Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

At the end of the Minghella Film Festival we caught up with Gioia Minghella, the founder of the Minghella Film festival.

Gioia told VB how thrilled she was that the festival was once again, a huge success.

Gioia played tribute to her daughter Sophie, who was prolific in programming the festival and working all hours for weeks running up to the festival. She also thanked the businesses who have supported the festival, particular the Quay Arts Centre for playing host to the weekend.

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‘Gonna Make a Change’ is the theme for this year’s Wight 2B Heard event.

On Friday next week 200 young people from across the Island will descend upon Cowes Yacht Haven to take part in the annual debate.

This year the all day event features workshops focusing on binge drinking, work opportunities, body image and rural transport.

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The Minghella Film Festival returns to Newport this weekend, but the Festival is not just about screening Anthony Minghella’s TV programmes and films. There’s a great range of film/writing related workshops taking place too.

Make a Film in A Day
Kicking off on Saturday morning, the first workshop is a full day course being run in association with the Young Film Academy.

The hands-on Make a Film in A Day workshop will be led by award-winning trainers helping young people aged 13 – 19 to make a ten shot digital film, from planning through to post-production in seven hours.

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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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A new Youth Gym session starts at West Wight Sports Centre this coming Monday (8th March).

This will be a special session for young people aged from 14 upwards and will run every weekday afternoon from 4.30 – 6.30 pm.

Anyone wishing to take part will require an induction (even if they’ve used other gyms).

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Next week on national No Smoking Day a film made by young people from the Island will be screened at Quay Arts.

Stubbed Out is an ambitious project pulled off by the Streets Ahead crew.

Along with a small army of volunteers, the film involves the main character playing out different scenarios, whilst interacting with a gameshow!

This is not a corporate film to stop people smoking, but a community led project hoping to to instill some kind of thought or feeling on the subject.

The screening takes place at Quay Arts on Wednesday 10th March at 7pm. If you’re interested in attending email Andy Jones on andy(at)emusport.com

Following the successful launch of football training for 8-11 year old girls across the Island, we hear that a new girls football club is being created in Ventnor.

Supported by Sport England, the council Sports Unit and Extended Schools Service, weekly coaching sessions start next Friday, 12 March for girls aged between 8 – 11 years old.

Taking place each week at the Rew Valley Sports Centre between 5.30-6.30pm, the training will cost just £1 a week.

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A fancy new inflatable mobile cinema is making its way to Sandown Primary School today.

The iDome cinema will be at the primary school today and tomorrow and screening a new animated film about the importance of recycling.

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A new exhibition starts at Dimbola Lodge this weekend, entitled Out of the Box.

The photographic exhibition is a collaboration between students at Medina High School and St George’s Special Needs School.

The theme of the exhibition celebrates creativity, encouraging the students to think ‘outside of the box’ and exploring the processes of the Camera Obscura.

It runs until the 11th April and more details can be found on Events on the Wight.

A new artist in residence takes their place at Quay Arts today, using the Learning Curve Gallery as their base.

The Medina Extended Schools Partnership in collaboration with Quay Arts and Medina High School welcome Chris Cudlip, who will be offering a range of workshops around the theme of Nomadic Life and Culture to invited schools during the month of March.

We understand that the ‘Medina Yurt’ will be the focus of the work, with workshops being held in and around the Yurt.

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Many thanks to VB reader Kelvin Currie for his report from yesterday’s Isle of Wight Young Chamber Annual Conference. Ed

“No Limits” Speed Networking
The Isle of Wight Young Chamber held a successful speed networking event for local students at Cowes Yacht Haven yesterday.

The event, entitled “No Limits” was organised by the Isle of Wight Chamber to give local young people an idea of the world of work.

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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.

Many thanks to the guys at Goodleaf for this report of what the got up to during half term. Ed

This February half term saw Goodleaf Tree Climbing start a new venture; working with Barnardos Ryde Extended Services, a programme geared to giving children the opportunity to take part in more after school, weekend and holiday activities.

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Did you know that it’s National Nest Box week?

The campaign, which has been running for ten years, is organised by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

Its purpose is to encourage the wider public to ‘give a bird a home’, by building or providing nest boxes in their gardens.

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Last night saw the Riverside Centre bursting at the seams with homegrown sporting talent for the 2009 Annual Sports Achievement Awards.

Organised by the Isle of Wight Sports and Recreation Council (IWSRC), the event, now in it’s 36th year, honoured those young and old who have made an outstanding contribution to sports on the Island.

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If by next Thursday you’ve run out of ways to entertain the little ones in your life, then why not head down to Ventnor Library.

A free session running between 10.30 and 11.45am should keep them busy with stories and games.

Suitable for 4-8 year olds – Thursday 18th February.

Image: Meddygarnet under CC BY 2.0

In the last of our series of podcasts from the budget presentation to the voluntary sector at the Riverside Centre last Friday, we speak with Fiona Gwinnett, Chief Executive of the Island Women’s Refuge and Domestic Abuse Services.

Fiona talks us through the Floating Support Service and how it helps those in need on the Island.

During the presentation, Fiona was given an assurance that refuge would continue, but the floating support service would be affected by the budget cuts.

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Remember the gorgeous Gracie May Fuller who we wrote about last month?

Gracie was born with Cerebral Palsy which means that not only can she not walk, but she has to wear hard splints on her feet and legs day and night.

Her Mum, Mandy, set up a Facebook group to try to raise much needed cash to fund a vital operation to help Gracie-May walk.

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News reaches us this morning that a Newport care home for children with disabilities has been praised by Ofsted as being ‘Good with outstanding features’.

An unannounced visit was made to Beaulieu House by inspectors last December, the result of which is a glowing report praising the ‘committed care team who demonstrate warm relationships with the young people.’

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A couple of weeks ago, rock legends The Pretty Things donned their best suits and joined the party at the Winter Gardens.

A collection of bands and a local DJ had the place suitably warmed up prior to The Pretty Things taking to the stage where they delivered, what we hear, was an amazing set.

The gig had been organised to raise cash for St Catherine’s School in Ventnor, one of the most high regarded special schools for young people with speech or communication difficulties.

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The IW Council say that they intended to increase the cost of the Student Rider fare to £1.20 – a 20% uplift. They anticipate that this will save approximately £120k/year.

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How about this for ways to help the people of Haiti.

Ten year old Harvey Pinder from Orpington is going to drum continuously for eight hours tomorrow hoping to raise as much cash as he can.

So far over £400 has been pledged through the JustGiving Website on which he says …

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Minghella fans will no doubt, already have the weekend of 12-14th March clearly booked out in their diaries for the 2010 Minghella Film Festival.

Those who attended the festival last year will remember the weekend-long marathon screening of all Anthony Minghella’s films, shown in various venues around Newport.

The event was hugely successful and very touching. Many stars of the film world made the trip to the Island to take part, including Jude Law, Alan Rickman, Michael Maloney, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Martin Freeman.

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How about this for a fundraiser and a half!

Next month, the Isle of Wight Schools Under 15’s football team will be taking part in a ten hour football challenge to help raise much needed cash for a trip to Spain.

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We bet that when Ventnorians, Darren and Skinny, first started their boxing club in Ventnor for young people, they could only hope it would be the massive success that it has turned out to be.

What started off as a club in the small space under the stage at the Winter Gardens, has now blossomed into a three days a week hive of activity in a new, larger venue.

They’ve attracted not only the youth of Ventnor, but also adults and even put on Women-only boxercise classes too.

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