We were delighted to welcome four former members of the Ventnor Telephone Exchange team for a very special reunion recently.
Jenny Squibb, Arthur Niblett, Denise Wiggins and Maggie Gardiner returned to the old Ventnor Exchange in Church Street, where they spent a lovely time reminiscing about their working days, sharing photographs, laughter and plenty of wonderful stories.
IThe reunion was made even more special by three wonderful photographs showing the same four colleagues lined up together in 1971, 2001 and now 2026. The original photograph was taken on the final day of operation of the Isle of Wight's last manual telephone exchange in 1971. More than 50 years later, they've recreated that moment once again – a lovely reminder of friendships that have stood the test of time!
Despite the weather, the group also made time to visit our adopted red K6 telephone box, bringing together an important part of Ventnor's communications history with the Ventnor Calling project today.
A huge thank you to Jenny, Arthur, Denise and Maggie for sharing their memories and helping to keep this fascinating part of our town's history alive.
We're looking forward to sharing more of their stories and photographs in the coming weeks.
Watch this space – more to follow!
