As the second lockdown turns briefly into a tiered system, with more shops open in the run-up to Christmas, shortly before families and others gather for a few days break, and a vaccine for tackling the Covid-19 pandemic gets approval for use, the Christmas lights go on in Rye – and (briefly) life seems more hopeful.
So I asked Nick Forman, one of our regular writers, to capture that moment (as he did above and below) but his name will feature less in Rye News as he will be managing the re-opening of the Rye Heritage Centre and hopefully the return of visitors, customers and activity to Rye’s streets.
This town relies on its volunteers for many things, both at times of crisis and more generally day by day – including these Christmas lights – and his contributions to Rye News will be missed.
But Rye’s big offering to visitors is its long history which the town model in the Heritage Centre captures, and as the years pass events which some of us can recall, like the second world war, are now “history” to young visitors – as they happened in the last century – and hopefully the Heritage Centre will go on capturing Rye’s history, past and more recent.
Rye and the surrounding area has recovered from past crises though, and the Christmas lights show that perhaps this current crisis will pass sooner than we may have thought – and felt.
Image Credits: Nick Forman .
Doesn’t the town look lovely and well done to all those who have made it possible! Wishing you Good Luck Nick with the opening of The Rye Heritage Centre and your writing will be sorely missed! Here’s hoping that you still may have time to write the odd article or two!