Chamber saved
Rye Chamber of Commerce is under new management. The organisation had been under threat of closure following the end of Jane Brook and Sarah Broadbent’s tenure as chair and vice-chair. A meeting at The Mermaid Inn on Wednesday 19 August thanked them for their hard work promoting both Rye and local businesses.
Members elected Nic Brown from NFU Mutual as chair and Clare De Jersey-Lowney as vice-chair. Rye News will have interviews with them both next week.
Vandalised
A Rye Harbour tribute to the men who died on the Mary Stanford Lifeboat has been vandalised. The RNLI Pebble Memorial was created to remember the 17 members of the crew who lost their lives during a storm in 1928.
On Monday 17 August it was discovered that a number of the pebbles had been removed, including one of the crew by a local artist.
The memorial, which stands next to the current lifeboat house, took over a year to create and is in the process of being renovated.
Cash boost for Heritage Centre
July’s Classic Car Show raised thousands for local charities, with Rye Heritage Centre set to benefit.
On Wednesday 29 July, at Cooden Beach Golf Club, the Rotary Club of Senlac St Leonards presented a share of this year’s car show profits.
President Colin Goldsack explained, “Sadly the weather was too perfect, it was so hot the footfall was well down. This means we don’t have so much money available, but we will still be making signification donations”. He thanked the organiser, Dave Miles, Chris Folley, who organised the stalls and catering, and all the Rotarians and volunteers who helped. “Without their work the show would not have gone on.”
Chris King accepted the donation on behalf of the Rye Heritage Centre.
The other good causes to benefit from the car show were Surviving Christmas, Hastings, and the Rotary Club’s own group, the Yellowmen who have been working in north-west Kenya for 25 years. Two other donations were made to Sidley Hub and Bexhill Boxing Club.
Museum events
Over the weekend of 15 and 16 August, visitors to Rye Castle Museum were treated to a medieval pottery demonstration by ceramicist Philip Warren.
As well as seeing pots being thrown on a reconstruction of a medieval potters’ wheel, visitors had the opportunity to look more closely at the museum’s medieval pottery collection and to handle some replica medieval pots. Philip, who has been working as part of the Lossenham Project researching the making and firing of medieval pottery, also demonstrated how decorated medieval floor tiles are believed to have been made. Over the course of the weekend 92 people dropped in to see the demonstration.
This follows a very successful gel printing workshop on 7 August at the museum, led by Shelley Gibbon of Ways of Seeing, using the museum’s pottery collection as inspiration to make paper stencils to create colourful prints.
Live music in Playden
Last Saturday 15 August saw the second Tequila Sunset event at The Old Dairy in Playden, with a day of live music, organised by local sound and lighting professional John Bryant, who has arranged sound, lighting and staging for Rye Jazz and Rye Arts Festival concerts taking place in St Mary’s Church.
Four bands played from 2pm to sunset including the Longshore Drifters playing country classics; The Diamond Project 1066 – performing a mix of ska, rocksteady and reggae; Lawrenson Mac playing tracks from the Indie, classic rock and Britpop; and blues and country rock band Midnight Riders.
This year the festival offered a bar with an extensive cocktail menu, rotisserie and pizza wagons, and there were picnic tables with parasols.
Next Saturday 22 August, the Backyard Family Festival, raising funds for The Sara Lee Trust, is taking place at the Rye Waterworks Brewery from 12.30pm to 8pm. There will be live music from On Your Marks, The Zircons, Hairy Jack, Freak Flag and Lizard, along with food and games. A free shuttle service is on offer from the Waterworks pub in Tower Street to the Waterworks brewery, run by the Rye Chauffeur. The Sare Lee Trust provide free therapy, counselling, and wellbeing support to local people affected by life-threatening illnesses. More details about the day can be found here.
Image Credits: Rye News , James Stewart , KT Bruce , Charlie Gould , Vicki Stenzhorn , Shelley Gibbon , Jeff Grice .