Warblington School July 11th

This afternoon we were invited to the Year 8 Certificate presentations at Warblington School.

We were introduced to the Headteacher, Julia Vincent, who has been at the school since January, and to Ian Crabtree, one of the school Governors.

We sat on the stage in front of a packed hall, with almost 150 students and many parents and other family members, looking on. It was nice to see so many parents there giving encouragement to their children, although others were unable to be there due to other commitments.

Citations were read out by the Director of Learning & Progress for Year 8, Wendy Morgan, and I then had the privilege of handing out the certificates to all of the pupils.

The afternoon was finished off with a welcome cup of coffee.

Lunch Club July 11th

This morning Elaine & I went to the Lunch Club at Emsworth which is run by the Havant Council of Community Service.

This is held at the Emsworth Centre in South Street. This centre is very well attended and has a well equipped kitchen, manned in part by volunteers. Another lunch club is held in Mill Road, Waterlooville.

When we were there about 20 people were enjoying a 2 course meal, at a cost of £3.40. There is another group of people who would normally be there on a Wednesday, but they were having a day out at another venue.

Many friendships have been made, with people coming on a regular basis and enjoying the food and companionship which was so obvious to us.

The Emsworth Centre also supplies a meals-on-wheels service for those people who are unable to come to the lunch clubs for one reason or another.

For information on this, and other HCCS services, check out http://www.havantccs.org.uk

MADD at the King’s July 10th

A wonderful night of entertainment was presented at the King’s Theatre by MADD (Music, Arts, Dance & Drama).

The theme was Musicals, and several of the Havant Federation schools took part, with each school presenting their own piece of theatre.

The comperes for the evening were Lauren Smith & Elspeth Barron, with the first performance being the Federation Band playing ‘Putting on the Ritz’. This was followed by Warblington School with ‘The Good Old Music Hall Days’, prospect School with a very funny ‘Someone else i’d like to be’, Park Community school with ‘Chicago’ and Oaklands School with ‘Grease’.

After the interval the entertainment continued with the drums of the Sambistas, an extract from Cowplain Community School’s production of ‘Hairspray’ and Purbrook Park School with ‘We Will Rock You’.

The finale was the massed singing from the Federation Singers and the playing of the Federation Band.

All in all this was a great opportunity to watch a lot of local talent.

 

Community Challenge Presentation July 10th

This afternoon we were at the Spring Arts and Heritage Centre in East Street, Havant, for a presentation given by young people from the Havant Borough Youth Council, in conjunction with

With the young people

the Legacy Project.

The Legacy Project encourages young people to work in the community outside of their school curriculum.

A number of the teenagers spoke about their involvement in the project and a short video showed how self-confidence can be improved.

After this I was asked to present certificates to some of those who were there, and the afternoon finished with a buffet.

 

 

 

Harbour Tour July 10th

Today was the day when the Langstone Harbour Board carried out their annual tour of the harbour.

We arrived at the Harbour Office in Ferry Road, Hayling at 9.15 where we met up with the rest of the party who were making the trip. Most of them were members of the Harbour Board, although there was also representation from English Heritage.

After a few minutes we boarded the Portsmouth Harbour Waterbus, the Jenny R, which was to be our vessel for the next 2½ hours or so.

Harbour seals

Amongst many interesting things to be seen were the remains of the section of the wartime Mulberry Harbour, a number of young people in sailing dinghys being towed to one of the mudbanks to be trained, and at least 4 harbour seals. We were also able to see, at close quarters, Nowhereisland which is led by artist Alex Hartley, one of 12 Artist Taking the Lead projects for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Further information on this project is available at nowhereisland.org

Nowhereisland

 

After the trip we went to Sinah Warren for lunch.

 

 

Open Sight July 9th

Having a chat

This afternoon Elaine & I went to a Cream Tea to mark the 90th Anniversary of the Open Sight charity that supports people who are visually impaired.

