For over 50 years Isle of Wight County Press editor Walter Sibbick wrote weekly column, An Islander's Notes, under the pen name Vectensis. 

The column began in 1921 and ran across more than 2,000 editions, ending in 1973.

Island historian and County Press heritage writer Alan Stroud’s new book is a compilation of those columns, accompanied by a large collection of photographs and illustrations.

Walter was born on the Island, spending his childhood in a cottage on the slopes of St George’s Down, and then at Bowcombe Farm, where he had an idyllic childhood immersed in nature and the ways of the countryside.

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His rural childhood never left him.

The hours he spent tickling trout in the streams of Clatterford, or helping with the harvest, or watching labourers practicing country skills, was to have a lasting effect on him, leaving him with a deep love of the countryside and an impressive knowledge of its ways.

A bus outside County Hall in 1965.A bus outside County Hall in 1965. (Image: Alan Stroud/County Press) His County Press column allowed him to pass on his outstanding knowledge of country ways.

Walter made his intentions clear from the outset: “My sole desire in this column is that of the proprietors and staff of the County Press – namely, to be helpful to the Island which we love, and to its kindly people.”

“It is an outstanding body of work,” says Alan.

County Press adverts from 1952 and 1965.County Press adverts from 1952 and 1965. (Image: Alan Stroud/County Press) An Islander's Notes, compiled by Alan Stroud.An Islander's Notes, compiled by Alan Stroud. (Image: Alan Stroud/County Press) “A huge and varied collection of local history and rural life unrecorded anywhere else.

“No topic of Island interest was out of bounds.

“Accounts of duels, farming practices, local characters, the changing face of the Island - all this and more appeared in his column.

Ventnor in 1966 and a drawbridge open in 1946.Ventnor in 1966 and a drawbridge open in 1946. (Image: Alan Stroud/County Press) “His love of the Island and its ways was clear to see, and his readers loved the column, contributing many stories and anecdotes themselves over the years.

“The book is a compendium of local history knowledge which has been recorded nowhere else.

“Island historians have a great deal to thank Walter Sibbick for.”

Cars on St Thomas' Square in 1929.Cars on St Thomas' Square in 1929. (Image: Alan Stroud/County Press) Available in the Island’s bookshops from late November, the book comprises 128 pages in A4 paperback and is priced at £14.95.

Signed copies are also available on eBay by searching An Islander’s Notes.