Songmaps Rye 2026 began its programme of free adult writing workshops on the spring equinox, when a group of participants walked the banks of the Tillingham before writing about their individual relationships with the river.
“This is such an exciting project,” facilitator SC Morgan told us. “It is organised by Strongback Productions and funded by Arts Council England, the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and the Chalk Cliff Trust. We are able to offer a series of free workshops for local people in which we can get to know our local rivers better and experiment with writing exercises to share that experience.”
The workshops take the form of a mindful walk along the riverside followed by discussions and creative writing. “We had a mix of people,” Morgan went on. “Some were experienced, others had never tried creative writing before, but even in the single morning we had together, the quality of writing was impressive.”
Participants had time to talk about their memories of rivers, to think about the roles the river plays in creating wildlife habitats and to consider how we are treating our waterways. “The level of feeling generated was extraordinarily strong,” Morgan said. “People expressed a mix of grief for the loss of clean rivers and real anger that current levels of pollution should have been allowed to happen across the country.”
“Our rivers give us life,” one participant said. “If we disrespect our rivers and our environment we disrespect and harm ourselves.”
“Rivers are being abused and polluted by local sewage works so regularly it is becoming the norm,” another said. “An awareness campaign, naming and shaming those responsible, and scientific evidence of environmental damage are needed to back up a call for stricter penalties and protection.”
A third writer explored how our relationships with the river are unequal. “Oddly the most important thing I learnt was about local development and the river – how, when building new housing in Rye close to the Tillingham, we choose to turn our backs on it, looking inward to our own atomised lives, ignoring and neglecting the life of the river. This very action is symbolic of our attitude to our rivers. What we ignore and neglect, we no longer value. We exploit our river mercilessly but we might choose to become partners with it in a different way. Our relationship is symbiotic. We need to relearn from nature how symbiotic mutualism can work for rivers and humans.”
There will be further workshops, at Tilling Green Community Centre and at Rye Harbour Discovery Centre and the organisers are eager to extend invitations to Tilling Green and Rye Harbour residents. “The Rother, the Brede and the Tillingham are our Rye rivers,” Morgan continued. ”We want local people to have a chance to write about their feelings and experiences, so I hope they’ll book a place and come along.” A curated collection of these poems and pieces of prose will be included in a book Riversong, which will be published in the autumn.
There are still free places available on 5 June at Tilling Green and 3 July at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. The workshops include a one-hour walk by the river followed by two hours of fun and relaxed creative writing exercises. If you’d like to attend, email Morgan at avocetgallery@gmail.com to book a spot.
Image Credits: Gillian Roder .