SouthseaScene

As I walked around the seafront, operation dismantling was going on after the very successful Victorious Festival. I'm not much into the music, but I spent Saturday volunteering with the British Science Association Hampshire and Isle of Wight branch to run some balloon science experiments attached to the "unPOPpable" show. We were showing kids how to skewer balloons without them popping (unpoppable, you see!), running balloon races and helping kids make their own nebula in a jam jar. Based on a children's book by Tim Hopgood, unPOPpable was a story of a yellow balloon that was, you guess it, unpoppable! The balloon took an adventure into outer space and when it came back down to earth, magic happened. The show was the result of collaboration between cosmologists at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) at the University of Portsmouth and associate artists working with the New Theatre Royal's Creative Lab. We wanted to create art work ...

This article appears in the Portsmouth View published 12 August 2016.  Portsmouth has become a real foodie paradise and no one is more pleased about it than me. I love food, not only in eating it, but also in creating meals. So living here is such a delight for me. The monthly farmers market on Palmerston Road is a must and the next one is on 21 August. It is the best place to find fresh local produce and stock up on delicious cakes, preserves or wines. Summer also means food festivals of which there are many you can find in this bustling city. We have just witnessed a Gin Festival in Portsmouth Guildhall, home also to beer festivals. In fact, make a note in your diary for the Octoberfest celebration there on 21 October. This weekend the Thai Food Festival in Castle Field, a regular feature on the summer calendar, will complement the Kite Festival nicely offering favourites such as pad-thai and fishcakes. Of course we also have the annual Southsea F...