He’ll be navigating his way around the Island of Wight as he attempts to cover more than 650 miles on a jetski during 24 hours.

To raise awareness for the attempt and also to raise cash for The Princes Trust and the RNLI, Charlie’s watersports company HeadFirst will be holding a launch party all day today.

From 11am til 10pm why not pop along to HeadFirst (Embankment Road, Bembridge) to enjoy the delights of new sunken wreck Bar, Brazilian BBQ and a smooth sleek vibe all for just £5 per person.

You can also find out more about how to bet on how long it will take Charlie to complete the attempt.

When Charlie sets off some time next week, he’ll be fitted with a tracker system which means you’ll be able to follow his progress

The winner with the closest guess will win a free Wakeboard lesson or session for two with Headfirstuk, a meal for two at Cafe Maya in Bembridge and a bottle of Champagne!

Donate
If you’re not able to go along today, do check out the Just Giving page where you can contribute to the cause.

We’ll be bringing you more about Charlie’s attempt early next week.

Just in time for the summer holidays. Peep! Peep! Thomas the Tank Engine rolls into Havenstreet Station for five fun-filled days.

Children, parents, and grandparents are invited to enter the magical world of Thomas & Friends at The Isle of Wight Steam Railway!

Take a ride behind a steam train, meet ‘Sir Topham Hatt’ and Mrs Kyndley, and enjoy a host of fun-filled activities with Thomas, the ‘Troublesome Trucks,’ Mavis the diesel engine and Trevor the traction engine.

Take part in a treasure hunt and enjoy Punch & Judy and Magic shows, and the children can let off steam on the bouncy castles and take a ride on a bumpy bus!

There’s children’s roundabout rides and fun with Professor Clump the clown … And best of all everything is all included in the one admission price!

To complete your great day out there’s picnic areas and plenty of food and drink on sale in our restaurant and from our garden kiosk!

A Day Out With Thomas … This really is a packed day out for all the family!

Tickets
Booked in Advance: Adults £13, Children (from age 2) £10, Family £36. Tickets on the day: Adults £14, Children £11, and Family £40

For more details please contact: 01983 882204

Homegrown (aka the legendary promoter John Curd), the promoters who are bringing The Stranglers back to the Island next week have managed to secure this massive coup for the Island.

It’s taking place at Carisbrooke Castle Fields with gates opening at 3pm on the last bank holiday Sunday of the year.

Get your tickets
When we published the original story back in May, the level of interest from people was huge and when you combine that with the fact it’s the scooter rally that weekend, it’s expected that tickets will be going fast.

We’re thrilled to be able to offer you tickets.

Ticket £35 + £3.50 booking fee
Card processing fee £1.50
Royal Mail Special delivery £4.95

Ticket line opens today (Friday) at 8am on (01983) 898 999.

Or for ticket pickups or if you want to buy in person (cash/credit/debit card) and pop along from 11am and see us at
Suzes Room
10a Pier St
Ventnor

If you’re kept waiting on the phone, here are some Madness delights to keep you entertained.

and some new stuff

TERMS
AGE RESTRICTIONS
NO UNDER 5s
UNDER 16s MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT OF 21+

DISABLED
ONE TICKET TO BE PURCHASED, ONE CARER TO GO FREE (WRISTBAND TO BE COLLECTED ON SITE ON SHOW DAY)

REFUNDS
NO REFUNDS (except in exceptional circumstances - at promoter’s discretion)

CONCESSIONS
NO CONCESSIONS

PURCHASING LIMIT
6 PER HOUSEHOLD

Accompanied by Paul Butler from The Bees yesterday the band went down a storm at the Ventnor Youth Centre.

The tour has been organised with the help of Vic King from Vaguely Sunny with Mhairi Macaulay and Thea Welsford responsible for the Ventnor leg.

If you haven’t managed to catch the lads yet, do try and see them today/tonight at The Black Sheep Bar in Ryde.

