Ventnor Blog

Thanks to Don for giving us the heads up that Ventnor celebrity gardener, Simon Goodenough will be on the Alan Titchmarsh Show on at 3pm today.

All you have to do is switch on the TV at 3pm and tune into ITV to see him in action.
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Yes folks, they’re back in the IW Radio studio and contactable on 822002.

If you want to ask any questions about the claims from Schools Minister Jim Knight (as highlighted earlier in the week) that the Council’s proposed closures are unjustified, now is your chance.

Call the phone-in on 822002

If like us, you don’t watch TV, you will have missed the local news bulletin on the BBC tonight.

The piece starts with a visit to St George’s in Arreton, where £1m has just been spent improving the school premises. However, under the proposed closures, this is one of the schools due to be closed.

It’s what follows this part of the report is even more interesting. Schools Minster, Jim Knight, stated on camera that he is alarmed that some councils, such as the IOW, have been proposing widescale closures of small rural schools for which he can see no justification and is asking them to think again. (more…)

We’ve been noticing of late how interested the Country Press has been getting in reporting on Ventnor - especially over the last few of months, with a couple of pieces appearing each week.

As is often the accusation against the media, were they just building up our beloved town so they could slap it down?

The article itself isn’t too bad. It’s the way it’s been editorialised - the headline and the photographs - that don’t do the town any favours.
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Labour councillor Geoff Lumley will be appearing on the Alex Dyke phone-in today to discuss the proposals between noon and 1pm on 102 and 107 fm.

He’s already had much to say about the matter on his own blog.

An interesting reminder from Geoff, is how the Tories claimed back in May 2005 in their ‘Timetable for Action’ they would,

“Maintain local village schools as vital centres of the community.”

Bit of a U-turn there then?

Be proud of yourself Ventnor, not only did Russell Brand (not Grant as I’ve just written!) choose to come to Ventnor to knock around town on his recent visit to the Isle of Wight, but one of you, Sister Grim, broke the story on the VentnorBlog Forum.

Despite having had an early heads up on this, we made the decision to give him a break while he was on the Island and not run the story.

As you may well be aware Mr Brand coming to the Island has been running on the Island’s media sources for nearly a week now, with IW Radio being a particularly enthusiastic participant.
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If you’re a Guardian reader, you may well have been surprised to see Ventnor’s beach beaming out at you from the pages of the colour supplement, recommending all of their readers to Move to Ventnor.

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Well done to Amy Harrison, age 8, from Hunnyhill Primary School, who created such a great design and in-turn, won Andrew Turner’s (MP) Island-wide Christmas Card Design Competition.

It looks great and is being circulated as Andrew’s card.

Well done to Angie for getting the Ventbag site up and running.

It’s got information for shoppers who want to stop using plastic bags, as well as background for the traders and business that look to make the change.

If anyone else feels the urge to start a blog, do get in touch with us and we can help you through the process and possibly host it for you too.

Ventbag site

Ocean FM, which based in Hampshire, but receivable on the Island, has today had its wrist slapped by Ofcom, the regulator that oversees its licence to broadcast.

The problem occurred with the type of music that Ocean is playing. It should be playing Adult Contemporary music targeting 25-44 year-olds, but Ofcom’s view is that it’s interpreting this “in a very Adult Rock type of way.”
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The amazing thing about talking to people is that often, you find out a whole lot more than you knew about before you met them. It’s easy to forget, but often proves itself to be right.

Land of Hope and Glory, as we all now know was written by Elgar.

Amazing to hear from Andrew Neill (Elgar Society) that Elgar only really came to wide public attention relatively recently. In the 60s, it was pretty hard to find his recordings on vinyl … I now know.

Well through the miracle of enlightenment that digital access gives to media … we can now present to you the rabble rousing, Land of Hope and Glory. … oh and it’s conducted by His Edward-ness …

Huge pal and devoted reader of VB, Charlotte Hofton, appears to be starting to understand the problem of a blogger - if you have the sheer temerity to express your opinion in public, you’ll have a long queue of people forming a (not so) orderly line to have a pop at you.

The three letters on page 17 of last weeks CP, we suspect are a selection of those submitted (that’s one of the big difference between the filtered letters page of a newspaper and an open Forum).

Looks like we were wrong to assume that there was no one interested!

Welcome Charlotte to our world.

Well done to our friends at iCANDI for their recent interview with great exposure, on BBC Hampshire.

The iCANDI tour starts this Friday at Ryde Theatre with four live bands, Pink Pussycat DJs and lots of wonderful arty things going on.

Tickets are available from several outlets around the Island and the event finishes at 1am, so you still have time to pop to Coast afterwards.

Listen to the interview.

Great to hear Duncan Smith on IW Radio putting this weekend’s IT in Schools conference in Newport on the news bulletins.

There’s still a few places left, ideal for Island teachers who want to get tuned up on what technologies can offer them and their students.

