Rye Conservation Society AGM 2013

The Society's 2013 Annual General Meeting will be held on Friday 12 April in the Council Chamber of Rye Town Hall, starting at 11.15am.  It will be followed by our Annual Lunch at The Mermaid Inn at 12.30.

A mailing will be going out to members over the next few days with the Annual Report and Accounts for 2012, the latest newsletter and information about the annual lunch.  We hope to see as many of you as possible at the AGM and lunch.

Winchelsea Conservation Society AGM

The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Winchelsea Conservation Society will be held on Saturday 27 April 2013 at 10 am in the Lower Court Hall, Winchelsea.

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.

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

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.

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.