Ventnor Blog

As we reported at the weekend, there was tremendous support for the Save Our Schools Campaign on Saturday, with the police estimating almost 2,000 people attending.

In our conversation with Patrick Joyce yesterday, VentnorBlog learnt a number of interesting points about the proposed changes to schooling on the Island.

He told us that the council is saying that they hope to make one million pounds worth of saving if they close at least 22 of the Island Primary Schools.

The sobering revelation was that with approximate 19-20,000 pupils currently in the Island education system, this £1m would only equate to roughly £50 per pupil.

In the words of Cllr Joyce, that’s “not going to make an iota of difference to the education of that child,” he continued, “that £50 would be used up in administration, but actually improving the academic ability of that child is most unlikely.”

One of the major arguments put forward by the Isle of Wight Council as to why they should carry out the proposed primary school closures, is that the schools currently have a short-fall in the number of pupils entering the schools, in turn leading to a reduction in Government grants.

In a conversation with Patrick Joyce today, he explained to VentnorBlog how simple it was for this to be altered.
(more…)

Whilst we were gathering vox pops at the Big Green Picnic launch last week, we also caught up with Lynn Clarke, Community Liaison Officer from Island Waste Services.

Lynn is very passionate about recycling and sustainability on the Island, and as her answer to the question “What does Eco Island mean to you?” was so comprehensive, we felt it was worthy of it’s own podcast. (more…)

As mentioned earlier, we were at the launch of the Big Green Picnic last week. All the Island’s movers and shakers as far as green issues and sustainability go, were there to hear what the council is planning for the One Big Picnic, their high profile environmental event in May.

After David Pugh and Joe Duckworth had given their speeches, we worked our way through the audience or pounced on people queuing to make their ‘green pledge’ (everyone was invited to strip their plates of meat and have their souls soles painted green before slapping them down on sheets of paper), to grab some vox-pops.

We asked one simple question …. (more…)

In our final interview from the Save Our Schools march on Saturday, we spoke to Paul Critchley, a father of four who has been campaigning for an increase in standards in our schools for quite some time.

He’s relieved that “people have finally woken up to what council is up to” and “believes there is huge opposition for good reason.”

Paul feels that there must be ways around restructuring which will avoid closing smaller schools. He urges the council to look at the many examples around the UK and consider solutions that would be far less damaging on the Wight.

(more…)

Whilst on the Save Our Schools march on Saturday we also grabbed a few minutes with founder of White Air, Nigel Howell. He has kids in school on the Island and is clearly troubled by the proposals.

So much so, that he and a few others he works with on White Air pulled together to get posters, flyers and a website up and running just prior to the demo on Saturday.

(more…)

We went along to Totland on Saturday to see and take part in the first Island demonstration against the proposed Primary School closures.

As mentioned earlier, it attracted over 200 people which was pretty impressive given the cold and windy day and short notice. It wove its way through the streets of Totland and Freshwater, resting at the Freshwater Rec where some people gave speeches.

We got to speak to Jill Wareham - ex-Lib Dem Island councillor previously responsible for education - just after she addressed those gathered.
(more…)

After the Save Our Schools march from Totland to Freshwater on Saturday, we caught up with organiser of the demo, Charlotte Snook.

Over 200 people attended the march, which was organised within a couple of days after proposals for the council to close at least 22 Island primary schools was announced. The march saw not only parents, but other concerned members of the community join together to voice their opinions.

The number of people who made it out on this very cold and windy day at short notice, just goes to show how passionate people are about maintaining the primary schools in villages. (more…)

With news of the P1 Grand Prix of the Seas moving elsewhere this year, it reminded us that we still had one more podcast from last year’s event to publish.

Whilst getting very excited over the large engines being revved in the harbour, Simon caught up with Martin Lai who was part of the Sun Llik team and managed to pick up second place in the Round the Island Race in the Supersport class.

Martin has been racing in the national championships for five years, with 2007 being his second world championships.

As you can imagine, being sponsored by a beer company has it’s advantages when it comes to the after parties!

We look forward to seeing Martin again when we hope he returns for the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes race in August

Click on the arrow to listen to the podcast

We caught up with Clive Joynes, IW Council electoral services manager and deputy returning officer, at last nights count and did a very quick audio interview with him (below), including him reading out the results from the Ventnor West election.

He oversaw the elections yesterday and, along with his two female colleagues, made sure the election ran correctly and smoothly.
(more…)

This being the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edward Elgar, it’s highly appropriate that yesterday saw the unveiling of a blue plaque commemorating Elgar’s honeymoon stay in Ventnor.

Around 15-20 people braved the cold winds and gathered at 3 Alexandra Gardens in Ventnor today to hear Graham Bennett, the walking encyclopaedia of Ventnor history, deliver a short introduction about Elgar and Ventnor. He handed over to Andrew Neill, Chairman of the Elgar Society who completed the picture of Elgar’s stay and how his musical career really came together following his marriage … and trip to Ventnor. Elgar musical output was formidable, as you can see in his Wikipedia entry.
(more…)

Many thanks to Barbara Wright from the Undercliff Defence Committee for taking the time after the lengthy Cabinet Meeting to chat with us about the outcome of the meeting.

