Activity

We have had two further sessions maintaining the station garden and have now replanted the boat as a ‘dry garden,’ with grasses kindly supplied by Honnor & Jeffrey.   We now look after the library garden and have used some of our funds to buy new plants this month.

Our Open Day was a success, despite the awful weather and a considerable number of Shanklin residents came to find out more about what we do and to offer to help.  We now have 20 volunteers for the Green Streets Scheme in which people undertake to spend a few minutes each week in keeping their own street clean.  Others have asked to help with beach cleans or have placed their orders for free trees in the autumn or want to attend a free talk on composting at Ventnor Botanics later this year.  Many tried the Interactive Recycling Game and had fun learning more about the new scheme.

On 26th May we did a special event, getting a team together to clear the beach from Luccombe Chine to Shanklin Chine.  Twenty three volunteers including Cubs, Beavers and pensioners spent two hours collecting nearly 1500 items.  This will be our entry for the Daily Mail ‘Spring Clean for the Queen’ competition and we hope to win money to be spent in the community.

Just to give you a brief update: we did our quarterly beach clearance at Appley Beach (next to Shanklin Chine) all the way round to Luccombe Chine on 21st March with four volunteers. We collected 779 items of rubbish including two broken lobster pots and an oil drum. Most of the items we found were plastic which has worrying implications because of the very long time it takes to break down and even then it hasn’t ‘gone away.’ The results of the survey were sent off to the Marine Conservation Society.

The other news is that we’re having an Open Day at Falcon Cross Hall from 10:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday 28th April. There will be free refreshments and some hand-outs plus a chance to find out what we do and hopefully we’ll recruit some more volunteers. Everyone is welcome and there are even a couple of interactive ‘games’ for those who want to have a go.

What’s it all about?

The idea behind Green Towns is to encourage people within the community to take positive action so that real environmental improvements can be achieved.  The Shanklin branch has been active for just over a year and is supported by the Town Council and Natural Enterprise.

We have a small Steering Group of local residents, including representatives from the Town Council, the Voluntary Youth and Community Club and the Community Police.  Regular meetings enable us to generate ideas which volunteers can then help to carry out.

Last year we organised many ‘quick response’ litter picks in various parts of the town, involving volunteers both young and old and we keep the theatre car park tidy. We have officially adopted Appley Beach, where we do quarterly beach cleans, sending the survey results to the Marine Conservation Society.

We distributed free water and energy-saving gadgets to help people consume less and save money and we obtained fifty small trees to give away to local residents and organisations.

We organised a visit to Ventnor Botanic Gardens for a session on How to Make Really Good Compost, with a free tea as well! Links with local schools and the Beavers were established and we plan to continue these.

In April we negotiated with Island Line to give the station garden a makeover and we now have regular gardening sessions and have added a boat and two lobster pots to enhance the appearance of the station. We’d be happy to maintain other planted areas such as the library garden but for this to happen we need plenty more volunteers.

One of our long-term aims is to improve the cycle track so that more people can use it year-round and we’re investigating grant funding in this respect. A Green Streets Scheme is something we hope to start this year, whereby residents volunteer to spend a few minutes each week to keep their street litter-free, using equipment we’d provide. We’re keen to establish links with local businesses too.

What can you do to help?

Become one of our team of volunteers!  It needn’t take much of your time but it will be rewarding and you’ll be helping to make Shanklin a better place in which to live, work or spend holidays.

Contact Us
Lesley on: 01983 868309 or e-mail: johnandlesley1@talktalk.net
Bridget on: 07792 174941

On the 14th & 15th March 2002 a group of SHAA Hoteliers dug out and planted a garden at Shanklin Station. We built a fence that would enable us to reach the garden to weed regularly. All the plants and timber was donated by local island companies and to commemorate this, a large plaque was attached to the fence. SHAA Chairman at the time was Les Burrows who along with the Committee at the time organised the gardening weekend. We found a local man to weed once a week for us and we felt that we had achieved something worthwhile.

Recently though, the garden was looking very tired and overgrown but still bore the SHAA name. The committee was looking for a solution when Lesley Hampshire from the Green Towns’ Shanklin approached SHAA to invest some money and time into re-planting the garden. This was greatly appreciated by the Committee and we donated £50.00 to help with the planting. Having been donated a boat, which is now planted out and is situated to one side of the garden they have achieved a lot in a small time. Lesley has also undertaken to keep up with the weeding eventhough it is now more difficult to obtain entry into the gardens as permission is always needed. The garden now is a vast improvement and if anyone has a free ten minutes just pop in and have a look.

My name is Hooper and I am a black and white moggie. I moved here with my servants who have a guest house in Shanklin.  My role in the house is to sit on the back of the sofa and look pretty to entice people in. Being very beautiful helps.

In the fifteen human years I have been alive I have moved 6 times. I was also fostered for a year when my servants went travelling and had to live with my grandma when we moved out of our last house while we waited to move here.

The Island is very different for me because when I lived in England I used to get bullied a lot, especially after my brother T.C (Tony Cottee) died. There are quite a few cats here, but it’s mostly dogs and I have actually made many friends for the first time.

