Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

This in from the coastguard – Ed

An angler was rescued from a life raft this afternoon, after his boat sank two miles South West of St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight.

(more…)

We’ve upgraded our weather page with a couple more gizmos from the Met Office.

To give a spread over the Island, we’ve got the weather in Cowes, as well as St Catherine’s Point.

Both have a five-day forecast including wind-speed (in knots) and below that a rainfall, pressure and temperature map forecasts.

The BBC forecast has now been placed underneath.

If you’re wondering what the weather might be doing over the next few days, pop over and have a look our Isle of Wight Weather page.

Many Islanders will have already have heard about the mayday call received by Solent Coastguard on Wednesday this week which resulted in a five hour search.

The caller reported that he had been separated from his canoe and that he was in the water off St Catherine’s point.

The result was an operation involving the Coastguard rescue helicopter Rescue, as well as Bembridge and Needles Coastguard rescue teams.

(more…)

As regular readers will know, we were very keen to promote the cycling tour of The Adventurists when they visited our fair Isle a couple of weeks ago. We’ve got an interview coming up soon with them, but in the meantime many thanks to VB reader, Alex Varley-Winter for sending in her take of the visit. Ed

I am waiting on St Catherine’s point for a band to play, surveying the steep hill below. It is 3pm. The Adventurists have advertised a gig here, but, scanning the horizon for helmeted, guitar-bearing silhouettes, the band, who planned their entire tour on bicycles, are nowhere to be seen. My phone rings.

“We’re running very behind… We’re at, err, the Wight Mouse Inn,” says Sam, then, a little desperately. ‘How long d’you reckon it’ll take to Blackgang? Half an hour? An hour?’

An hour later The Adventurists haul themselves, ruddy-faced, over the brow of the hill. Sam, the drummer, is dragging a trailer made up of a fold-out stage carrying their drumkit, steel drum, solar-powered amplifier, guitar and a small harp.

(more…)

If you were thinking about organising a music tour, but wanted to do something a bit more exciting than just playing at a handful of venues over a several nights, you’d need to dig deep and bring out the more adventurous side of your personality.

That is just what Sam Walker (John Watts, Turning Green) and Daniel Clark (The Hat, Lou Rhodes) have done with what we predict, will be amazing results.

The lads have joined forces to create ‘The Adventurists‘, a band where the Celtic Harp, Steel Pan, a homemade drum kit and electric & acoustic guitars are embraced and caressed to bring their songs and stories to life.

The Adventurists tour takes place on two bicycles towing a mini mobile pop out stage and a small solar powered P.A. How cool is that?

(more…)

Congratulations to the Enchanted Manor in Niton which picked up the Best Guest Accommodation and Hospitality Award at the IW Chamber of Commerce Awards on Friday night.

Maggie and Ric tells us that that their fairy tale weddings are increasing in popularity and they already have many booked in for next year.

We hope that they continue to go from strength to strength and praise them for their efforts.

With yet another award under their belts, looks like it’s paying off.

One of our favourite manor houses in the South, The Enchanted Manor has some treats planned for this Halloween.

On 31st October, they will be hosting a Haunted House Party at the Manor with “quizzes, games and ghost stories, followed by a supper of Graveyard Goulash, spooky spuds and witches brew”.

As is usual on the Wight, dressing up for the event is compulsory – in true enchanted stylee dress code is strictly witches, wizards, fairies and enchanted characters.

(more…)

Following the news last week that Niton’s Enchanted Manor has just been nominated by the AA for UK Best Funky B&B, we popped down to meet Ric Hilton and have a look around the place.

Owners Ric and his wife Maggie, have done an amazing job at the manor, transforming it into an extremely magical and enchanting place to visit.
(more…)

Just heard on IW Radio of the mystery oil spill that has affected wildlife between Grange Chine and St Catherine’s Point.

According to the IW County Press, the Environment Agency, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the IW Council have been working together to find out the extent of the pollution and the source. As of yesterday, around 60 birds had died and some were being cleaned and cared for at the RSPCA centre in Sandford. (more…)

A fantastic night of good old folk music in the cosy setting of the Buddle Inn is planned for early next month.

On stage will be folk rock band, Smoke and Mirrors (featuring Brian Sharpe on guitar).

Regulars on the Island music circuit, Smoke and Mirrors have a loyal following across the Island and should attract good numbers to this pre-Christmas charity gig.

Other musicians supporting include Allan Ramsdale-Capper (folk singer from the Buddle), and the wonderful Brad and friends. (more…)

If you haven’t been down (or up) to Ventnor Library recently, you won’t have seen the new exhibition.

It’s a very extensive exhibition that covers the history of St. Catherine’s Lighthouse and its predecessors.

Michael Walter, the curator of the lighthouse has done a tremendous amount of work pulling together the history of the workings of the lighthouse and it sounds like a very interesting exhibition.

Well worth checking out and if it makes an impression on you, why not write a review of it for the Blog?

[image courtesy of Isle of Wight Historic Postcards]

We caught up with Danny Vokins at his Bembridge pad near the start of last week and got the lowdown from him as to how he caught his now-world famous 14ft, 500 pound Thresher shark, just off St Catherine’s Point.

A highly amiable chap, he was a joy to interview, given his huge enthusiasm for the subject.

He’s dedicated a large chunk of his life to catching and caring for sharks – 35 years. He’s very particular about the sharks not being killed when they’re caught, in fact it was his insistence on this, that cost him the official record for the largest shark caught in UK waters.

He also got Bembridge Shark fishing club to change their rules, by insisting that the shark not be killed to be counted.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

His preference is to catch the shark, bring it alongside the boat and tag it.

His shark exploits have been covered all over the UK media, including The Sun, Daily Express as well as the local press.

When we spoke about it, he and his wife (Sue) told me that he was complete knackered for two days after the catch – pretty reasonable when you think it took him two and a quarter hours to catch it!

It’s clear that Danny doesn’t just have the skills to snagging sharks, but has the abilities in the photo department too.

You can stay up to date with his fishing exploits by following the updates on his Site, VoFish.