Island 2000 Trust Blog

We don’t have much to grumble about weather-wise on the Isle of Wight. Sandown Bay is the sunniest place in the UK, winters are mild and life is good. But there is hardly ever any snow. Which leaves us with thousands of children (and adults) deprived of one of life’s finest pleasures - building snowmen. This is such a fundamental of humanity that last year Island 2000’s revered leader, Ian Boyd, decided he had to do something. Sandman Snowman was born. For more on last years event see this post. The event was so successful we repeated it this year, but relocated to Shanklin. While it was rather chilly we had a fantastic sunny day, with around 60 people joining in over a couple of hours. The standard this year was possibly even higher than last years, with some truly stunning contributions. Participants also made generous donations to Gift to Nature, supporting our ongoing conservation work across the Island. More pictures are available on our special Sandman Snowman Flickr pages.

My overdue attempts to make a listening post for the Troll Trail led me to try something new today - blacksmithing. That’s a bit of a grand word for it; all I needed to do was to open out the jagged end of a scaffolding pipe a bit, but it was still a rewarding feeling when the metal squashed out into something more ear-friendly.
My Dad’s wood-burning stove, made from an old Calor Gas bottle, was perfect for heating up the metal until it was red-hot. Then I hit it with the round end of a ball pein hammer while my dad held the glowing pipe and tried to avoid the sparks.

Here it is …a triumph of modern engineering!

Hello everyone - just a reminder that you can so loads more of our stuff (well quite a lot more - we’re gradually bumping it up) by visiting our Flickr sites for arts, Gift to Nature and conservation:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/island2000conservation/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/island2000arts/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gifttonature

I have just returned from a family trip to Frankfurt’s Christmas Market, where we spent much time marvelling at tat from a different culture. I was very taken however with the fantastic painted bird boxes on offer at one stall. I now feel we have done the poor old Grey Wagtails and House Sparrows a dis-service with our 1960-esque concrete carbuncles. I wonder if we may find tiny burned out cars lining the Troll Trail before long, and the better off birds emigrating to Germany where they can buy a stylish pad for a few Euros.

Thanks to the virtual ranger, diligent microscopist Cat and the wonders of YouTube you can now see a genuine Isle of Wight gribble in action, just play the clip below! (if you’re viewing this in a blog reader, you might need to visit our website to see the clip)

In connection with the project to replace Yarmouth Pier’s piles we are creating an archive of materials relating to Yarmouth Pier.

It is hoped that the archive will be a resource that continues to remind people of how special the pier has been and can continue to be in the lives of Yarmouth residents and visitors. The archive will contain photos of the pier through its life and documents concerning the eventful history of the pier. We also want to record memories of the pier from Yarmouth residents, cataloguing the great things that have happened on, along and even under the pier.

We will be running a series of drop in sessions, where you can take a look at some of the material collected so far, and bring your own photos, documents etc. for us to add to the physical archive or we can scan or photograph them to include in the electronic archive.

Some of the most important things for us to collect are peoples memories of the pier. We are particularly keen for people to sit and talk to us about their memories while we record the
conversation. This first hand information will form a really useful part of the archive, and will save some fantastic stories from being lost forever. Don’t think your memories aren’t important
- we are interested in the small things too - a first kiss or memorable fishing trip, your recollection of working on the pier or landing there. We can record you at any of the drop in sessions, or you can come along to one of our special memory events.

The drop in sessions in Yarmouth are scheduled as follows:

Sat 3rd November 11am-3pm - Town Hall
Thursday 29th November 11.30am-2.30pm - Town Hall
Thursday 6th December 11.30am-2.30pm - Town Hall
Thursday 13th December 11.30am-2.30pm - Town Hall
Sat 26th April 12pm-3pm - Town Hall

In addition we will be running some “pier memories” recording sessions. We will be booking a comfortable venue with tea and coffee provided while you sit and chat about your memories of the pier with us, while we record for the archive. If you want to know more, have any concerns about the process (it’s painless - honest) or would like to arrange a time slot, give Martin or Sam a call on 298098 or email yarmouth.pier@island2000.org.uk You can come with a friend or a small group and chat together if you prefer. This sessions are scheduled for the following dates:

Thursday 28th February 12pm-3pm - venue TBC
Tuesday 4th March 6.30pm-8.30pm - venue TBC
Sat 8th March 11.30am-2pm - venue TBC

Finally, if you have any memories of the pier, photographs etc. you can email them to us at yarmouth.pier@island2000.org.uk or send them to:
Not-The-End-Of-The-Pier
Island 2000 Trust
Venture Quays
Castle Street
East Cowes
Isle of Wight
PO32 6EZ

or you can add a comment to this post using the link below.

Three Enlarger Logs are now in place along the Troll Trail between Shide and Blackwater. Bring your berries and beetles and see them magnified enormously beneath their lenses…

Keep an eye out for these next time you go down the Troll Trail between Shide and Blackwater. The Enlarger Logs will enable you to see the intricate beauty of bark,beetles, seeds, crisp packets, or anything else you place in the viewing space under the lens.
They have been made from recycled plywood donated by Vestas Blades (swiped from their recycling skip) and given a more natural look by sanding through the layers of wood to create wobbly, contoured patterns. With a bit of luck, the posts should be in place during the coming week.

Well, the first day of the 2007 County Show is over. We very nearly didn’t make it into the show as we had been allocated an outside plot for some reason, and as you can see our display wouldn’t work too well outside, but fortunately space was found for us in the food tent (yum yum) making our Food Trail leaflets and postcards our most relevant publications (the picture shows Rebekah hard at work behind the stand during a quiet spell).

We tried out a “listening post” idea, with some of Ian’s audio tours playing back over headphones - not as widely used as I hoped but Rosie seemed to like it! Shame really, because the tracks being played make great listening (all are included in our Friends of Nature membership packs) so I might try speakers tomorrow and inflict Ian on everyone!

Our free seed give away was popular - if you want to join in catch us on Sunday (12th) at the County Show or in September at the Wolverton Garden Fair in September. We also hope to make seeds available via the Gift to Nature website in the near future.

After the disappointing vandalism of the new suitcase sculptures at Merstone old railway station, harmony was restored as they were heroically rebuilt like the phoenix rising from the flames. Ok, that is very slightly over the top but you get my drift.

Famously “not looking for retribution”, Mr George is now said to be merely waiting for his train home.

He may be waiting some time.