Local Ryde
Do you live and work in the Ryde area? then this section is for you. I Love Ryde will be running up to the moment information articles in conjunction with both the Ryde Town Council and Ryde Business Association, as well as posting what's on reminders.
Last minute reminders
DON'T FORGET WHAT'S ON AND OTHER NEWS
News Bites
Ryde Railway Footbridge: 8 Week Closure Ahead
The footbridge that goes over the railway line in Ryde is due to be shut for eight weeks for repairs from 16th January until March 2012 although the Isle of Wight council, who are requesting the repairs, haven't given exact date for finishing the project.
Alternative arrangements
Those who use the footbridge to get between the train or bus station and either the Hover or Ice staking rink will have to detour up the path beside the railway, past the bridge (as shown below) to get around.
Music for You - presented by Rotary Club of Ryde
Wednesday 12th October at 7.15pm.
At All Saint's Church Ryde.
Tickets £5.00 at the door.
Drinks in the interval, wine, tea and coffee. All proceeds in aid of the Rotary Foundation (including Polio eradication). The programme will include music from the following:- Wight Diamonds Marching Band, Ryde School Swing Band, South Wight Youth Theatre, No Wight Flags, Medina Ukulele Band and much more.
The Glory of British Sacred Choral Music
Saturday 15 October 2011 at 7.30 pm
The London Oriana Choir present works
by Byrd, Tallis, Parry and Vaughan Williams,
with Musical Director David Drummond.
at All Saints Church, Queen's Road.
Free Entrance with a retiring collection.
Volunteers needed for Historic Ryde Society!
There will be an open meeting for all interested parties at 7pm on Thursday, 9th June, 2011. This will be held at the Ryde Castle Hotel. HRS is very grateful to Julian and Emma for their hospitality. Now is the time for everyone to get involved with plans for the Heritage Centre being formed in the basement of the Arcade. As part of our Heritage Lottery bid, we need volunteers for all manner of activities. You do not need to join Historic Ryde Society to become a volunteer, nor do you need to commit to a certain number of hours a week. How much time you give is up to you, but we would like to involve as many people as possible in this community project. Listed below are some of the activities for which we need to recruit more people.
Royal Victorian Ryde 2011 - now less than five weeks away, we need many volunteers to help with our three day Victorian music and theatre extravaganza, to be held over the weekend of Friday, July 1 - Sunday, July 3. We need ladies to dress in Victorian costume to line the avenue of the Arcade for our Happy Birthday Arcade Parade, at 1pm on Friday, July 1. There are also vacancies for Front of House staff on Friday and throughout Saturday. If anyone feels like shaking a bucket to raise funds, that's also possible! Please contact Liz, in Splash, Union Street, for further details. 01983 616257
Ryde District Heritage Centre - it is hoped we can recruit enough volunteers to have the centre open daily, but to begin with, we would be happy to open for three days a week. Full training will be given, and at no time will there be less than two volunteers on duty.
Ryde Memory Bank - an important part of the project, we need people interested in training as Oral History interviewers. We would like to create a Memory Bank for Ryde and environs. Full training will be given, and in turn, these trained volunteers will go into the community to train others.
Photographic and Film Archive - we already have the expertise of several enthusiasts in this area, but need more volunteers to cover the time-consuming task of scanning and cataloguing old photographic and film material.
Education - we hope to build an education and handling collection outreach pack and are looking for former educators to assist with this important aspect of the centre.
New Town Mayor elected
At the Annual General Meeting Ryde Town Council on Monday 9th May 2011 a new mayor was elected. Councillor David Knowles was elected as Ryde Mayor for 2011/12. The Deputy Mayor will be Councillor David Woodward. Councillor David Knowles replaces Councillor Brian Harris who had a number of tributes paid to him from Councillors and members of the public for all his hard work during his term of office.
Appley Pitch & Putt to close.
A popular golf attraction in Ryde is to close, after a rescue deal collapsed. The Appley Pitch and Putt site will close, after two interested parties pulled out of potentially running the Isle of Wight Council facility.
The local authority will, however, continue to maintain Appley Park throughout the summer.
George Brown, IW Council Cabinet member responsible for leisure said: "We had hoped to reach an agreement about the running of the pitch and putt at Appley Park, but unfortunately two interested parties decided not to pursue their interest".
Historic Ryde Society awarded Funding for Museum
Grant launches new historic centre for Ryde
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a grant of nearly £50,000 to Historic Ryde Society (HRS). The society formed in October, 2009, to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Royal Victoria Arcade, Union Street, Ryde, in July, 2011. As things developed, HRS became committed to creating a permanent heritage centre in the town, in the basement of this historic building. A grant from Ryde Townscape Heritage Initiative helped to secure the fabric of the building, and the HLF money will go towards building a photographic and film archive, creating a 'Ryde Memory Bank' and delivery of an education programme, involving local schools and other community groups.
Diana Wood, secretary of HRS, said "This is the icing on the cake, although it marks the start of fifteen months of very hard work. We are thrilled to have been awarded this grant, as it will help us to fulfil our dreams of a permanent display of Ryde's wonderful past. The building itself has played a part in this history, as members of the Royal family walked into the arcade over many years, visiting the Royal Photographers who worked here".
For further details, please contact Diana on 01983 617110.
For more information about the Historic Ryde Society please visit their brilliant website which is full of the most amazing facts about Ryde and it's heritage.
Update on Closure of Waterside Pool: 50+ Brave Weather To Turn Out For Meeting
Thanks to Tony Steyger for this report from last night’s meeting, held to discuss the future of the Waterside Pool in Ryde.
Waterside Pool: Sink Or Swim?Last night (Thursday), despite sub zero temperatures and treacherous ice, over 50 people attended an angry evening meeting at the Waterside Cafe on Ryde seafront, voting unanimously to oppose the closure of Ryde Swimming Pool.
Organised spontaneously by Ryde resident Lesley Bull, the meeting was a remarkable display of community feelings on such a bitter night and locals and campaigners were joined by three of Ryde’s town councillors who advised on tactics for the fightback.
Closure would be a disaster
Apart from being entirely at odds with the Government’s plans to promote a healthy population, several people argued that the proposal to have an empty pool complex on the seafront would be a disaster for both tourists and islanders.
Lynne Harkins insisted that this was time for the community to have their say, whilst Tony Kelly suggested that “the banks should be made to suffer for this national funding crisis, and not us. The pool is a little bit of civilisation and it was money from the early Isle of Wight pop festivals that helped pay for its construction”.
Variety of users
Amongst the current users are 16 schools that regularly use the pool for swimming lessons and several elderly and disabled groups taking part in organised session.
However, not everyone was happy with the way the pool had been run, citing poor management and an inflexibility towards new ideas. One resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, suggested that the pool certainly needed saving but not by the council, preferring a private solution.
Supporters urged to attend meeting and rally All were agreed that a significant display of public feeling was urgently needed.
Anyone interested in helping the campaign to save Ryde Pool is urged to attend the Ryde Town Council meeting on Monday 6th December at 7pm in Garfield Road and at the mass Unison Rally outside County Hall in Newport on Tuesday 7th December at 5pm.
Waterside Pool to Close
There are reports going around the town that the Waterside Pool could be closed due to council cuts. this is exceedingly worrying as this is a vital service to ensure health of not only the young, but also older members of our community. There is a meeting being held on Thursday 2nd December at the Ryde Castle Hotel from 7.30pm.
It's Sink or Swim time for our swimming pool! This meeting is an open forum for all of those strongly opposed to the council's proposal to close our towns' swimming pool. The Waterside Pool teaches some 300 people a week, including many school children, it offers Live Guards courses for all ages from 8yrs upwards, also vital aquafit lessons for the elderly and infirm. This a a really disastrous proposal. Support the meeting and see what we as a community can do.
This is what the council had to say about the proposal. We've checked the Council website to see if they have posted any further information, but can't find any further details yet.
