defence for assistance from all three services with traffic controllers, recovery, helicopters for route monitoring and on-call medical facilities''.

It is known that 100,000 people have booked to jet in from the United States and arrangements have been made for nearby Royal Air Force and Royal Navy landing stations to take some 30 private
aircraft and helicopters.

Boat and cruiser liners are being encouraged to ferry visitors and take the pressure off the inevitably crowded roads which will mean south-coast ports and harbours being provided with extra repair
and fuelling facilities.

The county's local authority, Cornwall County Council, has estimated that putting the necessary infrastructure in place will cost 1.5 million pounds sterling. Mr Williams also has to make sure that
beaches adjacent to the main accommodation centres meet fully with EU environmental requirements.

Sites will include some of the most beautiful corners of the region such as the fishing village of Padstow and the towns of Bodmin and Falmouth. Practical plans for providing accommodation are in the
hands of local businessman and tourist entrepreneur Richard Walker who has set up Cornwall Eclipse 99, currently busily signing up landowners willing to host several thousand guests at prices ranging
from around 195 pounds sterling for four people staying one week to 500 pounds sterling for four staying up to three weeks.

"We are on target for securing 10,000 sites where roads will be laid with bore holes and where there will be temporary shops, banks and mobile phones. Some 33,000 portaloos (portable toilets) will be
needed for a million people'', Mr Walker said. Roseland School at Tregony, mid-Cornwall, has the only publicly open observatory in the UK lying directly on the path of totality. Under the guidance of
an astronomer it will have most aspects of the science on display. But there is an even bigger initiative afoot in the grounds of Helston School, in the south-west where a radio mast and an array of
radio telescopes will soon be sprouting.

For months teachers have undergone courses given by astronomers and scientists. Neil Tunstall, the school's Head of Science, said: "They are aimed at those who teach every age, so that no child is
without some knowledge of the eclipse. There has been considerable interest outside Britain, from educationalists as far afield as Beijing and Ohio.''

Hours before the eclipse thousands are expected to crowd on to the wild granitic area of Cornwall's Bodmin Moor, towering 450 metres and where there are plans to install telescopes, reflectors and
mirrors to catch the crucial moments.

A detailed eclipse safety code has been drawn up by the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. "We will emphasise that the sun should be viewed directly through special filters made
for safe solar viewing. Only when the moon is completely covering the sun's brilliant disc · two minutes or less · will it be safe to view a totally eclipsed sun without any filter'', a spokesman
said.

One highly exclusive group will be gaining the most technically detailed knowledge of the eclipse available anywhere. These are some of Britain's top astronomers and solar physicists who, anxious not
to be distracted by crowds, are gathering at a secret location to carry out preliminary sitings and be lectured by Sir Martin Rees, the 15th Astronomer Royal, a world authority on the nature of the
universe.

By way of contrast, the arts and entertainment worlds will be to the fore in the weeks leading up to the eclipse. Part of a Cornish medieval trilogy on Christ's passion and Crucifixion will be staged
in the open air and it is intended that the Crucifixion scene itself can be timed to coincide with the moment of total eclipse.

On a lighter note, there should be plenty for rock fans. Concerts by Led Zeppelin, the Spice Girls and Pink Floyd with · of course · Dark Side Of The Moon are in the planning stage.

Arguments persist as to where the best place will be to watch the eclipse. High on the list already is the imposing fairytale castle of St Michael's Mount, part of which dates from the 12th century
and which stands in imposing isolation on an island overlooking the town of Marazion, accessible only on foot when the tide is out.

Here, guests paying 100 pounds sterling can enjoy breakfast and see the eclipse while they sip champagne from a commemorative silver goblet with the proceeds going to a local school. An even more
comfortable and less-congested view will be had high up by supersonic Concorde which will chase the eclipse as it races in from the Atlantic and across Britain's south-west tip. The view should be
spectacular with no risk of cloud cover. For the champagne-sipping passengers the price will be spectacular also: upwards of 1,800 pounds sterling for the three-hour flight.

www.chycor.co.uk

www.thisiscornwall.co.uk

Freitag, 07. Mai 1999