One of the best and most realistic war films ever made was created in and around Rye. ‘Dunkirk’, made in 1957, recorded the epic evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the open beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. Rye was chosen for the film’s location because the beaches and area around the real Dunkirk had become too populated in the seventeen year period that had elapsed since that time.
It was early May 1956 and the chimney sweeping season was over. Window cleaning should be the mainstay of ‘the family’ but an unusually wet April had meant there were slim pickings and times were hard. Continue reading The Film Extras
Despite the assurances in the October 2005 issue of Rye’s Own that all was well in this best of all possible (Bexhill and Lewes administered) worlds, permit me to express my continued scepticism that a cycle path will be constructed between Rye and Rye Harbour by the end of March 2006 or indeed in any foreseeable future. Continue reading Cycling the Rye Harbour Tramway
On Sunday afternoons, after the children had been to church service at the Congregational Church and Sunday School, Alice and the family would walk over to the Tollgate House in Winchelsea Road to visit their maternal Grandmother and Great Aunt Sarah. Continue reading The Life and Times of Reg Weeks
On a rough March night in 1902 the Steamship “Cragoswald” was driven ashore by a storm force gale at Camber close to the Jury’s Gap Coastguard Station. Several initial attempts at re-floating her were unsuccessful. A great amount of cargo was unloaded and transported off the beach on pony carts. Continue reading Aground at Camber
I have already written—well or badly I do not know—several such articles for this magazine. Sometimes I have been satisfied with the manufacture and sometimes not. Never have I felt, except perhaps in one case, that I did not do justice to the subject at hand. Even more, I have never felt that I had no chance of doing so before I ever started. Continue reading Mrs Smith – Teacher
By Kenneth M Clark – (Rya)
The South Eastern Railway’s single line branch to Rye Harbour, which had been opened in 1854 was only utilised for goods traffic and, consequently, there existed no means of transport between Rye and Rye Harbour for fishermen and such other persons as made their living at the Harbour. It was only during 1894—the year in which the Rye Golf Club was founded—that a group of prominent local citizens decided to build a light railway which would not only link Rye with the Golf Club but enable fishermen to travel to the Harbour—crossing the Rother by means of a ferry. Continue reading The Rye & Camber Tram
