Out on the town!

Last night we took ourselves off to the Lighthouse, Poole's centre for the Arts for "The Last Night of the Christmas Proms" by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
It made a nice change to "dress up" and on arrival we started off the evening with drinks in the bar before taking our seats in the Concert Hall.
The seats were excellent, four rows from the front. The Hall had been decked out with festive decorations and a light show on the sides and rear of the stage.
We have been to a BSO concert before and they have a very good reputation. The first half of the concert consisted of a mixture of Prom favourites and Christmas music. We had pre-ordered drinks for the interval, very civilised and then returned for the second half of audience participation joining in the singing and waving our light sticks.
All in all an excellent night out.

Winning streak falters!

The Verwood Potters triples team winning streak faltered last Friday when they lost to the Verwood Foresters team at Verwood. The Potters suffered from no luck and could not up their game when it was needed against their rivals from the home Club. The Potters "Fours" managed to salvage some of the match points with a win over the opposite team and earned 2 points.
This leaves the Potters still in second place in the League with the Foresters moving up to third.

Triples impress - for how long ?

Last Sunday saw the Verwood Potters gain an away draw against Flight Falcons who are one of the top clubs in the League. This puts them into second place in the Division.
Once again the triples team captained by myself, led the way and have not lost any of their matches so far.

Today, Sunday, the winning streak continued with a win on both mat's away against Poole Park, earning us the full 6 points.
On Friday we play the other Verwood team. This team is considered the "best". It' all on the night!

Here we go again!

The Short Mat Bowls season commenced at the beginning of November and for the 2008/2009 season Verwood SMBC have entered two teams in the Dorset League Division 5 with the teams being named the Foresters and the Potters.

To remind you each match consists of a team of triples and fours. You receive 2 points for a mat win, 1 for a draw plus 2 bonus points for a match win or 1 point for a match drawn.

The Foresters have played 2 matches and one both of them giving 12 points and the Potters have played three games won two and drawn one giving them 15 points.


For a detailed analysis of the games follow the link.

National Day plans scrapped

Plans for a "national day" first put forward by Gordon Brown as part of his bid to encourage the celebration of Britishness have been dropped by the Government, it has emerged.
The idea of a patriotic celebration similar to America's July 4 or Bastille Day in France was first promoted by Mr Brown as Chancellor in 2006, months after the 7/7 bombings.
And it was one of the key recommendations of a citizenship review he commissioned from former attorney general Lord Goldsmith when he became Prime Minister last year.
But Constitution Minister Michael Wills told MPs it was not now on the cards.
Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said "First a national motto, then an oath of allegiance, now a patriotic day - one token initiative after another in Gordon Brown's Britishness agenda has sunk without trace.
"Labour still hasn't worked out that British identity is bound up in our institutions, culture and history. It can't be re-manufactured by their spin doctors."

Bournemouth Air Festival 2008

On Sunday August 31st, the worst day of the festival in terms of weather forecast, five adults and five children undertook the short journey to watch the last day of this the first four day Bournemouth Air Festival sponsored by More Buses, in association with Excelsior Coaches. It was publicised as the town’s biggest free four-day event celebrating all things aviation.

We parked the cars on Southbourne clifftop and walked down the zigzag path to the beach promenade below and then took the 30 minute walk to the far side of Boscombe pier to obtain the best view of the flying display.

AND WHAT A DISPLAY IT WAS!

Despite the overcast sky and the low cloud base it failed to put a damper on the final day of the festival. The programme schedule was altered but the only items that had to be cancelled were the Team Guinot Wing Walkers and the RAF Falcons parachute display. Both cancelled because of deteriorating weather conditions.

Amongst the highlights were the Blue Eagle helicopter display with fantastic maneuverability and upside down stunts.

The de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen a 1950s/60s British two-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm (the air component of the Royal Navy) designed by de Havilland.

The Blades, a four man team made up of ex Red Arrow pilots gave some of the most impressive stunts and precise formation acrobatic moves.

At the slower end of the scale was a Catalina, a US flying bomber boat from the 1930s/40s, used in WWII as an anti-submarine aircraft, and search and rescue aircraft, the impressive Lancaster bomber, one of only two in the world, a DC-6 and a towed glider performing eight-barrel rolls.

