SouthseaScene

LCT 7074 to be focal point of The National Museum of the Royal Navy’s affiliate Portsmouth’s D-Day Museum thanks to £4.7m from The National Lottery For the first time ever an original Landing Craft Tank (LCT) will be on display at the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth. This has been made possible thanks to an investment of nearly £5m from The National Lottery and has been planned to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the landings in two years’ time. The D-Day Museum is an affiliate of The National Museum of the Royal Navy which is managing the project. Due to reopen in 2018 following a complete refurbishment, the D-Day Museum offers a much more in-depth narrative on the events that took place in ‘Operation Overlord’ on 6 June 1944 and looks specifically at the Royal Navy and how its crews coped on that day. Over 800 LCTs with the capacity to carry 10 tanks or equivalent armoured vehicles were involved in ‘Operation Neptune’, the naval element of ‘Overlord’. The largest amphi...

The Portsea Lost Heritage Walk will be held on Saturday 23 September 2017, 10.00 from Portsmouth Historic Dockyard Gate on The Hard, to St John the Evangelist RC Cathedral, led by Dr Ann Coats, University of Portsmouth. The walk will last 2-2½ hrs with a break halfway The distance is approximately 0.8miles/1.3 km. If the weather is too bad on the day the walk will be cancelled and rescheduled. Aim of the Walk: to gather ideas and opinions from the public via a short Questionnaire about what heritage places should be included in a Heritage Trail, what might improve green spaces and how to link these places by walking. Following the Dockyard Wall, we shall locate the vanished sites of the Brewery, the Daniel Street Chapel, St John’s Church and St John’s RC chapel. Three streets: Marlborough Row, Gloucester Street and Frederick Street were taken into the Dockyard in 1944. What do street names tell us about Portsea’s history? It will connect heritage and green places and ex...

The new season of Portsmouth Chamber Music series kicks off on 25 September with the incomparable pianist Paul Lewis. Lewis has a busy international career, appearing in concert halls around the globe. He is renowned for his performances of the Viennese masters, and we will be treated to favourite works by Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms. Then on the 30 October, we welcome back the Van Kuijk Quartet which so captivated the Portsmouth audience last season. First prize winners of the Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition in 2015 they will perform string quartets by Mendelssohn, Janáček and Ravel. Violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen has been touring the great UK and European concert halls last year as part of the ECHO Rising Stars series. Her partnership with star accompanist James Baillieu sees a programme of Schubert and Prokofiev sonatas sandwiched between works by C.P.E. Bach in their 27 November concert. Welcome the new year with the series’ resident Ensemble 360 on 29 Janu...

I submitted this short article to the Telegraph Travel section on  30 May 2017 and it was published in the papers on 3 June 2017. Events of that day meant that I didn't remember it again until much later. Sadly, I still cannot find a copy of the original. My first published piece in a major newspaper and I have nothing to show for it except the e-mail from the Editor letting me know that my letter was picked to win the main prize. The Adriatic Reading about the Kempinski Palace Portoroz in last week’s Travel section reminded me of our beautiful weekend in the town and nearby Piran. We stayed in humbler Maygut hotel up the hill and the shortcut took us to the main road by the Kempinski. The promenade takes you all the way to Piran. I remember the sea shimmering like a thousand little diamonds and the large orange orb that was the sun sinking in the background. Below us the town of Piran was slowly lighting up. We had climbed up to the battlement, intrigued by its ou...

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...

My latest National Trust magazine has just arrived, full of information on the various properties and activities they are offering this summer. Here are my favourites for the ones near us The Great British Dog Walk (really?) at New Forest Commons Sunday 21 May, 11 am to 4.30 pm Fun for the family promised with adult tickets costing £10, available from 01844 348101 Family trail at Hinton Ampner Saturday 27 May - Sunday 4 June, 10 am to 5 pm Explore the grounds during the half-term holiday Suggested donation of £1 Rose season at Mottisfont Throughout June The roses will be in full bloom and there will be free talks with the gardeners at 2 pm daily Feast Festival at Waddesdon Manor 17-18 June, 10 am to 5 pm Experience music, dance and interactive theatrical performances while enjoying fabulous food and drink. Entry £5 for adults and £2.50 for children 30-hour record Millathon at Winchester Mill 17-18 June, 10 am to 4 pm Watch the millers attempt a new record of...

I had the chance to travel to Venice recently and was totally in love with the city. It has been on my bucket list for a long time and I kept talking about it, so my husband said...how about it? I'm a well-read traveller and like to check out what the place has to offer before I go. Our public library in Portsmouth is great at stocking up travel books. In fact, borrow one with a map and you don't need to buy any when you get to your destination. It's good to check out places you may want to see, or any that you may skip. Travel books also have useful information on opening hours and advice about buying entry tickets to museums and attractions. However, information changes all the time and so do try to find the latest information online too. Websites like Tripadvisor will have feedback from recent visitors and so more up-to-date. But don't be swayed too much by online reviews. People's tastes are different and what is bad for others, might be good for you. 1....