We understand that a daytime gig is planned for the patio area at around 2pm (subject to tired legs cycling to Ryde with a stage in tow) but they will also be playing again in the evening from 9pm downstairs in the club.

We can’t recommend these guys highly enough.

The Isle of Wight Sustainable Business Network (SBN) is on hand to help out with free support and advice on a wide range of sustainability issues and opportunities for you.

Reduce bottom-line costs
Being environmentally considerate isn’t just about making sure the Planet lasts a bit longer, it can also save you money by reducing your businesses energy consumption and cutting waste.

The Sustainable Business Partnership, who run the SBN, pass out information to you in many ways - quarterly morning meetings; an monthly online magazine; Web resources; phone support and 1:1 support.

… and it’s free!
Remember it’s all free, so why wouldn’t you get in touch with them - don’t forget to say where you saw it.

Phone: 01962 845591
email: sustainable.business.partnership@hants.gov.uk
web: www.the-sbp.co.uk

An afternoon and evening of live music and fun for all the family takes place on Saturday 18th July 09, from 1pm to 11pm at Niton Primary School.

The event has been organised by The Friends of Niton School as a fund raising event. FONS (hence FONStival) raises money which goes towards additional resources and both educational and fun activities for the children of Niton Primary School.

A seed of an idea which has developed into something very exciting, we have had some very generous input from some of the Island’s very best up and coming talent, which resulted in a fantastic family event last year and promises this year to be even better.

With expectations high this year and an amazing line up we are sure to reach our licensed limit of revelers.

So buying tickets in advance is recommended. Wrist bands can be purchased from Niton Post Office, or Niton School (in school hours) and cost £10 for adults and £5 for children aged 4 to 18.

The school guitar group will be opening the event at 1pm followed by a great lineup of Island bands including Contraband, local folk guitar duo, often to be heard at the Buddle Inn. Alan Ramsdale-Capper teaches guitar at the school.

Graham McCullough went down a storm at the Isle of Wight Festival last month and will be dishing up some acoustic and rocky blues to make your ears smile.

Michael Watson also made an appearance at the Kashmir Café at the Isle of Wight Festival this year.

Groove Cat (playing with The Adventurists tonight at the Ventnor Youth Centre) is fronted by Verity Goodwin who we’re told has the voice of an Angel.

Local lads Bright as Vegasare a four piece pop punk influenced band. They formed in October 2008 and have since had success amongst the Island’s upcoming bands, securing a place on the Isle of Wight Festival Platform 1 stage and a support slot with The Operators and Goodbye Stereo. Sam Matlock on guitar is son of Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols.

We’re big fans of The Shutes who’ll also be playing. Shindig Magazine said of them

“THE SHUTES make kaleidoscopic pop-psych to woo girls by. Tracks like “Hits Like Mourning”™ show that the young three piece know their way around a marketable pop song, while “To You”™ has a frazzled-epiphany-at-3am sound that recalls early Primal Scream and the livelier end of Spacemen 3. Mini Symphonies for the hedonists then, and ones to look out for in 2009!”

The Sessions were another band to play at the Isle of Wight festival this year and are guaranteed crowd pleasers.

VB readers will have heard lots about The Kurves. Originally a duo, Jamie and Chris, The Kurves were formed in August 2007. In less than a year The Kurves have written enough material for three albums, received airplay on Local, and BBC national radio - becoming Isle of Wight gig favorites in the process.

Remedy, a popular Island covers band to finish off the evening with plenty to sing and dance about!

Dan Burgess from Remedy…. And Pixel Audio is kindly lending PA equipment for all the bands to use to ensure quick change overs, throughout the day.

Don’t forget the kids
There’s also lots to keep the children amused too…. The wonderful dressing–up tent straight from this years Isle of Wight festival, an adventure trial, free bouncy castle, play equipment and Pink & Pop (Popcorn and Candy Floss stall).

And for the grown ups, BAR… BBQ and log burning stove.

