Meet the team: Arthur Sloman
By Laura Ross
Communications Officer, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
As one of the largest and most important wildlife sites in England, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve is a stunning coastal and wetland landscape that is home to over 4,000 species of plants and animals. Combine this with the award-winning Discovery Centre; a hub for socialising, educating, shopping and more and it's easy to see why we need someone to make sure everyone feels warmly welcome. That person is Arthur Sloman, our new Visitor Experience Manager. I caught up with him to find out a bit more about his new role and where his love for creating a special visitor experience has come from.
Tell us a little bit about your background
I recently completed a heritage fund project at a community garden in Kent. It provided opportunities for learning traditional skills like woodworking, scything & hedge laying. Every week we hosted outdoor activities for young people struggling at school because of SEN, autism, anxiety or similar.
So, how have you found your first few weeks with us?
It feels great to have joined Sussex Wildlife Trust. I can't remember ever being so warmly welcomed to a new job before. I’d like to say thank you to the people I’ve met so far and a big ‘hello!’ to everyone reading this.
Tell us a bit more about your new role
Visitor Experience, or ‘VE’, is something that exists in every major attraction, although it often goes by different names. I’ve been part of visitor welcome, visitor services and membership teams at the British Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich, National Gallery, V&A, English Heritage and National Trust. It’s all about great customer service. If visitors don’t like it, VE makes it better. If visitors do like it, VE makes it bigger!In my new role I’m going to work alongside Wilder Learning and provide young people with everything we possibly can. I’m also going to focus on creating new activities that will benefit local residents in East Sussex.
What do you see as your main challenge?
I want to make sure that everyone feels included, even if they're visiting for very different reasons to bird watching. You might visit Rye Harbour Nature Reserve on a school trip, to meet a friend, ride a bike, walk a dog, explore with a child or simply grab a brew, a loo and a view from the Lime Kiln Café. There’s no telling what difference we can make to a person’s life by allowing them access to this incredible nature reserve.
Do you have a favourite spot here?
I love standing out the back of the Discovery Centre and watching the changing tide on my lunch break.
Tell us something about you we might not know.
I was born in Kingston-upon-Thames and learned to sail dinghies on the river when I was very young. My wife Sophie and I currently live in sunny Eastbourne with our dinosaur-obsessed daughter Willa, who is two years old. Her favourite dino this week is “Elasmosaurus” - a swimming creature with a neck up to 7m long!
Comments
My husband and I love visiting Rye Harbour Nature Reserve! We even wrote a song about it. My favourite activity is collecting pebbles from the beach and painting watercolours, while my husband enjoys birdwatching. We love the view of Winchelsea Beach and Camber Sands, but my husband says it’s a pity about the power station in the background. Our favourite time to visit is May, but we don’t always have to stick to the schedule, as the nature reserve is open all year.
11 Jul 2024 20:02:00
My family and I first “discovered” Rye Harbour Nature Reserve when staying at the caravan site nearby, and taking our dog walking all round the reserve. We love it so much now and have been coming back from London many times for holidays and days out, to escape frantic city life for beautiful wide open spaces. First reading about the brave lifeboat men who lost their lives whilst trying to save others, I wrote the little poem pinned on the old lifeboat house, and we try to get down to Rye Harbour every year on the 15th November to pay our respects to those brave men. This area is our sanctuary from the mayhem of the 21st century – thank you for keeping it a lovely place to be in! Carole Hunt
22 Jul 2024 09:50:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Thank you for your comment Carole and great to here how much you enjoy visiting Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
Isn’t RHNR fantastic!?! Foremost it’s a nature reserve and I hope that remains the focus of SWT as it always has with the Friends. It’s great to encourage visitors with a view to involving them in some way with the reserve. I’m not a supporter of dog walkers who leave mess and would rather SWT puts the future of the reserve and it’s wildlife first and people and commercial interests second.
12 Aug 2024 16:18:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Thank you Mike, it’s an incredible place to work and we love it too. Preserving Rye Harbour Nature Reserve as a habitat for wildlife will always be the top priority. We want to share the significance of the nature reserve with all our visitors and help them understand that simple actions such as picking up after your dog can make a real positive impact for nature. It's what our mission to engage the public is all about. Hope to see you here again soon! Arthur