First of all, let's welcome our new members!
It’s festival season once again...
The Rye International Jazz & Blues festival took place over the bank holiday weekend, and the mixed weather did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm. The town was busy and buzzing with festival goers and the music events - both free, and ticketed were much enjoyed. The 2025 festival is already set to be bigger and better.
Festival Director Ian Bowden said; “It was incredibly encouraging to see so many visitors from far and wide make the journey to Rye, not only to enjoy the fabulous music and atmosphere that the festival creates but also to experience all that Rye has to offer - wonderful places to stay, fabulous food and drink from an incredible range of establishments, and an increasing choice of galleries and shopping. The feedback has been fantastic, and I would like to personally thank all of our partners, venues, sponsors, and advertisers alongside the amazing musicians, professional suppliers and of course, our wonderful and passionate volunteer team that works tirelessly to make the festival a success. My highlights would be too long to list, but for me, the most important thing is the joy that music brings to people that attend the festival and the overall benefits that this high-quality event brings to Rye”
Image credits: KT Bruce
Rye Arts Festival
The 53rd Annual Rye Arts Festival runs from the 13th - 29th September. The festival programme is diverse and exciting, including local talent and British and international artists. From books and talks, classical, traditional and contemporary music, to drama, film, and walks and tours - there's something for everyone!
Tickets are available from the box office: https://box-office.ryeartsfestival.org.uk/sales
Rye Harvest Wine & Food Fair
The inaugural Rye Harvest Food & Wine Fair will take place on the Cricket Salts on the 14th-15th of September but kicks off with a launch party on Friday 13th at 7pm.
This unique event to support Sussex’s growth economy, wine tourism, is set to be an annual fixture on our calendars. Festival director, our very own Jane Brook, has curated a weekend that isn’t just food and wine - but live music, talks, comedy, poetry and cooking demonstrations, alongside a foraged fine dining supper and a jazz breakfast.
As members will already know all too well - supporting local businesses drives Jane, so you won’t be surprised to know that her strategy for the event is hyper-local. All suppliers are from the region, not just stallholders, but everyone from the talent to the tent suppliers.
It is Jane’s priority that the investment in the event stays in the region and benefits the region. This local focus extends to the four food and produce-related charity partners for the festival; Rye Food Bank, Hands of Hope, Little Gate Flowers and Great Dixter.
Jane commented,"Collaboration is key in this project. We are thrilled that hospitality experts Serenata Hospitality will be working alongside Flavour Fred and East Sussex College to deliver the impressive Wild Harvest Supper for 100 people. 12 lucky Hastings hospitality students will get valuable work experience and an incredible, memorable mentoring and enrichment experience that will look great on their CVs!"
The Dream Team: George Fredenham (aka Flavour Fred), Jeff Jordan of ESC, Natasha Robinson and Sergio Rebecchi of Serenata Hospitality.
You can buy tickets to any and all parts of the Rye Harvest Wine & Food Fair here: https://www.wineandfoodfair.events/get-tickets
Meetings, discussions & planning...
Rye Taxis Association
We facilitated a meeting between the Rye Taxis Association and District Councillor Simon McGurk to discuss the raft of changes being introduced by RDC for taxis operating in Rother from October this year. Rye Taxis Association is objecting to the blanket introduction of these measures that have no sliding scale to make them affordable or practical.
Rye Leisure Centre
We met with local resident and brand expert Nick Ede to discuss potential PR and fundraising ideas for Rye Leisure Centre.
We understand that the the CIO team have nearly met the target for community giving, but need one last push to get them past the post. All donations small and large are so gratefully received. Check out The Rye Leisure Centre website for more information.
Image credits: Nick Foreman
Meeting with Helena Dollimore, MP
We met with Helena Dollimore for the first time since becoming our MP. We discussed the issues most pressing in the town and updated her on the work of the Chamber - specifically our forthcoming BID campaign.
Meeting with Cllr Sophie Thorpe
We met with Cllr Sophie Thorpe to discuss her plans for the Youth Club in Rye. We were able to signpost some funding opportunities and put her in touch with Rye Food Bank to further some collaborative ideas.
We also discussed this year’s Christmas in Rye festival and the ongoing challenges it faces each year. The challenge is not only to raise much needed funds but also to harness local engagement and support to enable the event to be the successful Christmas event that our town deserves.
Looking ahead to 2025 we advised how, if successful, the Rye BID would enable all of our Christmas festivities from Late Night Shopping and the Christmas Lights, through to the festival itself to be better funded, marketed and delivered.
Funding News
Rother Skills Capital Fund is a sum of £500,000 ringfenced for spend on capital projects that can support employability and skills provision in Rother. This part of the funding is being overseen by the Employability and Skills team at East Sussex County Council who have strategic oversight of employment and skills activity in the county.
The Fund is aimed at projects that will improve employability and skills provision that meet identified needs and demands in Rother.
It is envisioned that the fund will make:
Three grants of up to £133,300
Four grants of up to £25,000
Applications need to be made by midday on Friday 6th September. https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/business/support/employment-skills-training/skills-east-sussex/skills-capital-fund-hastings-and-rother
Levelling Up / Public toilets
We’ve made further progress in negotiations with Rother District Council with regards to using our £25K of levelling up funding for refurbishing the station approach loos. You will recall that this can only be undertaken if we find third-party funding for the cleaning of the loos. We submitted a proposal and RDC has made a counteroffer. We will be meeting with Rye Town Council early next week to discuss the counteroffer and see what can be agreed upon.
BID Update
This week, Rother District Council came through with the business rates data we required in order to commence the feasibility study in earnest. This work will now be able to progress and we will report back next month. Once again a reminder that over coming weeks businesses in Rye may be called or visited by Sue or Mo from the Mosaic Partnership. They will be asking questions about your priorities for the town and the things that are important to you.
Dates for your Diary
The Powder Mills Hotel & Restaurant in Battle is holding a business networking on Tuesday 17th September from 5.30pm. Chamber members are invited to attend and sample Carr Taylor’s wine, seasonal produce from Jempsons and canapes designed by James Piloni, Executive Chef. Please RSVP to Paul Harvey at corporate.sales@powdermillshotel.com
Rye Chamber AGM: Thursday 21st November
Join us in the ballroom at The George in Rye, more details to follow but please make a note of the date in your diary.
Rye Late Night Shopping / Christmas Lights Switch-On: Saturday 23rd November
More details to follow from the Christmas in Rye Committee in due course.
Christmas in Rye: Saturday 7th December
More details to follow from the Christmas in Rye Committee in due course.
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See you next month!
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