The event the crowd were waiting for however were the fantastic Red Arrows. They did not disappoint as usual performing several new stunts.

Incredibly the rain held off for the entire display until the Eurofighter Typhoon appeared out of nowhere.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is the fastest aircraft in the world today and is the newest addition to the RAF as it marks its 90th birthday. The aircraft can travel at speeds of 1,300 mph and can fly to an altitude of 65,000ft.

If you saw the film "Top Gun", forget that, this plane is awesome. I doubt the pilot even got into top gear.

He tore across the sky in what appeared to be serene silence and moments later an ear splitting roar, that made kids cry, showed off the planes elegant display of its abilities.

The organisers estimate that over 750,000 people flocked to the resort over the four days with possibly 380,000 on the Saturday alone.

Hotels were doing a roaring trade with their rooftop dining, offering a birds eye view of the whole event. The festival was not confined to just the flying displays, the Lower Gardens had a carnival atmosphere with several events going on during the day and evening.

It has already been announced that the festival will take place in 2009 and I for one, with more time on my hands will definitely pay a return visit on more that one day.

Artificial Surf Reef

Europe’s first artificial surf reef is currently being built in Boscombe, Bournemouth this year and is set to put Bournemouth firmly on the UK surf map.The surf reef will act as a ramp, pushing waves upwards, doubling their size and improving their quality for surfers. As a result, the number of good surfing days will be doubled. The reef will also enhance water sports on offer including kite-surfing, windsurfing, wake-boarding, kayaking, SCUBA-diving, sailing and skim-boarding. The surf reef will not generate waves, but will amplify the existing surf.
Specialist construction material for the reef, the ecologically sound geo-textile bags came from Australia, with the webbing base from New Zealand.

Boscombe is currently enjoying an £10million make-over. Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway MBE are designing luxury beach huts in the Overstrand complex, on Boscombe promenade, offering all the mod-cons expected by the 21st century surfer and holiday maker. Boscombe Victorian Chine Gardens have been transformed, Boscombe Pier end has been demolished and rebuilt and the seafront is being re-landscaped. The surf reef and super beach huts will be accompanied by a surf retail outlet, a surfing school and a glass-fronted restaurant offering fantastic panoramic views of Bournemouth and the Solent. There will also be a catering outlet selling good-quality food-to-go, an RNLI beach lifeguard station, changing rooms, toilets and warm showers, all contributing to the major transformation of Boscombe seafront.

For further details go to http://www.bournemouthsurfreef.co.uk

Preparedness for 'space aliens'

A Denver man who wants the city to be prepared for space aliens is proposing a commission to deal with the matter.
Jeff Peckman said the 18-member commission would form a strategy "dealing with issues related to the presence of extraterrestrial beings on Earth".

Heathrow Airport 'worst in Europe'

Heathrow Airport has been branded the "worst in Europe" by a senior executive of a US airline.
Don Langford, head of customer services Europe for American Airlines, delivered an outspoken attack on the west London airport, saying it was a "bit of a dump" that suffered from a lack of investment
The comments come as Heathrow attempts to rebuild its reputation after the opening of the £4.3 billion Terminal 5 saw tens of thousands of bags lost and dozens of flights delayed.
Mr Langford told BBC Radio 4 Heathrow was the worst of all European destinations his company flies to.
He told the broadcaster: "Heathrow is not just bursting at the seams. I think the seams have burst.
"If you look at the fabric of the building, if you look at where customers check in - missing light bulbs, duck tape on the floor.
"I would have to say that Heathrow is in many ways the worst of all the airports that my company flies to in Europe."

Ladies & Gents Presidents Day

Verwood Bowling Club held their annual Ladies & Gents Presidents Day on Saturday. The event was opened by the Verwood Deputy Mayor and attended by a photographer from the local paper, The Bournemouth Echo.

The match was held in brilliant sunshine and over 30 Club members played over 6 rinks.

