Island Magazines December 2021 Bembridge & St Helens Area by Island Magazines

December 2021 Bembridge & St Helens Area

Merry Christmas

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elcome and can you believe this is the December issue and Christmas is very nearly upon us.

I can feel the excitement in the air in the build up to the big day and our ‘Dates for your Diary’ section is brimming with events happening both locally and across the island. There is a Christmas Fayre or event for everyone, whether you’re a Christmas fanatic or best friends with the Grinch! Although we still have a long road ahead of us regarding Covid, at least we are in a better place than we were this time last year and we can get to spend time with family and friends over the festive period. December is the start of winter and I remember back when we had that week-long heat wave in summer, I was wishing for the colder weather... as they say, be careful what you wish for!! With the weather set to turn cold please remember to check on others, especially if you have elderly neighbours or anyone on their own. Winter is a lonely time for many and just 30 minutes of company can be the difference between a good day and a bad day. On another note... who spotted the typo in last month’s sudoku puzzle? Thanks to Nathan for letting me know and my apologies to everyone for this oversight and I hope it didn’t puzzle you too much. I hope you all have a great December and I wish you A Very Merry Christmas and I look forward to catching up with you again in the New Year.

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BEMBRIDGE PARISH COUNCIL Tel: 01983 874160 E: clerk@bembridgepc.org.uk Environment & Neighbourhood – Dig for Bembridge The Environment & Neighbourhood Committee will be receiving 345 trees and hedging from the Woodland Trust as part of The Queen’s Green Canopy, celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Delivery of the trees has been put back to 6th December and the planting has been pencilled in for Wednesday 8th December, look out for notices to confirm the event.

purple and silver and b) making bunting so that streets, houses and the village as a whole bursts with festive flags.

Star Competition To enter this year’s Star Competition, hang an original star in your home, business or group window or garden, complete a form and return to the Parish Office by 10th December and judging will take place week commencing 13th December. Application forms available from the Parish Office or on the PC website www.bembridgepc.org.uk/community/ environment-and-neighbour-committee

There are also events at Bembridge Sailing Club, the Flower Festival at Holy Trinity and Bembridge Arts Society Exhibition in the Village Hall.

Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee will take place all over the country between the 2nd and 5th June 2022.

Friendship Circle Coffee Mornings Coffee mornings will be held in the Village Hall on Saturday 4th December and Saturday 8th January. All proceeds to the running of the Community Minibus. 150 Club numbers for 2022 can be purchased at the coffee mornings or from the Parish Office.

Bembridge bursts with talent and creativity, and all that is needed to ensure a wonderful weekend is to harness those talents and that creativity into a mixture of events that celebrate not only the service and dedication of Her Majesty, The Queen, but celebrate our village and its wonderful people. It would be lovely if people could start thinking about a) planting up their front gardens in either red, white and blue, or 4

So far plans include: Thursday 2nd June - Bembridge Street Fair & Beacon Lighting at Culver Saturday 4th June – Rock the Boat at the Harbour Sunday 5th June – Jubilee Jamboree at Steyne Park

If people have bright ideas for events that they wish to organise, then please feel free to do so but feed the plans to the Parish Office so that we can collate all the events and plans and produce a Bumper Bembridge Jubilee Brochure.

Next Full Council Meeting takes place on Wednesday 15th December, 7pm in the Village Hall Merry Christmas from Bembridge Parish Council

subscribe Never miss out on reading a copy of Island Magazines. If you can’t get out to pick up a copy from local distributors you can subscribe to either our ‘DIGITAL’ or ‘PRINTED’ edition each month. For DIGITAL subscriptions please email bembridgemagazine@gmail. com and include the words ‘subscribe digital’ in the email, then sit back, relax and wait for the next issue to drop into your email inbox. For PRINTED subscriptions there will be a small charge of £1.20 per month payable 6 months in advance. Email islandmagazines@ gmail.com with your name, address and which area you would like or call us on 07880587931.

