SouthseaScene

Portsmouth Museums service celebrates St George's Day with the launch of a new online portal and new websites The new websites allow the museum service to showcase all the exciting displays across all the museums and enable staff to show off specific items, exhibitions, displays, and events. A brand new 'Stories' section tells of the fascinating tales behind some of the collection items, detailing their histories or how they came to be in the museum's possession. Plus, members of the museum teams have a chance to show off some of their favourite items, and explain why they like them so much, in the new 'Staff Recommends' section. Later, the city's museum collections will also be available on the websites, allowing visitors to look through all the items held by the museum service. This covers all items, both on display and in storage, to allow visitors the chance to learn so much more about the thousands of items that have been donated to the service ...

Isn't wonderful to hear that the city's two bathing beaches have kept their top ratings for water cleanliness?  Southsea East and Eastney beaches will have the classification 'excellent' – the highest available – for next year's season, the government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced. This is the third year running that Southsea East has had an excellent rating, while Eastney has had the top classification for some time.  Cllr Steve Pitt, Portsmouth City Council's Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: "It's great to see that our wonderful local beaches have retained their excellent ratings for another year. It's brilliant news for tourism and for local people."  Let's help our beaches stay clean by making sure that we bag and bin litter in the right places.

The board of The National Museum of the Royal Navy has agreed unanimously to keep the Yomper statue where it is on Eastney seafront. The resounding “yes” followed a year-long public consultation which gathered over 3000 responses from across the country. The Yomper, sculpted by Philip Jackson, has become a very popular feature of the Eastney seafront. It dominates the entrance to the Royal Marines Museum and was originally commissioned as a marker for the museum, the galleries of which are now closed to visitors. It was unveiled by Lady Margaret Thatcher on 8 July 1992 on the 10th anniversary of the Falklands conflict.  Following the award of a £13.85 million grant in May 2016 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to create the country’s newest national collection at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, it was announced that a new Royal Marines Museum would open in the historic dockyard. It was feared this would prompt the removal of the statue from its current location to the...

Southsea is a lovely part of the big city of Portsmouth. It sits on the southern tip of the island and that’s where you should come down for a lovely day on the coast. There are lovely shops along Palmerston and Albert Roads and a nice walk along the pebble beach from historic Old Portsmouth to Eastney.  It’s also wheelchair and pushchair accessible, so the whole family can enjoy a walk on the seafront. And once you’ve done that, what else to do but to sample some of the delightful cafes Southsea has to offer. The Tenth Hole (023 9283 0009)  Eastern Parade, Southsea PO4 9RF If you start in Eastney, you will see a well-known establishment in Southsea, whose name is synonymous with cake. It’s cakes galore! The portions are large and the prices economical. The only problem is choosing one! Find out what Southsea has been talking about all these years. Casa de Castro (023 9281 1883)  96a Albert Road, Southsea PO5 2SN I was wondering why a friend kep...