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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Annual General Meeting 8 October 2016

The RSHG Annual General Meeting was held at the George St Centre on Saturday 8 October  with an attendance of 42 people.

Kate MacDonell, Secretary, first gave a report on membership which has risen, having gained many new recruits over the year, including 2 Life Members from Australia. This was followed by a report on events & activities during the last 12 months and was illustrated by a slide show.

Our quarterly meetings were all well attended & there were a variety of very interesting talks, for example, ‘A Gentleman’s view around Ryde, by Sheila Caws.’ Our quarterly magazines also varied with themes such as ‘Pharmacological Affairs’ and ‘Wish you were Here.’

Throughout the year we held several Drop In Events at Ryde Cemetery, usually combined with walks and in June we held our annual Summer Open Days, this year on the theme ‘Family Business.’  We also had a Ryde Library Archive Event in February.

We organised Members’ Outings and visited Carisbrooke Castle Museum last winter and recently St. Michael’s Church in Ryde.

Local schools made visits last winter and this summer as part of their studies on Victorian Ryde.

This year we won another National Award from the CAHG (Community Archives and Heritage Group), for ‘Sustained Achievement’ which is for groups that have been working hard and consistently over at least a 10 year period.

Northwood Cemetery is currently undergoing a Restoration Project & RSHG was asked to provide a series of six training sessions. These are being held at Ryde Cemetery Learning Centre on Saturday mornings and they are proving to be very worthwhile as a sharing of good practice experience.

Arthur Williams gave the Treasurer’s Report and was pleased to show our finances to be in a healthy state and this was followed by the Election of the Committee for the coming year.

Ann Barrett, our Research Co-ordinator, next gave a wonderful slide show of photos of RSHG volunteers in action. There were transcribers, photographers, assistants with school visits, people working at home, in the Record Office and elsewhere, to name but a few. It is amazing to see how many of our members are involved in contributing to the work of the Group in very many different ways. We are a very active Group and enjoy working together as a team.

Carol Strong, our Mapping Co-ordinator, explained about the progress of new and updated maps, not just in Ryde Cemetery but also in Ashey and Binstead. She also talked about some of our ongoing projects such as ‘The Lost Children.’

At the end of the business part of the meeting there were refreshments, a raffle and a Prize Draw for the ‘Lucky Member.’ There was then time to browse photographs, documents and artefacts from the Roy Brinton Collection which prompted lots of discussion. There was also the opportunity for people to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones.

Everyone agreed that it had been a most enjoyable and sociable meeting.

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Photographs by David Bushell