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A Few December Facts... December used to be the tenth month of the Roman year, and it gets its name from the word ‘decem’, which means ten. December originally had just 30 days according to the ancient Roman calendar. When the calendar was changed for the Julian calendar, December gained a day, making it the seventh and last month in the year with 31 days. In the northern hemisphere winter begins on either December 1st (if you follow the meteorological seasons), or after the winter solstice on the 20th or 21st of December (if you follow the astronomical seasons). There are fewer daylight hours in December in the northern hemisphere than in any other month. More than 80,000 people a year are rushed to hospital due to festive falls, Christmas crashes and decoration disasters! About 1,000 people a year are hurt by decorations alone, so be careful with the tinsel this year. The tradition of putting tangerines in stockings comes from the 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor. December 12th is Poinsettia Day. December’s flower is the narcissus or holly. December’s birthstones are turquoise, lapis lazuli, zircon, topaz (blue), or tanzanite. December 28th is considered by some to be the unluckiest day of the year. An ancient legend states that forest animals can speak in human language on Christmas Eve. However, it is bad luck to test this superstition. In 1647 Oliver Cromwell, English Puritan leader, banned the festivities of Christmas for being seen as immoral on such a holy day. Anyone who was seen celebrating was arrested! The ban was lifted in 1660. Father Christmas is a magical man of mystery, delivering presents to all the children in the world in just a single night! Researchers have found that his super sleigh would need to travel at 650 miles per second, and stop off at 822 homes every second, in order to successfully deliver every single present! No wonder he needs a whole year to recuperate! 6

Trading Standards have a few new scams and a reminder about a really prevalent one. • There is a marked increase with scams through WhatsApp messaging with scammers cloning numbers and purporting to be a close family member or sending a message saying this is my new phone number and subsequently asking for money for various emergencies. WhatsApp have joined forces with Citizens Advice and Friends Against Scams to launch Stop Think Call a new campaign to help educate people on how to protect themselves and their WhatsApp account from fraud, for more information go to www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/stopthinkcall you can also go to the Friends Against Scams website to watch a short video and learn how to protect yourself and those you care about from scams. • Be wary of text messages purporting to be the NHS – the most recent says that you are eligible for your NHS covid pass and failure to apply may result in a fine – it then provides a link to a website. This is not genuine – there is NO fine for not having a Covid pass – DO NOT click on the link • Another warning to be careful if you receive any emails from friends and contacts asking for money. It is highly likely their account has been hacked and the message will be from a scammer – not a friend. If you aren’t sure pick up the phone and call your friend, you will be doing them a favour as they probably wont even know that their account has been compromised. NEVER respond immediately to any request for financial help even if you know the person well – it is likely to be a scammer posing as them.

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News Report from Cllr Joe Robertson - Bembridge joe.robertson@iow.gov.uk During the last month I have been busy helping residents with local issues and contributing to the wider Island, particularly through my membership of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee and Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee. I remain in continuing dialogue with residents and Island Roads over drainage and flooding in the Village. As winter approaches, we need to be as prepared as we can be. Long term solutions will take some time and require a number of stakeholders to work together including Island Roads, Southern Water, the Environment Agency and the Council. I have recently engaged with all of those agencies to provide joined up solutions. I will be convening a joint meeting to discuss Bembridge in the near future to make sure everyone knows who is responsible for which issues. In the short term I am pleased that Island Roads have provided some additional street cleaning and unblocking of gullies, notwithstanding it has taken longer than we had hoped for. There is still more that can be done. The Council have also made sandbags available for residents who are particularly worried when bad weather is forecast. These are available at several locations, the closest being Simeon Street Recreation Ground in Ryde. When bad weather is forecast the hut is unlocked for residents to help themselves. I understand that the Parish Council may be considering holding stock in Bembridge too. Last month I met with representatives from Bembridge and St Helens Parish 8

