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

"LSI is the best school you can find, without a doubt!" - can't argue with that!

It's nice to get a student's perspective on what happens here at LSI, so straight from the horses mouth (so to speak) is Manuel's view of LSI and staying in Portsmouth (from an interview with Hannah Youell).

Manuel Fresco de la Frente

Hannah: Tell us a bit about your experience here at LSI Portsmouth;

Manuel: I arrived in Portsmouth without speaking a word of English; I was totally lost!
But from the moment I arrived I've been very happy here and my English started to improve straight away.
The teachers put me in the right level, and I was very happy with all the help they gave me.
The introduction on day one starts you with total cultural and linguistic immersion; you get the chance to speak English all the time with both the students and the teachers. This helps you to improve very quickly.

Hannah: And what about your accommodation?
Manuel: The student house in Victoria Road is amazing! The best place you can stay! Everything is perfect. Comfortable rooms, great beds, enough space for everything. The bathroom is nice, you just have to share it with one other person. The whole house is in perfect condition and there are loads of TV channels! Antonio the House Manager is a friend who I will miss very much.

Hannah: and the location?
Manuel: The house is in the best place in Portsmouth, next to LJR (Little Johnny Russell) and the Fat Fox - the 2 best pubs in town! There are supermarkets really close by, and you can find everything you need to live. Also it’s only about 15 minutes walk from the school.

Hannah: What do you like about living in Portsmouth?
Manuel: Portsmouth - I like it because it has sea, a university environment, amazing parties, friendly people, and there are plenty of supermarkets and shops close to the school and the student house. It’s got a great atmosphere.

Hannah: What did you enjoy about your classes here?
Manuel: I love my teacher Hugo, he’s really funny, we practice a lot of speaking in class, and we study grammar independently, working together with our classmates. The classes are very dynamic, you can learn a lot from your classmates. The mix of cultures is the best, there are people from all over the world and you can start planning your future holidays!

Hannah: Tell me about something you'll never forget about Portsmouth;
Manuel: My best unforgettable experience…… going to Skye Bar on Wednesdays for the club night Pure Culture: amazing R&B music and dancing with friends.

Hannah: Any advice for people who are coming to study here?
Manuel: Come in the summer if you can. This city feels like it would be very cool in the summer. In addition to the sea and live music, barbecues in the park ... wow!! ....
Hannah: Would you recommend LSI Portsmouth to a friend?
Manuel: LSI is the best school you can find, without a doubt! In addition you have access to everything you would ever need to study and live here.

Hannah: And finally, what do you think makes LSI such a special school?
Manuel: It’s a big school but it feels like a family: the teachers talk to you like friends, and they help you with everything, they remember you, always say hi to you around the school and they ask how you are. Just like if it was your family.

Thank you very much Manuel, it was a pleasure to have you studying with us and we’re so happy you had a fantastic time!

A Day in the Life - Nicky Hayes

Another in our occasional guest posts from our teachers, this time Nicky Hayes.  Nicky has been working at LSI for about 4 years, mainly teaching the executives.

"Another day at LSI. Teachers arrive early because there are always last minute things to do before the students arrive. It’s a good time to exchange ideas and just generally talk about any issues that may have arisen the day before.

The students begin to arrive about 9.15, so the teacher has to make sure that the classroom is ready. Then at 9.25 the staff room empties as the teachers go to their classrooms.

For me it’s always on the upper floors, so it’s a climb up the stairs carrying books, handouts and another class materials ………... good exercise, that’s why I don’t take the lift.

The class runs until 10.45 when we have a break. Time for a coffee, very reviving. It also gives teachers and students a chance to mix and speak in an informal way (an ideal opportunity for teachers to check what the students have learned). Then it’s back to class until 12.15 when many people go straight to the cafeteria on the second floor for lunch. Good fresh food always available. During the lunchtime the teachers not only prepare lessons, but also have time for social chit chat.

The afternoon class starts at 1.45 (the pudding shift). As a teacher this is always the hardest class, as students have had a nice long break and eaten lunch so they are very relaxed. I usually motivate the students through proactive exercises where they have to lead.

After the afternoon coffee break at 3.15, the final class of the day, at least for me, is always the most fulfilling, as the students are always very focused after three classes and are totally ‘in English’.

