Ventnor Blog

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…)

We’ve so much admiration for the Fell runners who gathered in Ventnor last weekend. It takes a lot to run the hilly streets of Ventnor, never mind up to the Downs.

The first bod had recently finished his run, having last completed all three races ten years ago. We left a bit of atmosphere of the day at the start of this chat, to try and place you there.

Podcasts after the click.
(more…)

Here’s a chat we recorded with someone who has been visiting Ventnor for years - bringing their pounds to spend in the town - not liking the idea of the proposed Mill Bay development.
(more…)

We’ve edited out question asking from the last two, as you’ve heard them all before. Below are more of the Vox Pops from our stint outside Sommerfields on Tuesday afternoon.

The aim was to get a feel for how people of Ventnor viewed the news that the case officer for the Mill Bay Development application is recommending approval of the scheme.

There were 168 letters of objection from members of the public, English Heritage have objected to the plans in their current state and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England believe the plans constitute over-development of the site. Hear what the next three members of the public have to say after the click.
(more…)

Following on from our piece yesterday with the first set of Vox Pops, where we asked passersby on their views about the Mill Bay Development, here’s the next batch.

We were only down there for about 15-20 minutes and just to be clear, everyone that was happy to speak to us will be broadcast regardless of whether they were against or for the development.

(more…)

Yesterday we popped down to Ventnor town to try and get a sample of how people feel about the Mill Bay - and the news that broke that morning that the planning officer had recommended that the Mill Bay plans go ahead.

Recordings like this are called Vox Pops in the trade. Means nothing more than The Voice of the People (Latin innit). You ask a question, someone tells you how they feel about it.

(more…)

You may remember an interview we did with Nigel Hook after the first day of racing at the Powerboat P1 in Cowes.

You’ll tell from listening to this brief chat that Nigel was really rather pleased - and why not after the team had won both of the Evolution Class races in the British Grand Prix of the Seas, at the home of powerboat racing, Cowes?

He’d just got off the podium after having received the Beaverbrook Trophy from the current Lord Beaverbrook himself.

Not to mention a champagne-soaking.

To give you some idea of the diversity, we head around a few of the new organisations involved with this years Wight Air.

Mick Smith, director of Quay Arts, has, as a follow up of the FreeQuay experimental arts event earlier in the summer, put on an interesting tent with digital video editing with John Cattle and a have-a-go session, making dance music, with the multi-talented Andy Jones.

John and his team will be out and about during the festival filming the punters and competitors and then editing back in the tent.

You can also then create the music with Andy and have the whole thing sent through to your mobile to treasure.

After winning both of the races of the British Grand Prix of the Sea in their SuperSports class, on their home water, Jackie Hunt and Mike Sheldon were in a buoyant mood.

We stood on a pontoon as the sun started to drop in the sky, just out of earshot of the celebrations and chatted about their success in their boat, that boasts twin V8 engines, giving 1050 HP at the control of their throttle in the boat that they call ExtremeBoat.com.

Among other things, I thought it would be interesting to know what, in such a male-dominated world such as P1, the reaction of the other male-only teams had been, when they found themselves losing to a team with a woman in it.

There’s load more details about them on their site, ExtremeBoat.com

There’s very little that can quite prepare you for the sound of a powerboat P1 engine firing up and revving when you’re standing alongside.

There’s something almost visceral about it. Your internal organs rearrange themselves in changing patterns trying it fit around the throbs as the V10 engine pumps fuel into itself, in an attempt to stay up with the spark plugs which are exploding it.

It’s loud. Very loud.

Such was the experience on the pits/pontoons. By the miracle of technology you can share the experience by listening to the recordings we made.

You might’ve heard the powerboats roaring past yesterday (and if you didn’t you can here) as they took part in the Round The Island Endurance Race.

Whilst up in Cowes at the Powerboat P1 event this afternoon, we were lucky enough to grab some time with Nigel Hook (podcast below), he being the throttleman for Outerlimits, Evolution class P1, that gurt big red one was way out in front as it passed Ventnor.

He went on to win to race and along with fellow pilot Joe Sgro, they managed to set the lap speed record, reaching 97 mph.

That’s quite some speed, I’m sure you’ll agree, and gave them an average speed for the entire race of 86 mph.
(more…)

It’s taken us a while to treat the recording we did with Joe Duckworth last Thursday, the day after full council meeting. (We also understand that it was the first interview that he’d given)

The recording was carried out around a table, where we were all a little too far away from the mic. This lead to us having to play around to reduce the hiss, while boosting the audio. It’s come out sounding slightly underwater, but hope you find it all OK. (Watch out at about the 10 minute point for the sound spike)

Click on the arrow below to launch the podcast:
(more…)

As trailed by Sal, Sophie Blake-Bevan got a certificate from Chief Lifeguard Instructor for the IOW, Brian Barrett, of the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) today, of which very few have been awarded in the Island.

We headed down there to grab a few shots and record a little chat with Sophie and Brian to get a background on the dramatic rescue. About five minutes in to the recording Brian covers general beach safety and how the certificate came around. Towards the end, you’ll also get to learn about the Gutway in Ventnor.

There’s a bit of wind noise on the latter part of the recording, sorry about that. Although the sun was blazing down on the beach, there were a few gusts of wind that might disturb your ears a little.

Don’t forget, accidents like this are unusual in Ventnor, and will hopefully be even more rare due to the now-paid-for Lifeguards in Ventnor.

