A couple of Sundays ago, Friends of Frank James Hospital gathered at the former hospital in East Cowes to take stock of the three years of back-breaking work and celebrate the community spirit that has been sustained to help save this important piece of Isle of Wight heritage.
Absence of councillors
All 40 Isle of Wight councillors were invited to the gathering to see the work that had been carried out by volunteers over the past three years. OnTheWight understands that not one attended on the day.
Cllr Fuller was the only councillor courteous enough to send his apologies, whilst Cllr Hillard and Andrew Turner MP said they may drop by (but didn’t).
Thanks to volunteers
Following the anniversary gathering, founder of the Friends, Tanja Rebel said,
“A Big Thank You to all who came to our Anniversary on Sunday and a special thank you to Louise who made the lovely chocolate cake for the occasion! Several people who hadn’t been before came to look at the building, all concerned about its plight.
“Sadly, we could not tell them more than that we are still waiting from news from the Council… However, as we were lucky with the weather we got to do some more clearance.
“Also, Richard from Safesite came to look at what more can be done to secure the building and make it more weather proof. A special thank you to him as well! Without Safesite, the building would still have been open to the vandals. Now we just need to focus on getting those responsible to finally make the building flourish!”
Revised planning application
A fellow founder of the Friends, Steve Goodman, also said,
“The revised planning application has been submitted and advertised (online from Friday 13th); any new comments to be sent by 3rd April. Previous comments still count.
“A small token payment was made by the owners for the long overdue securing work done with Richard’s (Safesite) help; still no sign of the second payment promised months ago, despite polite reminders.
He went on to say,
“The good news is that grant money secured by Mandy from The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings will enable us to continue that work (more securing, and possibly reducing rainwater damage).
“The owners will eventually have to provide their own replacement panels.”
If you’d like to help out with clearing and securing the site, the next suggested gathering will be Saturday 21st March between 1:30-4pm.
Video and photos
Well done to Josh Aitken for pulling together this video for the work of volunteers over the past three years.
Thanks also to Steven St John for this photos from the day
Thanks also to Josh Aitken for these photos from the anniversary gathering
Article edit:
Changed next gathering from April to March
Images: © Josh Aitken and Steven St John
