On Tuesday 14th May BC Promotions presents a selection of excellent bands at the Edge of the Wedge. The line up includes bands Follow Wyliss, Forever Can Wait, Henry Crew & The Monarchy and Portsmouth favourites The Silhouettes.
On the night there will be raffle tickets available also for £1, prizes include a £100 voucher for Chilli tattoo, a voucher for Pie & Vinyl and a range of prizes from a variety of shops along Albert Road.
The Silhouettes
The Silhouettes where established in the summer of 2009 with brothers Mike and Steve Frost, as an acoustic duo, playing music influenced by Reggae and Ska. The Silhouettes are now probably one of the busiest bands in Portsmouth having played over 50 shows last year including the Victorious Vintage Festival at Portsmouth Historical Dockyard. 2013 looks bright for the Silhouettes as they recently performed at The Wedgewood Rooms in the Road 2 Blissfields, coming in the top 5.With recording planned for this year the band’s debut release is imminent and hopefully it will enable the band to spread their music to a wider audience. For now, it seems for the silhouettes, the only way is up!
Follow Wyliss
An Alt. Rock band from Surrey. With plenty of shows under their belt already, Follow Wyliss have had the opportunity to share the stage with the likes of Lower Than Atlantis, Kids In Glass Houses, Deaf Havana and many more. Making appearances at festivals including Butserfest on the main stage and a top three spot on the second stage at Redfest. A lively set with a diverse set pulling in the audience for a high energy set.
Forever Can Wait
Forever Can Wait are a 5 piece female fronted band from Southampton who formed in October 2009. After 2 years of gigging, the young quintet have made their mark on the Southampton scene by relentless gigging and also touring across the UK. The young 5 piece are known for their upbeat, exciting shows and always keeping the crowds attention. With many reputable shows under their belts and having played both Butserfest and Takedown Festival, they have had a lineup change and are now ready to release a new EP for 2013!
Henry Crew & The Monarchy
An acoustic/indie/melodic rock act from Petersfield forming in November 2012. Gigging solidly since their formation, they have built up a solid fan base and have released two music videos already. They definitely have a buzz growing around them and have great things to come.
A group of illustrators from the University of Portsmouth are participating at New Designers in London in July and they’re holding a fundraising raffle/quiz event on the 9th (this evening) at The Fat Fox to raise money which will help get them there.
Entry to the quiz is only £3 with loads of prizes from local businesses as well as original art, etc to be won plus live music, going to be good.
The Albert Road Trail Show is due to open on 13th – 19th May at various venues along Albert Road, Southsea, Portsmouth. Organised by University of Portsmouth 2nd year Contemporary Fine Art students’ as part of their end of year exhibition. ‘The show consists of 17 different artists, all with unique styles, exhibiting their work in amongst the windows of Albert Road, Southsea. The Albert Road Trail came about from exploring ways to exhibit contemporary art in a community setting and forge links with local businesses.’
The private view is on Wednesday 15th May and will begin at The Loft (above the King’s pub) from 6pm, with regular guided tours on which you can find out more about each exhibit from some of the artists. Tours will finish at the Wine Vaults where the celebration event culminates with an evening of entertainment, a raffle with fantastic prizes and the chance to socialise over a tipple and a bite to eat. Maps will be available on the night, and you will also be able to download one from their website shortly, but please feel free to visit http://albertroadtrail.wordpress.com/ in the meantime for information about the artists, as well as examples of their work.
Venues used – Library Barbers, Tango Tea, Budd’s Herbal Apothecary, Mad 4 It, Little Johnny Russell’s, The King’s (The Loft), Parmiter’s Antiques, The Wine Vaults, Southsea Gallery, King’s Theatre, Head Barbers, Nick’s Body Piercing, Chilli Tattoo, Le Raze, Bellamy’s and Seymour’s Fireplaces.
Wonderful to see the students take the initiative on this and work with local businesses. Looking forward to seeing the work.
