Ventnor Blog

We’ve noticed on the VentnorBlog Forum recently, that many people are using the board to seek out recommendations.

The variety of recommendations is wide, from dressmakers to builders, aga servicing to pest control.

Because of this, we’ve decided to break out some of these recent posts and start a new board called Recommendations?.
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We were really chuffed to see on the VentnorBlog Forum that VentnorBlog’s Ventnor West 2007 Town Council election coverage has inspired our US cousins to follow suit and go ‘all out’ in their coverage of their forthcoming elections.

You will remember back in December last year, Simon and Nigel visited all five candidates and filmed question and answer sessions, which we then broadcast through the Blog. We also provided a discussion board on the VentnorBlog forum which was particularly active and gave all readers an idea of each candidates views on issues important to the town. (more…)

The wonderful Paul Armfield, musician, book shop manager and generally lovely chap will be kicking off his German tour next week. We’d love to be there to show our support, but can’t make it out this time.

He has several dates touring around German and concludes at the Magdeburg Feuerwache Festival with an aftershow party at the Bluenote.

If for some strange reason, you’ve never seen Paul play live take a look at his MySpace and listen to some of his brilliant tracks.

The tour sounds great and we wish Paul all the best in Germany.

It’s a shame that The Guardian has to parade its level of ignorance of what the Isle of Wight is like these days, by publishing articles like Johnny Dee’s today.

Writing about the monarchy, clearly makes dear Johnny feel like he’s actually part of the royalty, as he adopts his best regal tone, opening a paragraph with, “One suspects.” He continues, “this was all the idea of some judicious aide tasked with finding the least exciting place on earth.”

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Despite reports in many other publications that Wight Link are about to offer broadband access on their ferries, we’d advise you to not get too excited just yet.

Those who read the news wires correctly rather than just churn the press releases, will have realised that the access is for ‘captain and crew only’ at the moment.

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In case you hadn’t heard already, next Tuesday sees a charity gig take place in Southampton and for a great cause.

Bands for Barnardo’s is aiming to raise as much cash as they can for the children’s charity, Barnados

You should recognise at least two of the bands on the lineup as being from this side of the water.
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Thanks to Muso Activator for forwarding this great opportunity for young musicians who might be interested in playing at one of the largest music festivals going.
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It’s not just the Isle of Wight who are taking up the challenge of becoming an Eco Island.

According to the Times of Malta, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi claimed at a press conference that he “could not wait” to launch Gozo as an eco-island, a development which would mean a better quality of life for all Gozitans.
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Following the fantastic The Imagined Village set on Sunday evening at Camp Bestival will be winner of both Brit Award ‘Best British Female’ and NME Awards ‘Best Solo Artist’, the gorgeous Kate Nash. (more…)

Good friends of the blog, The Wild Oats will be playing live this weekend, not only at a venue in Southampton but also on Radio Solent.
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One of our regular forum members and friend of the blog, Lulu has recently returned from a trip to Kenya where she visited one of the children’s homes.
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We all know that the role of fisherman is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

There’s news breaking that a fisherman in Australia, Michael Williams, has swam for more than ten hours to safety.
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Well done to the lads in Goodbye Stereo who seem to be having great success in getting themselves gigs on and off the Wight.

If you’re not able to make to along on the Neon City gig, how about this one in March?

Meat Pie Promotions Presents… (don’t you just love that illustration?) Tubelord, Canterbury, Goodbye Stereo & Venice Ahoy!

The venue is the Railway Rifles Club over the water in Portsmouth and will cost you a fiver to get in.

We’re big fans of the Monorex Art Collective - who have strong ties to the Island, so when we can, we love to let you know what they’re up to.

You might remember seeing artwork from the Monorex collective at Quay Arts back in October 2005 as part of Shopping Trolley.

You also might remember the Secret Wars event that took place over in Southampton in September last year.

Well, Secret Wars has almost come to completion now with the grand final taking place at the end of the month.
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Happy New Year to all our Chinese readers.

As we move into the year of the rat, it has been predicted that this will be a time of hard work, activity, and renewal.

According to Chinese astrologists, the rat year will be a good one to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start.

Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, but opportunities will come for people who are well prepared and resourceful.
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Following the announcement yesterday that The Imaginary Village will be playing at Camp Bestival we’re pleased to let you in on more of the acts now confirmed to play in July at the Bestival’s sister festival.

The rather excellent Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip will be making their way over to Lulworth Cove to share their warped beats and exhibit their tremendous lyrical dexterity.

Check out this vid on YouTube … You’ve got to admire that beard
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Those lovely festival people over at Bestival HQ have just let us in on the latest confirmations of acts and wonderful goodies they have in store for us at Camp Bestival this year.

First up, we have to tell you about the amazing folk supergroup The Imagined Village.

Apparently Rob saw them play last year and was so over whelmed that he was in tears after the third song - ooh you big softy Rob!

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If you’re hankering after the dizzy days of Bestival and looking for an excuse to get together with all those new buddies you made at Bestival last year, listen up.

Those party people at Bestival are back on the road and Rob da Bank is pulling together some cracking parties over the next couple of months, just what you need to get you in the mood for the festival season.

The parties will feature live turns from The Cuban Brothers, Boy Kill Boy, Kitty Daisy & Lewis, Pete and the Pirates, Ebony Bones and Christopher D Ashley. (more…)

It’s not every day that a local football team - in particular one made up of part time players - is all over the National media, but today is the exception.

Havant & Waterlooville - the Hawks to the fans - played against Liverpool, at Anfield, and for half an hour, they led Liverpool in the fourth rounds of the FA Cup.

The betting before the match was offering odds that many a Hawks fan would have found hard not to take - 50/1 for winning at Anfield and 5000/1 for them to win the FA Cup.

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Bestival HQ has just announced the release of the brand spanking (easy now) new Camp Bestival website.

It looks just as lovely as the Bestival website and features more of that colourful animated artwork from Josie Da Bank.

The site is jam-packed with info about the new festival taking place in the beautiful Lulworth Cove this July. As well as finding out who’s performing, you can get the skinny on what’s going on in each part of the site – The Castle Field, Magic Meadow, Kid’s Garden and the Camping areas.
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Ello, ello, ello, what’s all this we’ve got goin’ on ‘ere then?

Hampshire police have started producing podcasts, cleverly named Plodcasts.

The first Plodcast has just been released and covers Smartwater (a new one to us) which is being used to mark people’s possessions to make the easier to recover if they suffer from a burglary.

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Island folk rockers, The Wild Oats, will be playing over the water tonight.

If you happen to be in Southampton and fancy a good night out, get yourselves down to The Hamptons Bar. It won’t cost you a penny and you’ll be able to pick up a copy of the charity single, Paper Tigers.

Show your support to Island talent if you’re off the Wight tonight.

If so, then listen up.

Get Involved, the management team behind the award winning Bestival, are looking for an outgoing, passionate and creative new intern to work in their PR department.

If you’re the lucky one, you’ll get the chance to work on festivals such as Bestival (natch) as well as Field Day, Snowbombing and Rockness.

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Here’s a little sneaky peeky for those of you planning or indeed considering going to Camp Bestival.
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The list of Camp Bestival announcements continues with great news for any beatbox disciples.

That bonkers beatboxer, Beardyman (on just after the Beasties, Sunday afternoon last Besti) will present a grand Battlejam at Camp Bestival next year.

If you haven’t been fortunate enough to catch Beardyman (aka Darren Foreman) live, there’s a YouTube sampler below.
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