The Family Directory

Isle of Wight Family Directory

Polly

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Black Garlic Brownies

We love them !

Serves That depends! Prep time 40 mins

Black garlic brownies are as decadent as they sound. Black garlic is also a great way of getting garlic into sweet dishes and has an unusual but delicious flavour.

INGREDIENTS

·         250g quality dark choc 70-85%

·         225g of butter

·         250g of sugar

·         1 teaspoon vanilla essence

·         1/2 bulb black garlic (about 4 peeled cloves)

·         150g flour

·         1/2 tsp salt

·         4 eggs

METHOD

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees C.

2.      Grease and line a square 25 x 25 cm ovenproof dish and set aside.

3.      Melt butter and chocolate together in bowl over steaming water. Melt only until just blended together, not to a point that the butter separates.

4.      Remove from heat and mix in the sugar. The mixture will be grainy. Add one egg at a time, whisking each egg into the batter.

5.      In a small bowl, use a fork to mash the black garlic into a paste.

6.      Add the black garlic, vanilla, and salt to the batter and mix thoroughly.

7.      Add flour to batter and mix thoroughly.

8.      Pour batter into pan and spread evenly, smoothing top.

9.      Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until top has a dull finish.

10.  Cool on a rack.

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Free entry to the Museum of Island History to celebrate shipwrecks exhibition

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With the Newport Visitor Information Centre moving to new premises at Newport Bus Station, the Isle of Wight Council’s Museum of Island History is still open for visitors and planning an exciting new exhibition.
The Visitor Information Centre is moving out of the Guildhall, and the extra space means there will be more room for displays and interactive school visits to the museum. After a short refurbishment the council’s Heritage Service will re-open the Museum of Island History on Saturday 30 November with a free entry morning to celebrate the new exhibition ‘A Tale of Two Shipwrecks’. Visitors can drop into the museum for free between 10am and 1pm. There will be craft activities for families, hands-on items to explore and identification of archaeological artefacts by Frank Basford from the Portable Antiquities Scheme. From Tuesday December 3 onwards the museum will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am – 1pm throughout the winter, with two weeks off at Christmas and New Year. Admission to the museum will be reduced to just £1 for the winter period. Curator Corina Westwood said “We’ve enjoyed working with Visit Isle of Wight, and we hope the Newport Visitor Information Centre will be an even bigger success in its new home. “The Museum of Island History is still very much a part of Newport’s visitor attraction, and throughout the winter we have a programme of activities and events as well as the great new exhibition featuring the extraordinary tales of HMS Pomone and the Yarmouth Roads Wreck. There will be some rarely-seen artefacts on show, like the spectacular fitting to a Royal Navy Officer’s brass sword-belt.”

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New Carnival Company’s Dark Nights at Brading Roman Villa



Saturday 16 November, Brading, 6pm

As darkness falls, join the New Carnival Company (NCC) to watch an exciting and illuminated new fairy-tale pageant unfold under the stars. Inspired by ancient mythology, local heritage, mosaics and history, the script, led by Island storyteller Sue Bailey, is written by local schools and community groups who will also be bringing different sections to life. Expect to see Medusa, Bacchus, Orpheus and the inimitable Cockeral-headed man as never before! A parade of illuminated costumes and families carrying handmade Roman-style torches will lead into the spectacular performance. Expect dancing, special effects, handmade costumes and giant puppets.

Contact NCC or visit their facebook page for details of creative community workshops making lanterns, shadow puppets and site decorations, or for further details about this unmissable Dark Nights event.

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Isle Be Active August winners announced

The winners of the Isle Be Active August Challenge have been announced.

Bobby Scudder, age four; Max Doorly, age five; Blake Doorly, age eight; Millie Green, age six and Levi Moore, age eight; took part in the August Challenge, which saw a combined 244 journeys reported by those entering the competition.
Prizes awarded included cycle jerseys, cycle computer, cycle gloves, and hi-viz bands.

Island youngsters are now being invited to sign up to the September Isle Be Active junior cycle challenge.

The challenge has been organised by the council’s Sports Unit and has been running from August through to October, with prize draws each month for taking part.

Children and young people taking part can record the number of miles or time spent cycling each day or week using a specially produced chart, complete with gold stickers. Once the chart has been filled in, take a picture of it showing your miles or time spent on the bike and email it to sports.unit@iow.gov.uk by the 5th of the following month, to be in with the chance to win a prize.

Alec Broome, council Sports Unit officer, said: “We launched our junior cycle challenge tin August and had a brilliant response and now, as we face the new school term, what better reason do you need to get on your bike and cycle with your children to school, as those trips all count towards the challenge.

“The key aim of the challenge is to get out on your bikes and enjoy yourself. We’ll announce the August winners soon, so make sure you and your children get involved now, to be with a chance of being our September winners.”

To register for the junior cycling challenge and receive a cycle chart and gold stickers, simply contact the following with your name, address and how many packs you need via:
– email sports.unit@iow.gov.uk  
– phone (01983) 823818
– contact the Sports Unit facebook page at: @iwsportsunit

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Major maths improvement for Island primary schools

Island primary schoolchildren taking part in a special targeted initiative have achieved a massive 15 per cent improvement in their Key Stage Two maths performance, provisional figures show.

About half of the Island’s primary schools were involved in the project over a four-term period – and now it is planned the scheme will be rolled out to the remaining primary schools.

The Isle of Wight Council, in partnership with Hampshire County Council, devised the project in 2017 and won funding of £155,000 from the Department for Education (DfE).

The project focused on devising and reviewing teaching strategies, supported by external experts, to help pupils boost their understanding of maths. It started in summer 2018 and was monitored by the council and the DfE.

Cabinet member for education, skills and children’s services, Councillor Paul Brading, said: “This is a magnificent achievement and credit should go to all the children involved, their teachers and those who masterminded this project.”

The provisional 15 per cent improvement in maths goes towards the children’s overall ‘age related expectations’ (ARE) grading for reading, writing and maths.

The maths improvement has meant an uplift of nine per cent in the proportion of pupils achieving ARE in the schools involved in the project.

Councillor Brading said: “Even though initially this project has been trialled in half the primary schools, such has its success been, that it has boosted the ARE figure for maths across all our primary schools by eight per cent, and the combined figure for reading, writing and maths by five per cent.

“These improvements are testament to the drive and tenacity of leaders in these schools, the commitment of the teachers and the engagement of the pupils.

“These figures for maths bring us broadly in line with the national average, and it is vital now to secure these improvements for future years.

“We are currently looking to expand the work to all our primary schools and draw upon the expertise from those schools which have already taken part.”