Three grand luxury liners, Cunard's fleet of "Queens" - Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth 2 have met in their home port of Southampton for the first and final time in their history.
The QM2 and Queen Victoria then left port shortly afterwards, leaving the QE2 in dock.
The QE2 will retire in November when it will be converted into a hotel in Dubai after more than 40 years in service.
The Queen is making a farewell trip to her namesake in June before it sets sail for the United Arab Emirates.
It will be the third time the Queen has visited the QE2 since she named it at Clydebank, Scotland, in 1967.
During its 41 years at sea, the 70,000 tonne ship has travelled more than 5.6m nautical miles, carried more than 2.5m passengers and has also been used to transport troops and host royalty.
The historic meeting of the three luxury cruise liners on the south coast comes three months after the ships met for the first time in New York in January.
The earlier encounter was believed to have been a one-off in Cunard's 168-year history but a change in the QE2's schedule met they have all met again for the first time in their home port.

BA delays long-haul move to T5

British Airways is to postpone moving most of its long-haul flights to Heathrow's T5 because of continuing problems at the £4.3 billion terminal, union sources said.
The airline was due to transfer nearly all its long-haul operation from Heathrow's Terminal 4 on April 30.
But the opening of the new terminal has been beset by delays and disruption, with flights cancelled and passengers left stranded.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union said: "This is a sensible move which gives time to make sure everything works smoothly."
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: "We are making this decision in the interests of customers. Though Terminal 5 is now working well, we need to have confidence that good service can be maintained when the terminal is handling larger numbers of customers.
"It is only sensible to ensure that Terminal 5 is operating consistently at a high standard before the move begins."
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews said: "BAA regrets this postponement, and we recognise the impact it has on other airlines, but we believe it is a wise precaution to ensure that passengers can have the maximum confidence once the move does take place."
Under the original plans, almost all BA's Terminal 4 long-haul services were due to switch to T5 at the end of the month, totalling 60 departures and 60 arrivals a day.

Heathrow T5 - 4th Day

Teething troubles at Heathrow's Terminal 5 are continuing, with 37 of Sunday's flights cancelled and 15,000 pieces of luggage waiting to be reunited with their rightful owners.
As the terminal enters its fourth day of operation, British Airways said it expects 85% of incoming and outgoing flights to go ahead, a figure that it hopes will rise to 87% on Monday.
A BA spokeswoman said it hoped things will steadily improve as the week goes on, but admitted: "This is dependent on the performance of the baggage system."
The airline admitted 15,000 bags had gone astray thanks to a glitch with its "complex and sophisticated" luggage handling system.
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"It is 15,000 bags we need to reunite with their owners," said a spokeswoman, adding: "To put this into context, we process 75,000 bags every day.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has written to British Airways to ensure that the airline has been complying with European legislation on passengers' rights.
"We wrote to them on Friday and will be contacting them as a matter of urgency this week to ensure they are fulfilling the requirements of the legislation, that all passengers should be treated the same," a spokesman said.
The union Unite said Heathrow workers were frustrated that their long-standing concerns about Terminal 5 (T5) had "fallen on deaf ears".
Unite National Secretary for Civil Aviation Steve Turner said workers had raised concerns about feared problems at T5 "over a long period of time".
Those included issues of access through security gates into the terminal and issues relating to the baggage handling areas.

Hathrow T5 - 2nd Day

Chaos continued to reign at Heathrow's Terminal 5 as long queues built up and more flights were set to be cancelled after a disastrous opening day.

Baggage check-ins at the flagship £4.3billion facility were re-opened but arguments broke out between passengers who started queuing as early as 4am.
But many have already missed their flights with some blaming a lack of desks open to cope with the number of people and the wrong information given out.
British Airways said they had drafted in extra staff and had held meetings through the night to try and ease the problems that wrecked what should have been a landmark day on Thursday.

A spokesman said they hoped that 80% of flights would take off but some cancellations would be inevitable.
By midday ten flights had already been cancelled including those to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. BA were forced to scrap 34 flights on Thursday.
Many passengers were left stranded overnight with some finding hotels, but others forced to sleep on benches of the terminal floor.
Passengers hoping to fly out began arriving early but were met with frustration.

