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.

Meetings  2026

Notes of Society Open Meeting held on 29 May 2026 (PDF)

Date                    Speaker(s) and title of the talk
30 Jan 2026:     Ventnor History Quiz Night
27 Mar 2026:     Society AGM
24 April 2026:   Mick Pye: The History of St Catherine’s Home and School
29 May 2026:    Open Discussion/Consultation: The Future of the VDLHS
26 June 2026:    Andy Butler and Alan Clark: Ventnor and District, The Early Years – part 1
31 July 2026:     Andy Butler and Alan Clark: Ventnor and District, The Early Years – part 2
25 Sept 2026:     Lesley Telford: How We Used to Live: memories of life in the last century  


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 2025:    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:
No meeting in December