A Growing Passion

The moment I heard about the wonderful aims of the Community Roots project being pioneered by the innovative Ideal Collection and Southampton Voluntary Services, I was hooked.

As an allotment devotee myself, I can bore for England on the benefits of growing our own.

As well as the food on your plate, an allotment is great for your mental and physical health (they don’t call it the green gym for nothing) – and it can provide a greater appreciation of where your food comes from.

In essence there is nothing more satisfying then seeing a seed you planted grow into a whopping great big parsnip or the bliss you feel tucking into a plate of freshly steamed asparagus, smothered in melted butter and harvested straight from your own plot.

So when the call came through to join Matthew Boyle and the Ideal Collection Team at the White Star Tavern to hear more about what their growing project could become, I didn’t take too much persuading.

And I wasn’t disappointed ... It was an extremely convivial evening.

Great food, a trip down memory lane thanks to former Southampton City Council leader, Councillor Royston Smith (I can’t tell you how many hours of my life were spent listening to Royston and his political chums gathered in the council chamber when I was the Echo’s political hack) – and a chance to find out more about the project. What’s not to like?

Community Roots is a therapeutic horticultural scheme that helps disadvantaged, marginalised and vulnerable people to change their lives.

Working together to grow fresh produce on a plot in a secluded city centre allotment, those taking part will learn new skills and be able to access training, education and employment through an innovative programme of supported volunteering, training and work opportunities.

Matthew Boyle explained the Ideal Foundation wanted to get involved because they see the scheme can help reduce  feelings of isolation by nurturing friendships and improving confidence and communication skills.

The vision is for people tending the plot to learn about growing and preparing food - and future off-shoots could see vulnerable people blossom to the point where they can work in the catering industry.

I for one think it is a fab idea – and I will be helping to promote it with my Business Southampton hat on and I hope other businesses will also give their support to this wonderful project.

Forget Barcelona ... Southampton Can Be The Next San Francisco

For years the vision for Southampton has always been to bring a little Mediterranean magic to the south coast by mirroring the re-invention of Barcelona.

With more than  a little imagination the QE2 mile could become our very own Las Ramblas – the iconic boulevard peppered with performance art and quirky happenings leading to a glittering waterfront with bohemian bars and al fresco dining.

We could only hope city planners would have the foresight to give the go-ahead to a home grown Gaudi to produce an iconic, crazy building or two to really put the place on the world map.

With Barcelona rapidly becoming a distant memory, Capita’s Property Director Richard McCarthy had another city vision for Southampton to aspire to.

At our recent Breakfast Briefing where the council’s CEO Dawn Baxendale and political leader Councillor Simon Letts spoke with unbridled passion about the city, Richard (who studied in Southampton in the 70s and was a top civil servant helping to introduce Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) before joining Capita) proposed aspiring to become the next San Francisco.

He made a plea for Southampton to embrace a few more buildings with scale and to be more daring with density. He had recently returned from the Californian city and while he admitted it had its fair share of social problems, he was impressed by a visit to the highest building in San Francisco.

(Having spent a few days in San Francisco myself, I can concur with the point he raised about social issues. It is the only place I have visited where the concierge in our hotel presented us with a map showing no-go areas where we shouldn’t stray).

Having thought about it, there are parallels between Southampton and San Francisco. There is the potential for Southampton to have a wonderful waterfront along the lines of Fisherman’s Wharf (but without the sea lions).

And it would only require a few coats of red paint to transform the Itchen Bridge ...

Questions, Questions ... Question Time

 

Waiting to go into the recording of the recent Question Time in Portsmouth, the generation gap was made all too clear to me.

The bright-eyed students who were queuing behind me were talking animatedly about the guest panel for the show including Tory grandee Nigel Lawson.

While I think of him as the former Chancellor of the Exchequer responsible for the’ Lawson Boom’ of the late 1980s ... to the bright young things behind me he was the man who created the domestic goddess – he was Nigella’s dad.

My Dog Sighs ... A Lesson in Delayed Gratification

The best speaker at yesterday’s Shaping the Future of Portsmouth Annual Conference had to be the artist My Dog Sighs.

For the past 10 years he has been quite literally giving away his art and now he is reaping the rewards - (pictured is an example of his work I was lucky enough to come across ...)

Dressed in paint-spattered trousers and a natty hat worn at a jaunty angle, the artist known to his mother as Paul, shared his compelling story of giving up a career in teaching to follow his dream of becoming an artist ... only to be forced back into the classroom when his paintings were rejected by the art establishment.

He pushed the dream to the back of his thoughts got married, had kids, took on a mortgage and settled down.

But on a trip to London he was mesmerised by a piece of Banksy’s famous street art and felt compelled to get painting again.

He loved the way Banksy had taken his art to the people via the streetscape rather than traditional galleries.

Not wanting to deface anyone’s property he started leaving his paintings and Can Man creations on the street for the public to pick up and take home.

His altruism spawned a global phenomenon – and Free Art Friday was born. Now thousands of artists across the world leave pieces of art on the street with the express wish they are picked up.
(He admitted he wanted to see who it was who picked up his artwork and one Friday he decamped to a cafe to see who would pick up his artwork – only to be disappointed when a road sweeper popped it in his dustcart).

Free Art Friday was featured on the BBC Culture Show programme and this resulted in a prestigious London gallery putting on a one -man exhibition that sold out in just one hour.

My Dog Sighs has since had exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Tel Aviv and he has just been asked to exhibit in Denmark.

Check out this cool video to get an idea of what My Dog Sighs is all about.