Photos from the recent Arrows of Love show at The One Eyed Dog in Southsea are now up on the Strong Island Recordings Facebook page. Some are shown below but visit the SIR Facebook page to see the whole album and give the page a Like if you want to keep up to date with the upcoming shows and releases they have planned soon.
Local band Attack!Vipers! Are auctioning off the original art for their new shirt in hope of raising money for the Rowans Hospice charity:
“We recently commisioned Southsea artist Roma-May Daly to create an illustration for our new t-shirt. We’ve now decided to auction off the original artwork, which is a stunning black ink drawing on A3 water colour paper, signed on the reverse.
All money raised from this will go to The Rowans Hospice, a local charity the band have supported for the past few years. Please e-mail bids to attackvipers@gmail.com.
Bidding starts at £50 and whoever has the highest bid at 12pm on Friday 17th May wins. Postage & Delivery costs are not included in the bid.
Portsmouth musician and food lover Rich Keam, who will be playing at this year’s Victorious Festival on Saturday 24th August, has beaten off over 600,00 entries worldwide to make the last 25 applicants for the job of Taste Master, Western Australia, in Tourism Australias’ “Best Jobs In The World” competition.
He’s already set himself apart from his rivals by releasing the amazing single ‘Adventures of a Taste Master’-an ode to Western Australias’ culinary and geographical beauty and awesomeness, in aid of food charity The Trussell Trust.
Jack Daly and Strong Island Media popped down to the Hayling Island ferry point on Langstone Harbour the other day to capture a bit of this start of summer on film:
Doors open at 7:30pm and entry costs £3 on the door so come along, drink, relax and enjoy the acoustic music! All money raised will be going towards funding the soon-to-be graduates photography London and Portsmouth based exhibition!
For more about the exhibitions please visit show2013.co.uk
To coincide with this year’s Isle of Wight Randonnee this Sunday there will be a drop in bike surgery at Head Hairdressing on Albert Road in the garden this Saturday. Bike mechanic Harry will be offering to check & sort gears, brakes, chain & tyres for a mere £10.
Whether you’re planning on doing the Randonnee or not, now is a great time to get your bike up together for the Spring at a bargain price! No new parts are included in this price, but Harry can advise if anything is needed & arrange a suitable time to sort it out. Drop in at Heads Facebook HERE.
This Sunday sees the return of the annual Isle Of Wight Randonnee. Thousands of lycra clad men and women will descend upon the isle in order to tackle the 100km or 55km route of pure hills. This yearly event has become a fixture on many Strong Islander’s calendars, not only is it free but it also offers a great opportunity to discover all sides of the island at your own pace. For more information check out the Cycle Island website here. We would love to see some of your snaps from the day so feel free to send them in. Good luck to you all, the weather is set to be a banger. Don’t forget to take advantage of the tea and cakes at the checkpoints…
Following the success of Wymering Manor Trust’s launch in February, they are holding our first Community Open Day on Sunday 5th May 2013, 12-3pm.
The day will have the feel of a traditional village fete, with hot dogs and food, ice cream and candy floss, refreshments and music. Trustees will be an offering visitors’ talks on the Manor, exploring its history and plans for its future renovation, followed by a tour of some areas of this historic Manor. There will also be an opportunity for people to sign up to our volunteering scheme, placing the Manor firmly back in the heart of the community.
I found Sebastinella’s work on Instagram and was instantly intrigued by what I saw! Sebastinella is a 3rd year student at South Downs College studying her Foundation Degree in Art & Design. Students can pick their own subject for their end of year project and Sebastinella decided upon ‘litter’ as her focus.
“I chose ‘litter’ as a topic, and considered such routes as campaigns and billboards but it was all pretty typical so I’ve branched into Guerilla art with the idea of making litter beautiful. Cans and crisps became my focus, and now i’ve expanded the idea even further and hope over the next few weeks to develop the crisp idea, advertising Britain on crisp packets as a type of spoof because Britain consume more crisps than Europe put together.”
