Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

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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Those lovely lads from Island band Goodbye Stereo are hoping that VB readers might be able to lend some support in their direction.

They tell us that they’ve been selected along with many others to perform at the ‘Surface Unsigned Festival’.

The festival itself takes place across various venues around the UK running up until September.

Its aim is to showcase the best new emerging acts throughout the UK.

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News reaches us that a Facebook group has been created following news of the mixup surrounding heat two of the Live Wired competition.

The CP had reported (article not available online now) that Golden Strands, who had competed in the live heats on Friday, would be joining Damien Paul at the final, giving them a chance to win a slot at the 2010 Isle of Wight Festival.

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Update: Just heard from organisers that the event has been moved to the 22nd March.

Keeping on the music theme just a tad longer, there’s another music battle taking place on Monday night 22nd March.

The Battle of the Bands competition also boasts the prize of a slot playing at the Isle of Wight Festival.

Doors open to Medina Theatre at 6.30-pm with the first band plugging in and ‘kicking ass’ at 6.40pm.

Winners of the heat will go through to the final on which takes place on 20th April (more on that nearer the time).

Check the full list of who’s playing over at Events On The Wight.

Heat Two of the Live Wired competition takes place tonight.

The Scores, Damien Paul, James Hunt and The Golden Strands have been chosen by the public to battle it out tonight.

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Are you a festival lover who dreams of spending the summer travelling around the world, soaking up the atmosphere at some of the best festivals going?

Well if so, a newly launched competition dubbed ‘Around The World in 30 Raves’ is probably going to be something that might interest you.

Trident Gum are on the lookout for someone to travel the world, clocking up 30 music festivals and reporting back via the likes of Facebook, Blogging, Twitter, YouTube etc.

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Brilliant news arrives for local Island band, Goodbye Stereo, who have just found out that they’ve been nominated for an Emerging Talent Award.

And rightly so!

We’re big fans of the four piece who, since emerging onto the Island music scene, have gone from strength to strength.

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Readers might remember the Red Hot Talent comp run last year by Red Funnel which resulted in a number of Islanders going through to the finals.

The competition returns this year and adds another feather to its bow.

The aim of the comp is to reveal the South’s hidden talent and is open to all sorts of disciplines, from singers to belly dancers and everything in between.

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If you’re a budding young filmmaker aged 19 or under, then details of a new short film competition should be of interest to you.

As part of the Minghella Film Festival comes the Short Film Competition For young People.

Your films can be up to 5 minutes long, including titles and credits. They must be your own work and not copied from anyone else or, if you include anyone else’s material, you must have obtained their permission to do so. This includes any music, photographs or written material.

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If you’re a sailing type and fancy a bit of excitement and challenge, then why not enter the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race?

Online entries are open from tomorrow (21st January) and we’re told that the process of entering online worked so well last year that it will be continued and particularly encouraged this year – just think of the paper that will be saved!

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With so many Islanders off work over the last two days, social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook have certainly been getting well used.

Earlier today we were invited to join a new group on Facebook urging people to enter photos of their snowmen to an online competition.

We particularly love this one by Emily Baugh of a snowman with a hat made of solid ice.

If you want to join the group simply pop yourselves over the FaceBook page.

If you’re a teacher (or pupil) not at school today but know of a mosaic made by the students, you’re not too late to enter it into a competition that could earn your school prizes worth £750.

Topp Tiles are sponsoring the Mega Mosaics competition for mosaic projects created by schools.

All the details are over at Mega Mosaic’s Website – closing date tomorrow!

Congratulations to grunge four-piece Vanzatti and who joined Alex Mountford in making it through the first heat of the Live Wired music competition.

The battle took place on Saturday night at the Wight Rock Bar n Ryde.

Also taking part in the battle were Cellar Ghost who came in at third place. The ultimate winner of the competition will play the main stage at IW Festival next year.

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We all know that the Isle of Wight is bursting at the seams with creative and talented people, so we expect news of the launch of a script writing competition should prick up the ears of many of our readers.

The Wight Film Network have just launched a short script competition and invite all budding writers to try their hand at writing a short film script on any theme, any genre.

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Thanks to Kevin from the Ventnor Angling Society for sending through this report from last week’s competition. Ed

Over £2,500 was raised last weekend in aid of help for heroes when 153 anglers fished the 22Hr open charity match hosted by Ventnor angling and social club.