Heathrow T5 - 1st Day

British Airways has apologised to passengers after a disastrous opening day for Heathrow's flagship Terminal 5 ended with the suspension of all baggage check-in at the new facility.

The decision meant travellers could only fly with carry-on hand luggage.

35 outgoing and 28 incoming flights have also been cancelled during a day of chaos at the terminal, dubbed the "Gateway to Britain" by Her Majesty the Queen at its recent unveiling.

British Airways Director of Operations Gareth Kirkwood apologised in a statement for the "short term difficulties" and announced that those with more luggage could seek a refund for their planned flights.
It is believed hold luggage has been allowed on some long haul flights as BA attempt to resolve the travel trouble.

So Near?

Verwood Short Mat went into their final game last Sunday lying in second place in their league needing to win 6 points to distance them from the teams lying in 3rd & 4th who had games in hand.
Unfortunately they only earned 2 points and now stand a chance of being overtaken and losing the chance of promotion.
They have however done themselves proud and will build on their success this season which was much improved over previous seasons. It has also proven that picking the strongest team available rather than letting everybody have a game at some time is the best policy.

Britain braced for storm battering

Sunday 18:30

The worst storm of the winter is on track to batter Britain, causing traffic chaos and coastal flooding, forecasters warned.
Winds of up to 80mph, rain and hailstones are set to hit the country when an intense low pressure system reaches its shores.
South Wales and southern England are expected to bear the brunt of the storm, but the Met Office has severe weather warnings in place for all of England, Wales, northern Ireland and southern and central England.
Power supplies and transport could be disrupted, trees uprooted and buildings damaged when the storm takes hold.
The Environment Agency, which has issued severe flood warnings across Devon and Cornwall, as well as six flood warnings and 31 flood watches, urged people to stay away from coastal areas.
Airports and ferry companies have warned of possible delays and cancellations, while motoring organisations advised drivers to avoid all but essential journeys.

The storm is now visible on satellites, coming directly towards Britain, although it looks as though it is mainly going to affect the more southern parts of England and Wales rather than Scotland. Areas where the most serious damage are the headlands of west Wales, across to the south coasts of Devon, Cornwall and Dorset.
It will move across Sussex and most of the south coast, and we expect winds could reach up to 50 or 60mph in London.
Experts predicted the storm will ease after the first wave of wind, only to gain strength later in the day.

Meedhupparu 2008

One of the highlights of a fabulous 3 weeks in Meedhupparu was taking a one day Scuba Diving course.

The course started off in the resorts swimming pool then a short video covering the various pieces of equipment. Cliff & I and two other participants were then kitted out with wetsuits and all the equipment and taken into shallow water just off the beach to go through emergency procedures in the event that our breathing tubes were dislodged from our mouths.

The next stage was not something I had expected after such a short time. We were taken by boat to an open water dive site just off another island and dived down about 20 metres to the sea bed and then spent 40 minutes swimming amongst the coral reef.

This was an amazing experience and took you into another world. Snorkeling off the beach gives you views of loads of different reef fish but diving to this depth the variety increases considerably as well as seeing the different types of coral. The highlight of the dive for me was the sight of a turtle just swimming by us totally unfazed by us mere humans.

Marching onwards & upwards!

Verwood had a resounding win this afternoon against Whitechurch and continue their climb up Division 5 of the Dorset Short Mat Bowls League. More importantly the wins on both mats gave them vital shot advantage over some of the other teams.
This win puts them in second place as of today with up to three games in hand against the other top three teams.

Climbing up the table!

Despite losing away to Alderholt last Sunday and coming away with no points, Verwood Short Mat Bowls Club have moved up to 4th place in Dorset League division 5 now the results are up to date.

This Sunday they are at home to Whitechurch who at present are lying second from bottom.

A Good Start

Verwood Short Mat Bowling Club have made a good start to the 2007/2008 League season.
They have earned 21 points out of a possible 30 points from their two away matches and three home matches, which puts them in 5th place in Division 5.
I was not able to play at all at the start of the season due to injury. Having decided that the injury was not going to effect my bowling I started practising again at the beginning of the year and managed to get picked for the League team for the last two home matches.
Our next match is away to Alderholt, who we beat at home to gain 6 points.