Taking a very hands on approach to her subject art Sebastinella has created wonderful beauty in the very objects we dispose off without a second thought. The casual application of acrylic to the crumpled packets offers a real charm that makes it hard not to smile at, and the site specific illustrations work exceptionally well with the packet choices.
“I quite like the ‘not so perfect’ style and I’m tempted to actually do a few on location for my final exhibition rather than just working from photos the whole time. They’re simply acrylic paint on crisp packs, nothing else.”
Sebastinella will be off to Bournemouth University to study Graphics in September and Strong Island wish her the best of luck. Have a great 3 years. You can also follow Sebastinella over at her blog HERE.
On Monday the 27th of May, two fearless Strong Islanders will fly out to New York in order to begin an epic 5000 mile coast to coast cycle challenge. Lex and Andy are both taking 4 months out of work to embark on this once in a lifetime experience, and are aiming to raise charity funds along the way for Motiv8 and CRED, two organisations that our intrepid explorers work with closely. Check out their blog Look Mum No Car for updates, further info and where to donate. You can also follow them on Twitter here. We’ll make sure you both get some Strong Island stickers before the off so that your bikes (or helmets) can represent throughout the trek. We all wish you the best of luck and look forward to your updates.
It’s here. We’re proud to present the third annual Strong Island Ale, brewed by Irving & Co. Brewers which will be hitting the pumps this Friday. We’ll be launching it at The Belle Isle in Southsea on Friday night so pop down and join us for a jar or two! This years Strong Island homebrew competition was won by Tyler Griffin from Ohio currently working over here in Hampshire.
Brewer Malcolm Irving said “The beer is a highly complex blend of subtle malt flavours from a combination of Malted Oats, Wheat and rare Special B and Aromatic Belgian Malt. These subtle malt flavours underpin the heady intense fruity hop flavours from American Citra and Amarillo hop varieties. This should prove to be a very exciting beer and well worth seeking out in pubs round the city and beyond”
The beer will also be appearing this weekend at The Leopold Tavern as part of their 2nd annual beer festival (we’ll be there Saturday!) and the Hole In The Wall amongst many other local pubs.
Big shout to the guys over at the Portsmouth Supporters Trust for giving us an endorsement through their website for our Strong Island X PFC tee. We’ve had a huge number of pre orders so far with many more coming in. With £5 from each tee sold going towards Strong Island buying a community share, we’re well on track to achieve that.
Q: In the movie, The Wizard of Oz, what was the name of the head winged monkey?
A: Nikko
The three lucky winners selected at random are Michael McCreadie, Luke Carroll and Jamie Pembroke. If you send Angelo your addresses by emailing to oz@noonemournsthewicked.com then he’ll post them out.
You can collect a copy of your own for £7.50 by visiting Room 237 on Elm Grove. The Shining themed store is more than just a comic shop! As well as stocking the largest range of American comics and graphic novels in Portsmouth, they also specialise in books on cult film, TV, art, design and illustration. You’ll even find books on tattoos and skateboarding!
If it’s posters, statues, t-shirts or anything comic related you’re looking for then Room 237 is the place for you and, if they don’t have what you’re looking for in stock, they can order it, super quick.
The second Portsmouth Green Film Festival will be held on May 24th and 25th this year at the Omega Centre and Victoria Park. The two-day festival is organised by the Portsmouth Film Society together with a number of local organisations involved in caring for the environment and concerned about educating future generations to look after ourselves and our planet better.
Portsmouth Film Society (PFS) launched its first Green Film Festival in May 2012 in partnership with Portsmouth Climate Action Network (PCAN), bringing a range of speakers and films to the city to promote and engage with some of the important issues facing the world today. It was a great success and organisers are confident that this is an effective way to promote green issues to the community.
This year’s Portsmouth Green Film Festival is supported by PCAN as well as Greenpeace, Portsmouth Fairtrade Forum, Portsmouth City Council, F.R.I.E.N.D. Animal Sanctuary and Café Scientifique Portsmouth
In the spirit of the Pop-up Cinema movement, popularised by PFS with local community organisations, on the second day (25 May) events will be held in the Victoria Park, with the full support of the Victoria Lodge.
