Ventnor Blog

Ventnor Winter Gardens plays host to the first Folk Rock ‘super-group’!

The Winter Gardens takes immense pleasure in announcing the visit of ‘The Gathering’ tour on Friday 28th November, the only stop off for a hundred miles!

The Gathering features a veritable Who’s Who of key players of the Folk-Rock world, whose combined experience and membership have seen them record or perform with some of the most influential artists to grace stages and record collections across the world.

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Those following the school reforms debate will know that the proposal for primary schools in Ventnor is to amalgamate St. Boniface CE VC, St. Margaret’s CE VC and St. Wilfrid’s RC VA Primary Schools to become a voluntary aided single faith school on the site of Ventnor Middle School.

This option is being recommended by officers and will be put to the Cabinet Members on Monday evening (which VentnorBlog will be covering live from County Hall).

However, as the documents that were released by the Council last week reveal, this is just _one_ of the options on the table.

Chris Welsford from Standards Not Tiers has posted a message on the VB forum showing support for another option within the proposal and urging parents to write over the weekend to Alan Wells, the Cabinet Member for Children & Young People.

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Don’t forget that the Music For Fun Festival Concert takes place tonight in Ventnor.

Kicking off at 7.30 pm will be the Isle of Wight Scottish Fiddlers, under the direction of Clive Rickards with a selection of soulful laments and foot-tapping reels from North of the Border to close the day’s events.

It takes place at St Catherine’s Church which for those of you travelling from our of town, is located in the middle of Ventnor at the corner of Alpine Road and Church Street.

Image: Isle of Wight Scottish Fiddlers@ The Ventnor Botanic Gardens, copyright Isle of Wight Scottish Fiddlers

This year, Ventnor Lantern Procession is on Thursday 18th December and starts from the Youth Centre at 5.45pm.

It will go around the town and finish at the park for Carols in the Park” at 6.30pm.

The singing will be lead by The United Singers of Ventnor and there will be mulled wine, mince pies and Father Christmas.

Lots of lanterns need to be made and people to take part, to make the evening a real success and a lovely start to Christmas.

There are three different lantern workshops taking place this year to make your lanterns.

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St Catherine’s School in Ventnor have sent this appeal for help from the community. Please read on and if you can help in any way, please get in touch with Kim on the contact details at the bottom. Ed

With Christmas just around the corner, why not have a pre Christmas de-clutter?

St Catherine’s is always delighted to receive items that can be used for fundraising events like raffles and tombolas.

Also, if you have any artificial Christmas trees or unused decorations you no longer need, we can reuse them to make Christmas wreaths.

We do have a few that we have made already and these are available for purchase for £5.50 each or two for £10. Festive and pretty, they are a must for any front door.

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A week on Saturday sees a new event coming to the Winter Gardens in Ventnor.

Organised by teenagers (no, they don’t _all_ spend their time hanging around on street corners moaning) this premier event sees Danny Knox drummer of Skyline Heroes (Festival 2007) with his acoustic solo project, Born ina Barn Isle of Wight hip hop, reggae boys and the electro winners of Pete Tong’s bedroom bedlam; Council Estate Supermodels take to the stage.

With comedy from the fantastic Hannah George plus support along with DJ’s mixing in between acts.

Music starts at 7.30, tickets are £5 in advance (from Winter Gardens box office) or £6 on the door.

The Ventnor Film Society Presents … Bicycle Thieves directed by Vittorio de Sica.

In the mid-1940s when Italy renounced 22 years of fascism and turned upon the German occupiers, its movie-makers created the most enduringly influential movement in the cinema - neorealism.

They took their cameras on to the streets and told the stories of ordinary people, using largely non-professional casts.

They influenced postwar Hollywood, shaped cinematic vocations and changed audience anticipations around the world.

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Congratulations to Robert Thompson and all at The Hambrough in Ventnor which scooped the Restaurant of the Year award last night at the Island Life Food and Drink Awards.

The restaurant has always been a popular choice for foodies on the Wight and many continue to be impressed with the quality of the menu at The Hambrough, particularly since Michelin Star Chef, Robert Thompson joined the team earlier in the year.

