Salsa at Fin’s

If you fancy trying a little evening salsa since the demise of Havanas, why not pop round to Fin’s Cafe Bar at 106 Palmerston Road in October and enjoy their free salsa night. It’s a small, intimate venue and salsa nights are from 8.30pm on 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd October. Pop in and see what they have to offer.

You can grab a bite to eat whilst there if you fancy it.

PS Join their Facebook group Fin’s Cafe Bar and you could win one of 200 free home-cooked British meals being offered as part of British Food Fortnight running from Sept 18th.

Tags: Fins Cafe Bar, Salsa

Strand Motors Cricket Cup Final

The sound of leather on willow on a summer’s day, such an idyllic traditional English afternoon.  Sunday 29th August sees the Apsley House cricket team play in their 3rd consecutive cup final, this time against fellow Southsea drinking establishment the Leopold.

St Helens cricket ground is the venue (next door to the Tenth Hole tea rooms in case you were wondering) with everyone gearing up for a great cricketing event.   Spectators are encouraged to come and cheer on both teams as well as bring your own picnic and drinks.  Hopefully you’ll be needing suncream too!

I’m not too sure who my money is on.  I have been known to frequent the Apsley however I am an Albert Road boy by nature.  Whoever claims victory it promises to be a great sporting occasion.

Match starts at 2pm

Tags: Apsley House, Cricket, Cup Final, Leopold

The Albert Road Ashes

A few words from Ian Parmiter regarding this years Albert Road Ashes held on the front lawn of Stansted House in Rowlands Castle. Lord Sonics XI took on the Sir Allan Stansted Allstars for the coveted urn which genuinely contain the charred remains of an Albert Road kebab.

The second year of this momentous cricket event which saw Lord Sonics XI (a team of Albert Road faces) taking on Stansted Cricket Club in a twenty twenty match in the wondrous surroundings of Stansted Park.

Lord Sonics XI put on a healthy 127 from their twenty overs bolstered by a fine stand from Dan Charter (28) and ex Hampshire ace Lawrence Prittipaul (53) for the second wicket. Stansteds reply was steady despite fine bowling from Tennyson Parmiter and Richie Higham. At 71 for 1 off 11 overs they looked like they were cruising to victory but Lawrence Prittipaul pulled it back with some fine bowling taking two quick wickets for little or no runs, this brought about a thrilling last over with Stansted needing 15 to win. With 2 balls to go and Gary Rogers facing they needed 13 to win, he calmly hit two huge sixes to tie the match so Lord Sonics XI retain the trophy they won the year before. The teams continued to the Victoria at West Marden for Scampi, Chips and a pint and a bit good natured banter.

A fine evening was had by all and we are all looking forward to next year.

Flickr Photos : Matt Saxey, Team shot and Urn from Ians Facebook and myself.

Tags: Albert Road Ashes

The Albert Road Ashes

We’re deep into the cricketing season and fast approaching the biggest game in the summer sporting calendar.  This Wednesday 14th July sees the Albert Road Ashes contested for the second year.

Held on the front lawn of Stansted House in Rowlands Castle, Lord Sonics XI take on the Sir Allan Stansted Allstars for the coveted urn which genuinely contain the charred remains of an Albert Road kebab.  Play starts at 6pm and spectators are more than welcome.

Tags: Albert Road Ashes, Cricket, Stansted House

Wimbledon on The Big Screen

The Big Screen in Guildhall Square will be showing live Wimbledon coverage and highlights of the action (where possible). To ensure that you don’t miss a single serve, have a look at the times below:

Tuesday 22nd June, 12pm – 8pm
Wednesday 23rd June, 12pm – 8pm
Thursday 24th June, 12pm – 8pm
Friday 25th June, 2pm – 8pm
Saturday 26th June, 12pm – 8pm
Sunday 27th June, 5pm – 8pm
Monday 28th June, 12pm – 8pm
Tuesday 29th June, 12pm – 8pm
Wednesday 30th July, 12pm – 8pm
Thursday 1st July, 12pm – 8pm
Friday 2nd July, 12pm – 8pm
Saturday 3rd July, 6pm – 8pm
Sunday 4th July, 12pm – 8pm

To celebrate the final week of Wimbledon 2010, tennis taster and skills sessions will also be held in Guildhall Square where there will be 4 courts for local schoolchildren (Monday 28th June – Thursday 1st July) and members of the public (Friday 2nd July) to have a go on. The skills sessions will feature racket and balls skills. Portsmouth Indoor Tennis Centre will be providing all the tennis equipment and coaches. Sessions will take place between 12-2pm. It is free to take part.

Strawberries and cream
Throughout Wimbledon light refreshments including strawberries and cream will be available to purchase from the Coffee Cup located in Guildhall Square.

