Submariners at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum are trailing new accessible tours of the historic WW2 era submarine HMS Alliance as part of the national Heritage Open Days Event on Saturday 11 September. Titled the Sensory Tours, one tour will be especially for partially sighted visitors and the other will be accompanied by a signed interpreter for visitors with hearing difficulties.
 
Bill Sainsbury, Event Organiser said, "We are always looking at new ways to make our historic centrepiece, HMS Alliance as accessible as possible to everyone."
 
"Obviously this is a challenge because we are dealing with a historic boat that was built with a very specific purpose; however the Sensory Tours should allow us to open up Alliance to new visitors"
 
Both tours will take visitors through the historic submarine, starting from the "fore -ends" where the torpedoes and supplies were stored, through the living quarters where the crew of 65 men would have lived and slept, into the control room where the boat was steered and the periscopes are situated, past the "heads" and galley, into the engine room and out again through the "after- ends". The submarine has been converted to allow people to easily walk through. The submariners who take the tours, many of whom actually served on HMS Alliance bring the stories of what living and working on the submarine to life with their famous wit and humour.
 
HMS Alliance is the memorial to the Royal Navy Submarine Service and to the 5300 submariners who have lost their lives in service.  She is also currently the focus for the Saving HMS Alliance Appeal  which aims to raise much needed funds to not only restore the original fabric of the boat but also to improve  her interpretation and visitor needs by funding audio tours and a new sound system to help people with hard of hearing. 
 
The Sensory Tours are part of a number of Heritage Open Days events at the Submarine Museum on Saturday 11 September. Other activities include the popular "Beneath the Submarine Tour" and a comedy re-enactment of the launch of the first submarine back in 1620.  All Heritage Open Days events are FREE. To book a place on any of the tours call 023 92510354 ext 240 or book online at  www.submarine-museum.co.uk

Ladies Day in association with the Southern Daily Echo

Ladies Day returns to the PSP Southampton Boat Show in association with ITV Meridian for the third consecutive year on Thursday 16 September and promises to be the best yet by celebrating all things nautical and nice. The Show, which runs in Mayflower Park from 10 – 19 September, has named Wessex Cancer Trust as the official Ladies Day charity partner, meaning that ladies can have a fabulous day out and help make a difference to cancer treatment in the south of England. The Show has also announced that Shelley Jory-Leigh, the British Power Boat Champion will once again be the Ladies Day ambassador.

Dress to impress
Bring the girls along to Ladies Day and enjoy a glass of bubbly whilst you take in the atmosphere overlooking the glittering Show marina. Make sure you dress to impress as fashion scouts from the Southern Daily Echo will be searching the crowds to crown the Best Dressed Lady.  They’ll be giving away three major prizes, including a one night spa break at the luxury country house hotel Chewton Glen, a dinner, bed and breakfast at Southampton’s White Star Tavern as well as a treatment for one at the De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel.

TV presenter and former Capital Gold DJ Mike Osman will be present to hand out awards and entertain crowds, whilst fashion shows will be hosted by Sandy Jones of Rhian Boutique on the Show Stage in Solent Park. The Stage will also host the Nautical Imaginarium Stage Show, so be sure to have your Ladies Day team ready to participate in some fun challenges and test your nautical knowledge.  Show exhibitors will also be getting in the Ladies Day spirit by offering special promotions and decorating their stands in keeping with the fun atmosphere of the day.



Ladies Day will also host a special challenge which will see many of the PSP Southampton Boat Show’s female media partners and sponsors take part in an exciting sailing challenge following a special training day with Rockley Watersports. This will be the first time many of the ladies have taken to the water to sail themselves around the lagoon, showing all the women at Ladies Day how fun and exciting it is to learn how to sail and to get on the water.  

Get the girls together
Mike Enser, NBS Marketing Manager said: “We are really excited about this year’s Ladies Day. The day is all about feeling good, ensuring the ladies become the stars of the Show.  And with three special prizes to be won, there is no better reason to get dressed up. There are many activities planned to ensure that everyone has an enjoyable day and we have no doubt that our guests will leave the event in high spirits.”

For a full agenda on Ladies Day activities and further information on Wessex Cancer Trust, please visit www.southamptonboatshow.com . Champagne tickets are available at £16, which include show entry and a glass of champagne in the Piper Heidsieck Champagne and Seafood Bar looking over the marina. These tickets can be booked through the Show website or on the ticket hotline on 0871 230 7140.

For ladies looking for a premium Show experience, the Platinum Ticket in association with Princess will offer ladies the chance to grace the Show marina aboard a beautiful Princess powerboat, relax in the exclusive platinum lounge and indulge in a selection of tasty food offerings, all for just £95. Plus those enjoying this ticket will be given a chance to bid for items in a silent auction and raffle at the end of the day, with proceeds going to the Wessex Cancer Trust charity.

ROYAL NAVY’S NEWEST SHIP VISITS MAYFLOWER PARK SUNDAY 12 – TUESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER
 
The PSP Southampton Boat Show will host the Royal Navy’s latest warship, HMS DAUNTLESS for a three day visit from Sunday 12 – Tuesday 14 September.
 
