Saucy exhibition draws to a close

An exhibition of cheeky postcards was available for the last time at Bournemouth's Russell-Cotes Art Gallery on Sunday.

The collection of Bamforth postcards (Secrets of Saucy Seaside Postcards) were exhibited there for three months, but crowds of people still visited on the last day.

There were people of different ages and nationalities laughing and giggling in front of the postcards.

Bamforth comics used to deal with taboo subjects, anything that was a bit embarrassing. Bodily functions, being naked and, of course, sexual relationships were favourite topics.

This explains the big notice on the wall saying: "Some of the pictures in this exhibition may be regarded as racist, sexist or otherwise offensive. We regret any offence this may cause. It should be noted that all the images were available to view in stationers and card shops across the country."

The cards feature fat ladies, down-trodden husbands, busty girls, with red-nosed men taking the lead. Next came drunken men, cheeky boys and goofy girls. They are essentially real people, but with certain aspects (bottoms, noses and bellies) exaggerated.

Like the cast, the scenes are essentially realistic and well-observed. Setting jokes in the bingo hall, barber shop and bar room gives them an intimacy and realism that makes the humour even funnier.

The whole point of many Bamforth jokes and comics was to be a bit shocking.

On one of the postcards, a woman says to the other who is in a very open swimming suit: "Heaven's - Are you trying to catch pneumonia?" And the answer is: "No darling I'm trying to catch a man!"

On another postcard it's written "Happy birthday to a man who can carry his drink" and there is a picture of a man going to the toilet with a glass of beer in his hand and a bottle in the back of his trousers.

There's also a postcard with a naked man and a woman in the bushes. It reads: "A nudist camp is where men and women get together to - Air their differences!!!"

It was also amusing to see a mother attempting to explain to her young son what all the cheeky postcards meant. For instance, a postcard with a picture of a woman on the sea shore, sitting on a tummy of a huge, fat, naked man said: "I'm writing this sitting on the front."

Art Boot Sale

Eight women were warming the Study Gallery of Modern Art with their charming songs in the Poole College on Saturday.

They gathered there to promote their ensemble La Nova Singers, in a new monthly event.

Art Boot Sale invites artists of all art forms to come and sell their work in a creative way.

La Nova Singers was formed four years ago and has already become highly sought after. They are recognised for their beauty of sound, harmonies, diction and eclectic mix of music.

They gave a live concert in the gallery without any microphones. Seven of them were standing in a semi-circle and head of the group, Michelle Nova, was conducting and singing with them.

Michelle Nova, Director Conductor and soprano trained in London and is well known for her performing and teaching skills.

The group performed many beautiful songs, but 'You Raise Me Up' played magic on the audience. Quite understandably they had to sing it three times.

They study at La Nova Studios following the discipline of the Bel Canto technique. They give regular concerts throughout the South West and are regularly booked for weddings, anniversaries, corporate events, festivals etc.

Bel Canto singing characteristically focuses on perfect evenness throughout the voice, skilful legato, a light upper register, tremendous agility and flexibility, and a certain lyric "sweet" timbre.

The atmosphere during the concert was very relaxed and friendly. The singers were exchanging comments and even talking to the audience.

On the other end of the gallery there was an artist working quietly. After a while she became so enchanted with their songs, she started painting the whole ensemble singing.

The audience was a bit lost afterwards. They couldn't decide whether to look at the artist painting or at the group singing!





Tamila_La_Nova_Singers from Mammj on Vimeo.

Drinks for 99p

Drinks for 99p from Mammj on Vimeo.

Drinks for 99p

Bournemouth pubs and bars are expected to start decreasing prices on alcohol after the Bournemouth Townwatch meeting on 4 February. 

At the moment, most of them have an agreement not to offer drinks below £1.50 supported with the idea of avoiding disorder in the town.

Night Time Economy Co-ordinator Jon Shipp says: “In principle the fixing of alcohol retail prices is not possible legally and for that reason Townwatch has decided to review this, and at the same time to look at the Responsible Operating Policy (ROP) as a whole, within which the indication of maintaining reasonable pricing is contained. The ROP has now been re-written by a sub-group and it will be forwarded to all members prior to the 4th February where it’s expected to be ratified." 