It’s been a long hard slog for the UDC, but people power prevailed in the end. Listen by clicking on the play button below.

Following the Cabinet meeting this evening, Simon grabbed five minutes with Cllr Susan Scoccia for her views on the decision made to scrap the Undercliff Drive Realignment Scheme and clarification on some of the alternative options.

Listen to the podcast by clicking on the play button below.

The weekend before last, we caught up with Chas Hodges in his dressing room just before the Chas ‘n’ Dave gig at the Ventnor Winter Gardens.

He was a lovely bloke to chat to and more than happy to tell us about how he started out as a bass player in The Outlaws before going onto work with the legendary Joe Meek.

The second record that Dave played on went to number one in the charts, Johnny Remember Me by John Layton. And when he was with Cliff Bennett and Rebel Rousers, he toured with The Beatles no less.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he was also on tour with Jerry Lee Lewis, where he learnt to play the old Joanna.

(more…)

Norris & Knight
23 High Street
Ventnor, PO38 1RZ

Tel: 01983 854330

Opening times:
8.30-4.30 Mon-Fri
8.30-1.30 Saturday

Norris & Knight provide fresh meat, a variety of local produce and a great delicatessan.

Listen to what else master butcher, Tony Norris has to offer his customers after the click.

(more…)

38 High Street
Ventnor
Isle of Wight

01983 855355

Opening Hours: 9am-5pm Monday to Saturday

Listen to an interview with Steve Hogg, owner of Noah’s Ark, a pet supplies store and successful green grocery to hear what he has to offer after the click.
(more…)

The Country Kitchen
37 High Street
Ventnor, PO38 1RZ

Tel: 01983 855004

Opening hours 7.30am-3pm Monday to Saturday

Listen to an interview with Wim Stoorvogel and read more about what The Country Kitchen has to offer after the click.

(more…)

Whilst at the unveiling of Mike Forrest’s The Catch back in March, we also grabbed five minutes with Ced Wells, Marketing Manager for A J Wells.

This fabulous piece of public artwork was commissioned by A J Wells and Island 2000, and on the podcast Ced talks us through the process for choosing Mike as the artist.
(more…)

A few weeks back, we popped up to Ryde to chat with Asa Singleton about his time at Bestival and what it felt like being presented the IW People’s People award for his bravery and continual positivity.

Whilst we were there, Asa also mentioned that he’d just started at IW College, choosing three subjects which should set him up for life.

We asked what the support had been like during his education on the Island, not only at IW College but also at Ryde High School, where he met Ben (pictured here with Asa at the IW People’s Awards), who started out as helper, but quickly became great friend.

What seems like a lifetime ago, back in March this year, we drove up to East Cowes to see Island artist, Mike Forrest, unveil his latest piece of work.

You might recall us in the past, bringing your attention to Mike’s work, this, his latest piece at the time named The Catch, was commissioned by Island 2000 and A.J. Wells.

After the unveiling, we caught up with Mike, who gave us the lowdown on the process and techniques used to create this wonderful piece of public artwork.
(more…)

The Wight Zombie walk on Saturday night was brilliant fun - not just in the staggering around in a moaning way, but in the fun of picking what to wear and making-up to look … undead.

After parking the car (and wishing on the way there that the Island had traffic jams every now and then, so we could have shocked those sitting in their cars along side us), we quickly got into character, dragging our feet along and stumbling occasionally, up the road toward to meeting place near Somerfield.

(more…)

This audio recording is a slice of the conversation that we had with Asa at his house a week or so back.

It starts with a bit of background as to the series of happy coincidences that fell into place, that worked to get Asa to Bestival.

Listen on the eight minute podcast below and find out how Asa managed to jump the queue to get into Bestival before The Levellers; got to meet The Beastie Boys backstage; had a bunch of Wight Trash T-shirts enthusiastically grabbed off him by one of the Beasties and had a close encounter with Suggs from Madness.

(more…)

Last night saw the launch of the Transition Island initiative at the Riverside Centre in Newport. 60+ people turned out - a very encouraging number for the first meeting.

It was interesting to see that there was a really wide range of people there, which also spanned the age spectrum - each bringing their own valuable experience and areas of expert knowledge. One thing uniting them was the desire to start planning for a better, more sustainable future.
(more…)

Last week we popped over to Ryde to catch up with Asa Singleton who recently picked up two People’s People awards.

Not only was Asa presented by Island MP Andrew Turner with the Courageous Child Award, but also the People’s Person Award, both to standing ovations.

We had a chat about how it felt being chosen by IW Radio listeners and asked Asa where he gets his amazing positivity from.

Podcast after the click
(more…)