Increasingly people are writing about the Island on their blogs and the experiences that they’ve had. We though it would be a good idea to pick out these when we find them (or you tell us about them) and bring them to your attention, re-reminding what a great place you live.

If you come across any, do drop us a line, so we can mention them … and you.
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Ventnor has just been described by Jon Cuthill as the New Notting Hill on Radio Solent.

“Ventnor is the new Centre of the Universe”

They’re currently asking for people to call in to tell them about the famous people from Ventnor - sons and daughters.

Perversely, Ventnor can’t receive the radio broadcasts - but you can get it online.

You can email Jon on jon(dot)cuthill(at)bbc(dot)co(dot)uk

How the mighty have fallen.

Charlotte Hofton of the County Press, who haughtily greeted us with “Hello blogger,” in the most demeaning manner that she could muster when we first met her in the Newport council chamber, is now … writing blog pieces!! Ha ha ha.

It looks like she’s been kicked to the curb from the main paper, relegated to write a column on the inside page of the Weekend supplement.

The format of the pieces are essentially short-form blog pieces. In her case, they’re rants - certainly not the case with all blogs.

Frankly Chazer … no one’s interested.

Here’s the funniest part - given her self-important pomposity, she probably hasn’t realised the irony in it!

The pathetically hypocritical Ventnor Blog haven’t even mentioned a forthcoming festival.

Never shy to impose their blathering opinions on their readers, Ventnor Blog, hasn’t said a word about a festival that, apparently, will start in Ventnor this week.
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If you’re a reader of this week’s County Press, the odds are that you’ve got no idea that the Powerboat P1 is taking place in Cowes this weekend.

The CP gave it a couple of para at the very back of the Weekender supplement. A strong contrast to the Skandia sailing event of a few weeks back, which had its own separate supplement!

Isn’t the CP supposed to be the newspaper for the Island? By not making more of important Island events like this, they’re letting down lots of people - the P1 people who go to a huge effort to bring the P1 to Cowes; the population of Cowes, by not making the most of having the event in town; and the residents of the whole Island. By not telling them it’s on, the CP is effectively robbing them of an enjoyable weekend out - one that doesn’t cost anything to spend time at as well.
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A plane crashed at midday on Sunday at Sandown airport, killing all four on-board.

Reports say that the plane came down a half mile after take-off, after the plane had climbed to around 100ft, nose diving into a corn field near Canteen Road in Apse Heath.

It’s reported that 30 firefighters from the Island Fire and Rescue service attended with five pumps and three specialist vehicles. A spokesman told the Daily Mail that there was nothing that could have been done to save the four people on board, “The plane was well alight when we arrived and there was no way of getting the people out.”
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I don’t know what they do to encourage the prisoners in the Philippines to join in with this kind of mass dancing, but it’s pretty impressive.

OK the camera work is pretty erratic, but the overall effect is mad. We give you 1,500 prisoners synced in to a dance routine, demonstrating the funk of 40,000 years …

If you’re not so much into Thriller, fill yer boots with Radio Gaga, complete with a goodness knows how many prisoners clapping together

If this has got your interest, there’s quite a few more to have a look at too.

There’s a video relevant to Ventnor that came out earlier this month, about how local shops are disappearing due to the relentless march of the supermarkets - and how you can change this by spending a few pounds at your local shops on a weekly basis.

Voiced by Alexi Sayle, it takes a pop at the “Every Little Helps” phrase used by Tesco.

Watch the video after the jump
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On Saturday the Guardian had a blitz of article on the UK as a destination for beach holidays - and the Isle of Wight came out in most of the pieces!

By our quick straw poll, it appears that The Island was mentioned more than any other part of the country. Well done to Sue Emmerson and Kellie White in the press office at the Isle of Wight Tourism Press & PR Department for getting so many items in there.

Biggest tip ‘o’ the hat goes to The Spyglass, Ventnor who got the main photo in the article covering the Seaside Pubs.
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Following Tuesday’s piece on the launch of Fusion magazine, and yesterday’s interviews, here’s two more interviews with people involved.

Naomi Bissell
Naomi is a Creative Programmer at the Creative partnership - an organisation focused on creative projects with schools and young people, managed by Arts Council England and funded by the DfES and DCMS.

She gives a background on the Medina project and covers the wider work of the Creative Partnership which has project running at between 7 and 15 schools in and around the south of the UK.

Naomi Bissell

Rhionnan Kennerley
Rhionnan was a sub editor of the Weird Science section of Fusion. It gave her a real taste of the pressures of the role, including making sure contributers hit deadlines and how to deal with them when you chop their copy.
Rhionnan Kennerley

Further to the piece yesterday on the launch of Fusion magazine, here’s two more interviews with people involved.

Darren Toogood
Darren was one of the longest serving students on the magazine. He was involved with the graphics, doing layouts of the footer, headers using Adobe InDesign.

Darren Toogood:

Gemma Stenning
Gemma is a teacher at the Media High school. She acted as executive editor over the Fusion project ensuring a consistant feel across the magazine.

Gemma Stenning: