A new book, written in association with Philip Bell, of Beachy Books, has hit the shelves at Ryde District Heritage Centre. Historic Ryde Society was approached by Philip some months ago, and asked whether anyone might be interested in creating a book as part of a Community Books project. As the idea of writing a book about Ryde’s history had been discussed already, it was very quickly decided that this would be the ideal opportunity. Maurice Fairall, Sally-Ann Garrett, Bob White and Diana Wood were all involved with the production of the book, which was written over a ten week period under Philip’s instruction. The image shows Sally-Ann, Philip and Bob cogitating over some text on one of the pages. The initial idea was to showcase some of the wonderful historic images of Ryde which appear in the archive in the Heritage Centre. To these were added modern, colourful images, which create a contrast throughout the book. The group quickly became reasonably good proof-readers, although a couple of tiny slips did get through in the end! A most enjoyable experience. The book is for sale at a cost of £5, from the Heritage Centre, Splash, Framers, Collectors’ Haven, or via the website