Ventnor Blog

Tonight’s offering for local history buffs will be a talk by Joanna Jones title “Where Did The Parson Live?”

As usual it’ll be held in the Masonic Hall in Grove Road and everyone is welcome. They normally last about an hour.

Non members will need to pay £1 for entrance.

These are fantastic meetings well worth every one of the 100 pennies.

Image: The Parson’s Brandy by Stephen Macphail©

Anyone interested in the history and renovation of Freshwater Court, don’t forget that the Jarman family will be giving a talk tonight on that very subject.

As part of The Farringford Tennyson Literary and Arts Society meeting, Chris and Hilary will talk you through the trials and tribulations of taking on the renovation of this impressive house. (more…)

Many thanks to Chris Jarman for sending through details of a talk taking place next Thursday that we’re sure will be of interest to many of our readers.

The Farringford Tennyson Literary and Arts Society meeting, held at Farringford (Freshwater) plays host to the Jarman family, who will be presenting on the subject of renovation of Freshwater Court.

Anyone who went along to the Wessex Cancer Trust Spring Fete last weekend, will agree that Freshwater Court is an impressive building with beautiful grounds.

But it wasn’t like this when the Jarmans took it on several years ago. They have lovingly renovated the property with traditional materials and methods. (more…)

If you love history and architecture you might be interested to hear that on this coming Bank Holiday Monday, Mottistone Manor will be open to the public.

It’s a rare opportunity because the Elizabethan manor house is only open one day a year. Normally it happens in August, but this year will be in May.

National Trust members can take advantage of guided tours between 10am-noon and other members of the public can take self guided tours between 2-5pm. (more…)

Many thanks to Mike Vokes from the Ventnor and District and Local History Society for getting in touch to let us know about a blue plaque unveiling that takes place next week.

The latest “historical plaque” to go up in the Ventnor area will be at Seaside House, Shore Road, Bonchurch which was a popular destination for many well known early watercolour artists during the 19th century – with the area dubbed as “the St Ives of the Isle of Wight”.
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As part of the Island Walk the Wight Festival,the Ventnor Heritage Museum are hosting a walk this morning.

Leading the walk will be Graham Bennett and for 2-2.5 hours, he walk up and down Ventnor (don’t forget our steep hills) and fill you in on history at the same time.

The walk is free and any donations received will go towards the upkeep of the Museum.

Meet at 11am in the Central car park.

Image: Auntie P

We went along to the meeting last month and found it highly informative and of great interest.

We were pretty conspicuous as the youngest members there, which frankly did concern us.

Not for the reasons you might think, but because there is a wealth of knowledge being shared at these meetings and once the current membership pass on, it makes you wonder who’ll be there to keep the tradition going? (more…)

Thanks to Mike Vokes for sending through details of tonights meeting of Ventnor and District Local History Society.

It is AGM time again, but this will be followed by 5 short presentations; Fay Brown talking about the 1950’s, Graham Bennett chatting about Millmores, Colin Elvers on Snow, Andy Butler’s Most Embarrassing Moment, and Roger Silsbury on the Southend Connection.

Sounds like it could be a fun evening. 7.30pm Masonic Hall, Grove Road, Ventnor. Visitors £1.00 all welcome

Due to the bad weather conditions the meeting planned for tonight to discuss the future of Weston Manor has been postponed. For those of you interested, we’ll let you know as soon as we hear about the new dates. Thanks to Chris for keeping us up to date.

The Isle of Wight will host a specialist trade event at Northwood House in Cowes next month.
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As part of National Science Week, the National Trust are giving us the chance to learn more about the secret rocket testing that took place at the Needles Battery many years ago.

On Saturday 15th March, between noon and 2pm, visitors to the Battery will have the chance to meet one of the men involved with the secret rocket testing programme.
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Always with a camera to hand, VB forum member and chum of the blog, Good Fairy has done it again.

Whilst out walking the dogs yesterday, as GF made her way through the Botanic Gardens, she came across workmen unearthing an old Victorian incinerator.

As you can see from the pics, it could do with a bit of tender loving care, but having spoken to Simon Goodenough this morning, we understand that they are seeking funding for just that purpose. (more…)

There is another session coming up where you can learn all about your family history online.

That is using the Internet to discover your family history, rather than discovering the online history of your family!

You will need to book a place if you’re interested and the cost is £5, so why not call the Library at 852039 for details?

