The website of Ryde District Heritage Centre

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Historic Ryde Society's AGM will be held at Ryde Castle Hotel on Thursday, February 2nd, at 7pm. This will be followed by a talk - 'Ryde, a Regency Town', by Roger Whitby Smith. Raffle and refreshments. Members free, small charge for visitors. Membership renewals are due now. All welcome.

FREE House History Workshops - Richard Smout will lead two workshops to encourage you to embark on a journey of discovery..... on February 16th, and March 8th, from 7 - 9 pm. Booking essential. For more information, please call the Heritage Centre during opening hours - see below. For more information, click here.

Iris folding card making instruction available at the Heritage Centre. For more information, click here.

Raise funds for Ryde District Heritage Centre with easyfundraising! HRS page is here. By making easysearch your Homepage, you can raise funds at no cost to yourself.

Ryde District Heritage Centre

The Ryde town map display on the side wall

Ryde District Heritage Centre - Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, between 11am and 4pm. If you would like to help in any way, click here, or telephone 01983 717435. To find out more about the work of the Heritage Lottery Fund, click here.

Alan and Brian admire the completed Spit Jack, made by Woods & Co, Cross Street, Ryde, which has just been donated. Alan had a part to match that which was missing, in his shed, and Brian managed to get it up and running.....at great cost to his beauty sleep! We now have a very satisfying 'tick' in the basement! To learn more about the Spit, or Bottle Jack please click here. Ivan Day has allowed us to use the information on this wonderful website, which explains exactly how 'Jack' was used.

2012 marks several different anniversaries in Ryde. In July 1812 Ryde Pier Act was passed. This was the very start of the pier we have today, and marks the beginning of the expansion of Ryde. Vectis Hall, in Melville Street was opened as the National School in 1812, so we are now also marking 200 years of education in the town. If you have any old school photographs, we'd love to see them, and add them to our collection on the screen. We have photographs of Westwing School dating back to 1936, some of St John's, and Ryde Secondary Modern. Are you there? We also have another six videos on the screen, including recent clips of Ryde Carnival, and a short piece of the tram on Ryde pier. Come along and relive a few old memories!

It was a lucky day at the Hose, Rhodes, Dickson Auction Rooms in Brading as we brought the two Pier shelter brackets back to Ryde! These two brackets had been removed from the pier many years ago, and came up for auction recently. HRS was successful in the bid, and we're now trying to establish which part of the building is strong enough to support them! More information about the brackets can be found here.

RDHC is open between 11am and 4pm, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays throughout the winter months. Group/school visits can be arranged by appointment on Mondays and Fridays. Telephone 01983 717435 between 11am and 4pm for further information.

Royal Victorian Ryde 2012 - The Start of the Pier Show!

The weekend of 13th - 15th July 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the passing of Ryde Pier Act, 1812. Historic Ryde Society plans to mark this important date with 'The Start of the Pier Show' - look out for more information on the website in due course. If you would like to take part in this weekend celebration, which will mark the completion of the first phase of the Heritage Lottery funded project, please get in touch via the website, or Ryde District Heritage Centre, telephone 01983 717435. The photographic souvenir of the arcade's 175th anniversary celebrations last July is available for sale at RDHC, Splash or Collectors' Haven. Please go to the Events and Ryde District Heritage Centre Gallery pages to see more photographs.For a more comprehensive report of last July's celebration, click here.

Volunteers always welcome!

If you would like to help with Ryde District Heritage Centre, please call 01983 717435, between 11am and 3pm. More volunteers are always needed, as we hope to be open full time during the summer months. Volunteers receive full training, and we hope to recruit enough to have two or more on duty at all times.

The photograph shows part of the commercial Ryde display in the Heritage Centre. Many people are commenting on the old receipts and advertisements on display, which are evoking many memories of businesses long gone.