Heritage Open Days – A Great Success!

Heritage Open Days at St Thomas Heritage Centre in Ryde, held from 10 to 13 September, were a great success. Over 500 members of the public visited the event which gave them a rare opportunity to see inside the historic former church.

The event was hosted by Ryde Social Heritage Group and the centre piece of the exhibition was made up of two static displays – one by local historian, Roy Brinton (Hon. President of RSHG), on the Lords of the Manor of Ryde and the history of St Thomas Church; the other by Tony Gale (RSHG Member) on the Non-Conformist Churches and Chapels of Ryde. There were also static displays by local churches including St Mary’s RC, All Saints, St James’ and George Street Baptist Church.

Other groups participating in the event were the Ryde 2nd Sea Scouts with a wonderful display containing pictures and records showing over 100 years’ of the group’s existence; Carisbrooke Castle Museum had a stand showing information and some artefacts from the museum; Wootton Bridge Historical had information about the neighbouring village of Wootton; St Helen’s Historical Society had a display showing some of the famous people who have either lived in or visited St Helens and there was also a display on the history of the Ryde Mead Lawn Tennis Club. All the stands were manned by volunteers from the groups throughout the four days.

Ryde Social Heritage Group displayed old maps, information about their work in Ryde cemetery, many folders containing detail of the group’s research into the history of Ryde and memory boards and photographs to encourage people of Ryde to write down their memories.

Kate McDonell an RSHG Committee member and a teacher at Dover Park School, had a display about Caversham House, the building and school which was demolished in the 1980s and replaced by Dover Park School. The display included an old 1880s poster advertising the sale of the house, photographs of the building before and while it was being demolished and drawings and paintings by some of the children who attend Dover Park today as to what they thought the gardens and grounds would have looked like. Kate had also gathered memories from some former teachers and pupils and brought along a register from Caversham House School. As many of the visitors to Heritage Open Days attended the school, this display proved a wonderful talking point and encouraged many people to write down their memories.

There were also two evening events.

The first on Thursday was a chamber concert entitled “Garlands for a Lady” A Miscellany of Genteel Airs, Graces and Poetic Pleasantries. This was organised by Andrew Pellow and included The Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra String Quartet – Andrew Pellow (organ and narration), David Scott (tenor) and Maximilian Steyger (organ and poetry recital). The evening was a delight to all who attended.

On Friday evening Roy Brinton gave an illustrated presentation on St Thomas Church in Times Past, which was well received by the large audience.

It was clear from the attendance over the four Heritage Open Days that the people of Ryde value and treasure the St Thomas Heritage Centre, a fantastic, historic building in the middle of Ryde. Janette Gregson, Chairman of RSHG, explained to the audience at Friday evening’s presentation, that the building is available for other groups to hire for Community, Heritage and Cultural events. Any community group or society that would like to put on an event at St Thomas Heritage Centre should contact the IW Council to discuss their ideas : Email address: [email protected]