When George Clooney and his co-stars left Rye after filming scenes for their film, “The Monuments Men”, they also left a valuable gift to be donated to environmental projects in the town. Rother Environmental Group (Reg, as it’s affectionately known) received £4,000 to support its green objectives. So it decided to hold a competition in which projects would be judged on their feasibility and sustainability. The winners were announced at the group’s recent annual meeting. The outstanding project was Transition Rye’s Rx Energy, which was awarded £1,500 towards a new conservation co-operative venture for Rye.
“This opens the door to energy saving and energy generation, which could be worth £1million to the town and also, in the process, address the problems of fuel poverty,” said Mike Slavin, a committee member of Transition Rye, on accepting the award.
Reg chose to reward all the entrants, which means there will be new cycle stands in the town, a community garden – which is proposed for a site in Love Lane – and two energy champions will be trained to help residents reduce their energy consumption. Finally, Pett Level Preservation Trust will be creating interpretation boards as part of their renewal of Toot Rock.