Strong Island

Harbours & The Solent

Alex Thompson Returns to Gosport after Vendée Globe Around The World Race

British solo sailor Alex Thomson has finished the non-stop around the world Vendée Globe race in third place, completing the course in 80 days & 18 hours, breaking the previous British record by eight days. The 38 year old sailor crossed the finish line 2 days 17 hours and 7 minutes after the winner Francois Gabart, finishing the 24,000 mile Everest of sailing at his third attempt.

Alex will be returning home to Gosport tomorrow with a tour around Portsmouth Harbour, with any boats or yachts wishing to join Alex in his Alex Thompson Racing/Hugo Boss yacht in a flotilla welcome to join at Spitbank Fort at 11am. You can see Alex’s tour of the harbour from a few view points in Portsmouth, see the map below. Find out more about Alex Thompson and his race at:

www.alexthomsonracing.com

Alex Thompson Returns to Gosport after Vendée Globe Around The World Race (1)

Alex Thompson Returns to Gosport after Vendée Globe Around The World Race (2)

Alex Thompson Returns to Gosport after Vendée Globe Around The World Race (3)

Alex Thompson Returns to Gosport after Vendée Globe Around The World Race (4)

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls

Late last year we spied some photos of the LED changing colour lights on the beach side of the Hot Walls in Old Portsmouth on Instagram and they really caught our eye. The lights form a pattern of different colours on the ancient city and port fortifications and are a striking sight to all visitors arriving to the city by sea.

Local photographer Andrew Whyte has been down on the beach with his camera and capturing these lights in a way that means you can see all of the colours in one snapshot in time, quite a tricky task. Check Andrew’s photos of the lights below and you can visit Andrew’s Flickr to see more of his work.

P.S. To see Andrew’s panoramic photo much, much larger (recommended!) click HERE.

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (1)

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (2)

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (3)

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (4)

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (5)

Travelling on The Solent in the 1970s

This great 8mm cine film from the late 1970s shows what it was like travelling across the Solent at that time with the both the hovercraft and the Isle of Wight ferry. As well as seeing the busy Solent with all of it’s traffic this film also gives you a good look at the shoreline and skyline of Southsea and Portsmouth at the time. One particular difference that caught my eye was the old Portsmouth Power Station that was located down at the harbour with chimneys that dominated views of the city from all directions, just like the Spinnaker Tower does now. We’re working on an article about the Power Station at the moment, more on that soon.

Vintage Portsmouth RNLI Photos

A good friend of ours works at the RNLI HQ in Poole and recently sent over these photos that he dug up whilst working on a project.

The first 2 B&W photos show training manoeuvres out in Lee On The Solent and Langstone, and the colour photos are all of the Hayling Crew. No dates, but they look pretty 70/80s to me.

The helicopter photo shows helmsman Adrian West in command with crew members Steven Alexander and David Parker. The 2 Eastney lifeboats from left to right are maned by Helmsman William Hawkins, Dennis Faro and Kenneth George with Operational Swimmer Colin Beeston and the second lifeboat is crewed by Stephen Alexander and James Peplow with Operational Swimmer Graham Jewell.

The group shot is the Hayling Island crew dated 1920, with the image below of a 38SR Class Heyland boat out in Southsea dated 1882.

The photo of a lifeboat being horse drawn along Edinburgh Road in 1902 is simply incredible. It’s almost like it’s floating on a sea of Victorian hats. We’re not sure what the actual parade was concerning, but a quick history check tells me Queen Victoria died in 1901 so it may have been some kind of royal salute, or just for the shear showmanship of it alongside other frontline services.

Does anyone recognise names or faces? Be great if these photos had never been seen by the people in them and they appear all these years later to be brought to their attention.















South Parade Pier – Photographs

The public auction of South Parade Pier is fast approaching – 12th Dec, with a guide price of £190,000 – £210,000. Sold via Clive Emson and written up as ‘UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE SUBSTANTIAL FREEHOLD VICTORIAN PIER FOR RESTORATION’. Further details via the website. BBC South featured the story of the sale earlier in the month and even though there is enormous potential for usage, the restoration costs will be in the millions. With the right vision and support this could be transformed into the beautiful attraction and venue it once was.

Over the years many photographs have been taken photographs of the pier and here is a small selection featuring work by Paul Gonella, John Scriven, Rusty Sheriff, Rich Heath, Andrew Whyte and John Illsley.

