Our project continues to build momentum and catch the attention and interest of local people.

• Our membership now stands at 68 members
• We have weekly committee meetings and regular meetings and work groups with the membership.

This is what has been happening over the past three months.

MARCH
• There was frantic activity in March leading up to the Project and New Website launch on 21st March.
• In addition to the 400 records transferred from the old website an additional 300 records were uploaded by volunteers ready for the website launch.
• Our web designers continued to work with us up to and after the launch, fine tuning the web site to make easily accessible and user friendly.
• Display material was produced, proof read, printed and laminated in readiness for the exhibition.
• On 21st March 14 members helped to set up the exhibition display, set out the chairs and served refreshments. 150 members of the public turned up to listen to the talks and to see the exhibition. Sally-Ann introduced the project and the LHI funding, Roy Brinton gave an illustrated talk about some of the people who influenced the development of the town and Matthew made a presentation to launch the new web site. Afterwards people stayed on to look at the display material and to talk to members of the group.
• As a result of the Launch evening we gained 18 more new members and received over £130 in donations.
• David Earle has continued with the mapping project.

APRIL
• We ordered the display cabinet to be erected in the cemetery for the interpretation board.
• We have arranged for delivery of the cabinet, and installation to be given as in-kind support from two local companies.
• Within the first 18 days of the web site being launched it had just over 8.000 hits, 1448 pages were viewed and there were 242 unique (i.e. individual) visitors.
• Due to the increasing growth in membership the idea of forming sub/work groups was put forward.
• The group of students from Ryde School continues to record inscriptions from the cemetery as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
• As a result of the Project Launch the group has been asked to participate in Adult Learners Week in May, Ryde History Week also in May, Schools’ Activities Week in July and Ryde Arts Festival also in July.
• Sally-Ann and Janette attended the inaugural meeting of the Friends of Old Kingston Cemetery in East Cowes. This group has received LHI funding recently for a similar project and we believe our two groups can work together and share ideas for mutual benefit.
• 29 April Sally-Ann lead a guided cemetery walk for the benefit of RSHG members.

MAY
• During the whole month of April the web site had received 100,209 hits from 3,700 individual users. Most of our referrals are coming from the Isle of Wight Family History Society (IWHFS) website.
• An article about RSHG appeared on the front cover the Isle of Wight Family History Society journal.
• Our web designers continued to support us, making amendments and improvements to the web site.
• We purchased a copy of Macromedia “Contribute” so that we can add more pages to the website without having to ask the web designers to do it for us.
• We have continued to try and set up meetings with the Friends of Ryde Cemetery and the Isle of Wight Council to see if there are ways we can all work together for mutual benefit, but so far our requests have met with little response, and no definite date for a meeting has been set.
• On Saturday 20th May, Sally-Ann and Carol Strong lead a Family History Research workshop for anyone interested in starting to research their family history. The session was attended by 12 people, including one new member of the RSHG, and was a great success. The attendees want more such workshops, with opportunities to be shown how to find information on the Internet.
• Also on Saturday 20th May Janette lead the first workgroup in transcribing inscriptions in the cemetery. It was a fairly chilly day but 5 volunteers turned up and spent an hour and a half working in the cemetery.
• Monday 22nd May - Sally-Ann, Matthew, Janette, David and Micki set up the RSHG exhibition display in the Old Post Office shop in Union Street for Ryde History Week. The display was open to the public from Tuesday 23rd to Saturday 27th May inclusive and about 400 members of the public viewed the exhibition and shared some stories and information with the group.
• On Tuesday 23rd May Sally-Ann gave a guided cemetery walk in the evening, it was a cold evening but 5 people attended and they all said they found it interesting and informative.
• Wednesday 24th May another planned cemetery walk had to be cancelled due to rain and cold.
• However, on Friday 26th May the final guided cemetery walk was attended by nearly 50 people! We had intended for the group to be no larger than 15 people. We split the group in two and Sally-Ann lead one group in one direction and Janette lead the other group in the other direction. Despite the large numbers of people everyone said they enjoyed the walk and found it very interesting. Many asked if we would be doing more guided walks in the future.
• Saturday 27th May, the final day of the exhibition followed by breaking down and packing away the display materials for future use.
• Sub groups have been formed for those interested becoming involved in specific areas of our work. The sub groups are: Mapping Group, Transcription Group, Publications Group and Natural History Group. Other groups will be established in the future.