(click on arrow below to listen)

When we first arrived in Ventnor, whilst my washing was swishing around at the launderette, I often used to pop into the Troubadour for a coffee and sausage sarnie. The sausages were always cooked to perfection and served with a smile. That smile belonged to the face of Paul Murphy.

Not long afterwards he sold up and moved over to the butchers, where he continued to serve with a friendly smile and genuine interest.

It was a big surprise when he suddenly disappeared from the butchers a few months back, but a lovely surprise to see him, and his partner Nicky, yesterday at the Christmas Fayre - with their own stall selling a range of own produced sausages and dry cured, back and streaky bacon.

He uses all Island pork and almost all ingredients are Island produced. He sold out completely of his Christmas special sauages which sound amazing, but he promised to work hard into the night to get some more ready for today. If you fancy trying some pork sausages with cinnamon, ginger, cider, black pepper, cloves, nutmeg and apple, better get down to the Brewery Christmas Fayre today. They sound fantastic!

As well as some of the other farmers markets on the Island, Paul and Nicky will be down at a new farmers market at Thompson Garden Centre (next to Amazon World) every Sunday after Christmas.

Simon had a quick chat with Paul about his return to Ventnor and plans for the future. Listen to the podcast by clicking below.

Update: Just had the Christmas sausages for dinner and they were delicious. Try them with this recipe.

Last night the brewery site was a hive of activity. If you’ve driven past in the last couple of days, you’ll have seen the marquees going up. Well under the covers last night, everyone was working extremely hard to pull it all together for the grand opening tonight.

The action kicks off about 7.30ish with The Jones’s playing live on stage (yes, they have built a stage in there). So why not come down and try some Ventnor Golden which has been sitting in oak casks for the last two weeks, whilst taking in the great live music and atmosphere.

Simon managed to grab Xavier for five minutes to chat about what’s on offer this weekend. Listen to the podcast by clicking below.

We popped down to the Brewery and as you can see from the photo, it’s still in the process of being transformed for the upcoming festive fayre.

Might not look like much now, but just wait until Friday night - two bars serving teas, speciality coffees, mulled wine, hot cider, beers (not just VB ones too) and cocktails … all on red carpet and under cover!

This is going to be a great weekend for Ventnor, not only for all the stalls at the Brewery, but also for the shops in town who are bound to benefit from all the extra folks visiting.

Listen to the podcast with Airon Baker by clicking below.

With record attendance and world class results in the races, this years 10th anniversary WhiteAir Extreme Sports Festival was the best yet, Nigel Howell told us at the end of the event.

With nine film crews (and VentnorBlog) there, it was certainly well covered in the media.

This year the RAF were the main sponsors and with their target logo splashed around everywhere, it could’ve been mistaken for a Mod convention – except sharp suits were most definitely replaced with baggy jeans and cool Ts.

The weather was pretty varied over the four days, with lots of swell early on, making things interesting for the Thundercat racing on Saturday, but Sunday’s blue skies and calm water had the racers wishing for more wind and larger waves.

Wandering around the site watching the amazing talents of the skaters and mountainboarders really inspired me to try it out, but at risk of injuring myself, I put it off yet another year.

However, more than 500 people signed up over the four days for the ‘Have A Go’ sessions, trying out surfing, kitesurfing, mountainboarding, skateboarding, parkour, thundercats and jetskis. It was the most successful so far and has hopefully given islanders a taste for the sports they sampled.

Our little one had a go at the skateboarding and now wants a board for Christmas, and Simon and Dave took mountainboards out up the hill (and down again) for an hour or so. They weren’t doing somersaults, but made it look pretty easy to pick up, attempting a couple of the ramps and manoeuvring themselves around oncoming pedestrians.

WightTrash and Moreys sponsored the half pipe and I spotted John Cattle filming on the Sunday, so expect to see some footage from the event sometime in the future.

Listen to a quick interview with David Webber (Thundercat Extraordinaire), by clicking on the right hand icon below.

There’s also a great video roundup of the event filmed by Raya/ITV.

It seems like ages ago, but it was only just over a week back that the WhiteAir Extreme Sports Festival took place.

A short review follows later in the week, but in the meantime after a quick chat with Nigel Howell at the end of the festival, there’s some potentially good news for the return to Ventnor of the Chicane Blast next year.

We know that there’s been lots of enthusiasm for the event over the years and many of you were looking forward to participating this year. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time for Nigel to sort out sponsorship, as he was working flat out to organise the main event.

Apparently, the guys who have previously run the Chicane Blast are well up for doing it again next year and all that is needed is the cash.

According to Nigel, it’s only about £2,000 that is needed. With a year to raise it, we thought it seemed more than achievable. Perhaps a donation from the town council, or some involvement from the Together team (great way to get the kids involved and feel part of what’s going on in town).

It’s also a great opportunity for local or island businesses to have a hand in this fantastic event with their advertising reaching a potentially huge market (especially as the event is also filmed).

Next year, White Air will be hosting the world windsurfing championships, so there should be lots more participants and spectators on the island. Given that the dates are also moving to over the August bank holiday weekend - holding the chicane blast in Ventnor is likely to draw huge crowds of holidaymakers.

As I say, we’ve got a year to sort out it, so if you’ve got any ideas on how the cash can be raised for this event, let us know.

Listen to the quick interview with Nigel Howell by clicking on the right hand icon below

If you’re still crying over the absence of the Chicane Blast this year, watching this video by Saft & Boneless might provide some relief (are those the dulcet tones of Billy Childish I hear in the background?)

It even stars our very own PC Pete!