It looks like the One Eyed Dog has embraced the spray can and is undergoing a facelift. It’s by an artist called Krishna Malla. I don’t have any links to Krishna yet but if anyone has please post below so we can see more of their work.
This got me thinking. I know plenty of artists keen to find good spots to paint and there must be loads of local businesses/homeowners who fancy a facelift, be it shutters, a small wall or an end gable. If your either an artist looking for walls or a business/property owner looking for some artwork let us know and we’ll try and hook you up.
We have just added a new lookbook for the Strong Island Clothing Co. Spring 2013 range to the online store. The Compendium shoot locations were Still & West in Old Portsmouth and The Hole in the Wall in Southsea. Photography by Strong Island Media & Jack Daly and the promo edit was filmed and edited by Jack Daly.
Since signing a record deal with Turnfirst Artists just over a year ago, local girl Laurel Arnell-Cullen has been busy in the studio. I’m really excited to share Laurel’s latest demo titled ‘Blue Blood’ which she wrote and produced herself.
You can hear more from Laurel on her SoundCloud page. You can also stay up to date with Laurel via her Facebook and Twitter.
Participants are encouraged to meet after the viewing and have lunch or a drink together, suggested venue is The Belle Isle which is a short walk from the gallery.
After much speculation, upcoming coffee house Southsea Coffee Co have finally announced their opening date in a teaser film embedded below. Occupying the old Holland & Barrett store on Osbourne Rd, the white-washed window has provided only the sneakiest of glimpses at the ongoing transformation of the shop which has been stripped back to its original fittings and given a deserved modern refit. Followers of the shops’ diligently updated social media sites will be well aware of the scale of the renovation, with industrially inspired and reclaimed furniture being installed today and the finishing touches being applied by the weekend, just in time for opening before the Bank Holiday on Thursday 2nd May.
If you’d like to keep up with shop in the run up to opening be sure to check out their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram for updates.
We are changing the way we compile our 2014 calendar. There won’t be a theme each month as we are inviting entries of all types all year round.
Instagram users who might not realise the calendar is open to them as well. If you’ve taken a photo that you’d like to submit for consideration you just need add the hashtag #SIC2014. We will primarily be accepting submissions via email calendar@strong-island.co.uk.
This year the calendars will be available from mid November from the Strong Island online store and Southsea Gallery. This year we will again be supporting the Alzheimer’s Society.
Come rain or shine, this wonderful historic Portsmouth landmark will be lowering it’s draw bridge and inviting you all in for a well deserved end of week tipple leading up to and throughout the summer months. If champagne is not your thing there is plenty more to choose from at their well stocked bar, as well as some absolutely delicious, lovingly prepare nibbles should you feel a little peckish.
If the weather is good you can chill in the beautiful courtyard and if it’s not so good the you can enjoy your end of week treat in the inviting and cosy bar itself. The perfect place to hide away from the elements and enjoy a drink and some tasty tunes.
So if you’re looking for post-work wind down or a pre-nightout warm up, why not pop down and get involved with something a little different.
For more details check out the Facebook page HERE.
In L. Frank Baum’s classic “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” the displaced Dorothy clicks her red ruby slippers three times and gets transported back to her home, surrounded by loved ones and people who care about her.
Dee, the star of Angelo’s “No Place Like Home,” isn’t quite so lucky. Instead of finding herself in a magical land of munchkins, witches and jitterbugs, Dee struggles to make ends meet while living in Los Angeles. She does, however, return home, but it’s not thanks to magical footwear. Her parents’ death in a tornado takes Dee back to Emeraldsville where natural disasters aren’t the only things causing the townspeople to expire. As people begin to die mysteriously, the events of a night in 1959 lead to some truly horrific events.
The graphic novel features artwork from local artists Joe Loughbrough, Paul Tinker, Dani Green, Paul Taylor Ed Snyder, Dean Beattie and Simon Jacob.
