Write a Note is a cornerstone the Southampton poetry scene. We look at how it all started and where it is today. by Issa Loyaan Farrah and Anita Foxall. Write a Note – how it all begun by Issa Loyaan Farrah. I set-up Write a Note in 2016. I...
With 9,000 Southampton households at risk of eviction, Citizens Advice Southampton launches crowdfunding campaign to help families facing coronavirus housing crisis
Citizens Advice Southampton has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help people across the city at risk of eviction and homelessness because of the coronavirus crisis. The past few months have been particularly challenging for people who are renting their homes. Giving up work to care for a loved one,...
From The Beatles to War Horse: Southampton’s Mayflower theatre has been at the heart of entertainment in the south for more than 90 years
by Martin Brisland. Did you know that the Mayflower, built in 1928, has one of the largest auditoriums in England with more than 2,300 seats and used to have a tea garden on the roof! In the late 1920s the Moss Empire theatre group built six 2,000 seater venues,...
Suburban Safari: al fresco Southampton
by Katie Isham. Join our travel writer on her close to home expeditions. As I mentioned when first embarking on the Suburban Safari venture, a holiday is just a break from the routine. Doing something different for enjoyment. It could be relaxation, or it might be exploration. In an...
Opinion: Trans rights and women’s rights: have we been asking the wrong questions?
by Dr Ash Brockwell. As a transmasculine academic, I’ve found it painful and frustrating to read the discussions – both in the mainstream media and on social media – that represent ‘trans rights’ as incompatible with ‘women’s rights’. Nowhere has this been more clearly illustrated than in a recent...
Southampton Pride – but not as we know it
by Charlie Hislop. It’s Southampton Pride weekend! It’s August! It’s Bank Holiday! It’s Southampton Pride – but not as we know it. With no outdoor events allowed this summer, Southampton Pride Digital is an afternoon on Facebook live, followed by a not-so-traditional after party, and a full-day Voice FM...
Winchester Rotary supports theatre’s survival appeal
The Survival Fundraising Appeal of Play to the Crowd – the arts and education charity which runs Theatre Royal Winchester, Hat Fair and Playmakers – this week received a boost from of Winchester Rotary as they contributed £2,000 to the campaign. Deryck Newland, Chief Executive, said: “We’re delighted to...
Suburban Safari: Lakeside Country Park
by Katie Isham. Somewhere nestled between where the tarmac triceps of the M27 and the M3 lock in an arm wrestle, is an unexpected oasis of calming activity. Lakeside Country Park, Eastleigh, is a mere mile from the M27’s junction 5, but it seems like lightyears away from the...
John Hitchens: Aspects of Landscape at Southampton City Art Gallery
Southampton City Art Gallery is currently present a retrospective by the acclaimed British painter John Hitchens. Running until October 3, Aspects of Landscape, features more than fifty works spanning almost six decades and charts the artist’s journey from descriptive to a unique form of abstract painting. Hitchens first came...
Matchgirl strikes: women unite and fight
by Martin Brisland. Main image copyright TUC Archives, used with permission. The female sewing machinists’ strike of 1968 at the Ford Dagenham plant resulted in the passing of the Equal Pay Act 1970. Their story was told in the 2010 film Made in Dagenham. Eighty years before, in London’s...