Nick and Margaret Harper will demonstrate the meditative and healing properties of sound, using various instruments including singing bowls, gongs and other sources of vibration. Nick and Margaret have been to Havant before and their demo was very popular, those who were there say it will be an evening not to be missed.

Entrance is £3 on the door. The evening starts at 7.00 - so make sure you are there in good time.

For our Sunday service on 29 April, the guest speaker is Ben Gator.

Everyone is welcome.

Lovely merino wool, waiting to be turned into felt balls!

You just can’t beat buying local. Not only could I see the true colours of the lovely merino wools that I picked but I could also have a chat with the lovely lady who owns the shop and get her advice on how much wool I would need per ball. I also couldn’t help having a peek at all the other lovely things that she sells and I found a lovely reel of flecked twine for £1.50.

The French Knot studio is a colourful treasure trove for any lover of textiles, they have so many supplies including buttons, ribbons, sari yarns, felt and a lovely selection of books and magazines to inspire you. As if that wasn’t tempting enough they also sell online and have a loyalty card for shop purchases. There is also a wool shop opposite and it would be rude not to pop in there too!

In May we are holding our Open Day with all the usual offerings, especially aimed at those who wish to find out more about the religion, philosophy and science of Spiritualism. Bring a friend, too. Check out the newsletter for details.

Community leaders spoke of their concerns about congestion and parking as plans for 79 homes at Brockhampton went on show.

Developer Orchard Homes wants to build 64 houses and 15 flats on green space to the south of Ranelagh Road, an area once used for allotments.

The meeting at Havant’s council chamber heard the land had been identified as an area that could accommodate 160 homes – and this could be phase one.

Havant Borough Council have already shown that they don’t care about local residents views by their continuing development approvals. They just play lip service to residents comments at review meetings. In the last couple of years every possible piece of greenfield that has been earmarked for development has gone through. The traffic problems brought about by this rampant development just get worse. This particular development will bring an extra 150 to 400 vehicles passing in and out of the area and will of course require somewhere to park.

Paul Basham, a transport consultant for the developers, told the meeting: ‘We are aware there is an existing problem there.

‘What we can do about this is a difficult situation.

‘We are working with Havant Borough Council to see what we can do, if anything.’

People’s comments will now be taken forward as developers work up a formal planning application.

Don’t hold your breath folks. The planners won’t have to live with their decisions. Nor will Paul Basham who says

‘We are working with Havant Borough Council to see what we can do, if anything.’

The implication there is that they will proceed regardless of if they can provide a solution thereby exacerbating the problem.
Warning that congestion woes could get worse – Local – The News.

With all said and done what a great team performance too. Connor the rock in defence (or Python as he prefers to be called), Ella’s versatility, Emily Curwood’s sheer determination, Matthew’s will-to win, Morgan’s dependability, Poppy’s goal scoring tenacity, Emily Nelson’s debut, and not least Grace Taylor’s theme-tune ability … like her Dad, a see a career behind the microphone too!

This resulted in 4 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss … Goals scored 11 and 5 conceded. 6 for Ollie and 5 for Poppy. I am undoubtedly a lucky person to coach this great bunch of kids.
Jon Keynes

Havant Golds
Sam, Luke, James, Dougie, Jonas, Richard, Dan Hart, Ben (hopefully Jevan too)

Havant Greens
Harriet, Elsa, Judith, Amelie, Elin, Aimee, Matilda, Eleanor

If anyone is missing and wants to play, or is named above and cant play, let us know. We may have Liberty guesting for us too.

Registration 9.30 Start 10 am will finish around 12.30

Havant Hawks with coach Jon Keynes
Connor Lasrado, Grace Taylor, Emily Nelson, Matthew Walton, Emily Curwood, Ella Saunders, Morgan Sturt, Oliver Keynes, Poppy Herbert

Havant Harriers with coach Peter Symonds
Hugh Jones, Drew Griffin, Grace Loveridge, Freddie Waktare, Tara Bell, Oliver Rickard, Sophie Jennings, Charlie Robertsonm Claudia Bishop

Please can you confirm by Thursday 22nd March. In case of unavailabity or drop outs we may call on Ruth Harvey or Liberty Allison.

We are also putting together teams for the John Wright tournament at Havant on the 1st April. Please can you let me know if you are unavailable for this one. At present this includes Poppy Wright and Grace Taylor. I will put out teams for this tournament on Monday 26th March. At this stage we would also like to include for this one: Alex Mitra, Lauren Johnson, Abbie Brader, Liberty Allison

Bye for now.

