Six Sixes and Balls shock at the Mermaid

In the 50th anniversary year of Sir Garry Sober historic six sixes in one over (the cricket sub-four-minute mile) Rye Arts Festival has a fascinating talk by sports journalist Grahame Lloyd with film of the feat, plus his up-to-the-minute research into intrigue about the ball 'used' that was sold at auction!

The event takes place at 6pm on Tuesday 24th September st The Mermaid Inn - appropriately home to Rye's very own cricketing all-rounder and answer to Garry, Martin Blincow!☝️

TX at https://ryeartsfestival.org.uk/…/50-not-out-the-six-sixes-…/

There ain’t nothing like a Dame

Rye Arts Festival hunts around the world for the very best talent to come to Rye in the last two weeks of September. And this year, marking the 100^th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the UK, the organisers have booked a trio of Dames to entertain at what has been described as one of the UK’s best arts festivals – Jenni Murray, Joan Ruddock and Emma Kirkby. Dame Jenni Murray is the doyenne of radio presenters; Dame Joan Ruddock is a politician and campaigner of considerable note and Dame Emma Kirkby is a soprano with worldwide reputation.

World War I Centenary

This year’s Festival has two underlying themes – the centenary of the end of World War I and the centenary of women’s suffrage – and there will be a number of events that tap into these areas, as well as others which have been put on because they are simply high-quality entertainment. 

There will be a special screening of the film ‘Oh! What A Lovely War’ on Friday 28th September – a musical directed by Richard Attenborough, much of which was shot on Brighton Pier. And on Monday 17th September the British baritone Roderick Williams will be singing songs alongside the poetry of World War I poet Ivor Gurney spoken by the actor Philip Franks.

Local artist, musician and film director Dave McKean will be performing songs and showing artworks inspired by World War I artist Paul Nash in a show called ‘Black Dog – the Dreams of Paul Nash’. The show has been performed around the UK, including in Tate Britain, as well in Europe.
On a lighter note, the Festival moves on to World War II for a performance of Dad’s Army Radio Hour on Sunday 16th September. A pair of actors perform the scripts of three classic Dad’s Army episodes doing all the voices of the TV cast members with uncanny accuracy, as well as getting their mannerisms down to a tee. This is guaranteed to be one of the funniest shows seen in Rye since, well, World War II!
These events are just for starters – there are many more and, of course, they are all there simply to entertain!

The Battle of Hastings

The Kino in Rye has a special screening of a documentary film about the 11th Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, And, as an added extra, there will be a Q&A session with the film's acclaimed director Mike Figgis (left).

The film is being shown on Sunday 7th May at 5.45pm at Kino Rye, with tickets at £20, which includes a glass of wine and nibbles as well as the Q&A session with Figgis who is a British film director and screen writer as well as a composer and who gained 2 Oscars nominations for his film Leaving Las Vegas in 1995.

Rye Favourite Pianist Plays Tenterden

A concert by Anna Szalucka will take place at 7.30pm on Saturday 8 April in St Mildred's Church Tenterden.

Anna Szalucka is an outstanding young Polish pianist, who wowed the Rye audience last September during the 2016 Rye Arts Festival. Not surprisingly since she is a multiple prizewinner and has dazzled audiences in a number of locations across Poland, Austria, the Baltic States as well as in the UK!

Rye-Citals’ – A New Classical Concert Series at Rye Creative Centre

Starting on Sunday 26th February and then each month, Alisdair Kitchen – known in Rye for his widely acclaimed opera productions in the Rye Arts Festival – will present a concert at Rye Creative Centre featuring Euphonia Studio Artists, singers and instrumentalists who have delighted festival audiences with their performances in recent years. 

The series begins, to coincide with a break in the Hasting International Piano Concerto Competition and the last day of Scallop Week festivities in Rye with a candlelit solo piano recitals given by Alisdair himself.

Churchill: Great Statesman, Poor with Money

No More Champagne: Churchill and his Money is a biography by David Lough which focuses on Winston Churchill's finances. And it reveals that the great Statesman spent a lifetime keeping his head just above water when it came to his private financial affairs.

At a talk on September 23rd David Lough, who is a former City financier and who has made a forensic study of Churchill's finances, will reveal an extraordinary account of the one-time Chancellor of the Exchequer's struggle with his own money.

Lough has discovered that Churchill lost huge sums at casinos around Europe, escaped bankruptcy through secret bailouts by shady private donors and gambled disastrously on financial instruments. And, at the same time, he ran a lavish lifestyle he believed befitting a member of the grand Marlborough family but without the land or cash  ion the bank of a Duke to fund it!