1 March 2023. With City of Portsmouth College, WBI hosted the Portsmouth Ambassadors programme, which engages the local community and businesses to drive passion for the city, recruiting ambassadors to carry the message of the unique history of our waterfront city.
It was great to see a room full of enthusiastic new local residents keen to learn more about Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Ambassador’s role.
The participants were captivated by the historical facts of Portsmouth and its strategic importance in war times, as it was a major launchpad for ships heading to Normady on D-Day.
The newly arrived immigrants were awed to learn about the ‘Mary Rose’, flagship of King Henry VIII, the story how it sank in 1545 in the Solent and how it was excavated in 1982. The presentation included glimpses of the Mary Rose Museum, where the largest collection of Tudor artefacts are displayed.
When the host asked if anyone knew any famous people born in Portsmouth, Charles Dickens was the immediate answer. But lesser known is that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his first two Sherlock Holmes stories while he was living in Portsmouth, where he arrived in 1882 to practice as a doctor. Sir Arthur Canon Doyle is well-known in other cultures. Many of our participants remember reading or watching Sherlock Holmes.
[Statute of Charles Dickens in front of the Guildhall in Portsmouth City Centre. Photo credit: Bonny Ling, July 2022.]
Literary figures were not the only famous Pompey residents mentioned. Attendees also learnt about the great work by engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, scientist and suffragette Hertha Ayrton and educator John Pounds. Participants were particularly inspired by the kindness of the local hero, John Pounds, who took the responsibility of educating children from underprivileged backgrounds in the 19th century.
Portsmouth’s other main attractions were also discussed in great length. These include the Spinnaker Tower and its spectacular views of the Solent; the Gunwharf and the Portsmouth Cathedral. A walk around old Portsmouth is always a good idea to discover the city’s historical landscape.
[View of the beautiful Solent, taken from Gunwharf Quays. Photo credit: Bonny Ling, September 2022.]
Conversations around why this diverse group of migrants loved Portsmouth generated heartening remarks. Some highlighted the fact that it was not as busy as London, thus more peaceful. Others remarked that people in Portsmouth were very kind and compassionate.
The liveliest discussions were around Portsmouth City Council’s vision for a Green City. All the participants agreed that less cars and more bike accessibility was the best possible solution. Bicycle enthusiasts said they loved cycling around Portsmouth, but felt unsafe on roads with no cycle lanes.
The heartfelt presentation highlighted why Portsmouth is a wonderful place to live, work and study in. We all left feeling optimistic and hopeful for our beautiful Pompey. Thank you to our brilliant City of Portsmouth College host for giving a lovely flavour of the past, present and future of our great waterfront city.
I’m very glad I attended the session today. It was very helpful. I can write about Portsmouth as an exam with the help of this session. Thank you very much.
[feedback from one of the participants]
