Ventnor Blog

If you want to watch the handover of the Olympics from Beijing to Great Britain, make sure you head over to the Needles this Sunday afternoon, as it takes place right here on the Isle of Wight.

To mark the occasion, a young crew of Island sailors will sail to the Needles and at 3.30pm raise an enormous spinnaker carrying the London 2012 Olympic logo.

Once the spinnaker has been hoisted, the crew will sail to Cowes where they’ll be greeted by the samba band, Leader of the Council, David Pugh, Chairman of the Island Games Committee David Ball and Olympic 2000 gold medal winner for rowing, Louis Attrill.

With the predicted fantastic weather, this’ll be a photographers dream come true.

Something else that is happening this Sunday, but during the day is the Open Day for Freshwater Lifeboat.

The fundraising day hopes to help raise much needed cash for the running of the present boats and the new required boat and larger boathouse (which will be needed to accommodate the new craft).

There will be stalls and refreshments available throughout the day and the crew will be on hand to answer questions about the boats.

Do pop along and help make a difference.

Image: Courtesy of TPM

Thanks to the Freshwater Lifeboat people who sent us today another tale of rescuing people at sea. A great example of volunteers giving their time to the community. - Ed. As ever, if you have Island news, just get in touch.

At 18:21 Friday 15th August Coastguard paged Freshwater Lifeboat and alerted them that a mobile phone call had been received from a sailing dingy or small yacht which was in difficulty about 1 mile off Brighstone.

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There are smiles around some of the residents of Freshwater this morning.

They’ve heard that the appeal by the developers of Hazelhurst in Freshwater has been rejected by the planning inspectorate.

The appeal was against the original planning application for the site, containing 11 flats and two town houses. The application that was originally rejected by the IW Council planning committee.

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Ventnorians who have been on the allotment waiting list for some time will be very jealous when they hear of what’s on offer to Freshwater/Totland residents.

Chris and Hilary Jarman, the owners of Freshwater Court have recently opened up their land for community cottage garden plots and talked to us about how the land has been transformed and what hopes they have for it.

As we wandered through the rose gardens, we spot some of fabulous Alice in Wonderland carvings, created in the stumps of dead trees by local wood carver Paul Sivell.

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As we reported on Monday, twenty or so local residents gathered opposite the Hazelhurst property in Freshwater to show their objection to the Ombudsman, as he made a site visit.

After waiting for some time for the architect to turn up, the Ombudsman came and spoke to the residents to advise that he would be carrying out a site visit. He stated that he had read all objections to the application and would be taking those into account.

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A group of around 20 members of the public stood opposite Hazelhurst in Freshwater this morning, peacefully donning placards as the Planning Ombudsman carried out a site visit.

Owners of the property, Mr and Mrs Knight claimed that they knew nothing of the visit and only realised something was up when Mr Knight noticed a group of people assembling on the other side of the road.

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Don’t forget that Open Studios starts today, check the Website for details of who is on when, but don’t forget the Sisters Grimaldi have an open evening tonight from 8pm.

If you happen to have found one of the Arts Directories that has a hand drawn illustration under Teresa Grimaldi’s entry, take it along tonight and you’ll receive a unique prize as a reward.

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The Big Bike returns to the Wight in a couple of weeks time to help raise funds for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

The bike need 15 riders and every seat is sponsored. It’ll travel around various locations on the Wight, where the teams have their fun filled ride.

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If you didn’t see the article in last week’s County Press regarding the ongoing saga of Hazelhurst in Freshwater, check it out before reading on. It features a response from the architect for the project, Roy Holt. What follows is a response from Freshwater resident, Tony Robson, to the architect. Ed

With reference to County press article on Page 3, 27 June, 2008.

So Mr Holt is unhappy about the rights conveyed by the Hazelhurst Covenants. And so he should be. But where does he get the suggestion that the residents might resort to vandalism. It is not us who are planning to demolish a fine historic building and build a block of flats. Now surely that is cultural vandalism to say the least. (more…)

This Friday (and every first Friday of the month) sees an opportunity to showcase yourself in front of a friendly audience at Dimbola Lodge.

Kicking off at 8pm and running til 10.30pm the evening, hosted by Catherine Cameron Martin, brings with it Music, Poetry, Readings, Short Stories or Jokes, alongside personal interpretations of covers.

Feel free to take a bottle with you to enjoy or share (depending how generous you are).

It’ll cost you £2.00 for the pleasure and there is no need to book in advance.

Image: hiddedevries

Many thanks to Tony Robson for sending through this report from the Freshwater Lifeboat. If you’d like to share your experiences of the day, do let us know. Ed

Freshwater Lifeboat had a very busy day on a day, where moderate wind conditions and seas made sailing interesting but tricky at times.

