Chairman's Newsletter - January 2025
Wednesday 15th January 2025
Dear Members,
I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and I wish you a happy New Year.
The committee met at the beginning of this month to discuss the year ahead.
Our membership is increasing on a daily basis and we are very close to the ‘cap’ of 1200 members, agreed by Osborne House last year. Once we reach this figure, we will put the names of those wishing to join onto a waiting list. Members who allow their membership to lapse when we have reached our cap will go to the end of the waiting list.
We are planning events for 2025 and hope to run most of the old favourites, such as walks by Toby, talks in the Education Room and Christopher’s Hidden Osborne. However, we will have to reduce some of the events on offer as we need more committee members to help organise and run events. If anyone is new to the Island or new to Friends of Osborne and would be interested in getting involved, we would love to hear from you. We meet once a month and we are a friendly group. The more there are of us, the easier it is to share the workload.
We also would welcome anyone who is interested in becoming a trustee. There are five trustees and we are appointed for three years; being elected for another three years if we want to stand for a second term. The constitution states there must be a minimum of five trustees. After six years we must stand down and this will be done on a rotational basis. One can be a Trustee without holding one of the lead roles on the committee. At present it is only the position of Treasurer that must be held by a Trustee.
Please click here if you may be interested in finding out more about joining our committee or becoming a Trustee committeeandtrusteeswanted.pdf
We are in the process of putting a calendar of events together but are waiting for confirmation of dates from Osborne. We do however have one event arranged.
Visit to Buckingham Palace. 21st September 2025 £70 pp ( I see in last month’s newsletter I quoted £62pp!!)
One of the committee has been in touch with Opal Travel and organised a trip to Buckingham Palace. The trip includes:
- Return Coach & Ferry Travel (Opal are able to offer pick up points in Ryde, Brading, Sandown, Shanklin, Newport & East Cowes if required)
- Entrance to State Rooms at Buckingham Palace.
For sole use of the coach, Opal would require a minimum of 40 passengers. However, I will advertise this to Osborne staff and volunteers in the February newsletter, if there is not sufficient interest from members. This is open to all family and friends of FoO.
We ask for a non-refundable deposit of £10 per person at the time of booking and the final payment for this excursion would be 10th August 2025. Friends of Osborne need to have paid £400 deposit to Opal by mid-March.
Please click here for more details and booking form Friends of Osborne | Visit to Buckingham Palace
I hope many of you got the opportunity to see the two Christmas trees outside POQ, which were decorated and donated by FoO. They survived the storms and the decorations have been put away safely. We hope to do the same this year and are planning to have some Christmas craft sessions in October and November. Also Toby is thrilled with some new pots we purchased. See if you can spot them in the Walled Garden!
Osborne is only open at weekends from January to February half term, but members can book a guided tour of the house.
Wishing you a happy, healthy New Year.
Best wishes
Allison Rogers