Martin

Havant Boys were unbeaten on the day squeezing past Portsmouth, drawing with Chichester, beating the Havant girls and then putting 3 goals past Chichester in the final. Worth noting that Elsa scored a couple of cracking goals for the girls and Elin and Amelie both made some superb tackles to stop certain goals.

The photos in the gallery below show that hockey was the winner, but medals were awarded by Olympian David Faulkner according to the finishing table which ended …

Gold – Havant Boys
Silver – Chichester
Bronze – Portsmouth
Platinum – Havant Girls

• View Gallery •

I should not have doubted my own powers of telepathy…because, on Friday, the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, made a clutch of announcements about public dialogue to mark the start of National Science and Engineering Week.  These include the award of a £3.6 million contract to a joint bid from the British Science Association, AEA Technology, and Involve (that’s the other(!) Involve) to manage the next phase of the Sciencewise Expert Resource Centre for Public Dialogue in Science and Innovation project.  Bit of a mouthful that, isn’t it?

There’s more on the announcement on Vince Cable’s blog .  But for a a little insight behind the headlines, check out Simon Burrall’s blog – Simon is Director of the aforementioned ‘Involve’ and has written an excellent piece about what they will be doing.  The Citizens Group, involving people in the governance of the programme, looks a good initiative.  Neither the British Science Association or AEA Technology have anything up on their sites yet so I am tempted to say Simon has his work cut out (that sounds a lot meaner than it is intended to be).

I think the Science Minister, David Willetts, – who earlier today was opening a cold storage unit in Havant – has been saying more in a speech this afternoon at the Centre for Science and Policy(CSP) .  CSP will also have a hand in delivering ScienceWise  I believe (well, I did say on Saturday they were ‘the’ organisation to watch).

So let’s hope the ice has frozen and things really are moving again on the public dialogue front.

Go to the Newsletter Selection page or cut straight to the chase …

We went to do my Mum’s shopping and then our own. Havant is barely more attractive than Gosport; a town far removed from what it seemed to be when I was an infant and a teen but don’t places seem different, more charming, more comforting to the child than the adult? The adult mind is coloured by experience and wearied by cynicism. I found the news of forthcoming increases in Havant car parking charges unsurprising but the arithmetic in the article about them in The News far more disturbing. I have written a letter explaining that a change from 60p to £1 is not an increase of 40%.

I probably should be calmer at my age but I still find certain irritants raise my blood pressure at least metaphorically. Sometimes I can tolerate the institutional ineptitude of the Highways Agency but rarely the laxity of Tesco. That will come as no surprise to regular readers. Today, 9 days after my last comments, the telephone line at the North Harbour filling station still has not been mended. Apparently an engineer ‘has been called’. It is not obvious where he is travelling from or by what method.

A highlight of a deteriorating visit to Gosport was one of our occasional visits to Ashtons. This competent cafe near the Ferry Gate offers an excellent breakfast and, today, a good lunch. I really enjoyed a chicken stir-fry enhanced with two sausages from Greg’s breakfast. I am looking forward to a concert tomorrow by ‘Blood Red Sky’, a U2 tribute band containing, much to my recent surprise, two of my colleagues. I am looking forward equally to dinner, a Thai meal, with one of my other colleagues, a charming person and his lovely wife.

We are trying something different. We have published every quarter until now, but in order to keep the news and events current, we will be publishing every month. We hope you enjoy it.

What was less certain was the person chairing the service, me! Talk about thrown in the deep end! The night before we had a late evening phone call to say the person who was chairing was in hospital having an operation on her badly smashed shoulder, having fallen during the day.

‘Could I get there in time to take over the duty?’, the president asked. Well, as last reserve I didn’t have an option.

After a short faff with the hearing aid loop, we got things under way. The evening went well and I survived to chair another day. But for those who came, thank you for your patience, and your good humour which ensured the evening went well. Thanks also to Ron, for making the job easy.

For the rest of January our speakers are:

Wednesday 18 : Ruth Dunsmore and Margaret Harper
Sunday 22: Pet Stowell
Wednesday 25: Jum Dimitri
Sunday 29: Lawrence Cohen

On Saturday 18 February, our special event is a skittles evening. For costs, timing and location contact the church. More February events soon …

On Saturday 28 January, John will demonstrate his transfiguration mediumship. The dictionary explains transfiguration as; ‘a change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state’. As with all evenings of this type, the results cannot be guaranteed, the whole event is an experiment, but with an open mind and a positive attitude, we expect another successful evening.

Tickets will not be sold on the door, and are only available in advance from Havant Spiritualist Church. Tickets are £5, and seats are limited.

Contact the church on 07586 421780