Don’t Forget Your Plimsolls

Don’t Forget Your Plimsolls is a new style of exercise class.  It brings everything people enjoyed about PE and playground games while still allowing them to get fit in a carefree and above all, fun way.  Even those of us who hated PE still have fond memories of crazes such as British Bulldog, Stuck in the Mud and Dodgeball.  Exercise never used to feel like exercise and this is exactly what DFYP is trying to recapture. Yes, you’ll burn calories as you take part in the activities, but without the pain of monotony and pressure you may have experienced in gyms previously.  Founder Joel Ryder is a fully qualified fitness instructor and personal trainer so while the emphasis is on fun with fitness, you’ll also be in safe hands.  It’s even a great way to socialise while doing something good for mind and body.

If more traditional classes are not for you, then this may be exactly what you’ve been searching for. It suits those who are returning to exercise as well as those who are just starting out.  Each game has been carefully designed to allow you to judge how far you wish to push yourself.  If your aim is to shed pounds, get a bit fitter or just have some silly laughs to chill out after work then give it a go.   Just bring yourself, and of course, your plimsolls.

DFYP is at Eastney Community Centre 7-8pm every Tuesday.

£2.50 introductory offer if you mention ‘Strong Island’ (normal price £3.50).

This is an adult class so minimum age is 18 years.

Something knitted is happening.

I enjoyed a good chat with the ladies at the Eastney Arts Centre a couple of weeks ago. I felt pretty special to be made privy to an absolutely epic yarn bomb that will be taking place. Its all a bit hush hush because maybe the local authority might not agree with yarn bombing. How desperately sad huh? Its only a bit of wool. Here is a taster.

Anti-tank Defences on Eastney Beach

One very familiar sight on the beach at Eastney are the concrete blocks and cubes scattered around infront of the old military test station. These blocks actually have more of a function than simply being fun to climb up and stand on, they are an original World War 2 beach defence against tanks. Local campaigners have managed to get these defences Grade II listed by the Secretary of State and are now seeking funding to create two illustrated signs to be located on the beach.

If you wish to find out more and wish to find out how you can donate to the sign appeal click HERE.

Bogs, Baths & Basins

Yes it’s true there really is an exhibition in Portsmouth with this name.

‘From the bog to the beam engine; find out where all that water goes when you flush the loo!’

Toilets and sinks from the Portsmouth City Museum’s Collections.

Saturday 27th – Sunday 28th November at Eastney Beam Engine House, Henderson Road, Eastney, PO4 3PA.
Free Entry. Refreshments and gift shop open.

Charly Coombes and The New Breed/Spitdust/Hearts of Oak

Strong Island favourites and Southsea’s own Hearts of Oak will be supporting Charly Coombes and The New Breed at the Cellars at Eastney on Saturday 24th. Charly Coombs (younger brother of Gaz Coombs and part time member of Supergrass) will be bringing his band The New Breed to the Cellars to play what is their third only gig to date. Spitdust and The Lonely Cardinals will also be supporting. Tickets are £7 advance and £8 on the door.

For more information check the Facebook event.

Eastney Beam Engine House

If you love a bit of not often seen Portsmouth history, Eastney Beam Engine House is open to the public for free from 1pm to 5pm on every last weekend of the month. Hidden just off of Henderson Road in Eastney, the Victorian building contains two restored and working 150 horsepower ‘James Watt & Co’ Beam Engines powered by steam which were installed to operate water pumps in 1887. This new system proved very successful and is still the basis for today’s underground drainage system on Portsea Island.

Sadly due to essential building work you won’t be able to go inside the buildings this weekend, but there will be talks with staff and photos and artefacts.

PRIMARY – Extended & Improved

We have some great news about our PRIMARY phonography exhibition (find out all the details here) that we can now announce:

- The deadline for submissions has now been extended to Sunday 4th March. We have had some incredible submissions but want to set aside more time to make the exhibition something really special.

- The competition is now open to up to 10 submissions from each individual. With the ability to capture many photos on your phone over the next two months we we want you to not feel restricted to just three. The same rules apply about the photos conforming to compositions using the primary colours though. If you have already submitted feel free to send more photos over as and when you please.

- The exhibition will be hosted by Albert Road’s own Bonzo Studio who are also partnering up with us in the creation of the exhibition space. More news on this soon!

- Finally, we will be running a competition as part of the exhibition where the best three photos submitted will win some incredible prizes. We will be announcing the prizes available very soon but got to say, these will be the best prize haul we have ever offered.

- We will be putting together a poster for the exhibition that will be on sale on the opening night. The poster will feature some of the best submissions and all profits from the sales will go to a local charity (details to follow soon). Due to this we need to say that any photos submitted to PRIMARY will involve you giving us permission to use them for commercial purposes, if you do not want your photo used in this way simply let us know via email.

Well, that is it for now! We really hope to drum up as much coverage locally for PRIMARY in the next couple of months so if you could Facebook/Tweet/+1 about the exhibition we would really appreciate it. We would love this exhibition to be a real reflection of the whole population of Portsmouth with everyone taking part and feeling involved.

It’s going to be a Strong Movember – Closed at £725

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