Further information
Contact the Big Screen 02392 834109 or email bigscreen@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

Tags: Big Screen, Guildhall, Tennis, Wimbledon

Portsmouth Green Fair 2010

Portsmouth Green Fair 2010 is on Sat 17th July from  11- 4 in Portsmouth Guildhall Square and Victoria Park. The event is part of the Green Week Campaign and organised by Portsmouth Climate Action Network.

The current action packed line-up includes:

• 2 stages with 15 live bands powered by Electric Pedals bicycle generators organised by the Portsmouth coalition.
• DJ Danny Turbo.
• A bicycle powered cinema showing some of the latest eco activist films.
• Steam Boat Willy pedal powered hovercraft, where YOU can fly by pedaling.
• The Interdimensional Wizard who will show you some amazing sun powered energy machines.
• Clowns and Street entertainers doing workshops on juggling etc.
• Lodge Arts giving spray painting workshops and showcasing entries for the Big Green idea for Portsmouth
• Green motor show including vehicles which run on waste gas (Organic Power) waste oil (Veggiepower) and electric vehicles
• Healing Area including massage, reflexology,reiki etc
• Talks on permaculture, environmental gardening tips ,money saving guerrilla gardening etc.
• Portsmouth Beekeepers association where you can find out how to keep your own bees and buy some local honey.
• Art Displays and competitions from local schools
• Children’s games and activities inc building a monster using recycled materials, bouncy castles and Face painting. Also roundabouts and children’s rides. And story-tellers
• Bicycle maintenance demos + Trick bike display and skateboarders.
• Live broadcasts by Express FM and filming by Portsmouth Live
• Demos of green technology plus information and campaigning stalls
• Green Crafts inc Cob ovens and woodworking
• Pedal powered smoothie maker.
• Farmers Market for local Organic fruit and vegetables etc.
• 4 cafes selling local Organic fair-trade food and drinks including a cafe in a yurt.
• + almost 100  Stalls selling local produce, inc. clothes, eco-gifts, arts and crafts

They are currently looking for cyclists to power the generators – contact chriskennett01@hotmail.com to find out more. There are also other opportunities to get involved.

Tags: Climate Change, green, Green Fair 2010, Local Events, pcan, pedal, Pedal Power, Portsmouth

Pigeon Racing

By chance I caught some racing pigeons being released up on Portsdown Hill the other day. Once released the birds slowly circled out in a flock, travelling further and further away from the hill and then over the city towards Southsea.

Pigeon fancying a possible new sport for the Southsea Gents?

Tags: Pigeons, Racing

Girls Group at Southsea Skatepark

Southsea Skatepark is now running a weekly session every Monday afternoon for girls (and ladies of course) interested in trying out or developing their skills in skateboarding, BMX and inline skating. The session is between 4 and 5pm every Monday and is £1.50. For more information contact the Skatepark or call 07866 109096.

Love Your Bike Portsmouth – This Sunday

Southsea Skatepark is the venue for the main Love Your Bike Portsmouth event from 10am-5pm. Limited quantities of goodie bags so to avoid being left out get there early.

It’s going to be an action packed day with Ben Wilson showcasing his bikes and welding on site. Death Spray Custom will be airbrushing bikes, Tokyo Fixed Gear have a mini shop, Gocycle will be offering demos of their bike and showcasing special custom editions, RAW Bamboo will be bringing a few of their bikes and the new Fixei range will also be unveiled.

There will be loads of workshops and offers of help with customisation from various people including Portsmouth Creative Movement, Stu Rodda, Ian and Adam Macpherson. Badger Press will be bringing a screen printing set-up so that you can design your own bags etc, The Caravan Gallery will be bringing their own eclectic mix of cycling photographs and Southsea Gallery will be selling artwork including some of the spoke card designs.

Bike Polo and BMX Demos and the winner of the Schools Competition will be announced.

To check out the full list visit – http://www.loveyourbikeportsmouth.co.uk/love/contributors

From 4pm head to Albert Road where Ian Parmiter will have an exhibition of Vintage Bikes with DJ Set and have your photograph taken on a penny farthing, ROKii Clothes will be announcing the winner of their bike and then head to Little Johnny Russell’s for free food at 6pm.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Tags: Bicycles, custom, Design, event, Love Your Bike Portsmouth, Skatepark

Love Your Bike Portsmouth Window Display

Gearing up (sorry) for the LYB Bike event on 30/05/10 a selection and taster of bikes can now be seen in Debenhams, Southsea.

Featuring bikes by Ben Wilson, I Love Dust & Tokyo Fixed Gear, Gocycle, Andrew Lang’s ‘Y’ Stand, My Dog Sighs, Ian & Adam MacPherson, LEX, Fark. Backboards by Fark and Carl Downer at Sifer Design for the vinyls.