At the end of the day, 4.30, teachers, including myself, take time to pass on any relevant information about the days events to their line managers. Then, it's time to bid a fond farewell to LSi for another day."

Nicky in a serious discussion - probably about golf!

Sitting on a Rainbow

We recently had some new furniture installed in our student social area.  What a difference!  So much colour, the day just seems to brighten up when you walk in and see the palette of colour.

Angel Ma, Terry Thorne and Adam Travers deep in discussion.

Summer Snow in Russia

Having returned from yet another successful business trip to Moscow with my colleagues I couldn’t miss the opportunity to share my experiences with the readers of the LSI Blog.

Sunny Moscow in June welcomed us with what’s known locally as ‘summer snow’ – pollen being spread by the wind all across the streets of Moscow. This beautiful natural phenomenon takes place during 2 weeks of summer and we were lucky enough to visit Moscow at the right time! If you’re a hay fever sufferer, I suggest you postpone your visit to Moscow to July or August J

This time around we had the opportunity to set up meetings and hold talks with some of Moscow’s most renowned Universities – Lomonosov Moscow State University and Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics, and Informatics. The beautiful architecture of these Universities, the history and most importantly the hospitality of the people who work there is indescribable.

Having successfully completed the business part of the trip, we were very much looking forward to enjoying Moscow’s cultural landscape. Strolling through some of the historic streets of Moscow we ended up at Mari Vanna – the restaurant next to Patriarch's Pond with no sign (that’s right!) that serves the best Russian homemade food in Moscow. The 60’s interior makes you feel like you’re visiting someone’s flat as you sit underneath an old fashioned chandelier surrounded by mismatched plates and vintage furniture. It was wonderful to feel this cosy and ‘at home’ and a wonderful time was had by all, but alas it was time for us to return to our own homes.

A big thank you to Dmitry Mikheev for organising our visit and we look forward to returning soon. You can never have enough of the famous and enigmatic Russian 'dusha' or 'soul' J

Yet again, from Russia with love,

Margarita

Margarita Atlasova

Sales and Marketing



MESI University




Lea, Dmitry, Andrew.

 

Margarita





Ministry of Foreign Affairs



Kalina Bar

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Red Square and Moscow River

Summer Snow

Napoleon Cake at the Kalina Bar

Sturgeon at Mari Vanna

Interactive Whiteboards

Keeping up with technology is a never ending task. No sooner do you have the latest than you find it has become old hat!  I still remember a student telling me all about ... Power Point back in the late 90's.  I sat there open mouthed as he explained the concept to me. At that time there were no laptops or computers in the classrooms.  Very quickly that changed and we had laptops available and the era of PowerPoint started.  Then came mobile phones for everyone, WIFI, ipads etc.  It's never easy knowing which will stand the test of time and which will pass into the anals of history with a wry smile (remember Beta videos?).

In our ongoing quest to keep up with all the latest technology, we have just had some superb new equipment set up in the classrooms.

We have recently had some interactive whiteboards set up in some of our clasrooms.

With the lovely Jeremy and Lewis modelling
the latest technology installed at LSI 

Learning the Principles of the Principal

Andrew Edwards the principal of LSI has recently given an interview which has been published on the IALC website.

This month, we speak to Andrew Edwards, Principal of LSI Portsmouth who tells us about the school and how it feels to be part of IALC.

Q: Hello Andrew, when did you join IALC and why?
I was already a member of IALC for many years with my previous school, the wonderful ELC Bristol, and now that I’ve joined the equally fantastic LSI Portsmouth it’s great to still be part of the IALC family for so many reasons. To be able to share ideas and best practice with so many experienced and like-minded people around the world is something I value massively. What makes an organisation is its people, and the people in IALC are really special.

Q: How does it feel to be part of this exclusive global community of quality language schools?
It’s a real pleasure and a privilege, to be honest. For me, despite IALC’s growth over the years, it still feels like being part of an exclusive and very supportive group of friends who are all working towards the same goal – to make their school as good as it can possibly be and to give their students the time of their lives. IALC is also great fun too and the annual workshop is always the highlight of my social calendar! (Anyone who remembers Jude Hands and the rendition of ‘Hey Jude’ at the Toronto workshop last year will know exactly what I mean. Still very much a YouTube hit, I believe :-)) ...

Continue reading....

