Ventnor Blog

Don’t forget the Ventnor Carnival tomorrow.

The children’s carnival sets off at 2pm from Dudley Road and (weather permitting) will proceed up Pier Street, Church Street, Belgrave Road and onto Ventnor Park. If raining, the parade will go to the Winter Gardens instead.

Do come out and cheer on the kids - they go to great lengths to dress up and have fun.

Look out some children from Niton Primary School who will be raising awareness for the Barely Born appeal and will also be appearing in the evening procession along with a Barely Born branded car.

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In a surprise turn of events, Chair of the Winter Gardens Management Committee (WGMC), Maureen Cawley, has announced in a letter in the South Wight Chronicle, that they are to suspend confirmation of the Ventnor Winter Gardens as a venue for the 2009 Jazz Festival.

On 14 July, the majority of the WGMC voted to allow for it to be used.

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Here’s a little recap of events around Ventnor’s Winter Gardens Management Committee (WGMC) and their recent acceptance of the booking to use the Winter Gardens for the Ventnor Jazz Festival 2009.

Maureen Cawley, the Chair of the WGMC, gave assurances on 5 May that the Winter Gardens Committee would only let the Jazz Festival go ahead at the WG if …

1) there was no adverse publicity following this years event
2) and all creditors being paid in full

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At the last meeting of Ventnor Town Council, just after the public were excluded from the Winter Gardens Management Committee, the next agenda item to be discussed was the 2009 Jazz Festival - if they would sanction the hire of the Winter Gardens.

You might remember the black cloud over the festival with unpaid debts from both the 2007 Jazz Festival and the 2007 Folk and Blues Festival.

Chair of the Winter Gardens Management Committee (WGMC), Maureen Cawley, had agreed to pencil the 2009 festival in to take place at the Winter Gardens, subject to there being no negative publicity and all debts paid by September 2008.

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With news just in from Bestival HQ that they’ve just sold out of weekend tickets for Camp Bestival, anyone who entered our Camp Bestival ticket comp but weren’t lucky enough to be picked out of the hat might be interested in this comp being run by The Times.

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If you’re not heading off the Wight this weekend for Camp Bestival, but are hankering for a festival atmosphere, why not head down South to Niton where you’ll find the FONStival.

FONS-ti-what? You might be asking. Well FONS stands for ‘Friends Of Niton School’ and in a continuation of their fund raising efforts, this weekend Niton Primary School will be hosting their very own music festival.

As well as some of our most talented musicians performing, there’ll also be tons of stuff to keep the nippers happy.

They can take part in a carnival workshop making headdresses and masks, test out their monkey bar skills on the adventure trial, bounce for free on the blow up castle and much more.

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By the end of next week, the School holidays will be upon us and that means Carnival season on the Isle of Wight will be in full swing.

Festivities for Ventnor Carnival stretch across seven days in August, with activities taking place on most days which residents and holidaymakers can enjoy.

It kicks off with a barn dance at the Winter Gardens on Sunday 10th August. There’ll be the usual dog show on the Tuesday, obviously main carnival and children’s carnival takes place on the Wednesday.

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This time next week, lucky Camp Bestival ticket holders will be either dancing their socks off at Balaeric Bollywood, laughing their heads off at the Laughter Library or maybe still banging in their tent pegs.

Bestival HQ tell us there are just 200 tickets left for this first time boutique festival in the beautiful grounds of Lulworth Castle.

There’ll be 10,000 festival goers descending upon Durdle Door next Friday. If you want to join them get your tickets before they all go.

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With the festival season in full swing (despite the wind and rain) we thought you might be interested in an article that appears in the Guardian today.

The subject, Festival Food offerings, is something close to our hearts (we love good grub).

It’s fab to our friends over at Bestival HQ scoring so highly in their great choices of food vendors.

Organiser Ziggy Gilsenan tells the Guardian

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The time has come to announce the lucky winner of a family ticket for Camp Bestival which takes place in just over a week’s time.

Two adults and two under 16s will be enjoying free entrance and camping courtesy of those lovely folk at Bestival HQ.

The response to this competition has been unprecedented. We’ve had entries from all over the Island as well as the mainland, including such far flung places as London and Cardiff. (more…)

It’s great to see the VentnorBlog Bestival 2007 video scoring high on the Bestival MySpace page.

Filmed and edited by Lucho Limpo, it’s an ideal window into the wonderful world of Bestival for Bestival virgins and a lovely stumble down memory lane for those who’ve been up close and personal with the Best Medium Sized Festival going.

Video after the click. (more…)

THE COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

Those generous folk at Bestival HQ have given us a family ticket for the forthcoming Camp Bestival to give away.

As usual, the competition is open to all readers both on the Wight and ‘overseas’ (that mean you mainlanders) and given the festival takes place in just under three weeks, we’ll kick the comp off today and give you until Monday to send in your answers.

For the chance to win two adult tickets plus two under 16 passes all you have to do is answer the following question. (more…)

Camp Bestival is promising even more fun for the kids and big kids next month when Coldcut legend Jon More will be serving up a unique set of children’s classics.

