As a thank you to the stewards at this year’s Rye Arts Festival, their organiser-in-chief, Jane Conlin, threw a party at her home. With guests assembled and hospitality embracing all, she gave her welcome and thanks, but there followed the bombshell: the blue sashes traditionally worn by stewards will be discarded next year and the dignity of office will be denoted by a lapel badge. There were gasps of horror or was it relief, who could tell or count? Any sense of regret was quickly dispersed as festival chairman Mike Eve rose to add his vote of thanks.
“How did the festival go?” In reply to his own question, he continued: “It was highly rated by our customers in terms of content and performance. 4,500 tickets were sold across the various events and venues. Choice of top quality performance would be hard to select, but I would go for the two brilliantly performed operas, for prize-winning pianist Zu Yin Huang, the Wihan Quarter, the theatrical For All Time and Martin Wimbush’s Meeting of Minds”.
He paid tribute to those trustees and committee members who had made the festival a success, particularly Catty Bingham and Peter Mackenzie-Smith who had done so much but were now retiring. We all raised a glass to Rye Arts Festival 2017 and enjoyed the rest of the party.
Photo: Jane Conlin