The Show, which runs from 10 – 19 September, has arranged access to the ship for two afternoons, giving visitors an opportunity to climb aboard and explore the Type 45 Destroyer. Commissioned in June 2010, HMS DAUNTLESS is the most advanced warship in the world. Built to provide air defence to an aircraft carrier and capable of defending ships in her fleet from the most sophisticated anti-ship missiles and aircraft, HMS DAUNTLESS is one of the world’s greatest engineering feats.
 
Andrew Williams, managing director of National Boat Shows said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome HMS DAUNTLESS to the PSP Southampton Boat Show. The fact that Show visitors will be among the first to set foot on the new ship is a very exciting prospect and a real coup for the Show; we’re looking forward to the buzz that her arrival will bring to Mayflower Park.”
 
Visitors to HMS DAUNTLESS will learn about her state of the art power and propulsion and world class weapon systems, experience the feelings of a sailor in full body armour and view the 40 knot Pacific 24 Rigid Inflatable Boats used by sailors and marines during anti-piracy boarding operations. Once aboard visitors can also trial the Navy’s fire fighting equipment and venture inside the Operations Room from where the Captain and his team fight the ship.
 
Captain Richard Powell said: “During her three days in Mayflower Park I hope to welcome many visitors aboard HMS DAUNTLESS. This is an excellent opportunity for members of the public to experience the conditions, facilities and equipment onboard the Royal Navy’s finest and newest war ship.”
 
One of the greatest assets of the Type 45 is their versatility and HMS DAUNTLESS has many other roles ranging from anti-piracy operations to Naval Gunnery Support, conducting anti-submarine warfare to acting as a base platform for a deployable headquarters. Since commission, HMS DAUNTLESS has undergone a series of trials and training in preparation for becoming the first Royal Navy ship to fire the new Sea Viper missile, planned for autumn 2010.
 
HMS DAUNTLESS is open to Show visitors at the following times:
·         Sunday 12 September, 13:30 – 17:00

·         Monday 13 September, 13:30 – 17:00

The Ship will depart the Show at 15:00 on Tuesday 14 September.

ABOUT THE PSP SOUTHAMPTON BOAT SHOW

Set on one of Europe’s largest marinas, the PSP Southampton Boat Show in association with ITV Meridian offers an essential  interactive experience for everyone with an interest in boats, on-water adventures and an active lifestyle, from sailing enthusiasts through to families and the ‘just curious.’
 
The PSP Southampton Boat Show is an unmissable showcase of the best of the British marine industry.  With boats of every shape and size, ranging from dinghies to powerboats, sailing cruisers to catamarans and inflatables to kayaks, there is no better place to experience the sheer variety and scope of boating.  The Show is also the perfect shop window for marine products, accessories and services; browse the latest clothing ranges, chandlery, electronics, engines and more, discover your local sailing club, enroll on a course or gather inspiration for your next holiday.

With around 1,000 boats and hundreds of exhibitors, NBS is expecting a fantastic Show experience in Mayflower Park. To guarantee 10 action packed days, there is also a wide variety of features and attractions to keep Show visitors of all ages amused.
 
Visit www.southamptonboatshow.com for more Show information. Tickets can be booked through the website or via the ticket hotline on 0871 230 7140.  Tickets booked in advance are priced at £13, while tickets bought on the door will be £18. Each ticket admits one adult and two children under the age of 15.

 

Boomer, Marwell Wildlife’s male ostrich, is a proud dad to eight ostrich chicks. Ostriches are the word’s largest flightless bird so at just 25cm (10 inches) the adorable chicks will now grow at an incredible rate, eventually reaching the lofty heights of their dad, of around 3 metres (120 inches).
 
Female ostriches can lay around 12 eggs within a few days, and up to 100 in a year. They prefer to gather them into a large clutch of eggs from several females, keeping the eggs in suspended animation until they decide to incubate them. This means that all the chicks hatch together within 24-48 hours, so they are all mobile at the same time. The ostriches use the colour of their feathers to help protect the eggs from predators, like wild dogs, lion and leopards. The grey brown females sit on them during the day and the dark male does the night shift. The chicks are then jointly raised by all the adults.
 
Marwell’s two female ostrich, which live in the paddock with the Grevy’s zebra and Scimitar horned oryx, laid their eggs from mid March through to May. As ostriches are devoted parents and share the raising duties without preference to their own chicks, some of these eggs were given to the females in the African Valley, another area in the park containing ostrich, for them to raise.
 
Ian Goodwin, Senior Section Manager for the ostriches said: “Boomer has a reputation for being very protective of his ladies and young, and he has now successfully raised in excess of 20 chicks. After an incubation period of around 6 weeks all the eggs hatched earlier this month, and visitors can now see 6 chicks in the paddock and 2 in the African Valley.”
 
Ostriches lay the world’s largest egg. At around 30 times the volume of a chicken’s egg, they are sometimes used by Africans living in the Kalahari region as water containers. The shell is an eighth of an inch think and extremely strong, it can even withstand a human standing on it without even cracking.