It’s exciting and quite daunting becoming the latest editor of Rye News as there are some tough acts to follow, especially Nick Forman over the past year, and a dedicated group of volunteers to support. The paper plays a huge part in letting our friends and neighbours know what’s going on in Rye and the surrounding villages, with five thousand plus readers a week and over a million page views a year. As the big media groups continue to pull out of local journalism, Rye News has a big part to play in telling the story of our town.
It also feels a bit full circle. I did my work experience on a local paper forty, yes forty, years ago. During the week I followed a reporter covering court cases at the local magistrates’ court, helped interview a man about his greyhound, and worked with the receptionist tidying up the births, deaths and marriages section. The journalists were hard drinking, hard smoking, and passionate about their work. The volunteers at Rye News are very similar, apart from the smoking and drinking. Mostly.
You’d be more than welcome to join us.
Seriously. Get involved. It could be as simple as tipping us off about something happening around Rye or taking a photo (always in landscape…). The email is info@ryenews.org.uk Let Rye News know about the event you are organising, sharing your photos and stories about life in town, shout about things you are proud of, and the things your family, friends and colleagues have achieved. It could be a short paragraph or a longer article, and the team will always help you if you need it.
Also, let me know what you want to see in Rye News. And what you don’t. What are we missing out on? What’s happening in your life that the rest of Rye needs to read about.
You’ll see a few changes too. I think we can do more holding the people who make big decisions about life in Rye to account. Not just our elected officials, but the big organisations like the Environment Agency or Sussex Police. We’ve restarted our Twitter/X account, thanks to some superb detective work from Heidi Foster. It’s @newsirye and compliments the Instagram feed @newsrye led by Natasha Robinson. Plus, we’ll review our layout and sections.
What doesn’t change is how Rye News supports the local community, telling the story of local life in Rye. Everyone involved in the paper is fiercely proud of our town, and passionate about bringing its local stories to you each week. I hope you’ll join us.
So let me know what you think about Rye News. Email me info@ryenews.org.uk or see you around town. Look out for a tall chap with a notebook (and a Jack Russell).
Image Credits: Jim Linwood CC .