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Every so often, we’re asked at VentnorBlog, if we know what the plans for the Beachlands property on Ventnor seafront are.

For those interested, new plans have been submitted to the IW Council by the property owner and are now available to view online.

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The Ventnor Music For Fun Festival will take place on Thursday 20th and Friday 21st November 2008 at St Catherine’s Church Ventnor, starting at 3.00pm on both days.

On Friday evening after the classes there will be an evening of music by Isle of Wight Scottish Fiddlers, under the direction of Clive Rickards.

Our thanks to him and his group who will commence at 7.30pm.

Check out the Music For Fun Web site for more info.

Image: tomer lichtash

Following Part One of Chapter Four yesterday, read on to find out what happens next to our feathered friends.

The following morning, just as the sun was rising, the birds left the roost to look for a couple of birds that Shultz and Klara had insisted would be good enough to join their gang. They flew out of the city, and stopped by the banks of the Havel river, just outside Potsdam.

“Well, where are these tough birds you were talking about Shultz?” asked Yul.

“Just wait a while, you’ll soon hear them,” Shultz replied.

The birds remained on the high branches for five minutes, not knowing who or what they were listening for. Suddenly they heard a loud ‘tap-tap-tap-tap-tap,’ coming from a tree across the river.

“That’s them,” exclaimed Shultz.

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David Yates’ serialisation of The Last Bullfighter continues. Ed

The following morning the swallows, seagulls, raven and blue macaw left Falaise and, taking directions from Meme, headed for Paris.

“You can’t miss it,” she called out as they flew away. “Look for the Eiffel Tower.”

Although they stopped in various towns along the way to search for potential additions to their gang, none were found. They arrived in Paris early in the evening, in time to find a place to roost for the night.

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This Saturday night the Ventnor Winter Gardens will play host to a Children In Need fundraising gig.

Organised by a group of teenagers and with support (free of charge) from David and his team at the Winter Gardens, for just £4 entry you can enjoy the likes of Kosmik Debris, The Sessions, The Majortones (pictured), Siniez, Proximity Effect, In Sepia, a DJ set from Goodbye Stereo and Jon Roberts.

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If you’re feeling in need of a good laugh, make sure you head down to the Ventnor Winter Gardens tonight for the second Cliff Top Laughter Shop

Richard Quigley (the zany looking guy in the photo) will be the host and sharing the stage with Island funny men Scott Anderson Dominic Pope, along with Paul Longley and Ric Wharton who’ll be travelling across to the water and all the way down to Ventnor to entertain.

As before, it’s just £4 to get in with doors opening at 7.30pm and the first act on stage at 8pm.

Last Thursday in the Ventnor East Town Council Elections, Chris Welsford, Standards-Not-Tiers Chairman, was voted by the public onto the Town Council

Mr Welsford said:

“Being elected is a great honour and I would like to thank everyone who voted for me. I know from the messages of support that I have received following the election that many of you support SNT and our aims which is very heartening. As my views on the schools have been clearly expressed, there can be no doubt that I now have a mandate from the electorate to progress the SNT view at a Town Council level.

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Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Ventnor Carnival Association will be held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 19th November 2008 at the Community Project in Albert Street, Ventnor.

This meeting provides an ideal opportunity for those who may wish to give some of their time to help the Carnival either as Committee members or in any other role.

After the formal business the Committee would be happy to chat about how a Carnival is run and what sort of help is needed.

Please feel free to come along to see if helping with Carnival is something that might appeal to you.

Sad to hear that Leslie’s Kia garage in Ventnor is to close on 28 November, 2008.

Happily Brian and Neil, who currently work there, will be relocating to Sommerton Garage in Cowes.

They tell us that Ventnor resident will still be able to get their cars serviced, as they will offer a free pick up and collection service from Ventnor. A courtesy car will able to available if enough notice is given - normally a week.

The garage stopped serving petrol back in Feb 2008 and it’s unclear what will happen to the site.

Thanks to Laurence for the story lead.