IW Council chief executive Steve Beynon, said: “Because of the current economic climate and the subsequent large reduction in money made available to local authorities, the council will have to save £32 million pound over the next four years. Around £17 million of this will need to be saved in the first year. As a result, the council is looking across all its services to see whether they can be delivered more efficiently.
“Both the library service and the Waterside Pool are part of this process. At the moment however, no decisions have been taken. The way forward will be discussed by the council’s Cabinet on 7 December 2010.
“The papers for that meeting will be published on the council’s website www.iwight.com by 5.00pm on 29 November. While we cannot until that time say what those papers will recommend – nor, of course, what Cabinet will decide – it is clear that “no change” will not be an option due to the financial constraints placed upon the council. The Cabinet’s decisions will then be the subject of public consultation.
“While this is clearly an unsettling time for staff and residents, the council will explore every possible opportunity and partnership arrangement to maintain as many services as possible within its greatly reduced budget.”
Open letter to the Island and Carnival Supporters
Dear friends - You are no doubt aware that there are due to be massive cuts in the IOW Council budgets in the next few months. This, and the way that adult education will now be funded, or not, means the future of the Carnival Learning Centre is under serious threat.
BUT MAY BE IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY!
If there is sufficient community support there might be a way forward to ensure the survival of the centre and the carnival development programme that is recognised nationally as a best practice model. The bare bones of a plan would entail:-
- Establishing an independent organisation with charitable legal structure, management committee and robust business plan. The Carnival Academy??
- Like minded projects and organisations would need to be based here with a clear understanding of how they can work independently and collectively to develop work both on and off the Island.
- Agreeing an asset transfer arrangement with the Council. The Centre was refurbished and much of the equipment was purchased with external funding. There are caveats within the funding agreement that the building and it’s contents should be retained for arts and learning purposes for a number of years.
- Successfully tendering for contracts from the IOW Council (or whoever will be responsible for delivering adult and community learning) to deliver outcomes for the Skills Funding Agency. These would need to be delivered through activities of the core organisations working from the building.
- Agreeing a three year funding package with the Arts Council. The Arts Council are aware of these early plans and are supportive. They believe there is a considerable legacy to protect.
- Retaining all of the existing contracts with organisations like Art Asia, Youth Music, PUSH, WWLP and developing new ones.
Obviously there is a long way to go in a short space of time. To make this have any chance of becoming a raging success we need to be sure that the carnival community is behind the idea and wants to be an active part of the plan.
As such we are calling an initial meeting so interested parties can contribute to a plan. The above may be it - probably a better one will emerge!
So - if you can contribute, if you have an opinion or an idea, please come to a blue sky meeting at the Carnival Learning Centre on Thursday 9th December at 7.30 - 8.30. (Frankie and I will buy the mince pies). If you can’t make it, but want to help, support, offer advice please give me a ring or email.
With very best wishes
Chris
Carnival Centre Development Manager
Carnival Learning Centre
Westridge
Brading Road
Ryde
Isle of Wight
PO33 1QS
Tel 01983 817283 | Mob 07976 009040 | Fax 01983 817280
www.thecarnivallearningcentre.org
Help Support Ryde Inshore Rescue
Ryde Inshore Rescue have been shortlisted to win £250 as Easyfundraisings charity of December, I would be extremely grateful if you could all somehow share the link below as £250 would make a big difference to us. The Island community are always very supportive of local charities when they go head to head in national polls and I hope they will be this time too.... Please feel free to share the link below
The link provides further information about how to support our local inshore rescue group.
http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/blog/vote-for-your-cause-of-the-month-december
Ryde Mayor and local children turn on the Christmas Lights
On Saturday 20th November 2010, Ryde Mayor Cllr Brian Harris and three local children turned on the Christmas tree lights in St.Thomas's Square. A small crowd gathered in the fading evening light whilst our Town Crier Steve King announced the event to the crowd.
Once the lights were turned on, a lovely carol was sung by local music student Miss White in Acapella style.
