Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

A cupcake tea break in aid of Ovarian Cancer hopes to raise funds and much needed awareness later this month.

Taking place at St Wilfred’s Primary School in Ventnor, organisers of the event are appealing to local residents and businesses to donate prizes for the raffle as well as cakes.

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Forlorn felines are filling up the Cats’ Protection League.

The Adoption Centre in Marlborough Road, Ryde is crawling with 54 cats and kittens in need of owners, including ten that have been in care for more than four months.

Still waiting are Boots the spirited tortoiseshell, and Archie, who is vulnerable after his years as a stray.

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Back at the end of last year (seems so long ago now) you might remember VB reported of four islanders who were named on the Queen’s Honours list.

Last week Chief Executive of the Riverside Centre, Richard Priest, was joined by his wife Jane and their son Adam for a trip to Buckingham Palace.

Their jaunt to London wasn’t to see the sights, but for Richard to collect his OBE, for services to the Island, from none other than HRHHM The Queen.

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Next month Robin Hill will be be playing host to a fantastic weekend of entertainment as brave teams of water lovers battle it out in ‘It’s A Knockout 2010′.

This fundraising event, in aid of the Hospice, guarantees a weekend of fun and excitement as teams of 10 compete to take the title.

We hear from organisers that it’s not too late to enter your team (of 10) into the competition.

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If your cash-strapped community project could aid the Island’s youth, the Isle of Wight Community Fund (IWCF) would like to hear from you, with £25,000 in funding available from their 2010 IWCF grant programme.

The IWCF are inviting applications from voluntary and community groups and non-profit making organizations. This year they will focus on supporting those in the 14-25 age range.

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Some of the best hairdressers in the South will be battling it out next month at Cowes Yacht Haven.

The competition takes place 19 April and aims to raise lots of lovely cash for the Help For Heroes charity.

As well as the battle of the barnets, there’ll also be a swanky catwalk presentation and demo from Jonny Engstrom.

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It’s full steam ahead at the IW Steam railway where rising visitors have prompted a doubling of the locomotive fleet and the appointment of a new, full-time Engineering Manager.

The railway is facing ‘a great opportunity and a challenge’ explained General Manager Peter Vail, thanks to the ‘extremely generous’ gift of seven new locomotives, four from the Ivatt Trust and three from the national army museum.

It is this, along with the rise in demand that has prompted the introduction of the new post.

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Many thanks to Aimee for this update on support received for St Catherine’s. Ed

Acclaimed actor, screenwriter and director Julian Fellowes hosted a reception for St Catherine’s in London on Tuesday 2 March.

Julian, who won an Oscar in 2002 for Gosford Park, spoke about the importance of speech and communication in all our lives and the challenges children with communication disabilities face every single day.

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From time to time we receive letters from our readers who wish for them to be published on VB. This unedited letter from Brian Rushton of Newport which we received today, is one such request. Ed

I despair when I think about the likely impact cuts in funding in excess of £100,000 are likely to have on the Riverside Centre for the disabled, everyone knows what an asset this centre is to the island community and we should all be aware of the excellent job they do.

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Last Friday saw the nationwide Go Orange for Independent Lifeboat Day take place.

Michaela White from Ryde Inshore Rescue did an amazing job of promoting the campaign across the Island.

Her hard work certainly paid off, because figures raised so far by each of the three independent lifeboat stations on the Island amount to thousands of pounds.

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We heard yesterday that the Little Britain Challenge Cup recently held its annual charity cheque presentation.

They tell us that despite the credit crunch and most people tightening their belts last year, the event raised nearly £100k for the event charities.

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This coming weekend sees another fundraiser gig for the benefit of those affected by the devastating Haiti earthquake that took place in January.

Organised by IW Radio DJ, Omar, the night promises a great selection of Island DJs.

Spinning the hip hop and house tunes will be Jakey Chan and Wills of Steel.

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As we reported last week, once again, the Earl Mountbatten Hospice will be auctioning off registration numbers 1 and 2 for Walk the Wight.

The annual walk across the Island raises much needed cash for the Hospice, one of the worthiest causes on the Island.

