Sir George Zambellas, the newly-installed lord warden of the Cinque Ports, spent some time this week visiting the five head ports, two ancient towns and seven limbs that comprise the membership of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports: Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, New Romney, Hythe, Rye, Winchelsea, Deal, Ramsgate, Folkestone, Faversham, Margate, Lydd and Tenterden.
On Monday, November 4, as he stepped out of his car at the town hall in Rye, he was greeted with a flurry of “Welcome, lord warden,” to which he replied, “Just call me George.” He had a ready smile and was genuinely interested in everyone’s story as he went from venue to venue in the town. The lord warden was accompanied by his wife, Amanda, and his flag lieutenant, Lt. Alex Firth RN.
Paul Goring, our well-loved town crier, gave his very Rye welcoming cry and George and Amanda were delighted. A brief time was spent at the town hall with the mayor of Rye Councillor Andy Stuart, the deputy mayor, Councillor Chris Hoggart, the Rye Cinque Ports champion, Councillor Rebekah Gilbert, the mayor’s chaplain, the Reverend Paul White – and town hall personnel. There was much discussion about the sheer size of the town’s maces which are some of the biggest in the country and very heavy. The day was masterminded by Richard Farhall and Jessica Neame from the town hall and flowed seamlessly. What was apparent was that there was not enough time to showcase all of our wonderful town and George and Amanda are already making plans to return to spend longer here in Rye.
The town crier escorted the party to St Mary’s and they ascended the tower, all eighty-four steps, where at the top Colonel Anthony Kimber explained some of the history of the town. George and Amanda asked many questions and there was always someone on hand to answer their queries.
Next stop was the heritage centre where Simon Parsons, the centre’s manager, greeted the lord warden who he introduced to the volunteers who do a wonderful job there and give up so much of their time. The party watched the Rye model light and sound show and the history of Rye came alive. This was one of the highlights of the visit.
Then, just a short walk away, the Mermaid Inn had laid on a splendid afternoon tea which gave everyone a chance for more conversations and a welcome stop before our guests had to leave for the third visit of their day, to another Cinque Port. Before afternoon tea George thanked everyone for making the trip so enjoyable and promised to return. The mayor replied that the town of Rye had been honoured by the visit of Sir George and Lady Amanda.
Mayor Andy Stuart commented: “It was a great honour to welcome Sir George to Rye on behalf of all our citizens. And it was fascinating to talk to him about a wide range of subjects including Wi-Fi-controlled and new AI enhanced torpedoes, Dorset knobs and his hobby of paramotoring – flying a parachute with a motor strapped to one’s back 2,000 feet above the ground at a sedate 25mph! It was also exciting to hear how he is keen to work with all the towns to make the Cinque Ports Confederation more relevant to the modern world, and not just about pageantry. Incidentally, Dorset knobs are often available in Rye Deli.”
Image Credits: Kt bruce .
While I had the huge honour of welcoming Sir George… sorry, George, ro Rye I have to say how lucky we are to have Kt Bruce putting it all into words, and creating an amazing photographic record of this and so many other Rye events!