During this year’s Ventnor Fringe Festival, OnTheWight and The Book Bus joined forces to present a very special event.
With the help of three fantastic panelists – Rosie Wolfenden, Patrick Spicer and Joe Plumb – we spent an incredibly enjoyable hour learning about a variety of routes to finding the ‘Secret to Happiness’.
Standing room only
The event was sold out with standing room only, and the venue (the gorgeous Ventnor Arts Club) was filled with laughter as each of the panelists shared their secrets to happiness, as well as some routes that haven’t quite worked.
Our thanks to Isle of Wight photographer, Julian Winslow, for coming along to capture these great shots of the event. Click on the images to see larger versions and arrow though the gallery.
Some great advice
There were some real gems of advice from the panelists, but also from our audience members.
As they arrived at the venue, everyone was given paper and pens to share their secret to happiness, some of which were read out in the second half of the event.
Some were silly, some naughty, but many very insightful and thought-provoking (see below).
Audience choice award
If you came along and enjoyed the show, don’t forget to vote for us in the Rouse Ltd Audience Choice Awards.
The award was launched in 2021 and was won by Joe Plumb in its first year.
Rouse Ltd CEO, Ben Rouse, explains more about the award,
“Home-grown events have the potential to become major attractions and if we get the opportunity to support a sound idea then we welcome that.
“The Island has long been known for its creativity and Rouse Ltd is keen to help nurture and develop that.”
Cast your vote for The Secret to Happiness via the Ventnor Exchange Website.
Your secrets to happiness
Tom Pritchard from The Book Bus did a sterling job of hosting the event and adding context to each of the suggestions picked out of the box to share with the audience.
We thought it would be good to let readers who didn’t attend the event see some of the suggestions below. If you have a secret to happiness that you’d like to share, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the article.
In no particular order here are some of the suggestions:
- Knowing that you are loved by at least one person
- Just keep smiling
- Your happiness is to be found in the moment, not in waiting to find a rainbow
- Living in the present, it’s a gift, that’s why it’s called the present
- Be useful
- Watching a flower grow from seed
- Quiet
- Kayaking
- Regret nothing – the decisions that you made at the time were the right ones for then
- Loving yourself
- Absence of ego
- Move to the Isle of Wight
- Freedom
- Simplicity
- Surround yourself with all the cats … and never run out of gin
- Hovercars that run on air
- Be patient with yourself
- Sea swimming every day
- Living in Ventnor
- Acceptance
- A beach hut
- Wear more denim
- Fishfinger sandwiches
- Boris Johnson
- Make peace with your vices
- Never agree with Boris Johnson (this came from a 7-year-old)
- Understanding mixed perceptions and enjoying the moments of happiness
- Breathe
- Think happy thoughts
- Spending time with my cat
- Being happy with yourself
- It’s not about getting what you want, it’s about wanting what you’ve got
- Sex and sea swimming
- When my family are happy
- Have low expectations (very low)
- Boojum’s beer
- Don’t vote Tory (ever, not even as a joke)
- Going for a long walk
- Bob Mortimer
- Make other people happy
- Rediscover a childhood love, a TV show, set of books or game
- A good wife and good health
- Leave your job – start a revolution
- Listen to sad music and watch horror films – there’s always someone worse off than you
- Don’t over think
- Be in the moment and immerse yourself in joyful experiences. Don’t let them pass you by while you are planning the next
Image: With kind permission of Julian Winslow
