The town must thank the organisers of another busy, well planned out Christmas festival last Saturday, December 9.
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The Toyland Christmas festival offered many different activities, stalls and music, and the shops did their bit by creating lovely window displays and selling mulled wine.
And a variety of music played throughout the town in open places even though it was rather cold.
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I could hardly feel my fingers after 45 minutes playing with the ukulele band
in the Butter Market, but the audience was very appreciative and joined in the singing. Apart from the cold it was a beautiful day and it did not rain.
The little train (shown above with Santa, and to the right) winding through the streets was perfect for people to get round and it makes one wonder if it could not become a more permanent solution to our car parking problem.
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My favourite group (pictured left) was the ‘Terrifying Travelling Tipsy Termites’ (see them on YouTube) who played in front of The George hotel. The young daughter played the violin (having learned it only for a year), the young boy was hidden by his huge tuba and the parents played various instruments.
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There were things I missed because I needed to get warm, but to round off the day for everyone there was the wonderful carol and musical evening at St Mary’s Church.
The Church was completely full and at 5:40pm there were only a few seats left for the 6 o’clock start, so people had to stand. The Wall of Sound, pictured right, a local choir, and the lovely voices of a children’s choir, just added to the atmosphere and Rye Bay Crew (below left) and several others entertained us in-between carols.
A glass of mulled wine at the Mermaid Hotel then rounded off a perfect day.
Photos by Heidi Foster
Photos by Heidi Foster
Image Credits: Rye News library .