Richard Smith was top rod receiving a £300 prize donated by Two Counties Care for his mixed bag of 57lb 11oz.

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Readers might remember back in October we reported about a new arts festival destined for Ventnor next year.

Organisers of the festival (which has been re-named Isle of Arts 2010) have been in touch to let us know that they’ve extended their poster competition to give Island artists and designers a further chance to get involved.

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If you’re an Island band who would like the chance of playing on the main stage of the 2010 Isle of Wight Festival then you have just two more days to enter the Live Wired Competition.

Yes folks, it’s that time of year again when Platform One and the County Press run their LiveWired music competition. This year they’ve teamed up with Isle of Wight Radio too.

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Wow, if the odds of winning the bumper prize of £2,000 are so good that some people have won more than once, we reckon this is something worth looking into.

Only a few weeks ago, Sally Whibley was named as someone who had received the £2,000 prize twice in the last twelve months and today we hear that GKN customer support manager Glenn Fitch is celebrating his second win!

We hear that the money couldn’t have come at a better time, because Glenn has been getting pretty handy with the hammer it seems.

The £2,00 prize money will go towards the house that he’s building off Forest Road in Newport.

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How did we ever live without Google maps is a thought that flits across our minds from time to time.

The ability to type in a postcode or address and find out the lay of the land is invaluable when trying to navigate to a new destination.

We’re lucky on the Island as the Isle of Wight benefits from some of the most accurate coverage of any area in the UK.

Where many places have to make do with inaccurate satellite photos, you can zoom right in to most of the Island, clearly seeing cars and people.

It also, from time to time, throws up some funny anomalies.

We found one today.

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If you’re a budding young chef who loves a challenge, it’s not too late to enter yourself for The Wight Rotary ‘Good Cooks Challenge’.

Last year’s ‘Rotary Young Chef of the Year’ competition was a huge success and this event hopes to build on that.

Entrants are encouraged to focus on the Island’s local produce, whether it is bought from a local butcher, greengrocer or gathered from the garden.

The competition will be split into categories, ‘Blue’ for 12-17 year olds, and ‘Red’ category for over 18s.

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If you’re an Island artist or graphic designer you could be in with a chance of not only winning yourself a generous cash prize, but also the opportunity to benefit from the sale of your work.

Artists and designers are being invited to design a limited edition poster which will be used to launch a new ‘arts extravaganza’ in Ventnor.

Aiming to showcase Island talent, Ventnor 2010 is a new three-day arts festival due to take place in Ventnor over the early May Bank Holiday next year.

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Talking of six-pack hunks (looks like some people here find any excuse to get that pic of Gareth on the front page), our good friends over at Galaxy FM tell us that there is still time for Island hunks to take part in their Manhunt 2010 competition.

In preparation for their 2010 calender, the radio station are on the hunt for the South’s hottest men!

Ooh err missus.

They’ll need twelve of the South’s hottest lads to feature in the exclusive Galaxy Manhunt 2010 calendar, providing some decent eye candy for the ladies.

If you’re over 18 and have the qualifications needed to be considered a hunk (such as the previous winner pictured bright), then this could be the competition for you.

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Cowes Online, the excellent Website for the yachting capital of the Island, have launched another photographic competition.

The latest is a search for very best photographs which represent sailing and boating on the Solent in 2009.

If you’ve managed to capture some fabulous shots this year, why not enter the competition and you could be taking home one of the great prizes below.

All you need to do if email three of your favourite shots, include your name, address, a telephone number, and a brief caption for each picture.

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Sorry folks to keep you waiting for so long, but as you know, we always like to announce our competition winners in a novel way.

We were lucky enough to catch a few minutes with the great lady herself, Jan Ravens, this afternoon and she did the honours by opening the virtual gold envelope to announce the lucky three people who will be taking a friend to Quay Arts with them this Saturday to see Jan in the flesh.

Check out the podcast below to find out if you’re the lucky winner.

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Thanks to everyone who took part in the Jan Ravens ticket competition.

This was one of our most popular competitions, receiving a fantastic response with every entry correctly guessing at least three women that Jan has impersonated on the Dead Ringers show.

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