Discover Rye Harbour project round-up for 2022

By Lucy Bowyer and Kathy Crowther 

The delivery of the National Lottery Heritage Funded Discover Rye Harbour project is past the half way stage now, and much has been achieved, even with the initial restrictions of the Covid pandemic.

The overarching aim of ‘connecting people to the natural, built and human heritage of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve through indoor and outdoor interpretation, engaging and exciting family events and community activities, and a formal education programme’ has meant that we have been able to get involved in a wide variety of activities from film-making to wellbeing walks, teenagers taking part in practical conservation activities, numerous school visits to the beach, poetry-writing groups and loads of volunteer activity including guides showing our visitors the brilliant birdlife, to name but a few… hopefully there has been something for everyone.

We have been thrilled to work with a range of partners, both old and new, such as our Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, Sussex Military Research, Rye Heritage Centre, St Michael’s Hospice and many of the local schools. We thank all those that are working with us and look forward to inspiring more people about our wildlife and heritage in 2023.

We are so fortunate to have a dedicated group of volunteers supporting our work, and have been able to provide a range of training as well as opportunities to get involved with new activities and volunteer get-togethers.

We still have many exciting things to look forward to as we head towards the final year of this project, including the launch of a new community arts project - The Lost Words – more Nature Babies, Wildlife Rangers and hopefully a Youth Rangers group (16-25 year olds) in the pipeline. Further opportunities for young people to achieve the John Muir award, more access to Camber Castle and a ‘courtyard reveal’, weekly walks for wellbeing, an exhibition with our craft group and the launch of a set of exciting activity trails around the reserve.

Camber Castle openings 

Reviving the Camber Castle openings after the pandemic has been very successful in 2022. This activity involved lots of preparation, including a History Group work party activity of clearing the castle courtyard by volunteers which took place in July, plus additional training of volunteers in the history of the castle and the practicalities of running the guided tours. Three ‘first Saturday’ public openings on behalf of English Heritage took place monthly, from August to October, plus two extra weekday public openings also took place in September.

The planned openings at 2pm on each date proved so popular that each opening was oversubscribed. It was quickly decided that the numbers were too large for one tour in each opening, so the schedule was quickly adapted to include two guided tours on each opening date – at 2pm and 3pm. This means that our staff and volunteers have successfully achieved 10 guided tours of the castle (plus other openings for specific community groups). With the clearance tasks and training as well, our volunteers have given over 50 hours of time to preparing and sharing the history of the castle in 2022.

Examples of feedback received after tours:

“Very well organised tour. Very knowledgeable tour guides, recommended.”

“Very interesting. Really lucky to get the chance to see it, thank you.”

“Great tour. Learnt a lot.”

“Fascinating tour, excellent knowledge from volunteers. Highly recommend.”

The Discover Rye Harbour project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund