Ryde Social Heritage Group research the social history of the citizens of Ryde, Isle of Wight. Documenting their lives, businesses and burial transcriptions.
RYDE SOCIAL HERITAGE GROUP
Based at Ryde Cemetery Heritage & Learning Centre. Preserving, documenting and promoting the social history of Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
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July 2009 Members’ Meeting

Royal Victoria Arcade
Royal Victoria Arcade

Our meeting held on 11 July was attended by 35 members and 24 guests and there were 14 apologies for absence.

Janette welcomed all present and explained to new members and visitors the format of the meeting.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT INCLUDING OTHER NEWS AND FUTURE EVENTS

Janette had some sad news to tell the group at the start of the meeting, firstly the death of our member Lydia Jackson in June, then the news of Rachael’s illness and her absence from the committee while she is recovering and finally the news that Diana has resigned as Secretary and from the Committee. Janette thanked Diana for all her hard work as Secretary since she took on the role at the AGM last year. As the next meeting in October is the AGM Janette said she hoped some more members would consider stepping forward to join the committee and help with the work that is involved in running this successful group.

Ryde History Week in May had been a great success and was made possible by the effort and time all the volunteers gave to help run the event. Janette thanked everyone involved.

Since Ryde History Week we have had a static display in Ryde Library. The display has been a great success and many people visiting the library have been reading about the history of Ryde.

Work on the Ryde Audio Trail is ongoing, the route and stops for the trail have been agreed and we have started to write the scripts for the audio files.

Ryde Cemetery Restoration Project is still pretty much on hold at the moment, pending a decision by the elected members about the level of support they want the IW Council to give the project. We hope to get some good news soon and then the work should start in the near future.

Looking forward a to September RSHG is supporting an exhibition by Roy Brinton and Tony Gale at St Thomas Heritage Centre for the National Heritage Open Days. The Centre will be open from 10am to 4pm daily from Thurs 10th to Sun 13th September. Roy’s display will be about the Lords of the Manor and St Thomas’ Church and Tony’s display will be about Non-Conformist Churches and Chapels. Other groups will also be involved.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS TO HELP MAN THE EXHIBITION SO IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE.

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE – Kate reported that since our April meeting we have gained 7 new members: Barbara & Mike Fitt, Glyn Jones, Pauline McCall, Hazel, Jolene & Mark Mulcahy. We now have 68 fully paid up members.

FINANCE REPORT – Janette advised that since the last meeting our funds have been boosted by just over £1000 made up of the final payment from HLF for our project Ryde’s Heritage – Our Town, Your Histories, and also the sales and donations received during Ryde History Week.

REPORTS FROM WORK GROUPS

Research – Ann advised that the extra detail added to the website, for every person named on the upload list each month, reflects a great many hours of work by our very small team and thanked all those involved in research for their help. In the last 3 months:- 185 persons have had more detail added to their page. – Obituaries, census, births, marriages, directories, snippets and more and 87 Amendments and Additions have been made to existing records .

Mapping – David advised that updating and correcting Maps of the Old and Old Parish Cemeteries is ongoing as more information becomes available. Any new burials, together with corrections from the Transcription Group, are added to the Alpha Indexes and uploaded to the Website with the Maps.
Maps for the New Cemetery are being produced at a reasonable rate and keeping ahead of the Transcription Group. Preliminary Maps for New Sections A, B, C, D and E have been produced.

Transcribing Group – Janette said that the transcribing group has met intermittently since the April Meeting, we try to meet up every Saturday morning, but sometimes the weather or other commitments prevent that from happening. However since the April Meeting we have added 400 new records to the website.

Publications Group – Carol said that following the success of Ryde History Week, we were asked to display some of our work in Ryde Library. The exhibition featured people and places of Ryde with details of some of the buildings that no longer exist in the town, e.g. the IW County Hospital, Appley Towers and the Congregational Church which was destroyed in 1870.

This week to compliment Ryde Arts Festival, we changed the display to Arts, Music and Entertainments featuring just some of the many amateur and professionals to perform in Ryde. Carol thanked both the research team and publications team for producing such a high quality, interesting and varied display in a very short time. The subjects range from carnivals to the theatre, composers and artists to tightrope walkers and roller skating, pole dancing in the 1850s to the dragon boat race in 1984. The exhibition will be in the library until September during normal library hours.

Ryde Arts Festival – Diana’s presentation on the Royal Victoria Arcade our meeting was the first event of Ryde Arts Festival Week which ran from 11 to 18 July. The Festival is now in its 9th year and combines the Arts with Heritage and Culture. Diana also had an exhibition of her work about the Arcade in the Arcade until Saturday 18 July.

Carol went on to mention many of the items planned for Ryde Arts Festival week and encouraged members to support the various events.

Presentation by Diana Wood – The Lives and Times of the Royal Victoria Arcade. Diana gave a fascinating presentation on her research into the Victoria Arcade.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS – The only item of Any Other Business was when Roger Whitby-Smith asked RSHG members to consider opposing the planning application from Ryde School to erect a modern building on Queen’s Road, Ryde.

The meeting ended at 12:30 and many people went straight to the Royal Victoria Arcade to view Diana’s exhibition about the building.