LSI Portsmouth - Past and Present - Spot the Difference

Spot the Differences

Recently one of our teachers brought in a photo that he had seen of Portsmouth taken in 1946.  Below you can see the same view today.
In the top left-hand corner, you can see LSI Portsmouth (labelled on the Google Earth picture).

For people who live in Portsmouth, it really is quite fascinating to see all the changes, how much greenery has gone, how the road systems have changed, the fact that the train line has been lifted to go over the road that is there now. And eagle-eyed viewers will see in the old photo that the Guildhall in the old photo appears to be completely gutted from bombing during the war.

If you can see any other particular changes, leave a note in the comments below.

Photo circa 1946 

Google Earth 2017

What is the Best Thing about England? We Asked, Our Students Told Us.

I Love England Because

As a teacher, when you ask students questions you often have an idea what they will answer, but more times than not, they will come up with something completely unexpected. For the last month or so we have run a little ‘campaign’ on Facebook where once a week we have asked our students what was their favourite thing about certain areas, for example, the best thing about Sundays, favourite place in Portsmouth and why they were learning English, that sort of thing. We made it easy, they just had to answer with one word. Some great answers came back. Someone said you need the English language in the same way you need a passport (which of course isn't just one word ;-). To the question about Sundays? The best things were; sleeping, leisure, relaxing, shopping!

The post that we got the most answers to was the question 'What is the best thing about England?'. The responses were so varied and really interesting. At the top of the list were LSI Portsmouth (thank you ;-), Portsmouth, the People and well ‘everything’. 

Then we came to a wide variety of things, politics, history, culture, language, London and all the changes that are happening at the moment. 

This really appears to go to show that the reasons we think people come to England might not necessarily be the actual reasons, or maybe the reasons they have stated as being their favourite they have discovered as the best things since coming here. Whichever it is, it is good to know that England has so many good reasons to visit.  Can you add any?

(For privacy’s sake we blanked out the names and pictures of those writing – if you want to see the actual post then please visit our Facebook page.)

Portsmouth - Oh how we love you, all of you

At the last count, we came up with another 11 different places called Portsmouth.  Probably one of the more famous ones is the Portsmouth in New Hampshire.  Recently on Instagram, someone posted a video of Portsmouth, and when watching, it was very much a case of 'how lovely ... hold on a minute ... that's not...'.  It really is extraordinary how similar the two places are.  Check below and see if you agree.

1)

Video from instagram by: @lilyhairullina

2)

Video from instagram by: @LSIPortsmouth

So of course, video number 2 is the Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK, the top video is Portsmouth New Hampshire, USA.

In case you are interested here are the other 11 places called Portsmouth:

Other Portsmouths in UK:

Portsmouth - Calderdale

Places called Portsmouth in America.
Portsmouth - Virginia
Portsmouth - Rhode Island
Portsmouth - Ohio
Portsmouth - North Carolina
Portsmouth - New Hampshire
Portsmouth - Kentucky
Portsmouth - Iowa

Others in the world:
Portsmouth - Saint John, Dominica

Portsmouth - Ontario, Canada

Magical Autumn - Portsmouth in all its Glory

Here in Portsmouth, we love Autumn, it is such a special time. The clocks go back at the end of October, the partying starts with Halloween, then Bonfire night and before you know it the early Christmas festivities will start. And nature starts to paint the day with an array of beauty, either from the leaves changing colour or from the stunning sunsets.  The days are getting colder, so boots and coats are coming out of hibernation, the heating has been turned on, soups and stews are being put on the menu to warm us up. This is Britain, this is what is wonderful about changing seasons. Autumn - Magic!

How Portsmouth Are You? Fun Quiz

How well do you know the language used in Portsmouth? try our fun quiz and see.

The America's Cup Portsmouth 2016

AC 2015 

AC 2015

AC 2015

This weekend is the America’s Cup!

This weekend Portsmouth is hosting the America’s Cup along the seafront, so we’ve answered all the questions you might have about the event. The forecast says that we will have more beautiful weather later in the week, and we highly recommend you go down at some point over the weekend to join in with all the fun!

What is the America’s Cup?

Six international teams made up of  elite sailors, are set to compete in the America's Cup World Series in Portsmouth. They use high-speed and technologically-advanced carbon-fiber catamarans. The racing circuit has been held around the world since 2015 and will finish in 2017 in Bermuda.
Portsmouth also held the America’s Cup last year in July, but many of the races were cancelled due to terrible weather. We are in England after all!

When is the America’s Cup?

It’s this weekend, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The event starts at 10.00am each day!

Do I need tickets?

To enter the actual race village you will need a ticket, which costs £25 for the day. However, there is lots of action happening down the waterfront, and the atmosphere will be amazing, so it’s worth heading down just to check it out.

There will be incredible aerial displays every day from 12.00 pm, plus lots of other amazing things to see and do within the race village. We will certainly be buying a ticket and spending the day there, it's a guaranteed amazing time!

Update:
Prince William and Kate meeting the sailors at the race village.

Some of the best things to do in Portsmouth

If you are a bit short on funds, have a look at this blog post to get some ideas of the fabulous things you can do in Portsmouth for FREE.

https://www.wow247.co.uk/2016/01/27/free-things-portsmouth/

Grey days by the sea! ;-). #pebbles #solent #wightlink

A photo posted by LSI Portsmouth (@lsiportsmouth) on Jan 29, 2016 at 8:39am PST

The 15 Best Things About Portsmouth

Those of us who live in Portsmouth know very well that it is a city unlike any other, a crowded island city on the South coast, with easy access to London or France. It is very easy to find tourist guides telling you what is great about the city but we decided to ask our teachers what they thought the best things about living in Portsmouth were. In no particular order, the results are below - we thought it made fun reading.

1. There are 3 railway stations (4 if you count Hilsea); Fratton, Portsmouth and Southsea, Portsmouth Harbour!
2. It has a low cost of living compared to other cities in the South.
3. It has great links to the Continent.
4. It has a fabulous cosmopolitan feel to it.
5. Portsmouth is very flat - perfect for cycling (which with the number of cars is a very sensible thing to do).
6. Within very easy reach of London.
7. The fantastic selection of restaurant - particularly down Albert road. Almost any type of food can be found in Portsmouth.
8. The 10th hole cakes (A tea room). These have to be seen to be believed, the quality is stupendous, the variety extraordinary and always mouthwatering!
9. It's a smaller city, so easier to get around.
10. You can jog by the sea.
11. The Pubs!
12. The Historic Dockyard museum - "one of the best I've ever been to!"
13. No: 6 Cinema - an art cinema which shows a huge variety of films you never get to see in the multiplex.
14. Pie and Vinyl. A fabulous shop where you can buy a massive variety of records or have one of their delicious lip licking pies, with mash and mushy peas.
15. Gunwharf shopping centre and nightlife.

How Well Do You Know Portsmouth - Try Our Quiz (we dare you!)

You think you know Portsmouth well?  Try this quiz and see how well you this city ;-)

Victorious was AMAZING!

(A little belated ;-)

If you were in Portsmouth last weekend, we hope you managed to make it down to Victorious Festival located at Southsea common and seaside. Loads of staff and students headed down to the event to be entertained by acts including Tinie Tempah, The Flaming Lips, Ray Davies and Basement Jaxx.

In true British festival style, it didn’t just rain on Saturday, it poured! Although it was a miserable and wet day, with lots of dark clouds in the sky, the atmosphere was amazing!!! Lots of students hid from the rain by sheltering in the silent disco tent- a truly unique way of experience DJ music. Rather than listening to music over a large speaker system, music was transmitted wirelessly into headphones! It was so much fun, and a great way to stay dry!

On Sunday, the weather was much nicer, and there was no rain throughout the event! There were so many amazing famous acts, as well as lots of up and coming local bands for everyone to enjoy. The organisers have said that 100,000 people attended the event of the two day period, and we were really excited to be able to get tickets for our students to enjoy Portsmouth at its best. It was amazing to be able to listen to great live music, watch the amazing pyrotechnics, and see the beautiful Portsmouth seaside all at the same time.

The event is held annually, and hopefully next year will be even bigger and better than this year! If you were at Victorious festival this year, please send us your photos- we would love to see them!

Belle.

It's Festival Time - Victorious Festival Portsmouth

It’s festival time!!

If you are currently in Portsmouth, and have been for a walk around the seafront and common area, you may have noticed that huge tents have been put up, a massive stage is sitting in the middle of the common, and large green fences are cordoning off the area. This is because this weekend, Portsmouth is hosting Victorious 2015, a huge music festival which is expected to welcome 120,000 spectators!

The poster that we have up in the school for the students

The main stage will be on Southsea common, with the castle stage being located in the magnificent grounds outside Southsea Castle. There will also be an acoustic stage, a real ale tent, and a massive silent disco! The festival is a really exciting event and one of the newest festivals on the British festival scene. The star-studded line-up includes some massive names in the music industry, such as Ray Davies and Texas, and there will also be loads of local talent to discover.

Each year, the festival has got bigger and better, and this year will be the most exciting one yet!!! We strongly recommend that if you are lucky enough to be in Portsmouth this weekend, you buy yourself a ticket! They are available from Belle in room 305, or you can head down to Meat & Barrel on Palmerston Road. Alternatively, you can buy your tickets online at http://goo.gl/7IPHZu

For more information about the festival and to see the full line-up, please visit http://www.victoriousfestival.co.uk/

America's Cup Comes to Portsmouth

This weekend's America's Cup event was the first of its kind in Portsmouth and really put Portsmouth on the map as far as sailing goes. Slightly marred by the typical British weather, however the Saturday of the event was just as exciting as it was expected to be.

Below are a few pictures to show what was on offer to sailing enthusiasts, who travelled far and wide to see Sir Ben Ainslee and Team Land Rover get one step closer to bringing the cup home after winning the Portsmouth leg of the race, which will finish in Bermuda in 2017.

Skipper and Team Principal; Ben Ainslie: “I’m really proud of what the team has achieved this weekend, not just on the water but with our team here at the facility in Portsmouth. To win the first Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series of 2015 in front of our home crowd is massive for our team, and sets us up for a very exciting future.” (as quoted on The Land Rover BAR site)

First sight of Ben Ainslee and Team Land Rover

A taste of how busy the sea was

All in a row - With Team Land Rover at the front!

Close up of Team Land Rover in action.

The sea was thronged with spectators

Entertainment for all the family available at the site

A short video from Lisa Marsh who was out on the water as the contestants went past.

Lisa is in white in the middle of the picture

Our very own Lisa Marsh (Accommodation Manager) was on a boat watching the sailing and got papped by the Portsmouth Evening News!

The America's Cup is coming to Portsmouth

Today is the day the America's Cup starts at Portsmouth.  Rather than try and report it, here is the link to the evening news page with all the news.

Click here to see all the news

The Guardian thinks Portsmouth is FAB

It’s home to Ben Ainslie’s new sailing HQ and will host the America’s Cup in July but the city isn’t just about sailing, there are some great festivals on the horizon ...

Click here for the rest of the article.

I do love to be beside the seaside!

Portsmouth has a lovely coastline - it may not be sandy but it is lively and interesting ;-)  Here are a  few pictures of our lovely shoreline.

See how brilliant it is being in Portsmouth - a 4 minute video!

Two of our teachers; Alan Daysh and Sue Hodgson have made a video to show what great places Portsmouth and Southsea are to visit. They are hoping that potential visitors and students to LSI will be able to get a feel of what Portsmouth has to offer, being in such a brilliant location by the sea, right on the south coast.  It was filmed over a bank holiday weekend in early summer, and then condensed into four minutes.  Alan composed the music, Sue edited the video, with both of them filming. Alan is never happier than when playing music, and Sue is never far away from a computer, they say they have caught the film making bug and have many more projects in the pipeline!  So far it has proven very popular getting over 1000 views on YouTube in less than 3 days.  We hope you like it!

Why is Portsmouth in the Daily Newspapers?

This little story has absolutely nothing to do with LSI but is about Portsmouth and a very fun story that is being reported quite a bit in the media.

Andrew Whyte has piqued the attention of many with his photos of a little Lego figure posing all around the city.  At the moment most of his photos are of the seafront, but he is hoping to branch out more around the town and even has days out. He has a project called the 365 project where he aims to take a photo each day in a different location.  What is so cute is that the Lego man has his own little camera, and the photos show him trying to capture photos.

So far it has been reported in the city’s local  blog Teamlocal, the local newspaper the Portsmouth News, in the Daily Mail and even in The Sun.  Legoman has his own facebook page called Legography which has over a thousand followers.

If you'd like to see some lovely images of Portsmouth, do click on the links above as there are some stunning images, and what is even more impressive is that they are all taken on an iphone!

https://www.facebook.com/Legography

https://www.facebook.com/Legography

https://www.facebook.com/Legography

https://www.facebook.com/Legography



https://www.facebook.com/Legography

 If you'd like to follow him, do go to his facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/Legography

Do you know of any other strange / interesting things in Portsmouth?
Send us a photo or leave a comment below

Views around LSI - Part Two

We thought it would be nice to show the world what you can see around LSI.  Portsmouth is essentially an island in the centre of the very south of England.  

Continuing from our last post which showed some views near the sea last post this one is to show some of the lovely old / interesting buildings around.
We start with maybe the building you would arrive in if you were visiting Portsmouth, it then follows past the pub, on to Gunwharf Quays and a couple of the night spots, and end up along the sea front.

Portsmouth and Southsea Train Station (opened in 1847)

The Brewhouse and Kitchen (formerly the White Swan built in 1916)

The New Theatre Royal (originally constructed in 1854)

Portsmouth Sailing Club (founded in 1920)

Now a Shopping and entertainment centre but previously a Naval Base with a fascinating history

All Bar One and Tiger Tiger - maybe the most popular night venue in town

Loch Fyne Restaurant - in the Vulcan buildings

A good old traditional tavern!

Southsea Tennis Club

Views Around LSI - Part One

We thought it would be nice to show the world what you can see around LSI.  Portsmouth is essentially an island in the centre of the very south of England.  The island is made up of many areas, the oldest and most historical being Old Portsmouth.  (Read more here)
LSI is a two minute walk away from Old Portsmouth, and from the school (on the higher levels) you can see the sea.

The first mention of Portsmouth as a Naval town was in 286AD by a Roman captain sent to investigate piracy ;-). The history is pretty sketchy after that, but a thousand years or so later Portsmouth was well established as one of the best known Naval towns in the world. Home to the Royal Navy, it has an incredibly rich history, and although a lot was destroyed during the second world war, there is still a great deal standing.  Below are just a few highlights of what can be seen on a stroll round the old town.

The City Museum (previously a barracks)

Portsmouth Cathedral

The Old Harbour

The Bridge Tavern - by the Old Harbour

View of the Spinnaker Tower

The Bond of Friendship - a gift from Australia