From Sam Turner, Sandown:

Rummaging through my loft recently, I came across some old copies of the IW Official Holiday Guide, produced by the IW Tourist Board.

A 1978 copy I found showed what a rich Island we had back then, with an abundance of hospitals, police stations, public libraries, newspapers and even several ‘authorities’.

We even had a fully-fledged tourist board.

We now have Visit IW and its website, but I doubt it could ever hold a candle to the old board.

Also back then our high streets were full of well-known companies such as Woolworths, etc, not forgetting local butchers and traders, plus banks everywhere you looked.

Sadly, since the 1970s, Britain, and the Island, has been diving into oblivion and this Holiday Guide spells it out in cold black and white, which my photocopy shows (see above).

Go back even further to remember our whole Island rail service

You could get to Sandown (where I live), or Brading to Newport in minutes, instead of an hour or hour and half by bus now.

What our country has lost in time will never come back and I fear the downwards journey will continue.