Victorian Society honours founders Peter and Ruth Kelly at 50th anniversary lunch

The founders of the Isle of Man Victorian Society, Peter and Ruth Kelly, have been honoured for 50 years of service at an anniversary lunch in Port Erin, according to Isle of Man Today.

The society’s chairman, Dave Martin, surprised the couple with an illuminated address near the close of a members’ lunch at the Falcon’s Nest Hotel earlier this month.

Formed in 1976 to campaign for the preservation of the island’s Victorian and Edwardian architecture, the society now counts more than 300 members.

The address, painted by Colleen Corlett, bears the society’s emblem: the head of the Jubilee Clock in Douglas. Mr Kelly said George W. Dumbell gave the clock to the town in 1887 for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Its hands are set at 11 o’clock, “symbolising the society’s efforts to save historic buildings, often at the 11th hour”, he said.

In the summer of 1976 Mr Kelly, then a 27-year-old Onchan historian, led a visiting group of Victorian Society members from England on a walking tour of Douglas. He and his wife later brought together four like-minded friends to suggest setting up a society on the island.

Mr Kelly will give a free public talk on the society’s history and work at the Manx Museum on Saturday 31 October at 14:30.