Schools Games Finale June 29th

This afternoon saw the finale of the Rotary Havant Schools Games at the Havant Leisure Centre.

This took the form of a concert followed by a presentation to the schools which gained the most points over the week since last Sunday.

Havant Rotary president, Shirley Varnish welcomed everyone to the event and then the concert started with a performance on Samba drums, followed by dancing from children from Warren Park School. There was more dancing from Barncroft Juniors, Front Lawn Juniors and Cowplain Community School, while Riders Juniors entertained with a song-and-dance routine. Park Community School performed an extract from Hairspray, and there were solo performances from Jay Jupe, Shannon Turner and Chelsea Lane.

With Shirley Varnish and the 3 Olympic Torch Bearers

 

In the audience were three people who will be bearers of the Olympic Torch when it comes to the area, although they will have to travel outside of the Borough as the torch will not be coming to Havant.

The afternoon finished with a couple of speeches and the presentation of the awards.

Rotary Schools Games June 29th

This morning we went to Waterlooville Leisure Centre to watch some of the swimming gala which was taking place as part of the Havant Rotary Schools Games.

As we arrived, some of the junior school pupils were leaving, having already completed their part of the days events.

With some of the swimmers

We were met by Howard Broad and Peter Crane, the Chief Executive and Chairman of the Leisure trust. After a brief talk we went poolside to watch some of the secondary age children competing in various events. We were able to talk to some of the swimmers, some of whom are swimming for the county.

All of those who took part did it for the fun of it, and they weren’t worried whether they came first or last, just taking part was the important thing for them.

After watching for a while, we were given a tour of the facilities on offer at the leisure centre, including the gym and the new, privately run, physiotherapy and sports injury area.

Pirates of Penzance June 28th

After a short break at home it was off to the theatre.

We went to The Spring in East Street to see a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” given by the Havant Light Opera company.

With the cast

This was a very enjoyable evening, with the large cast of principals and chorus filling the stage at times. Paul Jerome made a good Major-General, while the Pirate King, Mike Powell, and his Lieutenant, Paul Baugh, also played their parts well. Of the ladies, Polly Honeychurch was a very good Pirate Maid, while the singing of Jane Marett, as Mabel, was excellent, with the other daughters also singing very well.

This was well worth seeing, and we are looking forward to their next show, an “Edwardian Christmas Party”, at the end of November.

Barncroft Primary School June 28th

With the Headteacher, architects and interior designer

This afternoon we were invited to the official opening of Barncroft Primary School.

Barncroft Infant and Junior School have been combined into a partly refurbished and partly new single school. The school is now extremely bright and is very cheerful and inviting.

Each of the classrooms has a view outside and some of them look out over the grass area at the rear of the school.

The new facilities within the school will make learning very easy and there is an atmosphere of fun about the whole school.

One of the classrooms

We were shown all of the facilities by both the architect and the builder, and both were very proud of what has been achieved.

Presidential Changeover June 26th

For both the Rotary Club of Waterlooville and it’s sister organisation, the Inner Wheel Club of Waterlooville, the time has come when the Presidents reach the end of their year in office.

With Sue (L) and Jean

For the Rotary club, President Neil Clifton gave a brief overview of his year in office and he then presented a cheque for £3,500 to his main charity, Action for Blind People. He then handed over the chain of office to the incoming President, Sue Deyes. Sue, who has now become the first lady President for Waterlooville Rotary, then outlined her plans for the forthcoming year. She has chosen two charities to support during her term of office, Havant Women’s Aid and the Forces Children’s Trust. This is a charity devoted to helping children whose father or mother has died, or has sustained life threatening injuries whilst serving as a member of the British Armed Forces.

For the Inner Wheel Club, President Sally Eshraghi, after her end of year talk, handed a cheque for £600 to Jack’s place at Naomi House. She will also make a similar donation to the Genesis Special Needs Youth Club later this week. Sally then handed over to the new President, Jean Macalister. Jean, who was President 12 years ago, has named her charities as Hounds For Heroes and Dorothy’s Dream, the Rowan’s Hospice at Home service.

Annual Charity Golf Day June 25th

After the Flag Raising Ceremony, Elaine & I went to Waterlooville Golf Club in order to start this year’s Charity Golf Day.

I actually hit it!!

With over 60 golfers signed up to play, it was my job to tee off to open the event at midday.

Never having played golf, this was always going to be a rather hit-or-miss occasion. To my great surprise, I actually managed to hit the ball and it went reasonably straight!

We then left the golfers to it prior to returning in the evening for a carvery meal, a fund raising raffle and the presentation of  trophies and prizes.

The evening meal.

For the first time for several years, the annual match between councillors and council officers was won by the councillors!

One of the highlights of the evening came when Honorary Alderman Stan Massey was presented with a special trophy. Stan started the Golf Day many years ago and has supported it ever since. Over the years it has raised a great deal of money for the various Mayor’s charities. Long may it continue.

Flag Raising June 25th

Today saw the raising of the specially designed flag to mark the beginning of the week leading up to  Armed Forces Day next Saturday, June 30th.

Raising the Flag

A short service was led by the Mayor’s Chaplain, Father Mike Sheffield. There was then a reading of the poem “Why Do You March Old Man”. This was read by one of the Mayor’s cadets, Royal Marine Cadet Sergeant Scott Cahill, MTC, with the response given by Doug Bell, a veteran from the royal British Legion. Following prayers, the flag was then raised while the General salute was played by Lt. Cdr. Tony Crisp, TS Active, MTC.

The flag will be flown each day this week, leading up to the Freedom Ceremony for 47 Regiment, RA, next Saturday.

