Reaching out to the world

A year of many stories of news, culture, living, letters and complaints – but also many positives – have kept Rye News alive, and we have attained quite a following in the last three  years, locally and elsewhere since Rye News was launched (as pictured above) in 2014.

I can also report, writes Heidi Foster, that the readership has reached people abroad (even when they move) as my niece Anika, who lived in the USA, Los Angeles (LA) with her family, has now relocated to Munich, Germany.

(Three years ago I went to her wedding in Malibu, a beach city in LA county, driving up into the mountains, it was wonderful).

In her Christmas message she told me just how much she enjoys following my adventures and the news of where I live.

Also my brother who lives in Hamburg, Germany, who reads the Guardian and Times on line, is using Rye News to keep a tab on me.

Having lived and worked in the USA, near Boston, in the 1990s, I still keep in touch with friends there who also told me it’s fun to keep abreast through the on-line paper on what’s happening in my corner of the world.

So, who knows in what other far-flung places individuals have found us? This is very satisfying.

Charles Harkness adds: Rye News gets regular statistics which show that, while we have a sizable number of regular local readers, we also have many first-time readers who may be looking for information about Rye before visiting.

Some of those visitors become regular returners and we have reported on at least one of those. We have also reported on the comments of visitors who visit our attractions, such as St Mary’s Tower, the Castle and East Street Museums, and some popular pubs and gardens.

This means Rye News is not just for local residents. It is also for possible visitors and first-time readers so, if we repeat facts or provide background you are all too familiar with, it is because of them.

And we have a lot of history to draw on now as we have published more than 3,000 stories since we started, though numbers were very low until we had got used to the publishing system. However Rye News kicked off properly in May 2014 and printed 637 stories that year.

In 2015 there were 1,248 stories and this year the final figure will be very similar (just over 1200). And those stories will be read by friends and family in many parts of the world, and also by many potential visitors – who may in time become friends and customers.

Photos: Heidi Foster and Rye News library

Image Credits: J. Minter .