Solent ski club has been providing adaptive skiing sessions for people with various disabilities for over 20 years.

Sessions take place on the second Sunday of every month at the Alpine Sports Centre in Southampton.

The club has been a charity since 2017. It is funded by member subscriptions, ski session fees and donations. 

Club Chairman, Peter Ramm said: “The aim of the club is to put a smile on their faces. Ultimately, we take a view that everyone has a disability when they come skiing because they put a plank of wood on their feet.”

Solent Ski Club hope their guidance can provide disabled skiers with more confidence and therefore greater independence and enjoyment when on the slopes.

Peter Ramm said: “The primary driver is safety, it’s about having enough people around them to ensure they can ski safely.”

The club also aims to develop the skiing knowledge and skills of all members.

Qualified ski instructors, trained ski guides and many volunteers are present at all sessions.

Florence Davies, a skier at the club said: “My favourite thing is probably getting to speak to and enjoy laughs with other people that share similar difficulties to me. Getting to know other people and finding my independence.”

Ellie Wheatley, another participant, who is partially deaf due to a condition called CMV which was passed onto her at birth by her mother, said: “It’s good for my confidence, it gives me opportunities to get out and interact with the wider world. There’s no sport where you’re at a height, you’ve fallen over half the time, but you’re still smiling at the end of it.”

Solent Ski Club look forward to January 18^th, where they will take a group of their disability skiers on their annual trip to Folgaria in Italy, to enjoy the experience on real snow, in the mountains.

The discovery of a piece of guerrilla artwork that appeared overnight has drawn the attention of Winchester locals. Kit Fountain reports.

Winchester’s newest eco-friendly general store has opened its doors with big ideas in place for the high street.

Earthian, on Parchment Street, is a ‘zero waste’ shop, in which customers bring their own containers and weigh out their various goods.

While not being the first of its kind in Winchester – fellow refill shop Projects is mere streets away – owner Katie Campling has plans for other milestones.

She told Winol: “I have a big goal to reach by my first-year anniversary. I’d like the shop to be an accredited zero waste to landfill business, meaning not that not only do we help customers to be low waste at home, but all the waste we create as a business is also diverted from landfill.”

Despite the fact that less than 10% of household waste is sent to landfill in Hampshire each year, none of the stores on the Winchester high street have yet achieved the Valpak zero waste to landfill certification, which would make Earthian the first.

Ms Campling said: “When I started researching my shop, I knew I didn’t just want to open something that sold zero waste or low waste goods. I wanted everything about the shop to be sustainable, local and based in the community.

“A sustainable lifestyle is not going to come overnight or from buying a set of sustainable things. It takes time to change habits and routines that are ingrained in society, so we all need to be supportive and encouraging of each other.”

Earthian offers liquid refills on a ‘closed loop system’. Once the containers that dispense liquid products are empty, the 20 litre tubs are taken away to be sanitised and refilled before returned to the store with no excess packaging or waste involved. Other products are sourced from local towns, such as soap from Alton, cloth wipes from Eastleigh, and coffee from the New Forest.