FONStival 2008 Line up
1:05 PM School Guitar Group
1:25 PM Michael Watson
2:20 PM Graham McCullough
3:20 PM Contraband
4:15 PM Groove Cat
5:00 PM Bright as Vegas
6:00 PM The Shutes
7:10 PM The Sessions
8:25 PM The Kurves
9:30 PM Remedy

The TV actor, known for his role as Twiggy in The Royle Family, Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances and more recently as Uncle Keith in Skins has been living in Newport with his wife since 2003.

We’re sure this keen supporter of many Island charities will do a great job during his time as Deputy Lord Lieutenant and wish him well.

Read more

Image: Strutt and Buckley

More live music to add to the mix if you still haven’t decvided what to get up to this weekend.

X-Directory will be playing live at The Waverley in Clatterford Rd, Carisbrooke this Saturday from 9pm.

Titled “Independance Day Massacre” the lads will be dishing up their usual blend of classic and nu wave punk.

Free entrance so why not go along and support tour local music scene?

All you have to do to win two free tickets to climb Goodleaf’s new tree in Appley Park on Sunday 12th July is to send in your favourite shot of an oak tree.

It’s as simple as that. Legendary Island photographer, Julian Winslow, will be judging the entries and the winner will be announced by 4pm Friday 10th July (the precise time that Leader of the Council, David Pugh, will be making the inaugural climb up that particular tree)

You have until 5pm on Tuesday 7th July to send in your entries.

Read terms and conditions

Image: Goodleaf

Flanyer: To brandish or wield.

Have a listen …

Mr Caulkhead defines Flanyer

They will be on hand to answer your queries or offer advice up until midday.

If you have any queries relating to environmental concerns including graffiti, dog fouling, dogs not on a lead, refuse collection, littering, flytipping, flyposting, abandoned vehicles or any Police related matters, such as anti-social behaviour.

Image: Digital Sextant

The almost-all original lineup will be playing at Ryde Theatre on Thursday next week (9th July) warming up for he performance the following day at Guilfest 09.

If you’re in need of a little Stranglers action check out this vid of the legendary Golden Brown courtesy of YouTube.

Tickets
Box Office: The Venue @ Ryde Theatre, Lind Street, Ryde, Isle of Wight PO33 2NL - 01983 568099 between 10am and 4pm, Mon to Fri. or online

See Tickets - online and by phone: 0871 2200 260

Stargreen Box Office - in-person, online & by phone: 020 7734 8932

Sunny Days, Victoria Arcade, Union Street, Ryde, IOW - in person only

Home Grown, 2 Munro Terrace, London SW10 0DL - postal applications only - cheques/postal orders made payable to Home Grown Events - please enclose SAE

Tickets are priced at £21.

Today The Adventurists continue their tour of the Wight and will be spending the day in Ventnor.

They kick off the day at 1pm with a free gig at the Ventnor Botanic Gardens.

Make your way to the delightful gardens and follow the music to find the two man band who will be playing on their pop up cycle/solar powered stage.

After a short cycle through the town and down the cascade, the lads will be making their way to Ventnor Seafront for a 4pm performance.

The day is completed at the Ventnor Youth and Community Centre, Victoria Street from 8pm.

Providing support will be local talent Groove Cat and Flipington (who won a place at this years Bestival).

It’ll cost you just £3 to get in and as this looks to be one of the best gigs in Ventnor for a long time, we’d highly recommend it.

To add to the eight medals already achieved by our athletes, Thomas Wade has grabbed another medal, this one a Bronze in the 5,000m and Amy Church a Silver in the Hammer Throw.

Well done to them both and good luck to the rest of the team who are still competing.

He was speaking in a session called “Follow our lead – how environmental leadership can achieve local ambitions.” (details below)

Always interested in how The Leader is presenting himself and the Island to the rest of the world, a Tweet by prolific Twitter user, demsoc, who was at the event caught our eye.

#lgaconf IoW council leader trying to defend anti-wind-turbine nimbyism while also claiming to be eco-leader. Not that convincing.

