AGM Feb 5th 2018
Freshwater & Totland Archive Group AGM Monday February 5th at Freshwater Library.
There was a good attendance at the meeting – around 40 people crammed into the Children’s Library room!
Linda Barnes, chairman, reported that the Group had a busy year with talks, displays, Quiz Trail for Isle of Wight Day and the launch of the latest publication ‘Hill Lodge’. Both this and the first book ‘Freshwater Reflections’, were still selling well.Looking to the year ahead, The Group hopes to participate in I.O.W. Day once more, possibly with a Quiz, based in, and about, Totland. There is also a book about Totland in progress. The main, immediate, concern is still the lack of space to store the thousands of items now in the Group’s collection.
The main officers agreed to stand again, Linda Barnes as Chairman, Pauline Tyrell as Secretary, Rose Stanley as Treasurer and Caroline Dudley as Minute Secretary.
After the meeting two members of the Archive Group gave talks about their respective family business’s.
Lois Cooper spoke about her father, Paul Cooper, who started when pharmacists made up their own ointments and developed photos. He worked in a Yarmouth pharmacy before opening his own chemist in Avenue Road in 1950’s until he retired in1979. On display were interesting items including an old pill counter and medicine bottles.
Janet Haire then told the story of how Hall’s Radio first began at a garage in Totland until it moved to Avenue Road Freshwater in 1950. Her mother and father joined the firm in 1954 when the family came to live on the Island, and it became Hall’s Radio-Vision Ltd.
Coincidentally, this was the year that BBC 1 became available on the Island via the Rowridge Transmitter. The business closed down in 1992. There were several items of memorabilia including Till Rolls and Wages Book from 1946.
Members of the public were also able to view a display of photographs of local shops from the past.
This was set up in the main part of the library creating an opportunity for discussion.
