As an independent charity receiving no regular funding, the last twenty months have been a difficult time for Rye Castle Museum. We closed in March 2020 and were unable to open our main site until June this year – social distancing is very difficult in a medieval building! Visitors were pleased to find the museum open and numbers were up compared to 2019. Our East Street site, where the collection is displayed, is normally open at weekends from Easter, this year we were unable to open until August but once again visitor numbers and donations were up on previous years.
We are grateful to Rye and Winchelsea Rotary Club who recently installed a new floodlight on the Ypres Tower, thanks to Noel Varley, who over saw the installation, and Clive Gilbert who did the electrical work. It is over forty years since we had an operational spotlight on the tower and we think it looks fantastic.
We opened East Street on Saturday, December 11 to coincide with the Rye Window Wanderland. A steady stream of visitors came and were very complimentary, some locals were delighted to find us open as they usually avoid Rye on summer weekends! Our town crier Paul Goring popped in to see us and it took little persuasion for him to pose in front of our wonderful fire engine.
Image Credits: Rye Museum , courtesy of Rye Museum .