Ventnor & District Local History History Articles from 2015
[Not all articles are fully listed here yet – this is work in progress]

A – E

Albert Street School 1: Victorian Schooldays [First published October 2015]
In the 1820s the Hadfield family started a Sunday school in a building in Albert Street to teach reading and writing to the poor people of Ventnor. In The first proper school was built in Albert Street in 1837; it cost £720, paid for by John Hambrough of Steephill Castle, who also appointed the Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress. Twenty years later Albert Hambrough contributed to the cost of rebuilding the school which opened in January 1880 as Ventnor National School.
Read the article here: Albert Street School 1: Victorian Schooldays 

Albert Street School 2: From 1901 to D-Day [First published October 2015]
Ventnor National School provided a free elementary education for the children of Ventnor. During WW2 the school was evacuated to The Rugen by Ventnor Park to avoid the bombing, returning to Albert street in 1944 .
Read the article here: Albert Street School 2: From 1901 to D Day

Albert Street School 3: The 1950s – the final years [First published October 2015]
By the 1950s the old school was no longer fit to be used, and in 1956 the Junior School moved to the building in Leeson Road that had been the Secondary School. Albert Street School closed for ever, and the building was demolished. One of the pupils summed up the move many years later: From outdoor toilets to sheer luxury – and we had a playing field, and swimming lessons at Sandown open air pool!
Read the article here: Albert Street School 3: The 1950s – the final years

Are You Being Served?  Sharpe’s Department Store – Part 1 [First published July 2015]
Sharpe’s department store in Ventnor High Street was established in the 1890s at Clarence Buildings, 16 and 18 High Street, later taking over the former Chocolate Shop at 20 High Street. In two articles Jenny Nigh (later Gardner) and Margaret Longbottom (later Davidson) recall working there in the 1960s, when they were teenagers, and the owners were Peter and Sybil White. In part one Jenny describes working in the store.
Read the article here: Are You Being Served: Sharpe’s Department Store – Part 1

Are You Being Served?  Sharpe’s Department Store – Part 2 [First published July 2015]
In part two of this story, Margaret Longbottom (later Davidson) recalls working in Sharpe’s in Ventnor in Ventnor the 1960s
Read the article here: Are You Being Served: Sharpe’s Department Store – Part 2

The Cascade, Ventnor [First published October 2015]

Coach, Horse and Slipper [ November 2015]

F – G

Far from Ventnor: John Frederick Bligh Livesay – Canadian Journalist [First published May 2015]

St John’s House – From Florist to Calves Foot Jelly [First published October 2015]

Furnishing your home: Sharpe’s in Spring Hill [First published December 2015]

Growing up in Whitwell: Part 1 – the 1930s [First published November 2015]

Growing up in Whitwell: Part 2 – the 1940s [First published November 2015]

H – N

Hillside Hotel Part 1: Origins and Ownership [First published April 2015]

Hillside Hotel Part 2: the Mitchells and later ownership [First published April 2015]

John (‘Jack’) Jenkins of the IOW Rifles [First published August 2015]

The Local Government of Ventnor [First published June 2015]

Longdown Infants Part 1 [First published August 2015]

Longdown Infants Part 2 – Coronation Day 1953 [First published September 2015]

Mark Norman – Geologist, Diarist, Politician, Fishmonger, Parent . . .

A New Harbour for Ventnor 1: 1863 – Ventnor Celebrates [First published July 2015]

A New Harbour for Ventnor 2: 1864 – Tugboat to Littlehampton [First published August 2015]

P – S

Pound Lane celebrates VJ-Day [First published August 2015]

School Days: Ventnor Secondary Modern School 1953-4 [First published July 2015]

Sharpe’s Christmas Bazaar – December 1909 [First published December 2015]

Shipwrecks 1: HMS Eurydice [First published April 2015]
The story of the wreck of HMS Euryice off Ventnor.
Read the article here: Shipwrecks 1 HMS Eurydice

Shipwrecks 2: The Clarendon [First published April 2015]

Shipwrecks 3: The Underley [First published May 2015]

T – V

A Tale of Two Shops 1: Trueman – Tailor and Hatter [First published September 2015]

A Tale of Two Shops 2: ‘Fitze Modes’ [First published September 2015]

Ventnor & Bonchurch Literary and Scientific Institution in 1910 [First published May 2015]

A Ventnor childhood in the 1880s  – Frederick Livesay Part 1 [First published November 2015]

A Ventnor childhood in the 1880s  – Frederick Livesay Part 2 [November 2015]

Ventnor Esplanade in the 1860s [First published February 2015]

Ventnor Families: The Field Family – Waving a Last Goodbye [First published March 2015]

Ventnor’s Fire Brigade from the 1920s [First published 1 October 2015]

W – Z

The Wednesday Junior Football Team [First published March 2015]

Were you there when the Pier re-opened in the summer of 1955? [First published May 2015]

Were you there when Ventnor was bombed? [First published June 2015]

A WW2 Childhood in Ventnor by Marigold Harding – Part 1: Home Life [First published June 2015]
Marigold Harding was ten when WW2 broke out.  Her family lived at the foot of Nine Stone Steps, where her father, builder Tom Harding, ran the ‘Trinity Works’.  This is the first of three articles using her memories of a wartime childhood in Ventnor, and mentions home and school life during the war, and Vivian Yorke’s part in the rescue of a Wellington Bomber crew adrift off Ventnor.
Read the article here:  A Ventnor Childhood in WW2 by Marigold Harding Part 1: Home Life

A WW2 Childhood in Ventnor by Marigold Harding – Part 2: Raids on Ventnor [First published June 2015]
Marigold Harding was ten when WW2 broke out.  Her family lived at the foot of Nine Stone Steps, where her father, builder Tom Harding, ran the ‘Trinity Works’.  This second  of three articles using her memories of a wartime childhood in Ventnor, and mentions home life and the disruption and damage caused by air raids at Ventnor, the fortifications on Ventnor beach to prevent invasion, and school days at Ryde High School.
Read the article here:  A Ventnor Childhood in WW2 by Marigold Harding Part 2: Raids over Ventnor

A WW2 Childhood in Ventnor by Marigold Harding – Part 3: In the Country [First published June 2015]
Marigold Harding was ten when WW2 broke out.  Her family lived at the foot of Nine Stone Steps, where her father, builder Tom Harding, ran the ‘Trinity Works’.  This is the final article  of three based on her memories of a wartime childhood in Ventnor. It mentions the family moving to the country (St Lawrence) to escape the Ventnor bombing, the anti-aircraft battery on the cliffs, using a  Morrison shelter in the home,  secondary school at Steephill Castle,  and D Day.
Read the article here:  A Ventnor Childhood in WW2 by Marigold Harding Part 3: In the Country