It’s weekends like this one past that you realise what an incredible privilege it is to be mayor of your town.
On Friday 13 we attended a service at St Annes, Lewes, for judges, the magistracy and civic leaders, with a sermon from the wonderful Jonathan Meyer of St Thomas’ Winchelsea, reverend to the high sheriff of East Sussex. It was a delightful event to see everyone from the head of Sussex fire services, the chief constable, crown court judges and other mayors in full regalia – plus the lord lieutenant, deputy lieutenants and high sheriffs for both East and West Sussex.
On Saturday 14 along with Rebekah, Isabel Ryan and Alex Preston, we were the judges for the now international town criers competition. Sadly, due to cutbacks, Hastings dropped the event last year. But quick to see what a wonderful opportunity this is for Rye, I along with other local businesses and Rye Town Council sponsored the event in Rye. A few entrants were not able to attend for health reasons but we had 12 criers from far and wide and it was a very close thing indeed. Our winner came from Belgium with his incredibly well-dressed consort. The judges’ choice was the crier from Lewes who gave a good all round performance. It was so nice to see a big crowd drawn to the event and when we paraded with Ryebellion Drummers through the town. I must say a very big thank you indeed to Paul Goring our town crier for organising this, no mean feat when it was the town’s first one; and to Arabella our deputy crier, plus John Bartholomew, former town crier of Hastings for all their help – not to mention all the staff at the town hall for all their endeavours.
Equally, on Sunday 15 we welcomed the annual car cruise of fifties and vintage cars. It truly was a joy this weekend to see town criers in full regalia alongside those in their 50s outfits wondering around town. And there were well over 1,000 spectators lining the streets of Rye to watch the cars cruise past. If every one of them bought a cup of tea, a glass of beer, or a memento from the shops, it shows what a great credit this is to the economy of the town. Well done to Robin and Phil and everyone else in your team for making this happen.
I also had an informal meeting about the Landgate this week with interested parties, to consider how we can best look after this ancient monument. I attended Rye Museum to hear a fascinating talk about Sir Reginald Blomfield, great grandfather of the speaker, Isabel Ryan, which was incredibly interesting. At the town council meeting this week we considered various subjects and heard from our county councillor about road repairs.
I am looking forward this week to attending the mayor of Lydd’s fundraising event at their go-karting track, and our very own mighty Wurlitzer’s silent movie night on Friday 20, tickets available from their website.
Finally, I am very pleased to see the swimming pool back open. I know there have been a couple of days this week where it has not been operational, but it is so important that we get in there and use it, otherwise it could be gone forever.
Image Credits: Kt Bruce , Rebekah Gilbert .