In February, Rye Museum hosted its first ever talk via Zoom. The event, an hour with University of Sussex lecturer (and long time museum trustee) Geoffrey Mead, was a great success, drawing an audience of nearly fifty. That would be close to maximum capacity for physical meetings in the East Street building.
After many positive reactions from members, the museum has decided to continue hosting lectures by Zoom and to open them to the general public. Non-members will be charged a modest fee of £5 per event to help defray the cost of the speaker.
The next talk will be Thursday, March 11 at 7pm. Museum director Alan Dickinson will deliver “Rye Through Time: Commentary on old images of Rye and surroundings compared with modern photographs taken for a book published in 2011.” Those of us with a shelf full of Rye-themed books will be familiar with Alan’s many excellent published works exploring local history through photographs.
The latest government announcements indicate museums may be allowed to reopen as early as May. Rye Museum is anxious to reopen to visitors and we are planning for it now, but it’s likely to be much longer before talks can be held in person again. We will probably be hosting Zoom talks for the foreseeable future.
If you would like to attend the March lecture, send an email to info@ryemuseum.co.uk for instructions. Talks are free for museum members as a thank-you for sticking with us this year. It’s worth noting that membership is as low as £12 for an individual per year. If you think you might want to attend more than one talk, consider joining instead. Details on our website or by email.
Image Credits: Rye News library .