Having enjoyed its most successful year to date, Poole Harbour Festival is proud to announce a star-studded line up for 2025 that takes the family live music festival to a new level. Up to 15,000 live music fans are expected to attend the three day festival, running from July...
Boff Whalley of Chumbawamba and Commoners Choir comes to October Books
But: Life Isn’t Like That, Is It? is a new collection of stories by Boff Whalley, musician, author, and one of the founding members of the anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba and Commoners Choir. These are stories about real lives, real people, and real life. Stuttering, wayward, disjointed, funny, ridiculous, and unplanned....
Suburban Safari: Winter Sun on the Shore
By Katie Isham. In the midst of a cold, dark winter, any bright, sunny days are heralded like the returning hero after a battle; the second coming of a messiah. Any appearance of the sun from behind the great, grey shroud we currently live under, and we must make...
Mental health and wellbeing charity to host online speed networking event
Image by Chris Moorhouse. Southampton organisations, businesses and residents are invited to a Networking for the Network event this month hosted by a charity on a mission to help the city become mental health friendly. Southampton Mental Health Network, supported by Southampton City Council, is holding the online speed...
Review: Heartworms, The Joiners, Southampton
By Darren Grayer. Photo courtesy of Simon Ward. Heartworms may well sound like a band name, but it is essentially the solo project of singer/songwriter Jojo Orme. Hailing from Cheltenham, she has been confronted by sexist attitudes and racism on her (so far) short journey in the music industry....
Opinion: Is the English GCSE really fit for purpose?
By Laura McCarthy. Every year, we see a fifth of students failing their core GCSEs in Maths and English. Out of those resitting English last year, only 21% received a grade 4 (equivalent to a C). This is even less than the previous year, where 26% received a passing...
Campaigners and charities urge Hampshire County Council to halt cuts to bus pass for disabled and older people
Community campaigners, disability rights groups, and local charities have come together to oppose planned cuts to Hampshire County Council’s Concessionary Travel Scheme. These cuts would restrict the ability for disabled and older persons’ bus pass holders to travel at key times. The proposed cuts, coming into effect on the...
October Books to hold Valentine’s poetry fundraiser
Southampton’s only community-owned bookshop makes an urgent appeal for support this Valentine’s: October Books Poetry Fundraiser. Amid the chaos of everyday life, creating and nurturing creative, safe spaces in our city has never been more essential. This Valentine’s weekend, make a meaningful impact by joining Southampton’s October Books for...
Book review: The Bright Sword – Lev Grossman
By Christopher Taylor. Restoring Arthurian Romance in the Twenty-First Century The overwhelming majority of Arthurian fiction since T.H. White’s defining The Once and Future King (published in 1958) has sought to redefine Arthur in the context of the 4th-6th century: from Sutcliffe’s Sword at Sunset in the 60s, Zimmer-Bradley’s...
Review: Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of), Chichester Festival Theatre
By Graham Hiley. If Jane Austen were alive today, Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of) is exactly what she might have written – without as many swear words! Or jokes. Or songs. While the Hampshire author’s original version remains a work of literary genius, the satirical musical (at Chichester’s Festival...