Open for business
The Rye Youth Zone officially starts this weekend at the Tilling Green Community Centre. Run by local volunteers the new youth club aims to make a difference to the lives of young people by offering a place to make friends, have fun, get support, learn and join in activities.
It’s for 11 – 17 year olds and the first weekly Saturday Club begins on February 22 from 4pm – 6pm at Tilling Green Community Centre.
Parents need to register their young people on or before the day – the club isn’t a drop-in. You can register here. The Rye Youth Zone will eventually be based at Rye and District Youth Club, in Mermaid Street.
A successful search
Tuesday, February 18 saw the Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat involved in the search for two missing children on the beach near Camber. A call from UK Coastguard came in just after 2pm with the volunteer team briefed and launched from the boathouse within 20 minutes.
Jo O’Hara from PLIRB says the crew was quickly on the scene. “The call involved two children who had gone missing between the east side of the river Rother and Camber.
Our volunteer team conducted a parallel search along the shoreline to Camber and after receiving confirmation the two children had been located safe and well, the crew were stood down and returned to base. In this cold weather it is vital to be able to respond quickly.”
Your say
Changes to local government and the election of a Sussex mayor are out for public consultation this week. Sussex is one of a handful of areas in England on the government's devolution fast track scheme.
The current plans could mean a combined local authority for the whole of East Sussex, replacing the county council and district councils like Rother. The new mayor will have responsibility for local transport, housing, regeneration and adult skills across the whole of Sussex and Brighton. This year's county council elections have been cancelled, with voting for the new local authority and mayor in May 2026.
This is the link to the consultation which runs April 13
Council tax
Rother District Council (RDC) meets on Monday, February 24 to approve next year's budget. Councillors are expected to agree a 2.99% rise to the council's part of the annual charge - the maximum allowed.
Andrew Vallance, deputy chief executive at RDC, said the draft budget has been updated and recommended for approval. "The council has had the final local government settlement from central government which sees a 2.99 percent cash reduction for the authority. Due to calculations around business rates, the council has been able to reduce the use of reserves needed to set a balanced budget from the forecast £1.4m to £600,000.”
Eurostar
Following our story about the growing campaign to bring Eurostar trains back to Ashford International, there's news this week of a meetings between local MPs, the rail minister and the train company.
On Friday, February 14 rail minister Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill met south east MPs, including Hastings and Rye's Helena Dollimore who also met the chief executive of Eurostar. She said "The Labour government supports the resumption of these services, which were hugely important to us in Hastings, Rye and the villages. Ashford International was opened with huge taxpayer investment under the last Labour government. We expect them to deliver on the responsibility they have to our local communities to resume this vital connection.”
Emergency dental work
More help for people needing urgent dental support is being made available in East Sussex. The NHS is expanding access to emergency dental care appointments following the success of a pilot programme last year.
The initiative will provide same-day urgent care appointments and also offers courses of treatment. Patients in need of urgent dental care who do not have a regular dentist can access the service by calling the Sussex Dental Helpline on 0300 123 1663 or emailing kcht.dentalhelpdesk@nhs.net.
Big win
A thumping win for Rye Rugby Club at the weekend. The final score on Saturday was Dartfordians 10 Rye RFC 41. The next home game at the club is on March 1 when the team take on Old Colfeians.
Rye on film
It was freezing cold last January when filming took place on Watchbell Street and around St Mary's in Rye for Miss Austen - the BBC1 drama playing out on Sunday evenings. Col Everett took this picture in 2024 of some of the actors shivering during the recording which also included beach scenes at Camber.
More about the drama here.
Scallops!
This year's Rye Bay Scallop Festival begins on Saturday, February 22. The 21st festival will see events all over Rye and beyond with tastings, special menus and talks.
You can read all about the festival here.
While we're on about the festival, what's the definitive Rye pronunciation for a scallop? Scoll-lop or scall-lop?
Also in the Rye News events dairy
Image Credits: Walk4Wellbeing , Jo O'Hara , Joshua Brown https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshtechfission/14961954169/ CC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/, Col Everett , scallop.org.uk , Hub on Rye Hill .