Councils and Brading Town Council to discuss putting forward a bid to develop a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan. I was pleased to be able to voice my support and thank the Bembridge Parish Council for submitting a bid at such short notice. I would also like to thank members of the local “Wheelers” group for contributing. Working together has allowed us to put forward a stronger bid, informed by those who walk and cycle in and around the local area. Planning continues to be a major issue both locally and Island wide. I have met with local residents to discuss an anticipated planning application on fields between Steyne Road and Hillway Road. This follows a site visit by Isle of Wight Planning Officers at my request which I have already reported on. With the recent Government reshuffle Michael Gove is the new Secretary of State covering Local Government. We expect that there may be changes to national planning strategy in the near future as the new Secretary of State has made comment to this effect. Whatever national planning environment we are in, I will be making the same arguments that large scale developments are inappropriate for a Village of this size. Furthermore, small to medium scale developments should only be considered (let alone approved) when the infrastructure has been improved to meet existing demand. Flooding over the summer is just one example of how improvements to infrastructure have not kept up with local house building over many years. continued over the page

News Report from Cllr Joe Robertson Looking across the Island more widely, I am disappointed to see that plans to develop a new world class dinosaur venue in Sandown are being further delayed. The Island is a world-famous site for fossil discoveries and only last month a new species was found on the Island. We need to be more ambitious as a Council and developing areas like Sandown would have a positive knock-on effect for the East Wight and wider Island as a whole.

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www.islandmagazines.co.uk PUZZLE PAGE

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Word Scramble

Sudoku

Rearrange the letters to make a Christmas related word

1. dnorewadnl 2. asnat lacsu 3. uhrdplo 4. bwos 5. rwehta 6. nirghc 7. tooeicadrsn 8. ngtsoikc 9. ngppirwa 10. ftgis 11. smrhciast ndugipd 12. escrogo 13. slnite

Wordsearch “CHRISTMAS”

3 8

8 3

8 7

5 7

7 2

4 2

BAUBLES BELLS BRUSSEL SPROUT CANDLES CANDY CANE CARDS CELEBRATE CHIMNEY CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS ELVES FAMILY FROSTY GIFT GREETINGS JOY MERRY MISTLETOE NOEL NORTH POLE REINDEER RUDOLPH SANTA SLEIGH STOCKING TREE TURKEY WRAPPING PAPER WREATH

2 6

PUZZLE PAGE

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Kriss Kross - Can you work out where each word goes in the grid to complete a crossword style puzzle? 3 LETTERS AGO DIG EKE ELF FAR FRY HOW HUM OAK OFF PAR POI TEA TOR TRY YOU

4 LETTERS BOWS DUMB FREE GARB GLAD GRIM MENU NULL RENT SING SWAM TWIG WEED

5 LETTERS

6 LETTERS

ALTER APRON COUNT OLDER OPERA PRIOR ROUGH TEMPI VODKA

BRINGS OPENLY ORANGE RUSTIC SELDOM SOUGHT

LAST MONTHS ANSWER

Last month’s answer - Missing Link - ‘POMEGRANATE’ proof, over, moon, easy, green, race, apple, nose, arch, test, ear.

News Report from Jonathan Bacon - IW Councillor for Brading & St Helens. Tel 07973 872150 | Email: jonathan.bacon@iow.gov.uk sthelenscouncillor@gmail.com Cllr Jonathan Bacon The Council Administration has been in office for six months. With our feet now firmly under the table we have been able to start bringing forward some important policies and decisions. The Administration published its new Corporate Plan in October. It was adopted by the Full Council in November. The Plan sets out an ambitious programme, including setting out our key aims to care for our Environment, achieve economic recovery and, most importantly, deal with our housing crisis and ensure the provision of truly affordable housing for Islanders. It is very much a working document and not set in stone. As such we were happy to accept a proposed amendment to the Plan proposed at the Full Council Meeting to recognise the need to work to address poverty on the Island and provide greater support to those on low incomes. Within County Hall it sometimes seems like the process of improving things is akin to trying to strike a match on jelly, but we are determined, we have set a clear direction and we will strive to do everything we can to advance our Island. Locally the main concerns in recent weeks have remained issues with drainage. Worries have been exacerbated by incidences of poor weather. The Council has control over some aspects of the water system, primarily road drainage (as the Highway Authority) however much of the water infrastructure is outside our control and all we can do is seek to influence improvements rather than being able to direct or force them to happen. I am 12

