Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

Red Funnel is preparing one of their ferries to be festooned with the Ikea logo and distinctive yellow paint.

Thanks to an eagle-eyed VentnorBlog reader (Thanks John!), we’ve got an exclusive photo of it sitting at dock-side shining yellow like the sun.

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Yellow Brick Road, the excellent clothes shop in Newport are having a mega sale today.

Everything is going for £15 or less.

Help beat the credit and crunch and stay looking cool. All items will be £5, £10 and £15 so some real bargains to be had.

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A while back, we were wandering around Cowes and the window display of one particular shop caught our attention.

We took a look inside and were really impressed with what the shop had to offer.

Buff, at 84 High Street in Cowes has been running since October last year and stocks a great range of products targeted towards men.

For women looking to treat the man in their lives or for men who fancy a bit of retail therapy, Buff certainly has a diverse range of products.

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It’s Friday and that means time for another unusual story.

If you missed out on the muddy fun that tens of thousands of people had at Bestival a couple of weeks ago, there are just 20 hours left to bag yourself some authentic Bestival mud.

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A couple of weeks ago, we treated you to part one of our podcast with Mart and Rob Drake-Knight, the two guys behind Rapanui, the green clothing company from the Isle of Wight.

In this second part of our interview (listen out for the discount code for online purchases), Rob and Mart tell us more about their ‘traffic light system’, the new hunky-dory Rapanui Web site, as well as their views on greenwash.

Traffic Light System
We touched on the traffic light system that Rapanui have implemented in the first part of the podcast. The lads tell us in a bit more detail in part two how it works and what it’s purpose is.

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With all quiet on the public front over the last few months as far as Ventbag has been concerned, we were pleased to receive this update over the weekend below from the Ventbag team. Ed

Ventbag is the project name for Ventnor becoming the first town on the Island to be Plastic Carrier Bag Free.

This unpaid volunteer project is supported both by Ventnor Town Council and the Isle of Wight Council.

As we set an original (tough target) of achieving this in September this year, we thought it would be a good idea to give everyone an update on progress.

The biggest challenge we faced was looking at the production of an alternative bag for Ventnor. This was planned to be an organic fair trade sourced cotton bag.

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Coral Seed will be showing and selling hand-embroidered fashion and home accessories from Mongolia, India and Bangladesh this Saturday.

Taking place in the Seminar Room at Quay Arts between 10am-4pm.

Work from Coral Seed is also on show at the Studio Cafe at the moment, if you’re in Newport make sure you take a wander down to check it out.

Coral Seed is a fair trade partnership registered with BAFTS

We reminded you yesterday of the forthcoming summer fair at St Catherine’s this Friday, but also don’t forget about the charity shop being opened on Monday by learners at St Catherine’s.

With the fantastic support of local businessman Graham Perks, St Catherine’s further education learners are setting up and running a shop at 46 High Street Ventnor for a two-week period from Monday 30 June. (more…)

If you happen to forget your sunnies for the festival this weekend, fear not as designer eye wear brand, Ray-Ban will have its very own tent at the festi.

Their reason for being there? To showcase their new Wayfarer Colourize range. It seems that the classic frame, as worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s has gone all colourful!

But it won’t be just Ray Bans that you get in the Ray-Ban Rooms, they will be entertaining you too with DJ sets by The Cribs, Mystery Jets, Kate Nash, New Young Pony Club and The Teenagers.

If you’re already happy with the sunglasses you’ve got, you could still enter a comp to win jewellery from London-based designer Anna Lou.

McDonalds are applying to the council’s Licensing Committee to open their Ryde restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights … until 3am.

They’re currently licensed to purvey food to the willing until 11pm at night.

Given that they open at 5am every day, Saturday and Sunday mornings are going to be a little frantic, closing at 3am only to open two hours later.

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It may a while off yet, but this is one definitely worth sticking into your diary.

Near the end of June, St Catherine’s School in Grove Road, Ventnor will be holding it’s Annual Summer Fair.

If you want to see the Island’s High Sheriff, Alan Titchmarsh open the event make sure you are there by noon. (Door will be opening at 11.30am)
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A new market place for local produce and local products will be launching at the end of May.

The location for this wonderful new opportunity is Small Hope Beach in Shanklin.

Local artist, Ruby, has been in talks and secured deal to be able to sell anything created, painted etc by our Island’s creative people.
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Don’t forget that Friday is free home delivery day at the Ventnor Brewery.

Plan your weekend now by placing an order with the Brewery and they’ll deliver anywhere on the Island free of charge on orders over a tenner (price list below).
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Police investigating a possible deception targeting shops around Ventnor are appealing for information.

At around 4.50pm on Thursday, March 6, a woman entered the Post Office on Church Street and asked for £700 to be changed into £10 notes.

She changed her mind over the denomination three times and each time she gave back only half the money. Each time, the cashier queried this and the money was returned.
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Anyone walking down Pier Street over the last couple of weeks will have noticed French Affair clearing out their stock from the shop.

Our initial thought was that the shop was closing down, but we heard from Mark on Friday night that the owners, Carol and Steve have decided to change direction slightly.
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Don’t forget that tonight sees the Travelling Trends Fashion Show come to the Ventnor Winter Gardens.

The event has been organised by St Catherine’s and St Wilfred’s Schools and is great opportunity to buy clothes from major high street stores and a selection of designer clothing at 50% off the usual store price. (more…)

Well known Island company, Hurst have joined the list of supporters of our forthcoming art show, VentnorBlog Presents.

Following Simon’s call on the forum for picture rail hooks, Hurst have agreed to lend us 80 for the duration of the show.

We’ve always been really impressed with the service provided at Hurst, whatever branch you go to – you can be sure of informed and friendly advice from the assistants. (more…)

Thanks to Mark for sending through this photo of the blackboard outside Noah’s Ark.

In case you can’t read Steve’s writing on the blackboard, it states that as of 1st Feb his shops (the pet store and the greengrocer) will no longer be supplying plastic bags, but instead, will be offering cornstarch bags at a cost of 5p each.

Steve commented on the forum over the weekend that he’s been amazed by how Ventnor residents had embraced the drive to go plastic bag free.

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This coming weekend sees the return of the annual Christmas fair at St Catherine’s church in Ventnor.

The celebrations kick off on Thursday evening at 7.30pm with a concert of light entertainment, this is followed on Friday lunchtime by another concert.
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Although some people find it easier shopping online if they cannot get out much, do try to remember to shop local this year for all your Christmas presents. There is great variety on the Island. Ed

WITH MORE and more Christmas shopping being done online, IW Council Trading Standards officers will be out and about giving advice on how to steer clear of possible pitfalls.
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Last month we received a worrying email from a Ventnor shopkeeper.

In a nutshell, it said ‘Start using us or we’ll all be gone by the end of the year’, so we thought that it was time to remind our readers of the wonderful variety of shops that Ventnor has to offer.

Many people believe Ventnor town is just full of charity shops and estate agents, of which there are quite a few, but in between these, there is a rich variety of small independent shops, who rely as much on local support throughout the year, as they do on holiday-makers during season.
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Having the ‘From the Archive’ function (found in the right hand column under the weather forecast) is great for revisiting old articles.

Considering how long we’ve been going, there’s quite an archive and it’s interesting to see the variety of pieces that pop up from either one or two years back.

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We received a very worrying email yesterday from one of the town’s shopkeepers.

Over the past few months, it appears that less and less people have been using the small independent shops in Ventnor, preferring instead to do their shopping in one place – the supermarket.

Many of the shops are now really struggling to keep going, some of them having to borrow heavily, just to pay the bills each month.

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