Open Sight, which is based in Eastleigh, was previously known as the Hampshire Association for the Care of the Blind. It has 23 branches throughout Hampshire and cares for over 5,000 people with sight impairment.

Today’s celebration was for members and helpers from the Havant and Waterlooville branches and was held at the Sacred Heart Church in Waterlooville.

Applause for Terry Smith

About forty partially sighted people attended the tea and the welcome speech was by Terry Smith, himself partially sighted, who is the Community Development Co-ordinator. Terry is one of nine paid staff who cover the whole of Hampshire, all other helpers being volunteers.

Test Valley Civic Service July 8th

This afternoon, along with the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth and several other other Mayors and Chairmen from around Hampshire, Elaine & I attended the annual Civic Service for the Mayor of Test Valley Borough Council.

The service was held at All Saints Church at North Baddesley, with excellent choral singing from the Romsey Choral Society under the direction of Paul Kuzan.

There were readings from the Test Valley Mayor, Councillor Dorothy Baverstock, And the head of administration for Test Valley, Mr. T van der Hoven, while the Address was given by reverend Tin Sledge, the Vicar of Romsey.

There was a short reception after the service.

HSO July 7th

A very pleasant way to finish a very wet day!

This evening Elaine & I were guests of the Havant Symphony Orchestra at Ferneham Hall in Fareham.

This was the final concert of their 50th season, having started playing at Havant Grammar School, now Havant College, before moving to Oaklands RC School in Waterlooville. When audience numbers grew to large for that venue they made their move to Fareham, as there is no suitable venue in the Havant area.

This evening’s concert featured four pieces of music. to start the Orchestra played the Overture to Rossini’s ‘The Siege of Corinth’ followed by Grieg’s ‘Old Norwegian Romance’, Opus 51.

After the Grieg, we were treated to the piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major by Franz Liszt, the soloist being James Willshire, who last played with the orchestra in January 2011 at the annual concert at Oaklands School.

The longest piece 0f the evening, following the interval, was the Symphony No 4 in E Minor, Opus 98 by Johannes Brahms.

After a very nice evening in the dry, it was then out into the rain to head home.

Bedhampton Summer Show July 7th

This afternoon saw a surprising number of people at a very wet and muddy Bidbury Mead, with  music being provided by the Portsmouth City Band playing in a marquee.

Portsmouth City Band

Elaine and I first had a go at Bowls on a rather uneven surface and then, after having a look round the stalls, and having a burger, we were invited to take part in judging the children’s Fancy Dress competition. There were six entries, although one entry was two brothers dressed as clowns. The winning entry was a young girl dressed as a flower.

Fancy Dress Winner

We were then treated to coffee and cakes before leaving to prepare for our next engagement.

Unfortunately this meant that we were not able to see the Belly Dancers or the Dog Display.

Despite the weather, everyone seemed to be having an enjoyable time.

Classic car Show July 7th

Today saw the annual Classic Car Show in the precinct at Waterlooville.

Unfortunately, due to the bad weather, the numbers of cars and motorbikes on display were somewhat down on previous years, with 26 Classic cars, 15 American cars plus 8 motorbike and a sole Harley-Davidson.

We spent some time talking to the owners of many of the vehicles, before retreating for a coffee and toasted teacake while trying to decide on the winners of the four categories.

It was difficult to come to a final decision but, in the end, the best Classic car was judged to be a 1928 Austin 16/6 with a Holden body. This car was exported to Australia as a bare chassis, and was then fitted with a body built locally by Holden.

Of the American cars, first place went to a Ford Mustang with gull-wing doors and special paintwork, while the winning motorbike was a 1959 Triton.

The best Harley-Davidson was, of course, the only one there!

Many thanks to all of those participants who braved the weather to come along and show off their pride and joy.

Gull-wing Mustang

1928 Austin 16/6

1959 Triton

DofE Gold Awards July 6th

Yet another event highlighting the finer qualities of the youth of Hampshire, the annual Duke of Edinburgh’s Scheme Gold Award ceremony was held at the Great hall in Winchester.

The Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, Dame Mary Fagan, presented the certificates to 35 young people who had undertaken the tasks involved in the scheme and had worked their way through the Bronze and Silver standard to reach the final award of the Gold certificate.

As part of their tasks, many of them had worked abroad on humanitarian projects while others had done similar things in this country. On the personal side many had undertaken strenuous challenges, with one young man, Charles Campbell, presenting, during an interval, an illustrated talk on his cycle ride from Land’s End to John O’ Groats via the three highest mountain peaks in the UK!

One family were represented by four sisters, all receiving Gold Awards, while their father received a certificate on attaining the highest level for training scheme participants!

In all there were 95 young people invited to receive their certificates, but many of them were away at University and were unable to attend.

During the first of two intervals we were entertained by a highly talented  group of singers, the Coasters Quartet, from Ditcham Park School.

Havant College Art Show July 5th

Some of the students work

What a tremendous amount of talent!!

Some of the students work

This was a display of the work of some of the students on art courses at Havant College. It was not just paintings and drawings, but also included things such as furniture design and other forms of visual art.

The event was held at the Langstone Technology Park and was sponsored by Fassett the Park’s managing company.

Some of the students work

After an hour looking round the many exhibits, and talking to some of the students, and their parents, an introduction was given by Gary Medlow, the Managing director of Fassett, who then passed over to the Head of Havant College and then two of the course tutors to present awards to several of the students.

There was a great deal of exceptional work on show, with much of it being traditional art, but also with some more contemporary art forms to be seen.

Sea City Museum July 5th

Along with other Mayors and Chairmen from around Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, I was invited to experience the Sea City Museum in Southampton.

Comparative size of Titanic

Opened in April to mark the centenary of the sinking of RMS Titanic, the museum features much information about the ship and those who sailed on her on that fateful voyage.

There are many unique items on display, such as passports and paybooks and the beautiful certificate from the Liverpool Shipwreck & Humane Society awarded to Dr Frank McGee for his work helping the survivors.

Picture of staircase

Amongst other exhibits is a large model of RMS Queen Mary,many smaller ship models and a vast amount of Titanic toys, glassware, china and various other things.

There is a well stocked shop and a cafe for when visitors need a rest, which is probably well used as the museum needs quite some time to view properly.

We were then invited to the Mayor’s parlour for a welcome drink and a scone.

BGCC July 5th

This morning saw the presentation of the awards for the Big Green Commuter Challenge, or BGCC for short.

Covering Havant, Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport, the Challenge is to convince company and council employees to alter the way in which they travel to work in order to reduce carbon emissions and cut down on miles travelled to work by car.

Special Award to Natalie Gidney

Amongst those presenting the awards were the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Frank Jonas, the Mayor of Gosport, Richard “Dixie” Dickson and myself.

The introductions were conducted by Andy Silvester, the Chairman of SignPOST Travel Forum. Natalie Gidney, of Tri-Synergy Ltd., gave a brief overview of the BGCC website and then the awards were announced by Amanda Morris, from Portsmouth City Council, and these were presented by the various donors.

I gave the final awards to winners of the Special Effort category, and the morning’s event then drew to a close.

Havant Children’s University July 4th

This evening we were at the King’s Theatre in Southsea for the awards given to Primary age pupils who have worked outside of school hours over the last 12 months.

The awards were given to 176 children, many of whom had given up a lot of time, with 2 of them having put in over 400 hours of extra-curricular activity.

The schools were in two groups, the first being both Bidbury schools and both Mengham schools with 76 pupils. The second group of 100 pupils came from Horndean, Emsworth, Barncroft, Hart Plain, Padnell, St. Thomas More’s, Oaklands and Mill Rythe.

The certificates were presented by Dr. David Franklin, from the University of Portsmouth, Caroline Gilbert from the National Children’s University and children’s author Ali Sparkes, who read extracts from two of her books.

The audience was made up of many proud parents, and thanks must be given to them for the support and encouragement that they give to their children.