A good crowd turned out on a cold and wet September evening to hear local historian Tony Gale transport us all to the races at Ashey and around the Island. It was a fascinating talk, with wonderful images of a bygone era, and we were entertained to learn that the Ashey event was the most corrupt in the country – possibly because of the machinations behind the copse when out of view of the stewards! The lovely photographs showed many of the lovely fashions of the turn of the 20th century, when the class divide was alive and kicking! Many thanks to Tony for his wonderful research and delivery.
The evening was introduced by Historic Ryde Society (HRS) Chair Liz Jones, who brought the members up to date with recent events and happenings in the Heritage Centre and for the Society. HRS currently has a strong membership, made up of 93 Individual memberships, 55 family memberships and 16 corporate memberships. Our new membership secretary Ro, will now take the membership forward on a rolling basis, so people can join at any time of the year, rather than the February cut-off currently in place.
Liz reminded everyone of the opportunity of raising funds for the Society through the online shopping easyfundraising site, accessible via the HRS homepage link. We’ve now raised over £220 at no cost to anyone! Keep on buying, everyone! Using easysearch as a search engine, when supporting HRS, raises 0.5p per search….every little helps, as the supermarket says….
The two Astronomic evenings last week raised £251 for funds, and a harp and sitar recital, and a 70s/80s disco night are the next two events for the diary, following on from the September quiz on Thursday, Sept. 26.
The RBA Father Christmas grotto will once again be held in the Heritage Centre. More details in due course.
Lastly, there are now four photoboards out in the community for people to enjoy a bit of free fun, courtesy of James from the Donald Mcgill postcard museum, and Historic Ryde Society. These boards are proving unbelievably popular, and in August alone, raised £250. Since they were first made two years ago, they’ve brought in over £1100! Fabulous!