South Parade Pier

Pier sunset 2

South Parade Pier

south-parade-gx100

South Parade Pier // long exposure // welding glass

South Parade Pier - Sunset Dog

Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Big Weekend’

The 15th and 16th of September sees the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Big Weekend’ when groups across the country will be removing litter from Britain’s beaches – and will note down what they find as they go. Southsea Beachwatch will be cleaning Southsea beach on Sunday the 16th between 10am and midday between the Pyramids and South Parade Pier.

The starting point will be by Rocksby’s Café on the promenade, no equipment necessary, just turn up at 10am. Free parking is available at the Pyramids for volunteers by arrangement with the council – just park up and come meet on the esplanade.

Southsea Beach

Portsmouth on Film – Episode 6

The sixth and final episode of Jonathan & Matthew Ring’s vintage family footage ‘Portsmouth on Film’ is now online. This final episode is amazing, packed with vintage video footage of ships and submarines in the harbour, views around Old Portsmouth (including HMS Vernon – Now Gunwharf) plus some incredible vintage cine footage from, I’m guessing, the 1960s.

Strong Island Calendar – June 2013 contributions now welcome!

Hopefully you’ve seen the previous posts about the Strong Island 2013 calendar? If you haven’t then just to recap, at the beginning of every month I’m going to be asking for your submissions to the 2013 calendar.

We are now accepting your contributions for the June 2013 page. The theme for this month is going to be ships, the sea and the dockyard. This is open to interpretation although the photo’s must be relevant to Portsmouth and Southsea.

You can send your images to calendar@strong-island.co.uk. Email myself personally at stuart@strong-island.co.uk if you have any problems or questions. I look forward to receiving your contributions!

To see the previous winners that will be included in the calendar check out our Strong Island Facebook page here.

Langstone Adventure Rowing

The rowers of Langstone Adventure Rowing are a familiar sight at the top of Langstone Harbour, particularly around Langstone. Langstone Adventure Rowing is a centre for traditional, fixed seat rowing and offer a variety of rowing services including coaching teams and individual rowers to reach their goals, train rowers for and promote local events such as the Round Hayling Challenge or to run Gigs Round Hayling, Adventure Gig Rowing in Langstone, Chichester and Portsmouth Harbours and on the Solent, for fun, fitness and friendship. They also provide Team Building days combining rowing and physical challenges to invigorate and energize businesses.

Another part of what Langstone Adventure Rowing offer is adventure gigs, with the crews recently visiting and rowing such places as Venice, rowing across the channel and rowing from London to Paris.

To find out more about Langstone Adventure Rowing visit www.langstonerowing.co.uk.

Langstone Adventure Rowing (1)

Langstone Adventure Rowing (2)

Langstone Adventure Rowing (3)

Open Spaces in Portsmouth Project

Hélène Draux is a PhD student from London Metropolitan University undertaking a research project about how people value green spaces in Portsmouth. Farlington Marshes is one of Portsmouth’s finest harbour locations and a local nature reserve and the latest Shoreline Management Plan is currently waiting for more information before deciding if it should be realigned or if the crumbling defences should be upgraded. The ecosystem that makes the marshes such a wildlife haven, particularly for birds, could be at serious risk.

Hélène has designed an online survey that will help the understanding of how people value the Farlington Marshes compared to the other open spaces in Portsmouth and what the citizens of the city would like to see being done for the Farlington Marshes. The online survey is based on Google Maps technology, which makes it easy to visualise the parks in Portsmouth and provide easy-to-understand information regarding flood risk in the area. If you are willing to share your own experiences of your use of parks in Portsmouth and how much they mean to you, please visit www.openspaces-portsmouth.org.uk to access the survey and some further explanation about the project. Participants will be presented with online maps of Portsmouth and asked to simply click on the map to designate certain responses, such as to indicate which open space is their favourite, where they think Portsmouth is at risk of flooding and which land use (e.g. residential, commercial, infrastructure) they think is most important to protect from flooding in the future.

“Portsmouth has really beautiful parks, but it is difficult to know which of them are the most important to the residents of Portsmouth. My survey is collecting this kind of information in an innovative way with online maps. So, are you more a Southsea Common, Milton Common or Farlington Marshes person?” Hélène.

If you are interested in taking part in the survey, please visit www.openspaces-portsmouth.org.uk or email h.draux@londonmet.ac.uk if you have any questions or comments.







Photos by Paul Gonella

Features

Southsea in an Instant, An Instant Photography Walk and Instant Exhibition

Strong Island & local artist When We Were Cows present ‘Southsea in an Instant’ an instant photography afternoon walk where anyone with a camera that uses Polaroid, Impossible Project or Fuji instant film are welcome to get involved. We will be exploring Southsea seafront from 1pm on 18th May with our instant photography cameras, starting off at The Bridge Tavern Pub at The Camber in Old Portsmouth. We’ll then make our way to The Hot Walls and then along the Millenium walk and then the Prom to South Parade Pier.

