New Interpretation Panel for Ryde Cemetery Unveiled

Members of Ryde Social Heritage Group proudly unveiled their brand new interpretation panel in the display case in Ryde Cemetery at noon on Saturday 24th May. Members of the Group had already spent a couple of hours working in the cemetery transcribing inscriptions from grave memorials and surveying for the mapping project before the unveiling of the artwork. The weather forecast had said it would rain so the group were delighted it stayed fine long enough to allow them to work in the cemetery and have their unveiling ceremony afterwards.

At noon the work group made its way towards the entrance gate where the display case is installed and met up with other people who had come to join them for the ceremony, including Al Rowe, the artist, and other members of the Group.

The interpretation panel was one of the required outputs of the Group’s lottery funded project, called Ryde’s Heritage – Our Town, Your Histories. A display case was purchased and installed in the cemetery in the summer of 2006 and in the Spring of 2007 Al Rowe, a local artist, was commissioned to produce a map of the cemetery. By the end of that summer the Group was in possession of a fantastic piece of artwork showing the layout of the cemetery. Then there were some delays due to other commitments within the Group and the installation of the panel was postponed until this summer.

The final artwork which was unveiled this week includes not only the map of the cemetery but also text about the group, the history of the cemetery and information about and illustrations of some of the fauna and flora to be found in the cemetery.

The finished panel has been a joint collaboration and includes the map by Al Rowe, nature illustrations by Maisie Kitching, words by the Publications Group and layout by Janette Gregson.

We hope we have provided something that will be of benefit to visitors and will enhance the cemetery for years to come.