Vacancies for Teachers

We are recruiting teachers for General English, Business English and Pre-Sessional Courses now.
For more details click here:
http://blog.lsi-portsmouth.co.uk/p/vacancies-at-lsi.html

How Will We Manage?

So it’s a very sweet and sour day here at LSI as one of our really lovely, much loved people is leaving us!  Nati Ruiperez is leaving to have a baby after ten years of working with us at LSI. 

Getting ready to leave

“So Nati how do you feel about leaving?”
“This is my 35th week, and I’ll be going on maternity leave for a year.  I’m a bit nervous, I know things are gonna be fine and everything, I’m just not sure how I’m going to  cope, I have never had so much time not working, though I know Christian (is the name of my baby), will give me a lot to do.”

with students at the Christmas party

“Let’s go back to the beginning, how did you come to work at LSI?”
“Well, I spent the last year of University in Galway in Ireland, on an Erasmus programme, then after I went back to Spain, but I wanted to work abroad again.  So, I applied and was taken on here for work experience for five months.  After the five months was finished I went back to Spain and was on holiday.  Suddenly out of the blue I received a call from Allan (the Marketing Director) who asked me if I wanted to come back to LSI.  Then after some years I met my husband and now I’ve been here ten years!”

with Bill at the leaving ceremony

“Over these ten years what have been the biggest changes?”
“Oh I think the biggest change for me was when Peter and Najat left (the founder of the school and his wife), that was such a big change, and then of course Andrew (the new Principal) coming.
A couple of years after I started here Rosalia started (another Spanish employee) and that was really nice working with another Spanish person, she left three years ago, but we do keep in touch a lot.  I think it can be hard to be in another country if you are not in a couple, you can feel very lonely, without your family or a big group of friends. But I have my lovely husband!
How did I meet my husband? It’s a funny story.  The husband of one of my friends knew my (now) husband and tried to set us up on a date.  So we went out as a group and had a lovely time.  I kind of played hard to get for about five or six weeks, and let him to do the running.  He used to come with me to the Salsa lessons that we had with the students every Wednesday.  After about 6 weeks he asked for a proper date.  I said if he wanted a date he had to ask permission from my parents, I was just joking you know. I had a wedding back in Spain at the weekend and I said if he wanted to ask them he could come to my cousin’s wedding and ask them there!  I never thought in a million years he would take me seriously. So that was on the Wednesday. I had to fly to Spain on the Friday. Can you imagine? On Friday he was knocking on the door with a taxi to take me to the airport!  So he came to the wedding with all my family, cousins and parents but he got on well with everyone and it was really nice. And that was also our first kiss, in front of 150 people!  In Spanish weddings it’s typical to say ‘the mother in law kisses the father in law’ and then they kiss with everyone clapping. They did that to us ‘Nati kisses Richard’ and that was our first kiss, in front of all those people!”

with students at the nightclub

“What do you do here and what will you miss the most?”
“I take care of reception and the social events for the General students, I used to look after the self access for the General students as well. I also look after the General student welfare.  What is the best thing about working here and what will I miss? It has to be the people, the students and my colleagues.  You know after a long time a job is a job but the people here are special and I think I’ll miss the staff the most.”

We'll miss you Nati!

Nati, we will miss you and your lovely smile and all the help you have given us so much, we wish you and Richard and Christian all the love and luck in the world!

If you know Nati - leave a message for her below

From Russia with Love

Having returned from my very busy trip to Moscow meeting some of our partners I thought I’d share my views and experiences of this trip with the readers of the LSI Blog.

If you’ve never been to Moscow before I say book your flights now as it’s definitely one fascinating place.
 



What I liked the most about the city is the beautiful Moscow Metro that amazes its commuters with the extravagant design and structure. The beautiful marble floors, fresco ceilings and chandeliers are quite breathtaking so when you do admire the beauty of this cultural phenomenon make sure you keep an eye on the time if you’ve arranged to meet someone for a cup of Russian tea with bubliki.  If you’re generally not a soup lover trying Russian borscht will prove to be a life-changing experience. If you have time do pop into one of the local cafes or restaurants on Arbat and try this rich, beetroot soup served hot or even cold in the summer. I loved having this soup with some dark Russian rye bread sitting outside of my favourite café Mu-Mu (Му-Му) on the Old Arbat. Finally, make sure you visit Red Square on a sunny day for some amazing views of Saint Basil’s Cathedral and Spasskaya Tower that are probably one of the most visited sights in Moscow. You’ll also be able to enjoy the views of the Moscow river and maybe jump on one of the boats to take a tour around Moscow all while avoiding the traffic of the busy Moscow streets.

