Our new series of interviews are designed for you to get to know the people who’ve chosen Rye as their home or place of work, a little more personally.
Subject of interview: Wendy Bowker has lived and worked in Rye for 12 years and runs W Gallery, newly moved to Lion Street.
Twitter or Instagram?
Instagram, I like visuals and art is visual.
Meat or fish?
Fish. I’ve just been talking to the chap @ryefishmarket, Simmons Quay and marvelling at lovely, good fish. A glass of Sancerre and a Dover Sole would be nice right now, or half a dozen oysters and a pint of Guinness.
Music or talk radio?
I love the radio. We were brought up with music. Love it, love Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra. I’m a Radio 2 baby, with a bit of Radio 4 thrown in; I like all music, there isn’t any music I would say no to.
Sand or shingle?
Sand, always sand, happy memories of childhood, going to Cornwall for the summer holidays. I think that’s why I love the beach and the sea here, that lovely nostalgic pullback to those innocent times, always running in the sand. In the sand dunes and in the sea, I’m at my happiest and they’re my colours as well.
Coffee or tea?
Coffee. I do really love good coffee. I love Betty’s Tearooms in Yorkshire, Harrogate, Ilkley, Northallerton. I know them all and I’ve eaten there well. But I like my own fresh beans – I love the smell of coffee. Again this is that nostalgia (maybe it’s age) as when I was a kid we had a percolator. There was a store in Liverpool called Coopers and it was a big coffee store and my dad would say something and then add: “If it’s not true I’ll show my bare bottom in Coopers window!” And then all of a sudden the coffee percolator stopped. Coffee went up so much and went on to ground coffee, filter coffee. I still get great pleasure smelling it – I think I’m Italian.
Vacation or staycation?
That’s a really, really hard one. I loved going abroad. If I never went abroad again it wouldn’t bother me – I think England’s a beautiful country. I love the beaches and we’ve got the warmth that we’ve got now. I love our seasons, it’s a really nice part of our way of life. I don’t like the grey of the north, I like a lot of things about the north, but I love the temperature down here. I love the heat.
Dog or cat?
Dog. Dogs have always played a part in our lives; I’ve got two dogs now. I lost my best dog last October, Peggy, who was named after my Aunty Peg. Every dog I’ve had in my adult life, when I was in the Prison Service in the 80s, all my dogs went into the prisons. Prisoners love dogs. You get to see the vulnerable side of a really burly gangster or villain. Give him a dog and all of a sudden he becomes the nicest fellow in the world, for that minute.
Cinema or theatre?
I used to go to a cinema in Leyburn, with a bar downstairs and the chap who ran it looked like Terrence Stamp. The Kino here is really good; I like small cinemas. I do prefer the theatre because I like live and there’s something about going to town and going to the theatre. I saw Dustin Hoffman years ago and I was so taken by him that I dropped my fruit gums all over the floor and I felt as if he just knew it was Wendy Bowker!
Sun or shade?
Sun always.
Why Rye?
I think it has to go back to that nostalgia of childhood, of sand and sea and being free. Even if you grew up with no money, being on the beach had no price. I came here off-season and I never looked back, I literally said I’m going to move here. I’d lived in Richmond, North Yorkshire, which is quite like here but it’s got the Dales and I always felt quite trapped. The open space of the sea and the light makes me think…it’s a joy.
Image Credits: Natasha Robinson .