Angelo is offering three Strong Island readers the chance to win a copy of the first novel. All you have to do is answer the following question by emailing Angelo at oz@noonemournsthewicked.com. The deadline is Monday 29th April.
Q – In the movie, The Wizard of Oz, what was the name of the leader of the winged monkeys?
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
I’ve been holding on to this for a while now as I wanted to make a feature of it and had to wait for the exhibition to finish to give it pride of place on the front page. If like myself you’re always looking around at our local architecture you will have noticed many of the buildings within the book Thomas Ellis Owen Shaper of Portsmouth, ‘Father of Southsea’. Some could even be right on your doorstep but you have never noticed, or peeked over that high wall. Thomas Ellis Owen’s work is all over the city and you’d be forgiven for walking past as a lot of it is hidden or down those streets you may not stroll down too often. Other buildings however are right in your face. Ever noticed the huge block of flats at the entrance to Waitrose, the detailing on the building at Dover Court opposite the old Havana bar?
“Thomas Ellis Owen is probably the best known of Portsmouth’s nineteenth century architects, his construction of villas and substantial terraces in Southsea being responsible for the emergence of the district as a middle class locality. His work was recognised by Pevsner and Lloyd in their magisterial Buildings of England: Hampshire, and later by a rather more detailed architectural enquiry by two students, Preedy and Stewart. My own research was principally concerned with dating Owen’s properties and analysing their inhabitants. What Sue Pike has done is to cast the net very much wider, not only by providing great detail about Owen’s family, but also by demonstrating the impressive breadth of his activities outside architecture. Indeed, his interests were so wide that there must have been few aspects of Portsmouth’s development in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s in which he was not involved. Infrastructural fields such as gas supply, the Portsea Canal, railways, the Camber Docks and hospitals lay within his purview, while he assisted in the purchase of land for one of Portsmouth’s defining features, the Palmerstonian forts. His tithe map has proved of inestimable value to local historians. Meanwhile Owen was an important local politician. All these facets of Owen’s life have been fully laid bare in this thoroughly well researched book by Sue Pike, who is to be congratulated on her labours.” Professor Ray Riley
Thomas Ellis Owen Shaper of Portsmouth, ‘Father of Southsea’ is a really interesting read and contains stunning colour photos of many Owen properties in Southsea and Alverstoke by Gosport photographer, Tim Martin. There is no real target audience and hopefully it will appeal to old and young alike. The detailed captions may be helpful to first year architecture students but it showcases Southsea well and may well appeal equally to academics, photographers, interested newcomers and people who just want a really nice book to put on their coffee table. I’m a huge fan of both history and architecture so this book is a real winner for me, and I have no doubt that if that’s not really your bag you will still appreciate what Thomas Ellis Owen Shaper of Portsmouth, ‘Father of Southsea’ has to offer.
Steve Bomford gave us the heads up on this wonderful short film made up of old film footage, from the 50s to the 70s, filmed around Portsmouth and Southsea. If you like looking at some vintage Portsmouth and Southsea you will love this (really interesting to see the Guildhall before it was pedestrianised and the buildings were demolished for the council offices).
I’m not a BMXer and only cruised on my Raleigh Burner to get to skate spots when I was young, but i’ve always had huge admiration the those guys. They’re freakin’ nuts. I remember Freestylin’ mag when I was younger and would always have a flick through if I could. I loved the whole style thing surrounding BMXing in the 80′s. Mag wheels, crazy colour co-ordinated bikes and big attitude.
Well, you can relive all the that, at least to a visual extent, in the form of the Freestylin’ book. Some of you may have already seen this but may not know you can download the 158 page PDF here.
Go straight to page 106 for an article on Craig Campbell at Southsea Skatepark. Sick.
If like me you can’t get enough of skateboarding, but just don’t know where to dig everything out from that there world wide webby, then local top gun Toby Taylors twitter feed for Bored of Southsea will fill all your needs in the world of local and international skateboarding. Jump on Tobys feed HERE. Check Tobys Tre Flip at the underpass courtesy of Tom Timewaster.
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