Bringing the Past to Life

Preserving and animating the heritage of Freshwater and Totland, Janet Haire from the West Wight Heritage Centre shares some insights into four of the fascinating characters that lived in the area 

The Freshwater & Totland Archive Group was formed in 2010 by a small collective of local enthusiasts. The aim was to establish, share and preserve the rich local histories of Freshwater and Totland and to encourage interest in local heritage by creating an easily accessible archive open to all. 

Its first home was Freshwater Library, but it soon out-grew the space so it was moved to a room in the Memorial Hall. The opportunity for a more permanent home arose when business premises nearby became vacant, and the Freshwater Parish Council generously took on the lease and paid the rent for a couple of years. This became the West Wight Heritage Centre in September 2020. 

Now visitors can call in and browse the displays, ask the volunteers questions, order photographs and make donations of material. The Centre is manned by members of the group and volunteers and is open most mornings during the week. Using information gathered over the years, the group has published three books about the area that have been extremely popular, Freshwater Reflections; I Remember Hill Lodge Freshwater; and Totland Reflections. 

Giving you a taste of what can be found in the West Wight Heritage Centre, the personalities featured here are just four out of many hundreds of wonderful characters whose lives influenced local life in some way. 

ERIC FRANK TOOGOOD (1914 – 2002)

Eric was not only a much loved and respected businessman, but a keen photographer and author too. 

He was born in Malta when his father was in the Army but had family connections in the Isle of Wight. When he returned to the UK, he was educated in Aldershot but often visited his Aunt Ethel and Uncle Charles Bound who farmed at Holly Farm in Norton. On leaving school he studied pharmacy but was unable to complete the course due to illness. 

After the war he went into business with Bill Tate in Freshwater when he opened a pharmacy that became known as West Wight Drug Store. He met his wife Joan whilst on holiday in Yarmouth, marrying in 1952 and they had a daughter Angela. He was a founder member of the West Wight Rotary Club and a County Councillor for a while, never claiming his expenses. 

In later years he opened his own shop in Freshwater, calling it Eric Toogood Photographic. He had a wonderful sense of humour which went down well at his many illustrated talks. When he retired he wrote two books full of local photos and memories, The West Wight Remembered, and More Memories of West Wight, now both collector’s items. 

LADY AUDREY TENNYSON (1854-1916)

In 1884, Audrey Georgiana Florence Boyle became the first wife of Hallam, son of Alfred Lord Tennyson. At the outbreak of the war in August of 1914, Mr Duncan, owner of Afton Lodge in Freshwater, offered it to Lord Tennyson, to do what he thought best with it. Lady Tennyson already had experience of setting up South Australia's first maternity hospital so claimed it as a military hospital, to be worked under the War Office, with her as Lady Superintendent.

Freshwater Voluntary Aid Detachment prepared it and managed to enlist the help of some male recruits from Yarmouth and Freshwater. It was hoped that the hospital would be able to accommodate 21 wounded; five of the beds would be available for local cases and the rest for wounded and sick soldiers from the Front and supported by 18 stretcher bearers. 

The first patients arrived on Sunday, 30 August 1914. The hospital closed on 30 June 1919, having treated 2109 patients. It had doubled the number of beds from 20 to 40 by the time it closed. 

Lady Audrey is said to have run the hospital with conspicuous success during the first two years of the war, but she passed away from pneumonia in December 1916. 

In 1963 Afton Lodge was split into five separate flats, as it is today. 

SUSAN CULLIFORD (1856 -1934) 

Susan came from Lymington to live on the Island in 1885 (when Totland was only just being developed) to take over a draper's shop in The Broadway, Totland. Soon her name was synonymous with quality. Her shop was advertised as 'silk merchant and draper, ladies' costumiere and milliner’. In 1907 she had a new shop built further up the road called Vectis House where business thrived. In the 1901 census it lists seven live-in female staff. 

Besides working hard in the business, she was involved with many aspects of life around the district. She founded a branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association and later became a Deaconess at Colwell Baptist Church. She was held in high esteem and on retiring, due to her failing health in 1927, some of her customers presented her with an attaché case, crocodile handbag and illuminated scroll listing their names. She died in 1934, with her niece Isabel Life taking care of her in her final years. 

The business continued under new ownership and was then sold again in 1939 to the Guy family from Salisbury. Over the next few years they purchased other clothes shops, one being Packs in Ryde. The five shops were rebranded as Pack and Culliford. They gradually closed, firstly Totland in 1978 and finally Ryde in 1987. 

JOHN DOVER (1862-1948) 

John was just 24 years old when he moved from Buckinghamshire to Totland in 1886 for his health. The doctors had given him just two years to live as his epilepsy had been a concern all his life. However, his hobby of weather recording and the influence of the Island’s climate helped to keep him alive until he was 86. 

His house was specifically designed for him and his family, by local architect William Waterhouse. It was called Aston House on Church Hill and had ten bedrooms, a big garden with a croquet lawn and tennis courts. The turret feature was used as his meteorological station, where he kept records for over 60 years and was the I.O.W. official recorder. In appreciation for his voluntary service, the Meteorological 

Office presented him with a special aneroid barometer in 1940. His weather records proved to be extremely useful for the D-day landing plans in 1944. John was also very interested in local affairs and became the first ever chairman of Totland Parish Council in 1894, when it became a Civil Parish in its own right. He was also a sidesmanat Christ Church, Totland, and was keen on the preservation of footpaths. Aston House has now been converted into flats. 

So, what of the future for West Wight Heritage Centre? Plans include digitising material, recording oral memories, organising reminiscence walks, developing the website, increasing the involvement with local schools and training more volunteers to promote the value of local history. However, all ambitions are reliant on whether the position at the Centre can be sustained.

Last year the Archive Group took on the lease of the property, and despite receiving small donations and organising fund raising events such as talks and quizzes, it is increasingly difficult to meet the expenses. It is feared that time at the Centre might be limited and somewhere else may need to be found to store the valuable collection of irreplaceable archives. The members are extremely dedicated and have worked hard to build up this valuable collection, and it is believed that with community support the West Wight Heritage Centre could continue to flourish. If you can offer help or advice, please do get in contact. 

www.fatag.co.uk 

westwightheritage@hotmail.com 

West Wight Heritage CentreAvenue Road, Freshwater, PO40 9UU