Mad For It! New Medieval Rye Walk

A second Medieval Rye: A Guided Walk will take place at 11am on Wednesday 17th September. The date has been set with the guide Jo Kirkham because within days of going on pre-sale to Friends of Rye Arts Festival the original  Medieval Rye: A Guided Walk on 24th September sold out. There is no expectation, however, that you should dress the part like the enthusiasts pictured here.

Phillip Venning - Ab SPAB!

Phillip Venning OBE spent 28 years as Secretary of SPAB. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was founded 137 years ago by William Morris and Venning spent half his working lifetime keeping up the good work looking after the nation's heritage.

Also a journalist, he worked on the Times Educational Supplement, but in 1977 he cut his writing teeth with a book called Wyldes - A New History.

JAM Today!

Handel’s Coronation Anthems, including Zadok the Priest, will be part of JAM's concert today, Saturday 19th July, 7.30pm at St Leonard's church Hythe. Mousai Singers will be performing songs old and new, with Daniel Cook – Sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey – and Onyx Brass.

Kitchen Cinque (port) Drama

Nice piece in today's Rye Observer in which Alisdair Kitchen - the conductor and director of Euphonia -  talks about the fully-staged production of La Traviata on the opening Saturday of the Festival (13 Sept), and the exciting involvement of Rye Studio School students in the opera.


http://www.ryeandbattleobserver.co.uk/what-s-on/this-year-s-festival-will-be-bigger-and-better-than-ever-1-6178131

A Clerihew for The League of Gentlemen in Rye

It's Clerihew Day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerihew today, so to celebrate and to mark the BBC filming currently underway in Rye:

Steve Pemberton,
From the League of Gentlemen,
Has it's clear,
Done Mapp & Lucia

Mr Fab is a right Charlie!

On Sunday the full programme of the 2014 Rye Arts Festival is being announced. In the meantime, let's laud the unsung heroes - the Festival Makers.

And high up has to be the mystery driver from FAB Cabs of Kent - an ingenue with political ambitions who ferries people at the drop of the hat in his bubble car around town and across the border. A couple of years ago, a German musician with his cello were strapped to the roof rack of his minature voiture and taken to Ashford. And a tired Citadel dweller was driven home for free from Rye College against the express wishes of Ma Fab, the controller of the cab outfit.

Charlie Fab, you're FAB! Ma Fab, you're even Fabber.

JAM covers Romney Marsh for over a Week!

The annual JAM series of classical music conerts in Romney Marsh kicks off on Friday 9th July and runs through to 20th July. And as well as this year's programme features art exhibitions, photography, theatre and poetry as well as children's events.

Onthe evening of 9th July it all starts with Selwyn College choir from Cambridge performing Rachmaninoff's Vespers and James Weeks' Orlando Tenebrae at St Augustine, Brookland.  Other highlights include on 19th July the Mousai Singers performing Handle's Coronation Athems, including Zadok the Priest, at St Leonard's Hythe.

For more information on the whole programme, which is the biggest and most varied yet, click here: http://www.jamconcert.org/jam-on-the-marsh

Strictly Anyone Can Come Dancing

Photo by J Tully

Rye’s dancers young and old, experienced or complete novices can look forward to Rye Arts Festival in September when latin
dancing is on the cards. And plenty of it, with special workshops and performances for both Argentine Tango and Flamenco!

Sunday 14th September is when leading Argentine Tango instructors Alan Mitchell and Ella Sharp will be holding an afternoon workshop in this most steamy and sexually charged of dances, which will be open to complete beginners, improvers and those who have been ‘resting’ for a while and would like to make a comeback.