Isle of Wight April Fool pranks: This year’s roundup

It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that today is 1st April. The day when pranksters try to pull the wool over our eyes with a good ol’ April Fool.

Unlike last year, there didn’t seem to be any Tom Foolery from the cross-Solent ferry companies this time, however, OnTheWight was fortunate enough to have to willing contributor, Ian Winter, put a great deal of work into a Red Funnel related spoof.

If you missed it earlier, do take a look at the brilliant video.

Keeping on the transport theme, we also had great contribution from another reader, with news that some of the Island’s potholes had been designated as historically significant man-made features and slapped with preservation orders. Thanks to them both!

Don’t forget to dip into our archive of April Fool pranks, going back several years, there are some crackers in there.

Widening the net(work)
Looking around the Isle of Wight social media network, we came across quite a few April Fool pranks that succeeded in giving us a good laugh.

One of our favourites of the morning was the very simple message from ‘365 days a year pranksters’, Isle of Wight Can Depress. It was so simple, but so effective.

Ed Garbett put his Photoshop skills to use and tricked some Islanders into believing a low-flying aircraft had taken the top off Tennyson Monument. Great work Ed.

Rub-tub
Our friends over at The Ralvins, had this delightful prank for their customers,

The team over at the Cowes Cardboard Boat Race were all excited about the prospect of a rocket-powered cardboard boat taking part in this year’s race.

Double-bubble from the CP
‘Al’ (aka editor, Alan Marriott) at the County Press apparently sat for two hours getting a Fight for the Wight logo tattooed onto his forearm.

Whilst elsewhere in the paper, there was the news that Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, was interested in buying a brewery on the Island (will that be before or after he bombs us?).

Fixed link love-in
Always a popular theme to get Islanders going, Portsmouth and Southsea Team Locals tried to trick us into believing a free-to-use stone bridge would be built between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight using boulders found beneath Portsmouth City Council’s Civic Offices.

Meanwhile, over at Isle of Wight Radio, Jamie White continued on the fixed link theme, mocking up a cable car link from the Island to the mainland.

Cllr Wayne Whittle managed to put a smile on our faces with this cheeky tweet,

Sorry for any inconvenience-the water level has dropped in the Solent-we're just refilling it from #RydeBeach ;-) pic.twitter.com/mH01DnLFPX

— Wayne Whittle (@RydeAbide) April 1, 2016

Our friends over at Headfunk had some great news to share after apparently being snapped up by global publisher, Vice Magazine.

And finally, Mr Wally Awol and Friends (an Isle of Wight based, non profit organisation specialising in the rescue and rehabilitation of Pigeons/Doves) shared the news that scientists have been meddling with nature.

Image: © Ed Garbett