I enjoy having my servants at home all the time and my favourite game is pretending that I haven’t been fed. It works sometimes!

They haven’t taken me to see the sea yet and when we came on the ferry it was very late and very dark. And I heard a story that the people at Tiger World used to exercise the tigers (cousins of mine) on the beach. I don’t think they do it now, but you never know. It would be too risky. When I first saw a seagulls I was ever so frightened I had to make myself flat on the ground so they wouldn’t pick me up and feed me to their babies.

As I said I am very beautiful and I think the sea air has helped make my coat even more shiny and it feels much softer than before. Obviously I still have to spend a lot of the day grooming and getting my beauty sleep, but most of it is natural.

I don’t miss anything about England. I’m happy to be here and happy to see my servants enjoying themselves.

Our guest house doors were opened on August Bank holiday this year. I’ve always believed in ‘in at the deep end’!

Our decision to move here was only made in September last year. Despite the property market it only took us only 10 months to make a complete lifestyle change. It certainly didn’t feel like just 10 months at the time!

It was actually only after a trip to visit family in Dingle, Ireland in September 2010 that we decided that we had to do something. My job was driving me crazy and my husband’s work was disappearing from this country.

We moved here from Sevenoaks in Kent where we are both originally from. We spent time living in London and a year travelling the world with the hope of finding somewhere to live. My answer was always the Isle of Wight! It still took 16 years to convince him that the Isle of Wight was the place to be.

Why is it the place to be? Well my parents ‘dragged’ my sister and I here every year ever since I can remember. One year we diverted and went to Paignton and I cried most of the time because I wanted to be in the Isle of Wight! How dare they? I was young! Getting on that ferry always had a feeling of coming home, getting back on the ferry was that feeling you have at playschool on the first day when your Mum leaves you there. It was an emotional wrench. My piano/singing teacher moved here when I was about 15. Oh, I was so envious.

The only thing I ever remember wanting to be was an Islander – ok, so that can never happen. My parents encouraged me to go to hospitality and catering college, so I spent 3 years there and you learn everything form cooking to management, advertising and marketing. (Jamie Oliver was in the year above me – and no I never met him). Then I spent 4 years working in 4* hotels in London and loved it, but money and a life beckon at that age, so I became an estate agent (a nice one).

For our first viewings of properties on the Island we drove all the way here on our ‘way home’ from Dartmouth! The property we saw was definitely a no, but we stayed at a lovely B&B, The Finches in Shanklin and the owners were an absolute inspiration to us.

I must confess we really wanted to move to Ventnor. Although all my life I thought Shanklin was where I would be. We even found a house in Ventnor and fell in love with it, but completion for 2013 was being discussed!

It was only by accident that we saw our big blue house, but I didn’t get ‘that feeling’. I am no fan on UPVC windows and doors on a Victorian house. But a second viewing and a need to make a decision before we got off that boat we agreed a price and with lots of motivation in the chain and an excellent estate agent at Hose Rhodes Dickson we completed in 6 weeks!

In the meantime we, cat included, had to move in with family and we completed while we were at a friend’s wedding. There we were sitting outside a cafe in Como City, the phone rings and we have a house on the Isle of Wight – now that’s how it’s done! Although only then did I realize that I still had to go back to work and my husband did not!!

My husband came over just ahead of the removals with his brother, while I was at work. Ever since then he starts every sentence with “If you had lived on the Island as long as I have…” Yeah, yeah, it was my idea!

So here we are and life is very different. Our builder turned up at 8.30am on the dot every day. He still knocked every morning even though he had a key. He put up with my horrendous hangover while our carpets were being fitted and my husband was on his way home from a festival!!! And no my husband wasn’t as hung over as me! No more sherry! The builder even took instructions and delegation on how to fit a shower from our plumber who had to have knee surgery half way through the job!

The hardest thing about our new life? Coming from a full on target driven, management role in England (yes I call it England) to having a husband who shuts off at 3pm (yes he gets up early, but not as early as he used to). Also having loved the Island for so long, the frustration of people in ‘England’ not realizing how wonderful it is here. Robert Thompson does a good job of telling all and sundry in every newspaper and magazine he can, but he can’t do it on his own. It’s such a hidden gem and with more people holidaying at home it would be nice to have more newcomers visiting the Island.

The best bit? The people are wonderful. Everyone we have met has been very supportive. I even have coffee every week with our competition! I love spending time going shopping for Island produce. We argue over who gets to go and see our butcher at Briddlesford! We get our veg from Lyn at Fresh Fields and our bread from Gracie’s bakery in Shanklin. We even drive all the way to Calbourne for our preserves! It’s quite a long way when you live on the Island. Sounds ridiculous when I used to drive a 40 mile round trip to work every day!

Hope for the future? That the feeling doesn’t wear off, that we will continue to appreciate the diverse beauty of the landscape and the ever changing sea and that the variety of produce continues to grow and be experimented with, that we won’t get complacent and keep enjoying it.

Let’s see how much energy there is left after our first summer season!