By Isle of Wight Observer
At this time of year, it is always good to look back at what is good, as well as looking positively to the future.
When I look back at 2025, I realise what an amazing place this Island is and how many good things there are to celebrate. So many achievements and activities to be proud of.
In 2025, the Isle of Wight won three King’s Awards for Voluntary Service (the charities’ equivalent to an MBE) out of 232 awarded across the whole of the UK. West Wight Dementia Choir, Apollo Theatre, and Brading Community Partnership all received awards. All these organisations have made a real difference to our communities.
In 2025, the Isle of Wight also won five King’s Awards for Enterprise, the award for exceptional businesses. The Garlic Farm won for ‘Sustainability’, PC Consultants Ltd, HTP Ltd, and the Isle of Wight NHS Trust won awards for ‘Promoting Opportunity’, and Datum Electronics Ltd won the award for International Trade. Amazingly, that was five awards for the Isle of Wight out of 197 given throughout the UK.
We worry about obesity and lack of activity, especially among the young, but in 2025 the Isle of Wight team of over 100 athletes went to the Orkneys for the bi-annual Island Games, and swept the board of gold medals in sailing and in golf. They also won gold in swimming, and silvers and bronzes in sailing, swimming, golf, athletics, badminton and cycling. Our team came 7th overall in the medals table. Outstanding performances both from the young and the not-so-young.
Both the annual Solent Swim and the tough Chilly Hilly race in West Wight were fully subscribed long before they took place. This Boxing Day, hundreds of people took part in swims at Freshwater, Sandown, and Ventnor, and over 500 people turned out to support the Isle of Wight Drag Hounds at Carisbrooke. And all over the Island, families and groups of friends took their own dogs for walks over the Downs or along the beaches. So plenty of fit, healthy people of all ages out enjoying sport and recreation on the Island.
In 2025, thousands of volunteers contributed to our community all year. An outstanding success, over the last 18 months, is the story of School Readers on the Island. Now over 70 volunteers are regularly reading with children in primary schools, giving those children opportunities they otherwise would not have.
So many good things going on.
This year, 2026, is the National Year of Reading. Let’s make it our ambition for it to be the year when we lift the Isle of Wight from the very bottom of the national educational achievement tables. None of us believes that our children here on the Island are less able than the children across the UK, so we have to make change. ALL OF US.
Parents: make your children understand that education is what will give them access to a happy and prosperous life, support the teachers, say thank you to the teachers, read with your children.
Teachers: recognise change is necessary, make sure every child reads (be it a picture book or Charles Dickens), accept outside assistance.
School governors: support your teachers, make changes where they are needed, accept outside assistance. Praise your inspirational teachers, give support to those that are struggling.
Media and wider society: seek out the good, give praise where it is due, be positive, encourage change.
In the words of HRH The Princess of Wales: “Our words, our choices and even the way we look out for one another — they ripple outwards, touching lives we may never see.”
It would be wonderful if 2026 were the year that saw real change.