On Saturday, December 6, Mother Christmas, aka Sally Bayly Duvoisin and her five Rye elves helped bring cheer to locals in Rye. The idea was to take gifts which were donated by the elves, the Rye Deli, Rye Health food shop, Dominic Manning (home made mince meat) the Music Trading Co, Isabel Ryan, Brenda Baker, Jo Petley, Andy Guiananiere, Jenny Armitage, Audrey Marchant and many other generous people.
Niki Stuart and Andy Stuart were happy to organise the community bus (the elf bus), collect the donations and the elves, and drive everyone to Eagle Road, Valley Park, Tilling Green, the High Street and others. No doubt there were many more people living alone wondering how Christmas would be for them but time was a constraint on all the elves.
Sally Bayly Duvoisin gave us the words of a song to perform when the person opened the door, “Here comes Christmas…”. Mark Blanchard, Chris Jarratt, Paul O’Brian (musicians and friends of Michel, Sally’s late husband) were the genius of that catchy tune. Did the elf group sing in harmony? Well sometimes yes, sometimes there was too much laughter. The song can be heard on YouTube entitled “Here comes a Christmas Song”. The film is by Michele Copp, introduced by local singer Sally Bayly.
The many smiles of the recipients were worth the day trip, as can be seen in the pictures. The elves, Niki, Andy, Dena, Graham, Heidi and Mother Christmas Sally, who had the original idea, all enjoyed the venture, spreading a bit of joy. Sally plans to make this an annual event and hopes more people will get on board, no voice training required. Thank you to everyone involved this year.
Image Credits: Heidi Foster , Niki Stuart , Sally Bayly , Dena Ellis .
What a lovely thing to do and I must say a great Christmas Song!
Also, big thanks to Rye Conservation Society, which donated a bottle of wine to the gifts!