From the pier we’ll make our way to Albert Road and we’ll then be holding an instant, pop-up exhibition with the photos taken during the walk in Little Johnny Russells from 5pm to 7pm. We’ll then put the photos up on our upcoming exhibitions archive section of the Strong Island website soon after.

If you want to get involved simply pop along to The Bridge Tavern from around 12:30 to 1pm, the more the merrier and all that. Look forward to seeing you there!

Southsea in an Instant, An Instant Photography Walk and Instant Exhibition

Southsea in an Instant, An Instant Photography Walk and Instant Exhibition

Strong Island & local artist When We Were Cows present ‘Southsea in an Instant’ an instant photography afternoon walk where anyone with a camera that uses Polaroid, Impossible Project or Fuji instant film are welcome to get involved. We will be exploring Southsea seafront from 1pm on 18th May with our instant photography cameras, starting off at The Bridge Tavern Pub at The Camber in Old Portsmouth. We’ll then make our way to The Hot Walls and then along the Millenium walk and then the Prom to South Parade Pier.

From the pier we’ll make our way to Albert Road and we’ll then be holding an instant, pop-up exhibition with the photos taken during the walk in Little Johnny Russells from 5pm to 7pm. We’ll then put the photos up on our upcoming exhibitions archive section of the Strong Island website soon after.

If you want to get involved simply pop along to The Bridge Tavern from around 12:30 to 1pm, the more the merrier and all that. Look forward to seeing you there!

Southsea in an Instant, An Instant Photography Walk and Instant Exhibition

Strong Island Clothing Co X Portsmouth Supporters Trust T-Shirt Available for Pre-Order

As you are probably well aware from reading the news recently, the Portsmouth Supporters Trust succeeded in their bid to take control of Portsmouth FC making it the biggest community owned club in the UK. It is a long and hard fought victory by the fans that have endured years of bad fortune, bad news and bad performances and a couple of the SI crew have seen most of them! PST’s aim is to bring about responsible, democratic representation at Portsmouth Football Club and so help promote the highest standards of transparent governance, accountability and embed Portsmouth FC deeper into its community through greater communication and co-operation with its fans.

We contacted the PST back in November last year to put forward our idea of doing a Strong Island PFC edition T-shirt to raise money towards buying a share in the club. The PST warmly welcomed the idea and we are pleased to say we are now putting our plan into action.

Strong Island is keen to get behind the trust as are many others. We’re going to pledge £5 of every limited edition SI X PFC tee sold towards Strong Island buying a share of the football club, therefore financially helping PFC in it’s aim to become stable again and continue to be a hugely important aspect of the city.

The design itself is a re-imagining of the common elements from the iconic Portsmouth FC logo from the 1980s and the Strong Island logo, with two swords in place, each dated with the club’s FA Cup wins. The Strong Island Clothing Co. items are normally hand screened in East London but for this particular tee they are produced literally just down the road from Fratton Park and will be at a special price of £15 (plus P&P).

No matter if you are passionate about football or not, we hope this tee is a way of showing support for a club that is now a beacon to the rest of the country for a city and a community that strives to work together for the better.

To pre-order the t-shirt click on the link below. Tees will be back from the printers soon and we hope to have orders in the post by the end of the month, if not sooner.

Strong Island Clothing Co. X Portsmouth Supporters Trust T-Shirt

Anglepoise, Strong Island and The University of Portsmouth Present The Creating Balance Project

We are very proud to announce The Creating Balance Project, a new, collaborative project between Anglepoise, Strong Island & the University of Portsmouth to celebrate a design classic and local creativity in Portsmouth. The project aims to showcase the working studios and disciplines of artists and designers across the island and connect them to local photographers to capture, document and collaborate.

Anglepoise lamps have been given to each of the 10 participating artists/designers and the 10 photographers involved have used the lamps to light the photographs, give a sense of place and document the artist, where they work & how they create. During the collaboration sessions University of Portsmouth BSc TV and Broadcast students Massimo Marzullo and Jonas Jakunas have been documenting the project, producing short films for each collaboration.

Later this summer key images from each photographer will be printed and displayed with the films, lamps, photos and more in an exhibition in Portsmouth and one in London (TBA).