A new event is about to explode on to the Island music scene. It’s called The Country Club and we’re very excited about it’s imminent arrival in Ventnor. Ed

A multi-sensory experience The Country Club boats a host of new and exciting entertainment from visual art and photography to live music and comedy with a twist of spoken word and film.

The idea came about when the organisers found a severe lack for such events and The Country Club was born.

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Richard Quigley and Scott Anderson and friends are back at the Ventnor Winter Gardens this coming Friday for the second Cliff Top Laughter Shop.

They’ll be joined by mainland comedians Paul Longley and Ric Wharton as well as Island based Dominic Pope, all hoping to cheer you up and make you a laugh

The debut night last month not only saw four hilarious Island comedians perform, but in the second half we were treated to a range of humour from mainland comedians Murray Cummins, Reeves Patterson and Rich Perry.

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Ventnor Library’s Reading Group met at the St. Boniface Arms last Wednesday evening to discuss the three authors they read last month.

We had read John Steinbeck (pictured), Winifred Holtby and Nancy Mitford as authors working in, or writing about, the 1930’s and discussed how relevant they are to today’s readers.

The next meeting is on Wednesday 3rd December, again at the St Boniface Arms and we will discuss the novels of Nevil Shute, including those set during the second world war and his novel of the nuclear age, “On the Beach”

This coming Saturday the Ventnor Winter Gardens plays host to a charity gig in aid of Children in Need.

The gig has been organised by a group of local teenagers and aims to bring together a number of Island bands and DJs to provide great musical entertainment for the night

Sounds like a great idea, so well done to the teenagers for doing their bit.

Well done also to the Winter Gardens for letting them have the hall for free, as well as David and his staff for giving up their time for engineering the light/sound and helping run the charity event.

Entry is £4, kicks off at 7pm.

All ages welcome, but ID required if you plan to drink.

Yesterday the birds made their way down to the Botanic Gardens and met with a raven named, Yul. In part two they head further south and make more friends. Ed

Yul led the birds a short distance away, and there, locked behind a large wire panel, was a colourful macaw. The blue-chested bird squatted in the far corner of the cage, his head bowed, with his eyes shut, pretending to snore.

“Hey Bluey,” shouted Yul. “Wake up, we’ve got a job to do.” Bluey didn’t move a feather.

“These guys need help to take on a gang of men with guns down south. Are you interested Bluey?”

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David Yate’s serialisation of The Last Bullfighter continues this weekend, with Part One of Chapter Three today. Catch up on previous chapters if you have missed them. Ed

Yul The Raven
The ship had stopped moving. The birds heard loud noises as if something long and heavy was being dragged across the deck above their heads. They felt a little frightened, but knowing how well Whacker had looked after them so far, they knew that they probably had little to fear. Some time passed before Whacker reappeared in the magazine. He looked sad.

“Well little shipmates, it’s time for you to fly home now. Come on, I’ll take you back up to the flag deck and let you go.”

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Thanks to Angi for the update below. Ed

We have now received all the entries and the Ventnor Music For Fun Festival will take place on Thursday 20th and Friday 21st November 2008 at St Catherine’s Church Ventnor, starting at 3.00pm on both days.

On Friday evening after the classes there will be an evening of music by Isle of Wight Scottish Fiddlers, under the direction of Clive Rickards.

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Whilst we at VentnorBlog take a break from the usual output, you might want to find alternative ways to occupy your time by visiting Ventnor Library.

During October they got masses of new stock in, books, DVDs and even audio books. Take a look at the list below and if you’re inspired to pop in, do let them know where you read about it. Ed

DVDs
Dangerous Parking: Even the fast lane comes to an end- director of ‘Sliding Doors’
Lost In Austen- TV series
Mongol: Genghis Khan - “ Carnage, bloodshed & testosterone-fuelled manliness!!!”
Cassandra’s Dream- “Family is family, blood is blood”- thriller by Woody Allen
Made of Honour- “It takes a real man to become a maid of honour!”
Flashbacks of a fool – Daniel Craig is a washed up Hollywood star ….

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