working where I can to deal with particular issues and also to influence the bigger picture. I would like it if my role as Council Cabinet Member for the Environment gave me more power to do so, but I will do what I can within the system as it exists, unless and until it changes. Lastly, I want to mention that Historic England have started a project to review how the Listing system works and (hopefully) to improve it. The Island has been chosen as one of only three areas in the country to run the project which has the stated aim of protecting the places which are most important. They are keen to hear from as many people as possible so that the list can be a better reflection of the views of local communities. You can read more about what they are doing, register for their online workshops and fill in their survey here: https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/ features/nhle-survey/ As a result of initial feedback Historic England are going to create hard copy response forms. I will seek to make these available locally to help more people to be able to respond. As both your Isle of Wight Councillor and a Town Councillor I can be contacted at any time, and I will always respond to messages. I have set out my contact details above or you can speak to me at one of my regular surgeries, the next few of which take place as follows: Brading Community Centre, 14th December, January 25th and February 22nd, all at 10am St Helens Pavilion 30th November, January 11th and February 8th, all at 10am

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Dates for your Diary Thursday 2nd December – Ryde Late Night Shopping from 5-8pm. Support local this Christmas. Enjoy the Christmas spirit of Ryde. Shopping, street entertainment and the Merry & Bright Trail & Lantern Parade. Saturday 4th December - Bembridge Friendship Circle Coffee Morning will be held in the VIllage Hall. All proceeds to the running of the Community Minibus. 150 Club numbers for 2022 can be purchased at the coffee mornings or from the Parish Office. Saturday 4th December – The Tritone Singers Christmas Concert at Ryde Methodist Church, Garfield Road, Ryde, PO33 2PT at 7pm. A varied concert of Christmas music for everyone. Free entry – Donations to Earl Mountbatten Hospice. Saturday 4th December – St Helens Village of Angels & Christmas Light Switch on. From 5pm-8pm. This year’s launch will include a Christmas Fayre to be held at the Pavilion and outside in The Vine Inn’s Winter Wonderland Secret Garden. Stalls, raffle and lots to see and do. Saturday 4th December – Christmas Fayre at Brading Youth & Community Centre (opp main car park) from 11am – 3pm. Adult and Children’s raffle, craft stalls, make your own star, tombola, sweet stall, quality jumble and much more. Café open for hot drinks, bacon rolls and mince pies. Saturday 4th December – The Wight Brainy Bunch Christmas Market at Ryde Fire Station from 10am – 4pm. Magical 14

Grotto, kids craft corner, inflatable snow globe. Live entertainment, seasonal stalls and festive refreshments. Station Christmas lights turn on at 4pm. Sunday 5th December - Light Up a Life with Mountbatten at 4pm. Join us to Light Up a Life and take time to remember and celebrate the life of someone who won’t be with you this year. This year, you can dedicate a light on our online remembrance tree, and also join us for the Light up a Life service. If you can’t make the service in person, we will be live streaming the service so that you can join us from the comfort of your own home. Find out more about the event here: www.mountbatten.org.uk Sunday 5th December - Winter Market at Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary. 10am – 4.30pm. There will be lots of stalls selling a variety of items and gifts plus plenty of Christmas themed things going on at the same time too. Free entry and parking – donations to the sanctuary gratefully accepted. Sunday 5th December – Briddlesford Christmas Market from 3-7pm at Briddlesford Lodge Farm, live music, Christmas gift ideas, local stalls, mulled wine, farm shop and delicious food. Saturday 11th – Wednesday 22nd December – Yarmouth on Ice. Yarmouth Town will come alive with Christmas Tradition and Festive Cheer… Have fun on their allweather ice-skating rink in the Square with free skate hire included in the booking price. Enjoy the music, lights and snow, discover hidden treasures in the local

All event information was correct at time of print but could be subject to change at any time.

