Ventnor Heritage Centre

"To Collect, Record and preserve the rich heritage and history of Ventnor and surrounding villages, and share it with local and wider communities"

History Society Monthly Meetings |

History Society Monthly Meetings

We always look forward to seeing members (and visitors) at our regular monthly meetings, and the schedule for the first half of the coming year is given below.

Our speakers cover a wide range of topics focused on the history of Ventnor, the surrounding area, and the Isle of Wight. Meetings are very well attended, with often 50 people attending, and are held at the Yarborough Masonic Hall in Grove Road, Ventnor (just round the corner from the Heritage Centre).  All meetings start at 7.30 pm, and entry is free to members of the Society, while visitors are very welcome (visitor entrance fee £2.00). There no meetings in August or December.

Admission is free for members and £2 for non-members.

Meetings 2024 

Date                 Speaker(s) and title of the talk

26 Jan 2024:  Jeffrey Mazo Listening to the Enemy: Ventnor’s Wrens, Bletchley Park and the Secret War
23 Feb 2024:  Alan Clark The Island’s Unstable Coast
29 Mar 2024:  Society AGM
26 Apr 2024:   Andy Butler & Alan Clark Do you Remember? An Isle of Wight Scrapbook from 1950s to the Present Day (Part One)
31 May 2024:  Roger Silsbury (A look around the Undercliff in 1988)
28 Jun 2024:   Paul Kingswell Wanderings in the Isle of Wight – from Ventnor to St Lawrence
26 July 2024:  Mark Earp The Isle of Wight on Film & TV: Memories, Murder and Make-believe
August:  No meeting
27 Sept 2024:  Andy Butler & Alan Clark Do you Remember? An Isle of Wight Scrapbook from 1950s to the Present Day (Part Two)
25 Oct 2024:   Robin McInnes 250 Years of Undercliff Art
29 Nov 2024:  Paul Thompson RAF St Lawrence: An Archaeological Investigation
December:  No meeting

 


Exhibitions, stories, images . . .

Olivia: Portrait of a Life

Olivia Parkes (1881-1962) was born in Walsall in the Midlands, but for many years lived a solitary life in a wooden hut in Myrtle Bay in Ventnor, where local people referred to her as ‘Britannia’, and her life has been a constant source of fascination to local people and visitors. This new exhibition for 2024, inspired in part by the ‘Olivia’ art installation by Teresa Grimaldi and Sarah Vardy shown at Ventnor Fringe Festival in 2023, features a model of Olivia’s home (Britannia’s Hut) and is accompanied by an extensive board display. A new book, 'Britannia, The Extraordinary Life of Olivia Parkes' is available to buy in the Ventnor Heritage Centre, or by post from our Online Shop.  

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