Trading Standards warn of Postal scam
Once again with Christmas upon us we have the return of the Parcel Delivery Service Scam. A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service). The card informs you that they have attempted to deliver a parcel to you but no one was at home. They ask that you call them on a premium rate number (0906 6611911)
DO NOT CALL THIS NUMBER – it is a scam originating from Belize. Calling the number will result in you receiving a minimum bill of £315 for the phone call.
If you receive a card with these details, please contact royal Mail Fraud on 020 7239 6655.
Trading Standards warn of Telephone Preference Service Scam
An Island resident has reported receiving a telephone call from a company claiming to be from the TPS. They apparently wanted to charge the resident £3 per month for the same service that the Telephone Preference Service does for free.
If you are interested in registering with the TPS you can contact them on 020 7323 4226 or go on line at www.tpsonline.org.uk
Remembrance Service Sunday 14th November 2010
Despite another day of blustery winds and heavy rainfall past and present day members of the Armed Forces held their annual Remembrance Sunday service at the Parish Church in Queen's Road and then marched from the church down West Street and then in to Lind Street headed by a local Corps of Drums. The service was attended by various dignitaries including the Town Mayor Brian Harris resplendent in the new town regalia. The Service lead by the Parish Priest remembered those lost in the two great wars as well as in more recent conflicts. Later in the afternoon the Catholic Priest and Parish Priest attended a small service held at Ashey Cemetery at the memorial there.
More photographs can be see of both services on the I Love Ryde Flickr page.
Here is the Ryde Town Crier, on Saturday 6th November doing his weekly Saturday Cry at the top of Union Street Ryde.
Learn to Dance Authentic 1950s Rock'n'Roll
At the Ryde Castle Hotel on Mondays for 4 weeks from 8th November with Steve & Tara from London. Classes cost £6.50 per class and you don't need a partner. These classes are fun and friendly and are aimed at absolute beginners to improver level dancers. If you have two left feet it's not a problem. You can attend all 4 classes or drop in when you can. Steve and Tara will take you step by step from basic footwork through to more advanced moves. After the classes there is a social dance where you can practise what you've learnt. For further information please call Steve and Tara on 020 8866 4410,
or e-mail them on jiverevive@btinternet.com
For further information they also have a great website to whet your appitite Jive Revive
Christmas Fair
The Methodist Church Hall, Garfield Road, Ryde will be holding a Christmas Fair on Saturday 13th November 2010.
They will be selling, Cakes, Brick-a-back, Christmas Cards, a Raffle, Toiletries, Jewellery and much, much more.
Please come and support the MacMillan Nurses.
News from The Park Community Centre, High Park Road, Ryde
October 2010
Saturday 9th October - welcomes the first of our monthly Arts and Crafts sales. From 12pm at the Centre, there’ll be: home-made bunting, Rowland Glaysher’s art, cushions, basket arrangements, bags, dolls furniture, jewellery, wildlife photography and images from WightMagik photography. Free entry. – If you’d like to book a table to sell your arts and crafts, please call: 611913.
Monday 11th October Open Afternoon - for Basic Numeracy Skills. If maths has never been your strong point and you’d like to learn a little bit more, and maybe reach a Level 2 (like a GCSE) in an informal class, with a small group of people, come along! Speak with tutor Rosemary Hill, have a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit! You never know, it might be just what you’re looking for!
Starting Friday 15th October: Basic Book-keeping course Perfect if you’re thinking of, or have started a new business or community group. Topics covered will be: All procedures up to month end, bank and purchase ledger reconciliation and control accounts (if time permits) – Cost is £55 (over £100 cheaper than other similar courses on the Island)
COMING SOON!! The Thrifty Fifties Experience - A 12 week set of fun arts and crafts based workshops with a Fifties theme, bought to you by Island Creations. Lots of interesting hints and tips, free energy saving/Eco handouts each week – lots of giggles, the tutors will be in their 50’s get-up! Call us for more information: 611913.
