As the Met Office forecasts a scorcher for the early May Bank Holiday weekend, preparations for the weekend’s jazz festival in St Mary’s church in Rye were well under way on Thursday May 3, pausing only briefly for the 10am morning service.
The stage was set for Russell Watson’s sell out concert (Thursday May 3) with vans unloading loudspeakers and electrical equipment and the large stage already in place in the Norman church off Market Street, towering over Rye at the top of the historic citadel.
Later acts over the long weekend of concerts included Avery Sunshine, The Christians, Kyle Eastwood and Milos Karadaglic, and a few tickets were still left at Grammar School Records as Rye News went to press.
And St Mary’s was preparing for a busy weekend as Monday also features the morning civic service which forms part of the annual Mayor Making ceremonies.
The stage may have to be moved for this purpose, though St Mary’s has occasionally conducted services with a stage still in place – a possibility given the size of this historic church based on a Norman abbey.
The hot pennies ceremony at the Town Hall following the civic service dates from the 1951 pennies issued for inclusion in specimen cased sets for that year’s Festival of Britain.
Only 120,000 were issued, and pennies not in sets ordered for the Mayor Making in 1951 are now believed to be collectors’ items – and, it might be said, are hot property.
However, the heated coins thrown from the Town Hall windows on Monday will be of a much more recent date as the Town Council is hanging on tightly to the 165 pennies from 1951 that it has in its care.
The throwing of money from the Town Hall may date from Rye’s historic past since, as a “rotten borough” before electoral reforms were introduced, the very limited number of voters could be “bought” with drink or perhaps money – and the town at one time had two MPs.
However it may date from the time when Rye produced its own money and had a mint, still recorded in the street named The Mint. Who knows for certain?
Photo: Courtesy The Christians