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.

Winchester residents “having a bad time” were offered support on the day described most miserable of the year.

Winchester Samaritans were available to people at the city train station to offer free teabags and advice.

“Today is Blue Monday, but that’s not really what we want to call it – instead we call it Brew Monday. That’s because the idea is to take a teabag, make a cup of tea, and share it with a friend in order to talk to people and open up.” said a spokesperson from Winchester Samaritans.

“January is a really difficult time for so many people and a good number have already come over, taken leaflets and had a conversation. At the end of the day after work, it can be easier to both talk – and listen – to people as the stress has taken its toll and people are ready to go home.”

Winchester Samaritans now have over one hundred volunteers and can be located at 13 Upper High Street.

Blue Monday was coined by psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall over ten years ago, and takes into account different factors such as weather conditions, the end of Christmas, debt, failed New Year’s resolutions and low motivation levels.

Basingstoke Bison Coach Doug Sheppard says he was impressed with his side’s 6-1 thrashing of fierce rivals Bracknell Bees in the National Cup.

Just 5 minutes in the Bees were penalised as James Galazzi crashed into Bison keeper Dean Skinns, sending the Basingstoke man into his own net.

Roman Malinik then scored the opener for the Herd, with Daniel Scott stunning the Bees’ keeper Alex Mettam soon after with a powerful long range shot from a powerplay.

Tomas Karpov continued the scoring in the second period on a delayed penalty call, whilst Daniel Scott scored another long range shot shortly after when the puck broke to him at the top of the hash marks.

Hallam Wilson then fired in the fifth of the game, and was soon after knocked to the ice as the Bees’ frustration grew.

However in the third period, Wilson kept his cool and, showing little to no signs of damage from the hit, took the Bison to 6 goals after skilfully breezing past the Bees’ number 4 Luke Jackson, and slotting the puck cleanly past the keeper.

The opposition pulled one back through Joshua Thomas Martin with just 6 minutes to go, ending hopes of a clean sheet for Bison keeper Alex Mettam, but it was too little too late for the Bees.

“I thought we played really well tonight,” said Bison Coach Doug Sheppard, “We’ve been playing well for three weeks and we wanted to keep things going.”

“Derby nights can get like that,” he said about some of the nasty hits, “especially with the scoreline being what it was. They’re obviously frustrated, lost a few in a row, but I thought our guys handled it with some great play, and played hard throughout”.

Basingstoke Bison’s next game in the cup is away to Swindon Wildcats on Boxing Day, with the return leg the following day.