Today the South Downs were officially given National Park status, guaranteeing the area’s natural beauty for generations to come. For more information check the BBC News website article and also check Flickr for loads of photos too.
Well I must admit I never expected such a huge response for this. With 129 people confirmed on the Facebook Events page and at least another 30 people outside of Facebook and not including friends of Southsea Fixed coming over from Bournemouth and also some of the Portsmouth Cycle Forum members. Even if a quarter of the people turn up we will still be looking at a large gathering.
To recap for anyone who has no idea what I’m talking about we come up with a short 5 mile ride. All based around Southsea and the Seafront. Starting at the Bridge Tavern opposite the Fish Market and finishing up along Albert Road. An easy, casual ride that is accessible to everyone and their various types of bikes.
As I mentioned before this is strictly for fun and is open to anyone and everyone on any bicycle. We’re not out to make any points or be political and is by no means intended to be a Critical Mass or even a race. Just a good laugh on a Bank Holiday Sunday.
Click the link to view the route on Google Maps.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
Gather round ladies and gents, after great success, Little Johnny Russells is hosting another Indoor Market. There is a wide range of products such as CDs, Records, Vintage Clothing, Prints, Jewellery on sale from Edgeworld Records, Bored of Southsea, Dress Code, Deluded Clothing, Mia Mai, Style In The City, top fashion queen Beau Franklin Savage and Luci of Dead Mans Glory, Parmiters Antiques, artwork by Ramsey Sheriff & Debron Tebb, prints from Tristan Savage and more.
Opens at Midday, with a wide range of refreshments including a licensed bar (obviously!) and then followed By We Supply Movement in the evening. More details on the Facebook Group.
Also the LJR boys were kind enough to let me sell some prints at the the next market. I’ve had a whole bunch printed on Fuji Archival paper at 12×8″ and will all be available for £5.
Last night Bat For Lashes (and the awesome Caroline Weeks as support) tore up the Wedgewood Rooms, an amazing show with loads of great new material plus a warm and friendly Southsea turn out making the Sunday night rather special. Sadly not many photos came out, note to self, don’t try out a new film camera in the dark…but if you have some online, up on Flickr, blogged, etc then please post a link in the comments so we can all check them out!
John Bramwell of I Am Kloot is currently on tour playing solo shows and lucky for us one of those shows is in Southsea at The Cellars of Eastney on Friday 15th of May. I Am Kloot’s first album ‘Natural History’ is a classic and was produced by Guy Garvey & Craig Potter of Elbow – who will be producing their new album too. This is likely to sell out so grab tickets quick, £10 in advance and £12 on the door. More information on the show is available at the Cellars website and the I Am Kloot website and have a listen over at MySpace too. See you there.
Alice Kettle, a contemporary textile/fibre artists talks about her projects and her process. Alive has established a unique area of practice by her use of a craft medium on a unparalleled scale. Individual stitches combine to form great swathes of colour in her painterly works.
This talk is being held on the 2nd April at the Aspex gallery and is filling up fast so call 02392 778080 or email resource@aspex.org.uk to book your place. Also head on over to the ARC Facebook Group for updates on all current and future events.
Hong Kong Gardeners have another night coming up which might be of interest to Strong Islanders. Saturday 4th April at The Edge of the Wedge will see awesome alternative girl/surf/50s/punk madness all the way from California in the form of The Hot Toddies.
Also supporting they haveBrightonian gypsy indie madness from Foxes and their very own Balk Fiction. Plus in betweeny tunes played by Hong Kong Gardeners Keef Hicks and Abi Eales.
The Portsmouth Peleton blog covers the cycling and associated mishaps and adventures of Oliver Merkin & Carl Leroy-Smith and anyone else brave enough to join their Sunday morning 40km bike ride that takes in both the Island, Waterlooville and plenty of countryside. If you want to get involved you are more than welcome and details of the route and meet up time and location are on the blog.
Lead singer of The Bluetones, Mark Morriss, will be performing live at The Cellars of Eastney on Wednesday 8th of April. Doors open at 8:30pm and tickets are available at £8 in advance and £9 on the door. For more information see the Cellars website and check out Mark Morriss’ MySpace and have a listen.
Hotly tipped for greatness in 2009 by the NME, MTV2, Q Magazine and many others, Southend on Sea’s Baddies will be performing in Southsea at The Cellars of Eastney on Friday 10th of April, tickets are £8 in advance and full details are available at the Cellars website. Check the Baddies MySpace and Facebook to have a look and a listen and also watch the video for ‘Battleships’:
This coming new year we will be proud to announce our latest exhibition PRIMARY, a Phoneography exhibition by Strong Island and we are even happier to announce that it’s open to you, the readers.
With the continuing increase in impressive camera technology in mobile phones and the ability to alter, tweak, post process and upload the photos to social media networks and websites like Instagram, the popularity of Phoneography has never been greater.
The ‘of the moment’ ability to take a photo at almost any time and any place by most people has really driven the fact that the camera does not make the photographer. By which I mean, you don’t need an expensive camera to take outstanding photos.
Agreed, the quality of the physical image may not stand up to the big guns, but new learnings in composition, style and aesthetic by a new generation of camera users via online media has really driven this popularity, and encourage people to go beyond a ‘quick shot’.
PRIMARY invites you to get out and about around Portsea with your mobile phone camera and take photos of anything and everything based around the three primary colours red, yellow and blue. What you photograph is entirely up to you, but submissions will only be accepted if they stick to the theme.
The call for entires has now begun and the deadline is the 31st of January 2012 with the exhibition being held in March of 2012. Photos can be taken on any mobile phone model and we ask that a maximum of 3 photos per applicant are sent in to primary@strong-island.co.uk.
Please submit along with your photographs your name, photo title, phone model, location of photo on the island and any post process apps you used, if any, to achieve the final shot.
We look forward to seeing all the entries, and the final installation will be something special using every photo submitted in a slightly different fashion from your average photographic exhibition. CLICK HERE TO PRINT YOUR OWN POSTER
Poster by Tristan Savage & Photo by Paul Gonella
Righto chaps, it’s time to clean shave your boat race and get that mighty moustache on the grow in support of Movember for The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. For 30 days of November you can help support and raise awareness through selflessly parading your top lip for charity.
You can sign up yourself, as I’m sure many of you already have, or you can join the Strong Island team and seek out sponsorship as a team. Through the Strong Island Movember page you can ask people to join the group, make donations, upload photos and post updates via the MoSpace page, Facebook and Twitter.
Head over to www.mobro.co/StrongIsland if you would like to get involved and grow a Strong Moustache to help raise awareness, or simply head over to www.uk.movember.com and sign up to personally raise money.
The funds raised in the UK support the number one and two male specific cancers – prostate and testicular cancer. The funds raised are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together, these channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programmes in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.
Poster: Tristan Savage
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