Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

A VB reader contacted us this morning to let us know that at a meeting at Cowes High School today the staff were told that ten jobs would be lost by the end of the year.

We are in the process of checking this with the Isle of Wight council.

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As we Tweeted earlier today, Isle of Wight Festival got in touch with us today to let us know that there’d be a “Big Announcement” early Tuesday morning.

More than that, they would not say. Not even a peep. Fear not, we tried, but their didn’t crack.

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We’ve all be waiting with baited breath to find out who will be the Sunday headliner at this year’s Isle of Wight Festival.

Eager young festival fan, Josh Peverley got in touch with VB this morning to tell us that during his research to try and get to the bottom of the Sunday headliner rumours, The Daily Star has announced that it will be none other than Paul McCartney.

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We all know that the Isle of Wight is ‘the’ place to be on New Year’s Eve and Ventnor is no exception.

So it’s no surprise to hear from friend and reader of VB, Norbie, that Twilight (blockbuster vampire films) stars Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart have been spotted in our dear town, Ventnor.

Charlotte Stockdale gave us the first heads-up at about 1pm this afternoon asking “is it true Robert Pattinson is on the IOW?” on Twitter.

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We’re hearing reports of what sounds like a police raid on flats in Silcombe Lane, Freshwater a short while ago.

(Now updated from information from police)

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Update: This has now been confirmed by Cllr Pugh

We’ve heard rumours that Council Leader, David Pugh has written to Cllr Vanessa Churchman insisting that she steps down as Chair of the council’s Scrutiny Committee, citing the recent Adjudication panel hearings.

We understand that Cllr Pugh has insisted that she resign the position by tomorrow morning and that if she doesn’t he will take it to the full council in the evening.

We haven’t been able to get a comment from Cllr Churchman, but hope to get some details on this soon.

Image: Isle of Wight Council

It’s been suggested that the Isle of Wight Council may be in advanced discussions with a property developer to sell off the Ventnor Coastal Visitor Centre (VCVC).

A post on the VB Forum last night claimed that staff from the VCVC will be relocated to the Ventnor Botanic Gardens.

We contacted the Isle of Wight Council just after nine this morning and are awaiting their reply. We’ll update this story when we hear back. See statement from IWC below.

Tenants given notice
Our source tells us that the Natural History & Archaeological Society, who are based at the VCVC, have been given notice to leave the building. They also said that enquiries have been made to re-locate the IWC staff who work in the building.

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As readers will remember, back in October Red Funnel announced that 50 jobs may be lost through cut backs at the ferry firm.

An anonymous source close to Red Funnel has been in contact to say that staff will be having one-to-one meetings over the next two days with managers at Red Funnel.

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We’re hearing rumours that there may be another Internet radio station launching soon on the Island.

You may be aware that an Internet radio station called WightFM launched with a lot of hoopla, which was further extended when Alex Dyke left Isle of Wight Radio to join it.

Well, all of the presenters (including the owner of the station, Martin Potter) appear to have left WightFM and it’s just automatically playing music these days (although a couple of weeks ago there was a promise to restart the station).

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Anyone who has seen the lineup for the acoustic stage at Isle of Wight Festival might have noticed the slots between 6-8pm marked ‘Special Guest’.

Guess 1: Patti Smith
John Giddings is not giving anything away and keeping us guessing a bit longer. So who do you think it might be?

With Patti Smith on the Wight (playing Farringford tonight) could it be possible that she might stay on for the weekend to do an acoustic set at the Festival?

Guess 2: Yoko Ono
As many of you will know, to coincide with the Isle of Wight Festival there is an exhibition of original artwork by John Lennon on display at Bembridge Gallery at the moment.

Could it be possible that Yoko Ono will be bringing her Plastic Ono Band to the Isle of Wight Festival? Yes please.

What are your guesses? Do let us know your IW Festival special guest rumours in the comments below.

We’ve had unsubstantiated reports that Ozzy Osbourne was on the Wight in Cowes on Saturday with his daughter, Kelly.

It’s thought that they may have been looking for a property on the Island.

If this is the case, we understand that this isn’t the first time that family Osbourne have been attracted to the Island for housing, as we’ve heard that they took a look over Gatcombe Manor when it was for sales 4/5 years ago.

In amongst all the heavy duty schools discussions, we thought we’d bring you something more lighthearted.

According to Estate Angels Property website [so it must be true then ;-)] rumours of Russell Brand moving to Ventnor are still being floated around.

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