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 £4.00). There no meetings in August or December.

Forthcoming Meetings

Date                    Speaker(s) and title of the talk
24 April 2026:  Mick Pye: The History of St Catherine’s Home and School

Meetings held 2025:
28 Feb 2025:     Jo Thornton and Steve Berden The Lost Houses of the Undercliff
28 Mar 2025:    Society AGM
25 April 2025:   Andy Butler and Alan Clark – Do you remember? Part 3: An Isle of Wight Scrapbook, 1970 to the Present
30 May 202
5:    Dr Jeffrey Mazo – Ventnor in Old Maps (Part two)
27 June 2025:    Meeting cancelled
25 July 2025:     Mark Earp – The Isle of Wight Women’s Movement
No meeting in August
26 Sept 2025:    Paul Thompson – An update on the story of the 1943 German Kommando raid on RAF St Lawrence
31 Oct 2025:     
Andy Butler and Alan Clark – Remembering the 1970s
28 Nov 2025:    Speaker to be confirmed
No meeting in December


Exhibitions, stories, images . . .

Ventnor Bay in the 1890s

The spectacular sight of Ventnor's ascending terraces in the early 1890s, as viewed from the pierhead. Bathing machines are lined up along the water's edge for this was a time when it was forbidden to enter the sea any other way. Machines were hired along with an attendant and a costume, the ladies segregated at some distance from the gentlemen.  

Sidebar