Today marks the 90th anniversary of the near destruction of Ryde Town Hall in a calamitous fire.
Fire broke out at Ryde Town Hall at around 13:00 on 6th June 1933, when the sun’s rays are thought to have overheated the zinc roofing.
The town sergeant Frank Barrett and his assistant Archie Rann attempted to extinguish the flames with a fire extinguisher, but the water pressure proved insufficient.
Ryde Fire Brigade arrived at the Town Hall at around 13:15 but were unable to beat back the flames. At 13:30, the Sandown and Newport Fire Brigades were summoned to provide assistance.
By 15:30, the battle had turned in the firemen’s favour, although 2 firemen had come close to being trapped in the burning part of the building. The Town Hall continued smouldering until 09:00 the following morning.
The fire had left a trail of destruction in its wake. The Town Hall organ – presented to Ryde Town Council to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 – was completely destroyed. 2 valuable marine paintings were damaged beyond repair.
However, the corporation silver was salvaged, as were numerous volumes of books and exhibits from the library, including an Egyptian mummy.
After the blaze, the fire brigades were praised for the magnificent manner in which they had tackled the conflagration together with members of public and the unemployed, who had rushed into the building to save the books and artefacts of the museum from destruction.
The scene was captured by a photographer on board an aircraft that happened to be flying overhead when the blaze broke out.
That is a very impressive aerial photo of the fire, especially when you consider it was 90 years ago.
Probably taken from the roof of the Theatre Royal.
90 Years on the council have done a better job of destruction than the fire, very sad!
Yes and no. The IW council sold it to a private “developer” who has let it rot.
The scene was captured by a photographer on board an aircraft that happened to be flying overhead when the blaze broke out.
And I thought it was a drone 🙂