Emsworth Concert June 24th

The Band

This evening we were in the audience at St. James Church, Emsworth, to listen to a concert performed by the Emsworth Concert Band.

What a treat this was! The Concert band is made up of some very gifted amateur musicians, several of them being still at school.

The music ranged from marches to musicals and from Dixie to samba and included some very impressive solo performances.

Final Speech

Formed by Kenneth Mann in 1986, the band was originally a marching band and, in 1990 became Supreme Champions in the National Youth Championships at the Albert Hall, before concentrating on concert playing in 1991.

Tonight’s concert featured two conductors, Dean Waller who is Bandmaster at the Royal Marines School of Music and, for his first concert as a conductor, Andy Harvey.

It was a shame that there were not more people there to hear the concert, but many people were probably watching England play Italy. They missed a real treat.

Rotary Club Fun Run June 24th

With Havant Rotary members

This morning’s Fun Run, the precursor to the Havant Schools Games which start tomorrow, was held at a somewhat damp Staunton Country Park and officially started at 11 o’clock.

Although there were not many runners there for the start time, anyone could start up to 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

Starting the run

Although there had been a lot of rain during the night, the ground was still quite firm, so there was very little mud to run through and those who did turn up got around the course with no problems.

Havant Goes Greener Fair June 23rd

With Elaine and myself being in Denmead, the Fair was opened by the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor Paul Buckley and his wife, Jackie. Deciding to stay only a few minutes, he finally left about 2 hours later!!

Having opened the Havant Goes Greener week at the Spring arts centre on Monday, Elaine and I decided that, as we were close by at the Tesco store, we would drop in to see what the fair was like.

We were told that both exhibitors and visitors showed an increase over last year, and we saw that many of the stalls had a good number of people around them.

As this was an unofficial visit, we did not stay very long, but long enough for one of the beekeepers to recognise Elaine from 50 years ago!

Rally for Heroes June 23rd

From Denmead we went to Tesco Extra in Havant to meet some of the Rally for Heroes team.

Some of the 419 Union flags

The intention is for 50 cars & motorbikes to visit 5 countries in 7 days and covering 3,000 miles, with the aim of raising £100,000 which will be split between Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion.

This follows a similar event which took place in 2010, and raised £32,000.

Several of the cars that will be taking part were on display, including some nice looking TVRs. Many of those taking part are, or have been, in the Forces, and the event will start on August 18th from Dunsfold airfield in Surrey, better known as the Top Gear venue, with the starting flag being dropped by Murray Walker.

50 – 5 -7 – £100,000!

Sponsorship has come from many national companies, including Jaguar, B&Q, Hewlett Packard, National Express and Marks & Spencer among others. The AA will be providing a vehicle to cover the route in case of any breakdowns. As well as the national companies, a large number of local companies are also sponsoring the cars & motorbikes.

Mini-Multiples Fete June 23rd

This morning we were in Denmead to open the fete for the Mini-Multiples. This is a support group for parents who have twins, triplets or more.

With the organisers

Although the weather was somewhat overcast, and very windy, a good number of people came along to give their support.

Patriotic face painting!

There were quite a surprising number of twins in evidence, many of them in pushchairs and one pair only six weeks old.

The local group meet in Bedhampton on Monday mornings at St. Nicholas Church and in Denmead on Wednesday mornings at the Children’s Centre in Denmead Infant School.

Having decided to only stay for a short while, we were there for 2 hours!

A.C.E. Youth Challenge June 22nd

Today we went to the Hub in Leigh Park to see the results, and the prize giving, of the A.C.E. Youth Challenge art competition.

An early coffee!!

A.C.E. (promoting Activity, Challenge and Enterprise for Young People) was started in 2007 to encourage  7-13 year olds in Leigh Park. This year the art competition was based on the theme of “On the street where I live” and received more than 30 entries from three age groups – 4-7 years old, 7-11’s and secondary age. These came from several schools across Leigh Park and included St. Thomas More’s primary, Warren Park primary & junior, Riders primary & junior, Front Lawn junior and Park Community.

The range of different ways of following the theme was quite varied, and showed a lot of skill and imagination.

The prizes were sponsored by the Portsdown Decorative & Fine Arts Society, and were presented by the Chairman Mrs. Kate Pim. Most of the children were there to receive their prizes, together with some very proud parents.

An excellent buffet was provided by the Hub cafe.

Hampshire Scouting AGM June 21st

Annual Review 2011

This evening we were back in Winchester for the Annual Hampshire Scouting Review & AGM.

We were greeted by many members of the Scouting movement, from the very young to the not so young.

The formal part of the evening started with a presentation which featured film of a conservation project undertaken in Belize, another film of the recent Scout Jamboree in Sweden, where there were 40,000 Scouts from across the world, and a question and answer session with groups ranging from Beaver Scouts to pack leaders and including leaders of newly formed packs. One of the two co-presenters was Emma Hale from Waterlooville, and she was later elected as a youth representative on the Council of the Scout Association.

Part of the Tanzania Team

There are almost 21,000 Scouts of all ages in Hampshire, and a group of them will shortly be going to Tanzania to build a dispensary.

Scouting is growing in popularity across the County, but there is always room for more.

Wilkinson’s Waterlooville June 21st

This morning saw the re-opening of the newly refurbished Wilkinson’s store in Waterlooville.

Getting ready to cut the ribbon

The revamp has taken place mainly when the store has closed in the evenings, but yesterday the store was closed for the day in order that the finishing touches could be applied.

There is now a much brighter and more open feel to the shop and the different sections are clearly marked.

Elaine & I were there to perform the ribbon cutting, together with Pam and Jane from the Hannah’s Holiday Home Appeal, this being the charity adopted by Wilkinson’s for this year.