Dates for your Diary independent shops and enjoy late night shopping on the 18th and 22nd December. Christmas lights and decorations throughout the town and meet Mother and Father Christmas in their secret weekend hideaway. Carols in the Square with the Salvation Army on Saturday 18th December at 6pm. Fun for the whole family and all profits go towards local island charities. To book and for more information visit www. yarmouthonice.com Saturday 11th December – Christmas Fayre at St Helens Primary School. From 11am – 2pm Lots of stalls and fun for all the family. Saturday 11th December - Ryde Masonic Lodge - Art & Craft Fair. From 10am – 4pm. Find a wide selection of unique items and gifts from some of the islands best artists and crafters. Ryde Masonic Hall PO33 2PZ Sunday 12th December - Santa Dash with Mountbatten is now at their new venue with their very own Christmas Village for everyone to enjoy. Run, jog, or walk the 5km route around the grounds of Ventnor Botanic Garden. Village opens from 103 and the race from 11am. To help you get in the festive spirit, every registration comes with a free Santa Suit and a medal. Registration now open: www.mountbatten. org.uk/Event/santa-dash-2021 Sunday 12th and 19th December – Father Christmas Pony Rides at the Island Riding Centre from 10am – 1pm - £10. Ride their magical ponies and meet Santa Claus. A real Xmas treat for under 12’s. Booking

essential – call 01983 214000 or go to www.islandriding.com/booking Monday 13th December – Worried about your heating bills? Talk to the Footprint Trust at Pan Together, Downside Community Centre, Furrlongs, Newport from 10am -12pm. Tuesday 14th December – Gurnard Community Choir & The NHS Nightingales along with special guests, present ‘Jingle all the Way’ at All Saints’ Church, Gurnard at 7pm. In association with Rotary Club of Cowes. Tickets £6, available by phoning 01983 297473 with a limited number available on the door. Tuesday 14th December – Salvation Army Christmas Carol at Brading Bull Ring from 7pm – 9pm. Come and sing Christmas carols with the salvation army, see old and new friends, have a drink and a mince pie. Wednesday 15th December – Newchurch Male Voice Choir Christmas themed concert at All Saints Church, Newchurch. Start 7.30pm. Free entry with retiring collection. N.B. The Choir are looking for new members to join them. If interested come to Newchurch Village Hall on a Friday evening at 7.15pm. Saturday 1st January – Sandown News Years Day Celebrations . The Esplanade will be shut to traffic and a spectacular firework display will be fired from the end of Sandown Pier starting at 6pm.

All event information was correct at time of print but could be subject to change at any time.

Our journey continues…

4, 8, 10, 14 ? from our launch in 2018 to now, after each lockdown we added more shops and a brand new street facing façade and Post Oﬃce on the Cowes’, High Street. Come VISIT and walk down Penny Lane DISCOVER Little High Street and MEANDER via Ricks Way’s to The Gin Joint.

INDOOR THEMED SHOPPING STREET

Penny Lane & Little High St

Meet your friends at the CTC for an eclectic mix of fantastic gift ideas and everyday needs and coﬀee or a G&T.

TOWN COWES CENTRAL

CREATIVELY INSPIRED

SIMPLY AWESOME collectables Over 300 gins in store unique ACT NOW

THE BEST KEPT SECRET ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT NEW GIFT IDEAS ARRIVING DAILY Magical and Mystical

A TREASURE TROVE OF SURPRISES harry potter musicmemorabilia star wars dragons & fairies Hurry to see the latest and best instore seeitto believeit!

OPEN 7 DAYS for THE NEWEST GIFT IDEAS wax melts and LED warmer socks and slippers ECOBAGSsb ath & body

DISCOVER AN ALADDINS CAVE steampunk jewellery stormtrooper beet a metre of sweets

A most curious shopping experience

countdown to Christmas 14 amazing shops You’re worth it ideal choice gifts

COWES TOWN CENTRAL SHOPPING ARCADE

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