We wrote to demosoc asking for some more detail

@VentnorBlog his leadership pitch was ‘we do what our residents want’ which didn’t seem much like leadership to me

This side of David Pugh’s presentation seemed somewhat at odds with demosoc’s reporting of Mr Pugh’s views on political consensus.

@VentnorBlog he was also sceptical abt consensus “in my experience it’s better with some opponents just to get on, ignore them and do it”

Andy Johnston, Head of the Centre for Local Sustainability, was also at the LGA Conference watching The Leader, commenting

Interesting debate on environmental leadership with David Pugh leader of IOW at #lgaconf

We also got in touch with Andy Johnson for some more details, but didn’t hear back.

Conference session details
Follow our lead – how environmental leadership can achieve local ambitions.

Councils are at the forefront of addressing the considerable environmental challenges we face. This session will provide the opportunity to share experiences of how leadership on environmental issues can help councils and their partners to achieve local ambitions, deliver wider corporate objectives and have long lasting benefits for their communities.

How can a strategic approach to the environment promote healthier lifestyles, tackle deprivation, support low carbon economies, create jobs or promote better community engagement? What are the barriers to stronger environmental leadership and what support is available for councils developing innovative approaches.

_Speakers
Cllr David Pugh, Leader, Isle of Wight Council; and Chair, Island Strategic Partnership

Rob Vincent, Chief Executive, Kirklees Council

David Greenfield, Assistant Director, South East Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership

Following a very successful opening night at the Quay Arts Centre on Saturday (27th June) Invent Theatre’s The Button Box moves to Bembridge.

The performance will take place at Bembridge Village Hall this Saturday 4th July at 7:30pm (Doors opening at 7pm)

A tale of three brothers, opera and spaghetti produced, written, performed and managed by young people the show is one not to be missed!

Tickets are just £5 and available from Lane End News of come and see us at our stall at the village fair this Wednesday.

There will also be seats available on the night.

Don’t forget if you can’t make this performance the show moves to Whitwell on the 11th July and then Cowes on the 18th July.

Photographer, Paul Tucker, is responsible for a new exhibition in the Full Circle Exhibition Space at St. Mary’s Hospital this month.

He will be exhibiting a collection of shots documenting the working life of the laundry at the old Whitecroft hospital before it closed in 2004.

Paul, who we hear has worked for the local NHS as a maintenance craftsman for 15 years has a great passion for photography.

He comments: “Whilst searching through some old photographs recently I came across some photographs I captured whilst working at Whitecroft. The photographs were taken after Whitecroft Laundry had closed and I seized the opportunity to capture some of the equipment which was used before they were finally laid to rest.”

If you want to buy one of the limited edition prints, all proceeds will be going to the Barely Born Appeal for the new Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit at St. Mary’s.

First edition prints will be auctioned off to the highest bidder by going on-line at and all proceeds will go to the Appeal.

Commenting on the exhibition, Guy Eades, Director of Healing Arts at NHS Isle of Wight says: “The photographs are very evocative of both Whitecroft when it was the Island’s mental –illness hospital, the Laundry where the Island’s NHS Laundry was based, and those years in the second half of the 20th century when Whitecroft was a key part of the Island’s NHS. Paul Tucker’s limited edition prints of Whitecroft Laundry will soon come to be a rare glimpse of what life was like in those years of the Island’s NHS and what better way of contributing to build the Island’s future healthcare than bidding for or buying one of Paul’s superb photographs”.

If you would like to purchase one of the photographs on display or know more about the photography, contact Paul Tucker via his website

All images copyright Paul Tucker

Looks like there’s another wind turbine planning application at the IWC.

This one (ref: TCP/29699, P/00176/09) is on “land at Span Farm, Rew Lane, Ventnor, Isle Of Wight PO38″ and was published on 12 June 2009.