Adult Mime and Drama Classes - will also be running at the Community Centre very soon. Come along and have some fun! Further details will be available shortly on our website: www.theparkcentre.org.uk
Rainbows, Guides and Brownies - groups all welcome new members. From 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon, starting with Rainbows. If you’d like any further info, let us know!
New class started at the Centre is Tiny Talk - this is sign language for toddlers, learn to communicate with your little ones before speech. Fabulous techniques and fun to learn!
Caterpillar Music - for Children - runs on a Saturday Morning…why not pop in and see what it’s all about?
Our one-to-one computer tutor - is now welcoming new bookings. So far this year she has taught 132 sessions to people of all ages…they are all now successfully using computers. So if you're 19 – 90 (or older!) and have been wondering what the internet is all about, give us a call!
computer repair service - is now in its 3rd year of operation. Dave our IT technician is really quite clever!! If you’re having any probs with your laptops or PC’s – give Dave a call, if he can talk you through a problem he will, if not, he’ll repair your PC and extremely reasonable rates!
Our hall and rooms are available to hire privately, for parties, meetings and other functions. The cost is just £10 per hour.
Telephone: 01983 611913
Email: cora@theparkcentre.org.uk
Website: www.theparkcentre.org.uk
New Arts and Crafts Monthly Sale
A new addition to The Park Community Centre; Troublefields Arts & Crafts sale. These will be monthly affairs, showcasing top quality arts and crafts, bric-a-brac and more...no entry fee. From 12pm.
Sellers:
Some tables available: £8 each. Please call: 611913 for more info.
Ryde Audio Trail
Ryde Heritage Audio Trail was launched on Saturday 15 May 2010 at St Thomas Heritage Centre, St Thomas Street, Ryde
Members of the Ryde Social Heritage Group worked with Living Links for two years to produce this exciting project.
Living Links is a three year Heritage Lottery funded project to help local communities across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight celebrate their stories. The project is supported by the Isle of Wight Record Office and Hampshire Archives Trust. The project has provided support to local community groups by delivering Archive Ambassador training across the region and has also funded a number of creative projects including the Ryde Heritage Audio Trail.
Ryde Heritage Audio Trail is a guided walk around Ryde, starting at Lind Street, going to St Thomas Square, down Union Street to the Pier, along the Esplanade to the far end of the Canoe Lake, then back along the Esplanade and up St Thomas Street ending at St Thomas Church. To walk the whole trail it will take about two hours and we have designed it to be accessible to wheelchair and mobility scooter users.
Along the Trail there are seventeen stops where you will be able to listen to theaudio files on MP3 players or some mobile phones. All of the stops are illustrated with historic detail about the town which we have selected from archives and the audio files have been professionally produced by a company called ATS Heritage and sound fantastic!
You can down load the Ryde Audio Trail leaflet here and the MP3 Files here which can be saved to your computer
Historic Ryde Society
Historic Ryde Society formed in October 2009, to raise funds for a permanent heritage/visitor centre in central Ryde. Ryde Town Council has given us a generous grant which is providing valuable help with start-up costs and there has been considerable interest in the community.
We now have around thirty members and plan a recruitment drive in the Royal Victoria Arcade on Saturday May 29, 2010. We will have a small exhibition entitled ‘The Arcade in Pictures’ which will display photographs taken by all the Victorian photographers who had their Studio at Number 6, Royal Victoria Arcade in the second half of the 19th century. There will also be an opportunity for children to dress up and have photographs taken in a Victorian setting.
The website, www.historicrydesociety.com, has now been running for about three weeks, and we have already had more than 8000 hits! We have created several galleries with photographs, prints and newspaper cuttings from the past.
If you are interested in joining Historic Ryde Society, or learning more about what we are planning for Ryde, please contact Wayne Jones, Membership Secretary, at Framers, Union Street, Ryde, or go online where you can join via our paypal link.
We will have a stall in the arcade on May 29, between 10am and 4pm, and will host an Antique Fair in the Masonic Hall, John Street, on Sunday, July 4 from 10am till 4pm.
