By Melanie Adams. Forget fluffy bunnies and cute little chicks, this Easter there’s an elephant that is taking centre stage! Yesterday, my four-year-old son and I ditched the Easter egg hunts for an elephant hunt as The Elmer Adventure has arrived at the Theatre Royal Winchester this week. And...
View from The Kingsland: Down and Out
By Nick Mabey. Saints’ inevitable and long-awaited relegation was confirmed on 6th April after another lacklustre performance at Spurs, where our fans yet again outperformed the team. At least we went down in style, beating the record for the earliest confirmed drop (seven games remaining). Fastest relegation can be...
Review: Better Joy, Joiners, Southampton
By Darren Grayer. Formed in 2023, Better Joy is the creation of Manchester based singer/songwriter Bria Keeley. She began writing songs at university before forming the band which then released four singles in 2024, followed by last month’s six track ep, Heading Into The Blue. The band have been...
Book review: Modern Poetry & Frank: Sonnets, by Diane Seuss
By Anita Foxall. Modern Poetry and Frank: Sonnets were my first encounters with Diane Seuss’s poetry, both Fitzcarraldo Editions published in February this year which I picked up from Southampton’s own October Books. This Michigan born poet grabbed my attention as soon as I started reading the first...
City’s tourist guides ready to start busy year of walls and vaults exploration
Guides from the city’s two guiding organisation, the Southampton Tourist Guides Association (STGA) and See Southampton, met at the Bargate ahead of finalising plans for a series of exciting exploration walks across the Old Town in 2025. Walks will visit the city walls and explore a number of Southampton’s famous...
Heritage: A proud day for SS Shieldhall
By Martin Brisland. On 2nd April 2025 there was a Presentation Ceremony of the Kings Award for Voluntary Service (KAVS) onboard Steamship Shieldhall in the Western Docks. The impressive glass trophy was handed to Captain Martin Phipps by Mr. Nigel Atkinson, the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire. Distinguished guests included Cllr...
Album review: Rats! Rats! Rats! – Bloody Hello & launch party
By Sam Wise. For us the highlight of Victorious Festival last summer was not, as predicted, The Pixies, on the promise of whom we had bought the tickets. No, the real stars of the event, for us, were Gosport punk/grunge duo Rats! Rats! Rats!, who we caught on one...
Southampton artist Lucy Kitchen named Turner Sims’ Turn It Up local associate for 2025
Turn It Up is development opportunity for musicians from Southampton and SO postcodes. Launched in 2024 by University of Southampton music venue, Turner Sims, the inaugural winners of the scheme were folk duo Pegasuses. Supported by funding from Arts Council England, the programme aims to help local musicians turn...
Teenage Waitress – a Rock n Roll Powerpoint on Songs, comes to the Railway, Winchester
Southampton’s Daniel J Ash, who writes and records solo music under the project name Teenage Waitressis putting on a special gig with a twist on in Winchester on April 26. He explains: “As a songwriter of quite a few years, and a lecturer in songwriting at the University of...
Southampton gig guide – April
By Vicky Greer. The sun is out, the people of Southampton are venturing outside again, and we’ve got a stacked line-up of live entertainment coming to the city. I don’t care if I’m getting ahead of myself – summer has arrived, basically. This April, we’ve got some of...