The collaborations are:

Andrew Whyte & Peter Clutterbuck
Matt Sills & Lorna Apps-Woodland
Paul Gonella & Tristan Savage
Russell Squires & Farkfk
Josh Knill & I Love Dust
Thor Haley & William Pounds
Rob Luckins & Roo + Barry Abrook
Cotton Candy & Neal Layton + Sadie Tierney
Matt Saxey & Deer Park Alpha
My Dog Sighs & Jack Daly

The project is progressing over the next couple of months and already two films are finished and many collaborations complete. Below are the completed collaboration films and we will be posting updates on The Creating Balance Project regularly here on Strong Island. To keep up to date with the project also please check the Creating Balance website where you can see loads of photos from behind the scenes of the collaborations.

creatingbalanceproject.tumblr.com

A huge thank you to Claire Sambrook, Simon at Anglepoise and everyone involved.

The Creating Balance Project

The Creating Balance Project (3)

The Creating Balance Project (4)

The Creating Balance Project (5)

The Creating Balance Project (1)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Spring 2013 Capsule Now Available

It’s been a while (apologies) but the Strong Island Clothing Co. spring 2013 capsule drop is now available and online in the Strong Island Shop Ahoy store! The drop includes some brand new Branded tee colourways, a new grey crew (highest quality, carefully selected and sourced) and a collection of accessories including new beanies, our seriously high quality Branded iPhone cases (4 & 5) from Etch and our hand crafted, leather coin pouch collaboration with Raw & Auburn.

To kick this capsule drop off right we visited the home of Portsmouth’s Eberhardt signwriters and neon sign specialists. Eberhardt are a true creative business gem of the city with a very long history and still produce hand crafted, carefully designed neon signs, a rare and special craft these days. Check the photos below and the behind the scenes edit too to see more. Photography principally by Jack Daly.

View the full lookbook HERE.

www.strongislandclothingco.com

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (1)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (1)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (2)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (3)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (4)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (5)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (6)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (7)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (8)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (9)

Opening Night of the My Dog Sighs Exhibition at The West Bank Gallery in London

Southsea and Portsmouth street artist (and Strong Island contributor) My Dog Sighs had the opening to his solo show in London last night and as expected, he killed it. ‘Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me’ opened at The West Bank Gallery and is home to not only the largest collection of My Dog Sighs’ work to date but also shows his work sparking off in to some new directions of creativity including the apples, collaborations with other artists and a room covered with paintings that can be cut out to reveal a painting underneath.

Word was that pre-opening sales had gone really, really well and there were people outside the gallery at 8am, ready and willing to wait the ten hours on the pavement to get their chance to have a look and buy some of My Dog’s work. Don’t take our word for it, below are the thoughts and opinions of the show by the people who experienced it and I think say all you might need to know…:

“I’ve been to several exhibition openings but none as been as warm as the one of MyDog. He was there happy to meet his fans and the staff was friendly, helpful and more than happy to introduce you to him. And about the art, what can I say; it’s truly sweet and inspiring. You have either the eyes that give an entire story in their gaze to the delightful stick men, all accompanied by simple but touching phrases”. – Dette Marhez

“I queued from 8 in the morning and throughout the day MDS popped out offering coffee and to talk to the brave hardy souls braving the temperatures. His whole manner on the run up and throughout the day and night is an example to any up and coming artist and artists in general. The gallery is a cracking space to show in and the work on show was of the highest order. MDS and the collabs were exhibited so well it was pleasure to wander around and warm up!” – Rob Pike

“The show promised big things and I was not disappointed. After an impressive 12 months from his first solo show at Pure Evil, I was looking forward to seeing how Can Man had progressed. There was not a bare wall in the gallery and the whole show felt like an art hunt with pieces hiding in every nook and cranny. With so many pieces to choose from MDS had taken his work to the next level and even managed to capture the innocent of a lost can on the street that you can take home and put on your wall. The hype is well deserved and things can only get better!” – Ryk Turner

“I loved it. It’s kind of like he’s brought life and beauty back to the discarded and neglected. Whilst other pieces capture solitude, loneliness and searching, leaving you topped up with that warm-glow of finally finding The One!” – Les Black

“Had a fantastic time. Just unbelievable what he’s managed to produce. Incredibly varied work. Totally stunning”. – Rick Christie.

The show is open to public until Sunday 31st March and there is also a bit of a special event tomorrow (Saturday) too. Gallery open daily 11am-7pm. Below are photos of last night’s opening by Strong Island homie Jack Daly.

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (2)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (4)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (5)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (6)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (9)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (10)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (11)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (12)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (3)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (16)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (17)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (18)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (20)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (22)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (23)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (24)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs