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Team Work

Successful community projects are always the result of skilled planning combined with the hard work of volunteers, and BP is always interested in such local projects. Teams of volunteers and rangers from the Royal Victoria and Lepe Country Parks have just started the development of a dilapidated pond located next to the RVCP education buildings in Netley. The pond will be the focal point of an informal wild life garden which will prove to be a valuable educational resource for both schools and local youth groups. The paths, beds and pond dipping platform have been designed to accommodate people with various abilities. There is also a vegetable plot and composting area designed to allow youngsters to grow their own food and learn about compost and recycling.

Park gardener Michele Meek said, “Projects like our wildlife garden are great for the community. They are only made possible with the help of the Friends of the Royal Victoria Country Park group and the volunteers from Lepe, and the support from local businesses like BP”.

Photo shows Gardeners and the Friends groups from the Royal Victoria Country Park and Lepe Country Park
in the Pond site in the Royal Victoria Country Park Netley.

Left to right; Charlotte Crook, John Howard, AlexWojcik, John McKenzie, Caroline London, Duncan Knight, Suzie Rickman

John now has a personal best time of 3 hours and 15 minutes, but that wasn’t set in desert heat whilst carrying kit. However John spent nine years in the army before joining BP so he is fully aware of the challenges ahead. Apart from the personal sense of achievement which must drive all sports people John is running the Marathon des Sables to raise money for ‘Help for Heroes’. He’s already raised nearly £2000 of his £2500 target but would like to raise as much as possible for this very worthy charity. John said, “Unlike the young men and women in our armed forces today; my years as a soldier were fairly peaceful. I am continually humbled by their selfless acts of sacrifice and courage; they truly have earned the right to be called heroes”.

Recently some of John’s fan club showed their support by coming to work at BP wearing their sports kit; they all donated money to ‘Help for Heroes’ via www.justgiving.com/johnmckenzie All monies raised goes to the charity.

BP is in stitches!

When BP’s David Dawes and Mike Myden asked the St Andrew’s Church Sewing Circle to produce a tapestry depicting the 85 year history of BP in Hamble they had no idea exactly how much work would go in to such a project. The Tapestry took 19 people over one year and well in excess of one quarter of a million stitches to produce. It combines the use of traditional needlepoint techniques as well as some complex embroidery produced by Sandra Tyzack and her state of the art sewing machine.

The Tapestry consists of 16 panels which were copied from original designs and then individually crafted by members of the group. Each panel was subsequently joined together to create a single masterpiece. Each panel depicts important points in the history of the BP Terminal from it’s creation in 1924 through to 2009. It also features 2 people from the Hamble scene, PCSO Scott Weston who is depicted with his BP sponsored police bicycle, and BP’s Mike Myden.

Joan Clothier from the sewing circle said, “Working on the BP Tapestry has been a very positive experience for the group. We work together very effectively, however not everyone likes doing needlepoint, so we have now expanded our interests to include knitting, and other forms of needlework.”
BP’s David Dawes said, “There is no doubt about it, these very talented people have created a stunning work of art which will be enjoyed by many generations”.

Photo shows the St Andrew’s Church Sewing Circle & others, from Left to right; Rosemary Barton, Heather Smith, George Clothier, Joyce Hardy, Jan Haddock, Margaret Robinson, Bert Allwood, Gwen Cook, PCSO Scott Weston, Father John Travers, Nick Buxton, Joyce Travers, Joan Clothier, Sandra Tyzack, Beda Allwood, Sue Sefton, & BP’s Mike Myden.

New Cricket Club Fixtures

Hamble Association Cricket Club is a multi-cultural sports club that plays it's fixtures at the Underdown Pavilion.

The team always welcomes home support and the 2010 Fixtures are as follows:

BP Hamble Welcomes New Manager

At the beginning of January 2010 BP Hamble welcomed Peter Alderman as its new manager. Peter said “I am looking forward to working with the team which has won BP Terminal of the Year 4 times in the past 8 years and I’ve heard that Hamble is a great community in which to work and live.”

Peter joined BP in 1989 as a graduate Chemical Engineer. He subsequently undertook a variety of leadership roles in refining, supply and logistics, and has just completed the overall management of the implementation of bio-fuels for BP in the UK.

left to right; Neil Emmett (BP UK Storage & Handling Manager), Paul Davis (temporary BP Hamble Manager), Peter Alderman, Neale Smither (BP UKL SAM FVC Manager)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Every year businesses send out lots of Christmas cards and BP are no different. However, they do like employing the talents of local artists, so this year they asked Hamble Primary School if they would design their card. They had over 50 entries and a panel of judges were impressed with them all. They decided to show the best picture by Holly, and the runner up pictures by Abbie and Kurtis all on the same card. BP also gave a special prize to Boronia who not only entered a picture but also wrote this beautiful verse, “Mereey Chrismas evrieone. Furvar Chrismas gives you presents. You doo not see him at morning and you doo not see him at night”.

