By Lucy Morgan Audience and Content Editor
East Dene in Bonchurch School trip getaway and wedding venue East Dene will close its gates for the final time on Friday - just shy of its 100 year anniversary. Its owners say they are devastated that some of the best staff in the world will lose their jobs. Built in 1824, and set in 10 acres of woodland, the mansion is a listed property, best known as a venue for school trips. It has also hosted scored of weddings and generations of Island schoolchildren. It was formerly the home of poet Algernon Swinburne. Its owners told the County Press that they had hoped to be able to reopen and host residential trips in 2021.