Santa Claus paid a fleeting visit to Rye on Saturday (December 6), parading down the High Street accompanied by the Buckswood bagpipe marching band and local schoolchildren. Families lined the streets to greet Santa, who was travelling in a vintage Rolls-Royce accompanied by two elves.
Many people peered out of shop windows, restaurants and bars to wave the procession on and students from the Rye Dance Centre interrupted a class to come out and watch. They picked a particularly good time to emerge, coinciding with a posse of snow children and a Santa baby racing past in order to catch up with the rest of the procession, to spontaneous applause from the watching crowd. Santa paused at The George hotel to turn on the Christmas tree lights, watched carefully by a wedding couple from the first floor.
Santa Claus so enjoyed his time in Rye that he has arranged a return visit this coming Saturday (December 13). He will be arriving at Strand Quay at 3:30pm and will make his way up to the museum on East Street, where he will rest in his grotto from 5pm-7pm. In an exclusive interview, Santa told Rye News: “I didn’t have enough time today to meet the good children of Rye, but please tell them next week to come and see me.”
The following Saturday (December 20) Santa will be exhausted and putting his feet up until his big deliveries on Christmas Eve, but from 2pm there’ll be street entertainment throughout the town and a market down at Strand Quay. Best of all, there’ll be free parking in all Rother District Council car parks in Rye on both days. For details of all events visit Rye Christmas.
Photos: Derick Holman, Tony Nunn