Summer Open Days 8-9 June 2019

Ryde Social Heritage Group held their annual Summer Open Days at Ryde Cemetery Heritage and Learning Centre during the weekend of 8-9 June, which proved to be a great success. The weather was sunny but rather windy on the Saturday which restricted outdoor activities on that day. 100+ visitors came through the doors over the weekend, quite a few never having been to the Heritage Centre before. In addition, various people walking through the cemetery paused a while to look at the exhibition and the table set up for tea as it would have been about 60/70 years ago.

The theme this year was “40’s, 50’s and 60’s.”  This certainly appealed to the visitors, causing a lot of reminiscing. People were poring over the various exhibition photographs in the South Chapel, trying to spot themselves, relatives or friends.  In fact, many of them remaining after the scheduled closing time.

The quizzes went down very well and there was much interaction and laughs as people compared notes. There was even a couple cheating – they called it using their initiative by looking for answers in the archive files!

On Sunday there was no wind which made it much more comfortable for the morning and afternoon cemetery walks. The brand-new walks were very much appreciated by some of the ‘regulars’ who had been on our other walks on previous occasions and many complimentary remarks were expressed afterwards.

Light refreshments were offered all the while the centre was open each day, which were enjoyed when people were perusing the archive files of their interest.

Photographs by Dave Bushell