August 2006 – Isle of Wight Society

On Wednesday, 23 August 2006, Sally-Ann Garrett made a presentation about the Ryde Social Heritage Group to members of the Isle of Wight Society, at the Ryde Parish Church Hall. The meeting was attended by about 40 people, including several members of the RSHG, and Sally-Ann was supported by Janette Kitching. Following the Society’s discussion and updates from Roger Whitby-Smith, Sally-Ann used a Power Point presentation to illustrate her talk. She told the audience about the aims of the RSHG, and the various topics that are being researched, from people and their histories to the development of the town and “suburbs”. Many of the features of the talk were also illustrated with printed pages from the website – e.g. lists of some of the names, and the associated documents from some of those burials, for example, a list of the BEAZLEY graves, and details of Mr James BEAZLEY, a musician and composer. These were handed out to the audience to look at and this stimulated discussions in the audience.

Sally-Ann also provided printed copies of some of the featured graves and the stories of the people buried in them, e.g. John GAWN, and Thomas HELLYER, and told the audience how the research often gets started with a postcard, e.g. the Selina Lifeboat Disaster of 1907.

After the talk, copies of the recent newsletter were made available, and members of the audience were able to ask questions and to talk individually to Janette and Sally-Ann. Roy BRINTON, Honorary President of the RSHG, provided some dates and details about the photographs Sally-Ann had used to illustrate the talk.

The presentation is available as a Power Point file if anyone is interested to know what was highlighted.