 

While there I met up with our friend Dmitry
(shown here with one of his teachers
Jeremy)





Moscow without a doubt is a tourist gem that has a lot to offer to anyone looking for adventures with a Russian flavour!

Explore, enjoy and share!

Margarita Atlasova

Sales and Marketing

'Where ever I lay my hat, that's my home'

Announcing: our second self catering student house is now open!


Traditionally LSI has offered our student's accommodation either with a host family or in a hotel. Last year, when we opened the doors of Victoria Road student house, we launched a new concept in LSI's housing, that of self catering accommodation.  We are now delighted to announce that we have another self catering house open to our students.  In the heart of Southsea, this house is perfectly situated for calm and easy access to the school while at the same time being close enough to the areas to go for night life.  For the student who would like a little independence this is the perfect solution.

Spam Alert - One of the problems of Blogging

Slightly controversial but, I thought this might interest some!  One of the problems of writing a blog is that you can get caught in the radar of the Spammers!  One of the ways people try to get more people to read their blogs and get traffic is to write a comment on a blog and ask for the reader to visit their website.  The English in question is usually 'very interesting' and I thought it might be fun to show some of the many  comments we have received.  Spot the translation errors! ;-)  As a language school, the English used here is very interesting to look at.


Update note:  A further update - if you find any of these posted in your comments - do copy and paste a section of it to google  - you'll be amazed at how many of them have just been plastered on hundreds and hundreds of sites.  So far the most I counted was the same comment on 250 other blogs - I then lost interest - but have since tended to do that as a check if I am at all suspicious.

From a very humourous post on spammers
(click the picture to read the whole post)

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• The island is merely accessible by boat that for many of the year leaves the solid ground each hour starting at seven a.m. The resort boasts its own spa and links, yet as year-round activities, together with sand castle-building competitions, loyal tie-dyeing and family athletic contest for those staying on the island. my webpage …

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• Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us something informative to read? my webpage …  (notes: No videos before or after this particular post)

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So, just a few of them.  Good for a wry smile if nothing else. Do please leave a comment ;-)

(Just a 'by the way' - Unfortunately the ability to comment has had to be changed because of this, and the security level has been raised - but genuine comments can still be left)

From A Students View

We have a guest blogger this week: Hyunjoo from South Korea has kindly written about how she finds Portsmouth and LSI.

"My name is Hyunjoo and I’m from South Korea. I’m now studying for the Cambridge Exam which I believe to be very effective in improving my English ability. But if I put aside the course itself, there are still many things I appreciate staying here. One of them is that I can meet many international students at school. There are many students with various nationalities, races and ethnic groups. Studying with them isn’t just about meeting foreign people. We can share our different cultural backgrounds and sometimes comparing their things to mine enables me to be open to different values. When the weather gets warmer, I go out to the nearest park with friends. 

(The location of LSI is quite nice!!)

It’s been over 3 months since I started at LSI. From the first week I arrived, I have tried to find a chance to meet more and more British people to improve my  English ability. I searched many chances for that and looking back, I think the best is that I found a house to live with University students. Now I live with 3 students who all speak English. It’s really nice that I can chat with them in English. Every day, when I go back home, I can build up friendships with people from different cultures and communicate in English. Considering that my main goal of coming to the UK was to have more chance to speak in English, I think it’s been really successful until now. And even if I didn’t find that kind of chance, I wouldn’t regret the decision to come here. Because it’s always good chance to mix with different cultures.

Times with them are precious moments for me

Friends that I live with are not that outgoing but usually calm. We make dishes together. And one day, I prepared a Korean dish for them. It was one of the special moments I had. I think the best helping factor that enables me to adopt to a new circumstance is native friends. And when I rate my current life here based on that view, I think I’ve been very lucky."

I was relieved that they liked Korean food!!

Thank you Hyunjoo - really interesting to read it from a students perspective - and your English is brilliant!