If reggae is not your thing, perhaps one of the great talks being hosted the Ventnor History Society would be of more interest to you.

Andy Butler will be returning to complete his presentation ‘Luccombe to Blackgang.’
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Ventnor Library are holding another sessions next week where you can research your family history online.

Find out whether you might be a distant relative of the milk man or your local mayor on Wednesday 30th January.

The session lasts for two and a half hours and will only cost you a fiver.

You never know what treasures the knowledge might unearth.

If you’re interested, please call the Library on 852039

We often receive emails from people from around the world looking for specific information about Ventnor or searching for distant relatives.

Yesterday was no exception with the following email arriving all the way from Canada. (more…)

We’re massive fans of the Ventnor History Society and really chuffed when they got in touch to inform us of their first meeting of the year.

The subject is a continuation of a previous talk by Andy Butler titled: Luccombe to Blackgang. Part 2.

The meeting takes place at the Masonic Hall in Grove Road. But don’t worry, you won’t need to roll up your trouser legs or learn a funny handshake to get in.

Membership of the History Society is not compulsory to attend, but non-members will have to cough up £1 to get in - a bargain!

[Image of picnic at The Landslip courtesy of Isle of Wight Historic Postcards]

Many thanks to VentnorBlog reader, Fazioli for sharing this piece of history about the wonderful musical resource that is held at Ventnor Library. It came up in a ‘conversation’ surrounding Edward Elgar. Ed

When the late Mr Snow was librarian at Ventnor in the 60s and 70s, Victor Fleming the famous musician who retired to Honeythorne on the seafront (other oldies will remember this was the house that used to have metal railings in the shape of music staves with quotes from Wagner and Schubert on) donated his vast private collection of sheet music and books to the library.
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This being the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edward Elgar, it’s highly appropriate that yesterday saw the unveiling of a blue plaque commemorating Elgar’s honeymoon stay in Ventnor.

Around 15-20 people braved the cold winds and gathered at 3 Alexandra Gardens in Ventnor today to hear Graham Bennett, the walking encyclopaedia of Ventnor history, deliver a short introduction about Elgar and Ventnor. He handed over to Andrew Neill, Chairman of the Elgar Society who completed the picture of Elgar’s stay and how his musical career really came together following his marriage … and trip to Ventnor. Elgar musical output was formidable, as you can see in his Wikipedia entry.
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If, like us, you’re someone who walks along Alexandra Gardens on a regular basis, you may’ve noticed that the plaque outside number 3, commemorating Sir Edward Elgar staying there has disappeared.

Don’t worry, we don’t have a plaque thief on our hands, the old one, which admittedly was looking very tired and rusty, has been removed to make way for a brand spanking new one.
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A MEDIEVAL seal matrix unearthed by metal detectors on the Isle of Wight is set to go on display at the British Museum later this month.
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If you haven’t been down (or up) to Ventnor Library recently, you won’t have seen the new exhibition.

It’s a very extensive exhibition that covers the history of St. Catherine’s Lighthouse and its predecessors.

Michael Walter, the curator of the lighthouse has done a tremendous amount of work pulling together the history of the workings of the lighthouse and it sounds like a very interesting exhibition.

Well worth checking out and if it makes an impression on you, why not write a review of it for the Blog?

[image courtesy of Isle of Wight Historic Postcards]

If you haven’t been down to the Ventnor Heritage Museum in while, do take some time out over the next few weeks to pop along.

Apart from all the brilliant displays and wealth of knowledge about the area that the museum holds, they also have a rather nostalgic “then and now” collection of photographs on show.

The collection includes pictures of the 1930/1940’s amateur dramatics that used to take place in Ventnor. I’m interested to see how different the shows and costumes were compared to now.

The museum (on Spring Hill) is open Tuesday-Friday 10 am to 4 30 pm. Saturdays 10 am to 12.30 am. It will only cost you £1 to get in. Seniors and kids get in for 75p.

We promised you an official statement from English Heritage in relation to their historic area adviser, Graham Steaggles’ last letter to the council regarding the Mill Bay Development.

Some elements of the letter surprised us, while other remarks confused us. We’re publishing the statement in full and have reserved our comments to the end. The highlights in the statement are ours.

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For all of you with a few quid in your pocket rattling around, fancying a des res just off the Island, The Daily Mail is covering the sale of No Mans Land Fort, in the Solent.

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