Full details on the website. Bellamy’s Antique shop on Albert Road is next for a display.

Tags: Bicycles, Love Your Bike, lyb, Portsmouth

Portsmouth & District Angling Society

For those keen anglers amongst you the time has come to dig out your tackle box for the freshwater season.  Portsmouth & District Angling Association have been operating since 1948 and have control over 13 different sites in and around the Portsmouth area.  As well as having an Environment Agency Rod License you can pay an annual membership fee to the P&DAS to fish at one of their rivers, lakes or ponds.  The membership fee is worth every penny as it all goes back into protecting the environment and the wildlife at each fishing spot, making it more enjoyable for everyone concerned.

If fishing is something that interests you but you’re not quite experienced to start paying membership fees etc., don’t forget we are situated on one of the prime bits of coastline and fishing in the Solent is absolutely free either from the beach or by boat.

Tags: Coarse Fishing, Portsmouth & District Angling Society

Goodbye Victoria Swimming Pool

Built back in the 1960s, Portsmouth’s Victoria Swimming Pool has helped serve the city community until the recent completion of the Mountbatten Centre pool, after which it closed it’s doors for the last time. Claire Sambrook was luck enough to get a last minute look around yesterday with her camera to capture some of the charm of the building. The building is due to be demolished today, making way for a new tower, set to be the tallest student accommodation building in the world.

You can see all of Claire’s photos over at her Flickr.

Tags: Claire Sambrook, Victoria Swiming Pool

Honest Politician Pool Competition

The Honest Politician on Elm Grove is holding a pool competition on Monday 1st March from 8pm. Only £2 to put your name down and if you are good enough you may well get snapped up as a member of the pub’s pool team. Be warned, the staff there are training up in preparation…!

(Artwork by Emo)

Tags: Honest Politician

Sunday Darts

Sunday night saw the Taswell Arms become Southsea’s own Lakeside with a darts competition with almost 20 players getting involved. Needless to say there was some shocking darts thrown but there was also some tungsten magic too, with Nick ‘The Lightning Bolt’ Lightening coming out on top in the final.

Expect more Southsea adventures from the oche with Little Johnny Russells now adding a dartboard too. Here are some photos from Sunday night…LETS! PLAY! DARTS!

Tags: Darts

Play Up Pompey

Things are pretty bleak for Portsmouth FC at the moment with today a particularly fraught day in their finances. The supporters groups have arranged a protest march in Portsmouth before the next game (Birmingham City this Saturday – 16th) that starts at the Guildhall at 1pm or Milton Park at 2:15pm, the march will then walk to Fratton Park. The march is open to everyone wishing to show support to the team and also protest against the current financial situation. Find out more at the Facebook group.

Fratton Park photo by Bruce.

Tags: Fratton Park, Portsmouth FC

Sport was the real winner tonight…

One of the best Sundays I’ve spent as of late was watching 14 people compete on the ‘Okey’ down The Little Johnny Russells for fame and glory. A few missed team members were quickly replaced with ringers and hand crafted shoulder emblazed titles adorned the backs of each player. Accompanied by individual walk on music and plenty of beer the night was off to a winning start.

With Austin on the mic for the full 3 hour knock out title championship it was anything but your average game of darts. Look out for the next leg in the new year.

Congratulation to Charlie ‘The Mack’ Waddington on his glorious triumph.

Tags: Darts

Coming soon sports fans!

Back the Bid

England2018, the team behind England’s bid to host the World Cup in 2018, has asked for the support of 15 cities from across the UK to apply to become a World Cup host city. ‘Portsmouth. People. Passion. Pride.’ is Portsmouth’s bid to become a host city and is urging the whole of the south coast of England to get behind the bid. If you want to get involved visit the Council’s Back the Bid website to download a poster PDF to print out to show your support locally and visit the England 2018 Bid website to register your support for Portsmouth.

Tags: World Cup

Pier to Pier Swimming Competition

On Sunday 6th September Portsmouth Northsea Swimming Club will be hosting an open water swimming race between the two piers in Southsea (From Clarence to South Parade), a distance of two kilometres. Entry to the race is now closed but it should be fun to watch and show your support to the swimmers. The race begins at 2:30pm.

Tags: Clarence Pier, South Parade Pier, Swimming

Shiatsu Taster Sessions

Peace Cafe located in Castle Road, Southsea, will be hosting shiatsu taster sessions with Tabather, a qualified Shiatsu Practitioner, on 20th February between 2pm and 5pm. The sessions are free but a donation of £5 is suggested and all donations go to the Free Tibet charity. Spaces are limited so booking is recommended. Check the flyer and Facebook Event for more details.

Tags: Alternative, Peace Cafe