A Perfect Ten

Absolutely delighted to announce that we have officially become members of TEN (The English Network), a very selective group of many of the very best UK language schools.  What this means for us is that we will be working more closely with a great group of top quality schools and people who we really trust and will be able to share ideas and good practice that will help us to make LSI Portsmouth even better!

  

This is how they describe TEN:

“In 2010 a small group of well-respected and internationally renowned English language school leaders formed The English Network (TEN). This network of like-minded and dedicated professionals has trust at its core. For over 400 years we have, between us, delivered courses and a service that clients can depend on. High standards, professionalism and honesty are key values for each TEN member.

The members of TEN are now working together to share and develop their expertise for the benefit of each member and their clients. Members share information and advice on best practice. There is a common commitment to recommend, assist and advise agents and students on all aspects of English language study.

TEN offers agents the chance to work with a selection of trusted, reliable, independent English language schools. TEN offers the student great schools, popular locations and above all a guaranteed valuable and memorable student experience”

You can see more about TEN at their website

http://www.theenglishnetwork.com/

How to make £1200 in 15 minutes

Or

How to Come Down to Earth with a Bang


To update how our two brave warriors fared on their trip up the tower for charity, they have each written an account of their descent, so intheir own words starting with Angela:

Angela

The Spinnaker Tower viewing platform is an impressive 100 metres high and let me tell you that it seems even higher when you’re standing up there and looking down! - This was what was going through my mind when we were about to climb over the edge and start our descent. Incidentally, climbing over the edge was the most difficult part of the whole experience as all we were climbing onto was a thin ledge! From there, we just needed to courageously let go and trust the harnesses we’d been strapped into to hold us! Once we’d let go and let the rope take our weight, I decided it was probably best not to look down again and off we went. We were able to speak to each other on the way down and even did some singing to distract ourselves from the altitude! - It was really good fun. Apart from being blown around a little by a few strong gusts of wind, it was a smooth descent. As we neared the bottom, our friends and family below began singing “Happy birthday” to Hannah which was a really lovely moment. It only took a mere 12 minutes to complete and as we touched the ground I felt a great sense of achievement. We had done it and thanks to all our sponsors, raised over £1000 for The Stroke Association!

Hannah:

Dangling precariously from Portsmouth’s iconic Spinnaker Tower 100m off the ground was not how I would have expected to be spending my 27^th birthday; but I have to say it was the best and most memorable one I’ve ever had.

When Angela asked our office’ Does anyone fancy abseiling down the Spinnaker Tower for charity?’ I never pictured me being the one to go through with it! I’m certainly not famed amongst my friends for being particularly brave or thrill-seeking (you’re talking to the girl who cried on the magic carpet ride at Thorpe Park aged 21!!); however when I discovered the charity was the Stroke Association, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I was even further convinced when they told us that they had two spaces available on 23^rd March – my birthday! It felt like it was meant to be.

I can’t say I felt quite so convinced when I awoke on the morning of my birthday, but I decided to tell myself that the feeling in my stomach was that of excited butterflies, and not the nauseating sense of impending doom!

Still riding on this wave of ‘excitement’, I arrived at the Spinnaker Tower all wrapped up (it was bitterly cold) and raring to go. I have to say that seeing Angela arrive wearing the same manic expression made me feel somewhat better. We took the lift to the viewing platform, accompanied by an instructor and two other abseilers. At this point I’d like to mention that Angela and I had been assured on various occasions that we would be ‘tethered to a professional at all times’ and a large part of our confidence that we could do this was rooted in this vital piece of information. Imagine our dismay when were told (as we stepped into our harnesses) that we would be going it alone!! Luckily they instructors said we could go down at the same time, as long as we made sure the ropes didn’t get tangled.

Clinging to the knowledge that we were very much in this together, we proceeded to the start point of the abseil along with our companions. The starting platform resembled something like a plank on a pirate ship, a narrow space jutting out of the tower at 100m surrounded by ropes and cables; and I must admit that I did feel as though I might well be walking to my death as I carefully stepped out into the open air. I followed the instructions to the letter and said cheerfully to the instructor ‘I am absolutely terrified you know’ as I stepped over the barrier and was fully suspended from the tower. He assured me that it was quite safe, and sure enough as I let go of the handrail, I was happy to discover that I did not tumble to my death.

