The primary new display remembers the life and work of Kevin Garlick, shoemaker to stars of stage and screen, who passed away in 2024. He had a workshop on Ventnor High Street. From these unassuming premises, he handcrafted boots and shoes for all manner of productions, as well as for re-enactments. Following his death, Society members were granted access to remove a selection of the tools and fabrics of his trade and then to present them in the Heritage Centre. A stage-set re-creates the flavour of his workshop and a board display reveals how it looked if you were lucky enough to actually have visited him.

This year there is a new display that records 150 years of shopping in Ventnor, with images and stories of the stores that could be found on Ventnor’s main streets from the 1870s through until today.  There is also a separate new display of store bill-heads, where visitors will find a fine selection of the many examples that are held in the main archive. These were invariably bill-heads used to inform account customers of what they owed, rendered normally on a monthly or quarterly basis. The striking thing is that many are colour printed and some are highly artistic.

The main Ventnor narrative (the story of the development of the town from 1830) has also been extensively revised this year to make it more thematic. So, for example, there is a long series of A3 sheets depicting the great variety of venues where visitors were able to stay, including the vast range of boarding houses or guest houses that were once found in the resort.

Last year’s Olivia exhibition has been relocated and revised for this year, including a picture of the new gravestone that Olivia’s great nephew unveiled in September last year. Olivia’s close family had all emigrated to Canada more than 100 years ago, settling in Vancouver. If you have not visited us for some time, you will also be able to see the fine model of Olivia’s beach hut home (Britannia’s Hut) that is the main window feature. We still have stocks of the book about Olivia that was published last August, price £9.95, or available for £12.80 (postage included) from our online shop .