Mereey Chrismas Evrieone!

BP’s Suzie Rickman (far left), Kurtis, Boronia, Holly & Abbie
Hamble Teacher Mrs Hughes (far right)

Tremendous Christmas Spirit!

When Tom Allen from Hamble Community Sports College told BP the students were finding it difficult to get funds to decorate their Christmas tree, BP were happy to help.  Tom said, “We don’t normally have a Christmas tree in our school and we want to change this and bring a great community spirit to our school”.

Tom and the team finished decorating the 4m high tree which was donated by the Rotary Club just in time for their mock exams; unfortunately BP was unable to help with their exams too!

Photo: Jonny Hatfield (far left), Sophie Stremel, Fraser Buchanan, Francesca Keogh, Tom Allen (centre) Mr Ian Knights, Callum Foote, Jenny Cull, Matt Murdoch, Bob Bax (Rotary Club), Iesha Doel (far right)

Great Start For New Restaurant

Good food, delicious wine, great ambience and considerate service are the four benchmarks by which we judge any restaurant, and the River Rat Cellar and Kitchen scores highly in all departments.

Having opened in the late Summer and situated where the Hamble Tea Rooms used to be, restauranteurs Karin and Francey have established a gem with a fast growing reputuation for a friendly welcome and quality dining.

The restaurant itself is small and cosy and tasteful and attention has been paid to the detail with stylish glassware and tableware and comfortable and elegant lighting. The garden has been remodelled with a new patio area for the summer.

The wine list is carefully selected. Personally when reviewing a restaurant I judge it by its house wine, which is often the forgotten and disappointing element of any wine list. Not so the River Rat. It is a delightful and delicious french red and perhaps one of the best house wines I have thus far tasted.

Full marks too go to the food and presentation. I started with the Ham Hock Terrine with Sauce Gribiche and my partner the Grilled Goats Cheese en Croute, both of which where delicious. For the main course we tried the Beef Bourguignon on Horsradish Pommes Mouselline (something of a signature dish for the chef) and the Wild Mushroom and Chicken Gigolette, the first bold and mouthwatering and the latter smokey and more delicate. The dessert choice allows for you to compliment the main course with either a sumptuious and rich Banana and Chocolate Delice or the more subtle Rosemary Poached Pears, served on a shortbread thin.

The service was always attentive and friendly but never intrusive, (an area some restaurants get hopelessly wrong) and you get the impression there is a passion and enthusiasm behind every level to make your experience a good one. That's why we will return.

In summary then;

a great dining experience that is to be recommended and not to be missed.

Swimathon Success

A Local Estate Agent group were delighted to have supported the Southampton East Rotary club swimathon held at Hamble Sports Community College in November for their first event as business partners.  Sponsored teams raised money by swimming or walking for local, national and international charities.  Unfortunately the swimming team fell apart when Director Ian West was taken into hospital for an operation in his own race against time to be fit in time for the birth of their 2nd baby due in mid November! 

Instead of swimming the team filled their Sidney Smart car with purple balloons and held a competition to guess the amount to win a luxury food hamper donated by the company.  The group would like to thank everyone who took part in the competition, and especially Express Yourself costume hire for supplying the balloons; the money raised was donated to the Rotary Club.  Sidney held 82 balloons! The winner wished to remain anonymous and kindly donated the hamper to Hamble Side Court.

BP is Running Great!

Amongst the 21,000 entrants in the 2009 Great South Run in Portsmouth were BP’s Caroline Cook, John McKenzie, Mike Myden & Phil Reed joined by running mates Matt Reed & Nigel Crook and a host of support crew! They ran for different charities, the Alzheimer’s Society, Help for Heroes and Leukaemia Research; and they all finished the 10 mile road race in spite of the strong headwind blowing down the final straight along the seafront.

The whole event had a carnival atmosphere and the host of runners were overwhelmed by the mass of supporters. The streets were filled with people, and the air was filled with music and chatter and the sounds of footsteps on tarmac.

Photo shows: Matt Reed (far left) Phil Reed (left) Mike Myden (centre left) Caroline Cook (centre right) Nigel Crook (right) John McKenzie (far right)