SouthseaScene

World leading expert on the history of the Suffragettes, Professor June Purvis, gave a public talk at the University of Portsmouth on Monday 5 February to a capacity audience. This year marks the centenary of some women getting the votes in the UK. Portsmouth’s events include the blue plaque unveiling at the birth place of Hertha Marks Ayrton in Queen Street. She was a British engineer, mathematician, physicist and inventor who was awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society for her work on electric arcs and ripples in sand and water. February is LGBT History Month and is being celebrated in the city with a film festival, the result of a collaboration between the University and the Portsmouth Film Society. See the screening programme on  www.portsmouthfilmsociety.co. uk This week the Portsmouth BookFest was launched. The programme includes exciting author events as well as writing workshops and seminars at venues across the city. Go to  www.portsmouthbookfes...

Zoe’s band - “truly independent and original” - is at the cutting edge of the British blues scene and is coming to The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre in Havant on 1 March. The band’s music is based around rootsy originals, featuring strong catchy riffs, unique arrangements and exciting grooves. They bring a fresh approach and vibrancy to the genre. This group of talented musicians features Zoe on vocals, Rob Koral on guitar, Paul Robinson on drums and Pete Whittaker-Hammond on organ. “Innovative spark, virtuoso playing and a dare-devil attitude” Get Ready to Rock, Feb 2017. “When it comes to sexy and sassy Zoe hits it out of the park” International Music News April 2017. “Very nice song, beautifully delivered with superb guitar from Rob Koral” BBC Radio 2 March 2017. “Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion brought a different level of class to the main stage; lovely fluid guitar from Rob Koral and Zoe’s powerful, impassioned vocal” Blues in Britain September 2016 Zoe Schwarz Blue Commo...

Seven years of chronicling the construction of the Royal Navy’s newest destroyers and monolithic aircraft carriers are the inspiration forShipyard, a remarkable exhibition by renowned Scottish artist Lachlan Goudie which opens at The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on 17 March. This is the first showing of Goudie’s Shipyard in England, following its successful launch in Scotland. The opening follows the much-heralded arrival of HMS Queen Elizabeth into her home port, Portsmouth, during 2017. For the last seven years renowned artist, writer and broadcaster, Lachlan Goudie, who was a contributor on BBC’s Big Painting Challenge, has had special access to sketch and paint in the BAE shipyards on the Clyde and Forth. Goudie is a Scottish artist who first developed a fascination with shipbuilding whilst growing up on the Clyde. As a child, it was the past glory days of ‘Clydebuilt’ ships that captured his imagination, not the stark reality of industrial de...

Enterprising students from across three Portsmouth schools have been given the task of designing, developing and launching a tourism gift product as part of Made in Portsmouth, a programme aimed to inspire students about careers within the property and retail industries. The programme was launched on the 1st February 2018, in partnership with Landsec and The Ahead Partnership. It will see a team of Year 10 students from three schools across the city are to compete to create a unique product to go on sale to the general public in the summer. The students will be paired up with a coach from the Gunwharf Quays’ Management team to guide and mentor them through the development stage. Students will gain insight into the range of careers available whilst developing an understanding of business plans and marketing strategies. Students from Portsmouth Academy, The Charter Academy and King Richard’s School have begun the process with a mentoring session, hosted at Gunwharf Quays. During th...

Portsmouth Guildhall offers advice and support to young people considering career opportunities in the creative economy at its most successful Creative Choices Day yet. Over 80 pupils from schools across the region attended Portsmouth Guildhall’s fourth Creative Choices Day, a day of workshops to inform young people about the range of careers available in the Creative economy, the UK’s fastest growing sector. Year 9-11 pupils from Milton Cross, St John’s College and Mayville High School took part in sessions led by the Guildhall team on Front of House and Stage Management, working in live events with Ticketmaster International and a lighting workshop with White Light Ltd. The free sessions gave pupils the opportunity to try out the different job roles for themselves and speak directly to experts in the industry who were able to share their entry routes, career paths and experiences with the students. John Talbot, Artist Relations Development Manager for Ticketmaster Intern...

Cooking for Valentine's Day need not be complicated. In fact, the joy is in preparing something to savour together. It's all about sharing the experience. So try this recipe for a romantic dinner. Ingredients: 1 tbsp vegetable oil 100g minced beef 1 small carrot, diced 1 small stick of celery, diced 1 small onion, diced 1 tsp thyme, fresh or dried salt and pepper puff pastry Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, carrots and celery. Fry on medium heat for 5 minutes and let it sweat a little. Then add the mince and garlic, stir for 5 minutes or until the meat has turned brown. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the mixture into two small baking dishes; heart-shaped ramekins if you have them. Roll the puff pastry and cut into shape to cover the top of the baking dishes. You can add pastry hearts or initials if you want make it even more special. Pre-heat the oven as the pastry perform much better in a preheated oven. Bake for 15 minutes or ...

Just £25,000 is needed for the final push to get funds for the full restoration and final display of D-Day sole survivor, landing craft (tank) LCT 7074. The National Museum of the Royal Navy has launched the campaign to raise funds to help complete the restoration of the last surviving Second World War, D-Day LCT 7074. She will be displayed alongside the museum’s affiliate, the D-Day Story, Southsea, to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019. The scheme has received a generous first round grant of £4.7million from the National Lottery however match funding is now required to unlock the funds and secure enough money to carry out the full restoration of the 200-foot craft. Head of Exhibitions and Collections at The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Nick Hewitt said: “At dawn, on the morning of D-Day, 6 June 1944, 800 landing craft approached the Normandy landing beaches. What ensued was the largest seaborne invasion in history and it was landing craft, including LCT 7074, that deli...

What does it mean to be human? What is personhood? These are questions that have interested philosophers for a long time. But it is also important for morality and politics. How does it affect abortion or animal rights? When did we start being human? And what does it mean for the future? Join the next Portsmouth Skeptics in Pub session with philosopher Jonathan MS Pearce. Jonathan looks at this from a philosophical angle and probably asks more questions than gives answers. He is a philosopher, blogger, author and public speaker. He has a wide range of topics that interest him, most specifically ones that concern the existence of God. It’s something of an obsession. As an author, Jonathan writes about these subjects that fascinate him hugely. His books include “Free Will?”, “The Little Book of Unholy Questions”, “The Nativity: A Critical Examination”, “The Problem with ‘God’”; “13 Reasons to Doubt” and “Not Seeing God: Atheism in the 21st Century”. He has also reached out ...