EACH week we look back at Isle of Wight history and heritage, using the Isle of Wight County Press Archive.For more, please see the Isle of Wight County Press newspaper, every Friday.Search for your own stories by accessing our archive here.

25 years ago: The IW Steam Railway, Havenstreet, was voted the best independent railway in the country.
Presented by the Association of Railway Preservation Societies, the award recognised only the most outstanding contributions to railway preservation in the UK.

100 Years Ago
February 3, 1917

DESPITE the end of the war being nowhere in sight, the IW County Teachers’ Association was planning to prepare future generations for what would be a more competitive post-war society.
Mr Hallas, headmaster at Grange Road Council School, East Cowes, said a "serious blow had been struck at educational efficiency" by the war the government would need to reinvest and reinvent the school system.

75 Years Ago
February 7, 1942

The number of entries for Ryde Warship Week slogan competition was sarcastically deemed "satisfactory" and a winner was announced.
Mr Richards, of Haylands, won the prize of a savings certificate for his catchy, if a little baffling, slogan, "More warships, less hardships".
In a close second place was "One mite given, one rivet driven", from Mr Keeling, of Ryde.

50 Years Ago
January 28, 1967

Countless sea birds died as the result of a 15-mile long oil slick in The English Channel.
The slick drifted on to the north-east coast of the Island, wreaking havoc with wildlife.
Worst hit was Ryde and around 50 to 60 lorry loads of oil and sand were carted away in the clean-up operation.
The oil was thought to have come from the 2,155-ton East German freighter which beached on the Mother Bank three weeks earlier.

25 Years Ago
January 31, 1992

A Ryde man turned midwife as he delivered his baby son in the front seat of a car on the way to hospital.
With freezing temperatures outside, Mr Steven Rock kept his cool when wife Susan decided there was no way they would arrive at St Mary’s Hospital in
time.
Sidney Rock, 7lbs 11½oz was born at the deserted roadside of Lushington Hill, Wootton, at 4am.

10 Years Ago
February 2, 2007

Shop and office workers were evacuated when a woman in her 80s took a
live hand grenade out of her bag and handed it to an officer at Newport Police Station.
The pensioner was apparently oblivious to the nature of the First World War explosive.
An army bomb disposal unit was called and the grenade was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

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