Take a trip back memory lane as he dishes up Gospel and Hip Hop versions of timeless treats, including a reggae version of ‘This Old Man’!

Commenting on the bambino beats outing Jon said

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Bestival Band competition winners The Shanklin Freak Show took residency at Ventnor Park bandstand yesterday afternoon for an hour or so.

They managed to build up ample anticipation amongst the audience whilst waiting for more equipment to arrive, but once they got going the wait was worth it. More to come on that performance later in the week.

In the meantime, if you missed their performance at the Bestival Band Competition, thanks to Luke Ellison who filmed and edited the event, you can see them via the power of You Tube. See if you can spot Rob Da Bank’s new ident. (more…)

Ryde Regatta is almost upon us and there’s a fantastic line-up of free music again this year.

It all takes place on Ryde seafront over the weekend of 4th/5th & 6th of July. (more…)

A charity auction for Bestival tickets, which will last for ten days started this morning at 10am on Ebay.

Those lovely people at Bestival HQ have very kindly donated a pair of Bestival 2008 tickets to the Square to Square Charity Cycle Challenge 2008 Appeal. (more…)

Amidst a really good turnout last night at The Venue in Ryde, the winning band and DJ were picked by Mr Da Bank and his jury.

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To all those who missed out on Bestival tickets but still want a piece of the Bestival action this year, don’t forget there’s always Camp Bestival.

Located in the beautiful grounds of Lulworth Castle, Bestival’s new baby sister, Camp Bestival promises lots of festival fun for all the family.

Now, we all know that those crazy dudes at Bestival HQ love things big and plans for the Camp Bestival fancy dress are no exception.

They’re only planning the Biggest Mad Hatter’s Tea Party ever!

But they’re not just expecting us lot to dress up in order to make the fancy dress party go to plan. We’re told to expect … (more…)

Don’t forget music lovers and Bestival fans, that tomorrow night sees the grand final of the Bestival Island Band and DJ Competition.

Rob Da Bank and friends will be making up the usual panel of music experts to decide which of the following acts cut the mustard for the Bestival audience in September.

The range, as always and just the Island itself, is pretty diverse, from the likes of The Guy Page Trio, to The Shanklin Freakshow. Magic Octagon (who recently played IW Festival main stage), The Steam Machine and The Kurves all join the lineup.

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This one’s not quite so relevant for readers on the Wight, but certainly will be for our mainland readers who love following all the latest Bestival news.

With just a few weeks to go until the very first Camp Bestival, organisers have just announced that they are releasing day tickets.

This move is to cheer up all the festival lovers who live nearby and want to attend daily and not have to camp overnight. (more…)

Update: We’re very sorry to hear that this event has been cancelled - see the comment below

As part of the Ryde Arts Festival on 8th and 9th of July there is a great opportunity for Island musicians to get involved and help keep Ryde Theatre open.

Organisers are inviting anyone who has played or who wishes to play Ryde Theatre in the future to help demonstrate the massive diversity of local talent, capable of providing good, regular entertainment all around the Island for Islanders and visitors alike.

Keeping Ryde Theatre open is vital to all musicians regardless of creed, colour or age.

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Congratulations to the five bands and three DJs who have made it through to the Bestival Bands Competition.

After winning the votes of the public, next week playing in front of an esteemed panel of judges will be the Guy Page Trio, The Shanklin Freakshow (finalists in the IW Festival BOTB Comp), Magic Octagon (who recently won the IW Festival BOTB Comp, The Steam Machine and The Kurves.

Spinning the vinyl to win over the judges will be Jordan Peak (pictured), Mistubishop and Duvstar and DJ Steel. (more…)

Ever keen to see how Island bands are progressing, we went over to the County Press Web site to check out the Bestival DJ and Band competition.

Blimey, how many clicks and pages do you need to go through to get to listen to the DJ’s or Bands? Feels like thousands.

Either the CP got no idea how to provide an enjoyable Web experience, or it’s a really feeble way of trying to get their pages views up :).

The short cut
If you do want to vote for the bands, here’s the quick way to get to do it, to save you from potentially getting RSI from all of those clicks …

Vote for Island DJ’s

Vote for Island Bands

Yes we know that rumours have been awash on the Wight as to what the fancy dress theme will be at Bestival this year - but we can confirm tonight - exclusively on VentnorBlog - that the theme is something very nautical (and naughty if you fancy) - 30,000 freaks under the sea!

It’s party time in a few months time on the Wight and judging on past performance, Bestival certainly know how to throw one.

Every year the theme changes, as Bestival make the record books for the largest fancy dress parade in the world. We wonder whether they’re going to call in the Guinness World of Records this year?
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For anyone who missed the You and Yours programme on BBC R4 last week, when outstanding debts from the Jazz and Folk and Blues festivals were discussed, VentnorBlog gives you a chance to listen again, even after it runs out on the BBC website.

It appears that Geri Ward chose her words carefully when asked by John Waite for a simple Yes or No, as to whether they would be paying musicians who were still owed money.

We lost count of the amount of times he asked the question, listen yourselves (after the jump) to see how she answered.

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