We used two boats and three crews to provide cover from the start of the event until the end of our last shout at 3pm. Freshwater Lifeboat launched before 6am and were on standby at The Needles before the first of the fleet arrived. (more…)

You might remember seeing our “One Family Dwelling Covenant” posting last week about Hazelhurst, which was accompanied by the rather excellent cartoon drawn by Barry.

You might also have seen it reproduced in the County Press on Friday. But did anyone notice the variation? We didn’t until it was pointed out to us a couple of days ago. (more…)

It appears that there’s another twist in planning peculiarities relating to the recommendation and subsequent approval of a development at Hazelhurst in Freshwater (previous).

Among the 226 comments submitted to the planning department, there is a letter sent by Anthony Robson, the owner of Blenheim House - a neighbouring property. It is dated 8th May and informs the planning officers of inaccuracies on the plans.

Mr Robson points out that according to the plans submitted by the architect of the proposed development, the building line in front of the property has been moved.

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As well as the Right to Wreck Covenant over the Hazelhurst property in Freshwater that has recently been given permission to be demolished and be replaced with nine flats, there is another covenant that was unearthed last week.

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The proposed development of Hazelhurst in Freshwater, diagonally opposite Dimbola Lodge, has cause a lot of consternation in and around Freshwater.

We covered the planning committee’s discussion of the case live at County Hall (complete planning meeting, Hazelhurst specific), where the planning permission was approved, on the developer’s third planning application.

Just when you thought it was all over, it looks like there’s another potentially significant twist in the story.

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Anyone interested in the history and renovation of Freshwater Court, don’t forget that the Jarman family will be giving a talk tonight on that very subject.

As part of The Farringford Tennyson Literary and Arts Society meeting, Chris and Hilary will talk you through the trials and tribulations of taking on the renovation of this impressive house. (more…)

For those who didn’t follow the live coverage of the Planning Committee, what follows are the notes taken down during the meeting by Simon, regarding the application for Hazelhurst, Gates Lane, Freshwater.

Planning officer presents - Miss S Wilkinson.
Came up in Jan 08 when it was refused.

It’s diagonally opposite from Dimbola Lodge.
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• All Saints’ CE Primary School 4 – 11 1FE (Rural School)
• Brighstone CE Primary School 4 – 11 1FE (Rural School)
• Chale CE Primary School Closed (Rural School)
• Shalfleet CE Primary School Diocesan 4 – 11 1FE (Rural School)
• Yarmouth CE Primary School Amalgamation
  on the Shalfleet site
• St Saviour’s Catholic Primary School 4 – 11 1FE (Rural School)
• Weston Primary School Closed
• New Primary school 4 – 11 1FE (Rural School)
  by competition on West Wight Middle site
• West Wight Middle School Closed

If you love history and architecture you might be interested to hear that on this coming Bank Holiday Monday, Mottistone Manor will be open to the public.

It’s a rare opportunity because the Elizabethan manor house is only open one day a year. Normally it happens in August, but this year will be in May.

National Trust members can take advantage of guided tours between 10am-noon and other members of the public can take self guided tours between 2-5pm. (more…)

Don’t forget that tomorrow sees the Wessex Cancer Trust Spring Fete take place over in Freshwater.

Set in the delightful grounds (where you’ll get to see some great work by Paul Sivell - pictured left) of Freshwater Court (Court Road), the spring fete offers lots to do and see and we hear from organisers that there has been a tremendous response to the appeal for items to sell and auction.
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This Sunday sees Walk the Wight, the annual sponsored walk aimed to raise much needed funds for the Island’s only hospice, The Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

Last year, our youngest VentnorBlogger, Alpha, braved the rain and wind and walked the last four miles as part of the school section of the walk.
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Many thanks to Chris Jarman for sending through photos and a short review of a walk he took part on a couple of weeks ago. Ed

On the 4th May Elizabeth Hutchings and I escorted a group on the Tennyson Trail walk as part of the IOW Walking Festival.

“A walk full of literary and artistic interest. Taking in the birthplace of Sir Vivien Fuchs and the homes of Tennyson and Julia Margaret Cameron.”
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As you may be aware, earlier in the year, we met up with Freshwater resident Chris Jarman, to discuss the previously proposed change of use for Weston Manor. Since meeting with Chris, the Real World Trust, who were in the process of converting Weston Manor from a residential care home into a drug and rehabilitation centre, have pulled out of the proposal.

At a meeting in March with the local residents and town council, the owner of the Manor, Mrs Robertson, stated that she would be putting the Manor on the market the following day.
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A week on Saturday (17th) sees the Annual Wessex Cancer Trust Summer Fete.

We’ve received a request for donations from the organisers who are looking for anything from plants (even left over seedlings) to items for the silent auction or raffle.

They have a merry team of volunteers with a trailer able to collect items, so if you have something that you could donate to this excellent cause, do please get in touch with them on 753558.