Now, I thought that stepping over the edge would be the hard bit. ‘I’ll be fine once I get over, I’m going to look down and enjoy the view’ I said confidently to my friends in the days leading up to the event. Let me tell you that everything changes when you’re up there. I don’t have a problem with heights and I've never suffered from vertigo, but that tower is HIGH. It’s very, very high. I became acutely aware of this fact as I dangled patiently, waiting for Angela to be strapped in and released from the platform to join me. I think those may have been the longest two minutes of my life. I most certainly did not look down. As I saw her feet carefully making their way down the wall, my spirits lifted and I knew we would be fine. We sang birthday songs and had a good old chat along the way to take our minds off the sheer magnitude of what we were doing. A real highlight for me was when Angela said ‘Can we just stop a minute?’ so we stopped ‘We are abseiling down the Spinnaker Tower Hannah! Can you believe it?!’ It was truly incredible. As we finally neared the bottom, I could hear a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ start up, accompanied by shouts of ‘Come on girls! You can do it!’

As the instructor at the bottom of the Tower carefully lowered me into the chair I couldn’t keep the smile from my face ‘I did it! And it’s my birthday!!’

He told me that I was the happiest abseiler he’d ever seen. 

And the grand total - although there is still a little to come in was (drum roll) £1200!!

Reaching for the Stars

As we say many times in this school, we are very lucky to have such a diverse bunch of people working here, so many talents!  Today we are focussing on Nick Rickard, 27 who is not only a teacher but an actor too!

‘So Nick, how did you get interested in acting?’

‘When I was about 11, at school we started doing a play a year, then sometime later we started doing one every Summer.  I suppose that was what got me into acting academically. It was probably when I got to University, that I got really interested. I spent most of my time helping my friends out with their show pieces, and of course I joined the University dramatics society.

I suppose it was around the time I left University that it started getting interesting and a lot of things began happening.  I left University in 2007, there were a lot of things going on, one of them was my friends set up a theatre company, (although sadly it later went bust), and I did a documentary on TV!’ 

‘Wow, tell us about that’

‘In 1982, England and Argentina were at war and the Portsmouth based naval ship HMS Coventry joined in the conflict – ultimately being sunk.  The BBC wanted to make a docudrama about the incident.   I was friends with the director of music so got to hear when they wanted Portsmouth based people to be extras in Sea of Fire, and at the casting I ended up getting a big part.

The actual people from the time of the conflict were telling the story on film and then there were us actors who dramatized it.  All in all it took about 3 or 4 days filming.  It was brilliant, I enjoyed it so much, and that was what really got me into acting.  I applied to drama school, but it didn’t really take long to realise I needed a lot of money and time and to know all the right people, it just isn’t as easy as walking straight into full time acting. 

So slight change in direction and I started teaching!  The great thing about acting and teaching is that they compliment each other, I have more confidence in class to teach plus I have weekends and evenings free, which means I can do three shows a year. 

I act with three different production companies; one group is at the Kings theatre ‘Alchemy Theatre’.  Then there is ‘One Off Productions’ who produce shows which are on school syllabuses, and then there is ‘S.S.A.’  (Southsea Shakespeare Actors.)’

‘What was your last project?’

             

‘The last play I performed in was Twelfth Night, which I performed with the S.S.A. at the Station Theatre on Hayling Island.  In case you don’t know, Twelfth Night is comic tale of mistaken identity and gender confusion. Very very often my parts usually get upgraded - so I start off with a very small part and someone drops out. For the last 4 shows I have been upgraded (which is brilliant).   In Twelfth Night I play the character of Antonio. Unfortunately Shakespeare tends to forget the character of Antonio and at the end everything else is all tied up and ended properly but not with Antonio, no one know what becomes of him, and you never really find out.’ 

 ‘So what’s next Nick?’

‘My next project is Hamlet, and I’m playing Claudius. Hamlet is a tragedy but a self led tragedy as he leads his own tragedy. We are performing this at the end of June, hopefully in the New Theatre Royal, which is a really lovely theatre in Portsmouth.’ 

 Thanks Nick – look forward to seeing you on stage in June!

  

Sea of Fire (with subtitles on You tube)

(See Nick at: 15.40 / 22.01 / 51.39 / 54.24!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOFD4D8LVdM

info on the conflict:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War

info on HMS Coventry’s part in the conflict:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Coventry_(D118)