The planning application details that we can access say that the rotor would have a 30m diameter and the hub (ie middle) would be at the height of 3151m (looks like a decimal place being misplaced here, as that would make it close to two miles high!).

All comments need to be in by 3 July 2009 - so you’ve got two days left.

There were 13 comments when we looked yesterday.

Details currently unavailable
You could have a look at the details yourself, but the Isle of Wight Council Web site is unavailable and so it the IWC planning site.

UPDATE: More details are now available, now the IWC planning site is available again.

Wind turbine
The wind turbine is made by Wind Energy Solutions and is a WES30 Mk1 which is rated at 250kW.

The details on the planning application are pretty illegible, but the WES Web site has clear details on it.

Planning Application - TCP/29699, P/00176/09

And (if you listen to the news) you probably don’t need us to tell you that the Government have moved their heatwave alert level from 2 to 3!

We understand that tomorrow temperatures are expected to peak at 81°F (that’s 27°C)!

The IOW NHS Team have sent through some helpful advice for Islanders to consider during the ‘heatwave’ and although most of it is pretty much common sense, it’s always worth a quick check through to see if there is anything you hadn’t thought of.

The advice to Islanders is to:
Keep out of the heat
· If a heatwave is forecast, try and plan your day in a way that allows you to stay out of the heat.
· If you can, avoid going out in the hottest part of the day (11am – 3pm).
· If you can’t avoid strenuous outdoor activity, like sport, DIY, or gardening, keep it for cooler parts of the day, like early morning or evening.
· If you must go out, stay in the shade. Wear a hat and light, loose fitting clothes, preferably cotton. If you will be outside for some time, take plenty of water with you.

Stay cool
· A loose, cotton, damp cloth or scarf on the back of the neck, or spraying or splashing your face and the back of your neck with cold water several times a day can help keep you cool.
· Stay inside, in the coolest rooms in your home, as much as possible.
· Reduce heat from sunlight coming through the windows. External shading, e.g. shutters, is best. Metal blinds and dark curtains may absorb heat and make the room warmer – it is best to use pale curtains or reflective material.
· Keep windows closed while the room is cooler than it is outside. Open them when the temperature inside rises, and at night for ventilation.
· If you are worried about security, at least open windows on the first floor and above.
· Indoor and outdoor plants will help keep your home cool due to evaporation and the shading from trees and bushes.
· Take cool showers or baths.

Drink regularly
· Drink regularly even if you do not feel thirsty – water or fruit juice are best.
· Try to avoid alcohol, tea and coffee. They make dehydration worse.
· Eat as you normally would. Try to eat more cold food, particularly salads and fruit, which contain water.

Seek advice if you have any concerns
· Contact your doctor, a pharmacist or NHS Direct if you are worried about your health during a heatwave, especially if you are taking medication, if you feel unwell or have any unusual symptoms.
· Watch for cramp in your arms, legs or stomach, feelings of mild confusion, weakness or problems sleeping.
· If you have these symptoms, rest for several hours, keep cool and drink water or fruit juice. Seek medical advice if they get worse or don’t go away.

Dr Jenifer Smith, Director of Public Health and Chief Medical Officer for the Isle of Wight says: “Although severe heat waves are uncommon in England, the experience across Northwest Europe in 2003, when 27,000 people died as a direct cause of the heatwave that year, is a reminder that heat can be fatal. In case of a heatwave, make sure you look after your own health and that of your family. It is not just children who need special attention; be aware that elderly people are also at risk, and make sure they are being checked on.”

Image: The Fast Show, BBC

Thanks to Wendy for sending through details of this event happening in Brighstone on Friday. Ed

Brighstone Primary School’s summer party is open to all, and this year it features live music from up-and-coming island indie band Sundown City (who played the Isle of Wight Festival, and will also be at Bestival), as well as a guest DJ.

Bring a blanket or picnic chairs and join us on the school field for an evening of fun, food, drink and music. All ages welcome.

Adults £3, Children £2, under 5s free.

6.30-10pm Friday 3 July