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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February 1971

Isle of Wight County Press:

Feb 6th 1971:  WINEMAKER’S – With a company of more than 80, the third annual dinner of Ryde Amateur Winemaker’s Circle at the Osborne Oasis on Saturday was the best attended and most successful of this flourishing young club.  The circle is now firmly established, with monthly meetings attended by 45 to 50 members, and more at special functions.

Feb 6th 1971:  POSTAL SERVICE – As many other mainland services fall by the wayside the Vectis Postal Service continues to flourish.  Now in its second week, the service is dealing with more than 1000 letters a day.  Confined to the Island, thirty “postmen” deliver the letters and their efficiency enables about 50 per cent of the mail to be delivered on the same day as posting.  Most of the “postmen” are schoolboys and retired people.

Feb 6th 1971:  BRIGSTOCKE TERRACE – The committee of the Isle of Wight Society were gratified to read the report in the County Press of the decision to restore and renovate Brigstocke Terrace.  The architect of this historically and architecturally important terrace was James SANDERSON.

Feb 13th 1971:  COUNCIL HOUSES – With a desperate need for more permanent rented accommodation on the Island it seems unfortunate that Ryde Council have decided to sell council houses.  In the nature of things council tenants will sometimes move to other areas or go abroad; families will grow up and leave home so that at least some houses will become vacant.  If the houses have been sold then, clearly, they will not become available.

Feb 13th 1971:  HOME BURGLED – Buckland Grange, Spencer Road, the home of Mrs. Olive COOPER, a member of the Town Council, was broken into between Saturday evening and Sunday morning and property including jewellery and antique coins stolen.  A window had been forced.  more about Buckland Grange here

Feb 20th 1971:  LETTER TO THE EDITOR – I read in the County Press that the County Council are seeking permission from the Ministry of the Environment to demolish the Arcade.  I would like to protest most strongly on the following grounds:  It is a typical case of speculating development; the property having been sold by one developer to another.  It is a listed building.  It is a very important feature of the street scene.  If opened at the back it could provide a very attractive traffic-free shopping precinct.

Feb 20th 1971:  COFFIN ROBBERS – Heavy Flagstones prised up from the floor of disused St. Thomas’s Church in the centre of Ryde may be the work of coffin robbers.  The door of the catacombs was sealed off by bricking up, and some persons must have decided that the easiest way into the vaults was by digging through the floor.  It is thought that the diggers assumed that as the church is an old one and that leading citizens of the town were buried in the vault’s generations ago; the coffins might be lead-lined.  It was clear that the activity went beyond the pointless vandalism

Feb 20th 1971:  PRISONERS’ PANTINGS – A colourful art exhibition opens at the County Seely Library, George Street, Ryde, on Monday.  It represents the work of some 30 prisoners in Parkhurst and Albany Prisons.  The standard of the exhibits—65 from Parkhurst and 11 from Albany—compares favourably with the more usual art club presentations, and is of exceptional merit.

Feb 27th 1971:  RE-DEDICATION – The Church of the Holy Cross, Binstead, was re-dedicated by the Rt. Rev. L. S. WOOLMER, assistant Bishop of Portsmouth, on Saturday, some 20 months after it was partially destroyed by fire.  The conflagration of June 7th, 1969, wrought such destruction that only the north aisle, a comparatively modern part of the church, was safe to use afterwards.  Least damage was caused to the ancient chancel.

Feb 27th 1971:  RAILWAY – The I.W. Railway Enthusiasts’ Group and the Vectis Bus Circle held a joint transport evening at the Queensway Hall, Ryde.  The event attracted nearly 70 people who saw a large selection of slides mainly depicting the transport events of the past year, such as the first steaming of the Island’s preserved steam locomotive, W24 Calbourne.