Tuesday, December 11

Society's Christmas Celebration

Fifty members attended our Christmas Celebration on Friday 7 December, in the splendid setting of the Council Chamber at Rye Town Hall.


We were glad that Amber Rudd MP and Rye's Deputy Mayor, Bernadine Fiddimore, were able to join us.

Amber Rudd, John Griffiths (Rye Conservation Society Chairman) and Bernadine Fiddimore

Members enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with news and renew their memberships.  We all much appreciated the excellent buffet provided by Rae Festing, the good wine, organised by John Pope, and the fact that the Town Hall's central heating system was working well on a very chilly evening. Many thanks to all those involved in organising another successful Christmas Celebration.

The Society is planning events for 2013 and more information will follow in due course. We can already confirm the date for the 2013 AGM which will be Friday 12 April, 11.30 am at the Town Hall, followed by the annual lunch at The Mermaid Inn.

Thursday, September 20

Society's 40th anniversary

This year being the 40th anniversary of the founding of Rye Conservation Society, to commemorate the occasion we brought a speaker to the Rye Arts Festival.  Dr David Heathcote, a freelance historian and former academic,  gave a fascinating illustrated talk on  the history of The Shell County Guides to a packed audience at the Methodist Church on 18 September.  He described how John Betjeman and John Piper were involved in the earlier guides and then many different contributors became authors in recent times.

Dr David Heathcote
The audience was interested and amused to hear of the colourful backgrounds and histories of some of those involved.

Visit to Farnham, 11 September 2012

27 members of Rye Conservation Society visited Farnham on 11 September, with members of The Farnham Society as our hosts. We had coffee in the Council Chambers and an introductory talk on Farnham and The Farnham Society, which celebrated its centenary last year.  This was followed by a guided tour of Farnham, with one group escorted by the Town Crier.  We saw many interesting historic buildings in the town, many of them connected to hop-picking, a major industry in the past.  We visited the Victoria Garden, built on the site of the former open-air swimming baths to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

Farnham Town Crier sends his regards to Rye Town Crier

Victoria Garden
















Wednesday, June 27

Society's summer garden party, 24 June

We held our annual garden party on Sunday 24 June in Rae Festing's beautiful garden off the High Street, a real revelation to those who had not been there before. Who would have known that there was such a lovely spacious peaceful expanse of green just off Rye High Street? Over 50 people attended, some members and others visitors to Rye and all were very appreciative of the tea, cucumber sandwiches and cakes on offer. The Society's President, Sir Donald Sinden, was at the garden party; the oldest person there was over 100 (and apparently still plays golf) and the youngest was just a few weeks old.

 
John Griffiths, Chairman, and Sir Donald Sinden, President,  keep an eye on the cakes



We were lucky with the weather until the very end, when everyone had to take shelter.  Many thanks to Rae for her generous hospitality, and to all those involved in providing the delicious refreshments.

Sunday, May 27

Visit to Hastings Old Town, Jerwood Gallery and Burtons' St Leonards

On Friday 25 May, 32 Society members and guests enjoyed a beautiful sunny visit to old Hastings and to Burton's St Leonards.  Volunteers from the Old Hastings Preservation Society took us on a guided tour starting at the early 15th-century All Saints Church with the Doom over the chancel arch, rediscovered in 1870.   Members were delighted by the wide variety of beautiful historic buildings on All Saints Street.  



We had refreshments at the History House, base of the Preservation Society, and saw their fascinating display, and then went on to visit the new Jerwood Gallery where we had an introductory talk.

Monday, April 30

Rye Conservation Society 40th AGM

The fortieth Annual General Meeting of Rye Conservation Society took place on Friday 27 April at Rye Town Hall, attended by over 40 members.   Andrew Blyth and Jenny Lee stood down from the committee, Julian Luckett was appointed chairman of the Planning Committee and other officers were re-elected to their roles.

Awards for craftsmanship were made at the end of the meeting to Kevin Hughes for the restoration of stonework of the west window of St Mary's Church and to John Corley for the restoration of stained glass in the window.  Another award was given to John Pickering for the reroofing of St Anthony's, Church Square.  Finally, a highly commended award was given to John Sankey, the owner of the Hope Anchor Hotel, for the new signage at the hotel.

Kevin Hughes, John Corley and John Pickering 
38 members went on to the Society's Annual Lunch held at The Mermaid Inn, an occasion much enjoyed by all.



Tuesday, April 17

New Library fascia

We are delighted that, after representations from the Society itself,  from the Rye Observer and from many local residents, Rother Planning Committee has refused consent for the retrospective application from East Sussex County Council for the inappropriate fascia over the library and community help point.

We look forward to commenting on the revised application for the new signage when it is received.