On the busy bank holiday Sunday, August 24, eight figures in pink high-vis vests and backpacks boarded trains at Rye Station to travel to Ashford and Hastings. Another Great Train Robbery? It was in fact a Great Train Giveaway.
To celebrate 200 years of the railways, 200 copies of The Station Poems, written by Rye Harbour Writers, were given away free to passengers.
Any trepidation felt by the pink-clad poets over offering their writing to a captive audience was soon dispelled. People’s enthusiasm was quite overwhelming and the books flew out like hot cakes: 200 were given out in just two hours of travel. From the young man who already wrote and loved poetry, to the little girl who asked what poetry was; the giveaway felt like a wonderful way to reach a great cross-section of society. At the same time it was a great way to celebrate 200 years of train travel, the railways and Rye itself.
The books were produced with a grant from Southern, which operates the Marshlink line, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first rail journey in 1825. The poems originally appeared as posters in the waiting room of Rye station and are now gathered in this elegant volume exploring themes of migration and departure in their broadest sense and the town of Rye.
The day also highlighted the Write on Track poetry competition, for both adults and children and everyone who received a book was encouraged to have a go themselves, even if they’d never written a poem before. Winning entries will be displayed as framed posters in the waiting room in a special exhibition in January of 2026.
This competition is open to all until the 31st October. Only online entries are accepted, please upload poems to: https://www.southeastcrp.org/write-on-track/
If you would like to read the poems, there will be copies in Rye library. If you’d like to hear them read by the poets there will be a reading from 7pm to 8pm on September 26 at St Mary’s Centre, next to the Kino cinema.
We would like to thank Southern Rail and Marshlink Community Rail line officer Paul Bromley for all their help in making this event possible.
Image Credits: Lenka Medlik .