JD Wetherspoon pub The Moon in the Square, which isn’t signed up to the agreement, is already offering bottles of San Miguel and pints of IPA real ale for 99p.  

The Old Firestation manager Sam Cox says they won’t decrease prices even if they have to compete with the rivals offering drinks at lower prices.

Although Old Firestation is a member of the Townwatch, Sam Cox denies having the agreement about the price, saying: “As a trade group, Townwatch cannot set a minimum price for it's members to sell drinks at. Townwatch has a Responsible Operating Police, which all members agree follow. It is this policy, which is being reviewed at the Townwatch AGM next month."

Irresponsible driving on Boxing Day

A middle-aged Poole man will have to get used to public transport after he was disqualified from driving vehicles for the incident on the Boxing Day. 

Steven John Barnley, 44, of Poole, pleaded guilty of driving through red lights exceeding speed limits without insurance or certificate, Bournemouth Magistrate’s Court heard on Monday.

Prosecuting Paul Griffin said that Mr Barnley was driving blue Astra on Friday December 26 over the speed limit going through red lights on Constitutional Hill Road and Ringwood Road. “He [Barnley] was arrested yesterday evening and admitted he knew his insurance was not valid.” 

Defending Mark Proctor asked the Court to take into consideration that “this is the first time he is disqualified the licence” and that he is voluntary to pay the court fee, but as he has £5000 debt he asks the money to be taken directly from the salary. 

Mr Proctor adds that Mr Barnley has a risk of lossing his accommodation and his job. He has already lost his child and has a breakdown of relationships with the family.

The chairman Christopher Laishley said: “It is difficult to deal with this case”.

The magistrates of Bournemouth disqualified Mr Barnley from driving for 12 months and ordered him to pay fines and costs totalling £325. 

Bournemouth - UK's First Fibrecity

Bournemouth will be the first Fibrecity in the UK after its first 30 homes will be connected to 100Mbps fibre optic network in March. 

In addition to 100Mbps broadband that is tens of times faster than standard connections, these first 30 homes will demonstrate the next generation services from IPTV to remote home security.

Fibrecity’s innovative patented FS System allows engineers to lay fibre optic cable in the sewer network. Using this existing channel means that the fibre can be laid up to 90% faster and with far less disruption than is caused by major road digging.

With a large student population and thriving business community, Fibrecity recognised that Bournemouth is a town that would truly benefit from connectivity speeds of up to 100Mbps. 

Besides, H2O Networks, Fibrecity's sister company had already built a fibre-optic network using the sewers in Bournemouth for the Borough Council so the Fibrecity team were able to build on this across the town.

Adrian Crook, commercial manager, Fibrecity said:

“Feedback has been very positive from both residents and businesses in Bournemouth and we are seeing a real appetite for next generation connectivity speeds. We are in the process of signing up residents and businesses to connect to the network and we have already achieved a 40 per cent take up in the first phase of the roll out.”

The fibre optic network is being built at the expense of Fibrecity Holdings, which plans to complete the work on Fibrecity Bournemouth by the end of 2010. 

Bournemouth University Wins

Bournemouth University moves forward in the BUCS competition between Women’s 1st basketball teams after a 101-5 win over UWE Bristol yesterday.

It is their 6th win in this competition after 3 losses. They have already beaten the universities of Cardiff, Southampton and others.

Bournemouth University was playing the match against UWE Bristol home and from the very start took the control over the game scoring in twenty seconds. 

The visitors could manage only one successful two-point shot during the whole first quarter and the Bournemouth University won the quarter with the 27-2 result.

UWE Bristol started the second quarter more actively and had a couple of good opportunities for scoring, but unluckily could not lead the attack to the end.

Bournemouth University once again finished a quarter with an excellent result, 53-4.

The best player of the UWE on this match, Leanne Webb shot a penalty during the third quarter and made it 67-5, but it turned out to be the last score for UWE Bristol on this match.

Bournemouth played the whole game very actively and did not give the visitors a chance of any success. Almost each member of the BU team scored during the match, but the three most successful players were Beevers, Webber and Awuku.

But it was Maddock, who scored the last two-pointer and finished the match with the devastating for the visitors result 101–5.