Ryde Social Heritage Group research the social history of the citizens of Ryde, Isle of Wight. Documenting their lives, businesses and burial transcriptions.
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ANOTHER RIP-ROARING SUCCESS FOR RSHG AND HERITAGE OPEN DAYS

Heritage Open Days 2013
Heritage Open Days 2013

Heritage Open Days at St Thomas Church in Ryde on 13 & 14 September were a great success with over 200 visitors over the two days.

On Saturday 7 September we started by giving the empty Church a thorough clean and then from Sunday to Thursday we were transporting display boards, equipment, tables and exhibition materials from the Heritage & Learning Centre in Ryde Cemetery (and our various homes) to the church and setting everything up ready for the opening. We even had 24 visitors while we were still setting up. Everyone is fascinated by this historic building and because it is normally closed and locked people seize the opportunity whenever the doors are open to see inside. Everyone was welcome, even while we were setting up, and encouraged to come back on the two official open days.

At 11am on Friday morning there was already a queue at the door when the event officially opened to the public.

The Garden of Rest was decorated with welcoming banners and bunting and the trees were decorated with pink and blue ribbons (the colours of Heritage Open Days). Inside the church was decorated with flowers and bunting and it looked very welcoming and inviting to visitors. There were 5 large, double-sided display boards in the central area and in the entrance. The displays included history of St Thomas Church and the Lords of the Manor of Ryde; the Changing Face of Ryde; Ryde Photographers, Streets of Ryde, and much more, all the result of months of research and preparation by a fantastic team of volunteers.

We were joined for the two days by Nikki and Wendy of “Grave Concerns”, they had a display of photographs of their work cleaning and maintaining graves and spoke to visitors about the service they provide Islandwide.

We used the exhibition to showcase some of the work we have been doing in recent months for our next project called “The Changing Face of Ryde”. This project will tie in with the First World War Centenary and will be a community project where we will encourage and help people to research their house or street 100 years ago so that eventually we will be able to see how the Great War impacted on the people and town of Ryde. The project will be officially launched in November this year at Ryde Library.

The corners of the church were taken up with small displays and tableaux on the themes of The Postal Service; Chemists and Remedies and a Photographer’s Studio (complete with bride waiting to have her photograph taken). The box pews on the southern side of the church were filled with books, documents, photographs and objects to engage the visitors. There were many artefacts and objects loaned by friends and members of the group which all added to the interest of the displays.

The audience got to meet the delightful Mrs Young of Appley House who told, among other things, of her husband’s vast collection of ‘modern art’; the very learned, if slightly crazy, George Harrington (and his cat Mercury), Mr Harrington was the inventor of the clockwork dental drill and an authority on many aspects of human life and conditions about which he wrote extensively; the charming Lady Clifford of Westfield who told visitors of her distinguished husband’s naval and parliamentary career and the wonderful collection of classic art at their beautiful marine mansion on Spencer Road; Mrs Benjamin Barrow told the visitors about how her husband had done so many things to benefit the town of Ryde, including (after much debate, argument and discussion) persuading the residents of Ryde to give up their water wells and pay for clean water to be brought to the town from the chalk hills of Ashey and Knighton. This was greatly beneficial to the health of the town She also spoke of the wonderful homes – Clifton House, 1 High Street; Southlands in Park Road and St John’s Lodge off St John’s Road – that her husband had built or purchased for her over the years; and finally they met Miss Blake, the daughter of a well known veterinary surgeon in Ryde, she told about a visit to Osborne House with her father when she was small child and her memory of the sad treatment of bears.

On Friday evening we were entertained with a talk by Mr Reader of the IW Postal Museum. It was a fascinating and entertaining presentation, so much so that we are hoping to have a group outing to the museum on Fairlee Road in the future to hear more of Mr Reader’s tales of Post Box history.

Afterwards Shelagh Gaylard took on the persona of Ann Bucket, her great-grandmother, to deliver the Monologue of a Molecatcher – “No I’m not talking about those furry little animals that make mounds in the ground, a Molecatcher, that’s a Midwife don’chta know!” Based on stories Shelagh had heard since childhood and her personal research into her own family history she delivered an entertaining and enjoyable monologue and shared some of the secrets from that time. It was a perfect end to our first day and was enjoyed by all present.

After another busy day with visitors on Saturday the event finished with more evening entertainment. First a short presentation by Janette Gregson, Chairman of RSHG, on our group receiving the National Award for being ‘The Most Inspirational Community Archive’.

To round off the evening and the whole event Shore Women’s Writers’ Group read poems on the theme “Islands,” accompanied at intervals with beautiful acapella singing by the Solent Trio.

Sunday 15 September saw a happy band of volunteers dismantling the exhibition and leaving St Thomas Church empty and tidy until the next time. We even had visitors popping in whilst we were clearing up!

We are always delighted to participate in Heritage Open Days and to open up St Thomas Church for the public. The whole event was completely free to members of the public and thanks to their generous donations we almost covered our costs in putting on the two day exhibition and entertainment. We would like to thank IW Council for the use of the venue and everyone who came along to support us and particularly all the people who volunteered their time and possessions to make the event such a great success. We met friends old and new and recruited five new members to the group.

We look forward to seeing you there again next year!

The RSHG Team
September 2013


Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.