The auction opened this morning but as of this afternoon, the highest bid so far is just 99p for ‘number 2′.

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You will all have heard about the catastrophic earthquake that hit Chile at the weekend. VB reader Rocio is originally from Chile is hoping to contact any other Chileans living on the Island to see what they can do to help. Ed

Hello, my name is Rocio Gonzalez-Medland. I come originally from Santiago de Chile, but I have been living on the Isle of Wight for the last 12 years.

As you may have heard, this weekend a massive earthquake has hit my country followed by a tsunami which has devastated vast areas along 430 miles of coast.

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Remember the story about VB reader Sue Anderson, who was planning to do a sky dive for charity? Well we hear that she did it this weekend, here’s what Sue told us yesterday. Ed

Our skydive was a great success as we (Mat and Suzanne) took to the skies on Saturday at Salisbury Old Sarum Airfield.

We skydived 10000 ft- 5000 without a parachute and 5000 with – it was an incredible thing to do and I personally was extremely nervous!

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Have you thought about what you’re going to do for Go Orange day yet?

This coming Friday sees the launch of a new (hopefully) annual event to raise cash and awareness for the independent lifeboat stations.

Go Orange Day takes place across the UK as well as on the Island and supporters are being asked to do something to help.

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Walk the Wight for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice is drawing ever closer.

Last year organisers decided to auction off the first two registration numbers and as it was so successful they are doing it all over again this year.

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Congrats to The Ellen MacArthur Trust Website who picked up two aeards at today’s HantsWeb Awards by winning ‘best charity’ and best ‘life changing’ site. The site was designed by Wez Maynard and built by @Goffik from the OC Group.

Also making their way to the podium today were the ladies from The Real Island Food Company who picked up ‘Best Business Innovation’ award. The site was designed by Matrix e-Business.

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Rachel from IW Friends of Palestine Group tells us that ticket sales are going well for the Gaza event taking place this Thursday.

Peter Venner from Brading will be giving a talk after the screening of EyeWitness in Gaza at Quay Arts.

Peter will be talking about his journey to Gaza at the end of last year, as part of a convoy taking supplies to those in need.

Entrance is just £5, call 872997 for more info.

Whilst we’re on the subject of funding, we also hear that the Isle of Wight Community Renaissance Festival taking place on the Island this spring has just been awarded financial support from the Big Lottery Awards for All scheme.

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It’s not news to any of us that the Isle of Wight is bursting with talent.

We’ve all seen the music, sports, film-making and acting award ceremonies over the years celebrating the amazing wealth of talent the Island has to offer.

So we expect that ‘The Island’s Got Talent’ is likely to be a popular competition, especially with £1000 winning prize money on offer.

The competition is open to anyone 13 years old and over, no matter what your talent.

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We all know how popular darts is across the Island, so little wonder that someone hoping to raise cash for a very worthy cause has come up with the idea of a 24 hour darts marathon.

Yes folks, a 24 hour darts marathon.

The event is being organised in aid of the Breast Cancer Campaign and is hoping to raise cash and awareness for the campaign.

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A new fundraising event for Marie Curie Cancer Care has been organised on the Island.

‘Cycle the Wight’ takes place on Sunday 2nd May 2010 and aims to raise funds and awareness for the charity.

The route of the sponsored cycle takes you along 24 miles of the South Wight’s most beautiful countryside.

There’ll be a chance to stop half way round at Blackgang view point, where you can enjoy the breathtaking views.

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As was reported on VB recently, the YMCA at Winchester House in Shanklin is hosting a ‘Make-over for all Pamper Social’ next week.

The charity ‘make-over’ event encourages women (and possibly men) to go along to get their nails, make-up and hair style recreated in a relaxed social environment. The Isle of Wight College is supporting this event with a number of students going along to do hair and beauty.

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It’s Valentine’s Day, so what better way to impress your loved one that to relax with some beautiful live violin and harp music?

Later today, violinist Frances Mason and harpist Jenny Broome will play a varied programme of classical music at Ventnor Winter Gardens and help raise funds for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

Well known classics such as the Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams will be amongst the pieces from composers including Rossini, Saint-Saens and Kreisler.

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