There’s no question that our beloved town of Rye is of huge historical importance. As a small town we punch well above our weight when it comes to our contribution to almost every aspect of our country’s history – landscape, industry, economy, military, arts and literature and even sport. Any visitor to the town who dismisses us as "just" a quaint English location good for an ice-cream and a photo-opportunity would sadly have missed the point entirely.
As with any town with a rich history, tourism is the industry vital to the town today. Many of our businesses and shops, bars, cafes and restaurants depend on a thriving tourist season. So, our historical high days and holidays have an important part to play in encouraging visitors to the town.
But while we have a duty to preserve the past in order to ensure we thrive in the present, we cannot do so at the expense of the future.
Of course, we want our town to offer historical spectacle – so our town criers undoubtedly keep tradition alive, mayor making is also important for the same reason. But when it comes to replacing the more standard robes for our councillors when it will cost £6,000 to do so, we perhaps should consider a more creative approach, mindful of the eyes of future generations.
We could simply wait until the town council has the money to replace the robes with new – but in the current climate we might be waiting a long while. It seems that in four years' time the current set of robes will be 100 years old so they have given good service, there’s no argument about that. Perhaps we could just look at getting them refurbished – there are plenty of experts in that field. Or maybe we eschew replacing like with like and look at something different…
While we hope school children and tourists in the 2060s will still be visiting Rye to learn about smugglers and pirates, perhaps we should start thinking of ways we can showcase our town’s unique character and rebellious reputation in the here and now. Maybe one way we could do this would be to challenge textile students to design new robes for our councillors to reflect the town in the 21st century. For a much-reduced budget I’m sure we could work with Sussex College and create a careful brief for them to work to. Perhaps each new robe might be trimmed slightly differently – maybe one to recognise our maritime history, one to celebrate diversity, one to use recycled materials to show our commitment to a sustainable future and so on. Perhaps we could even run a competition in town for our school children to determine the 14 themes for the plain robes currently worn by councillors.
Now I’m sure we’ll have instantly set the cat among the pigeons with the mere hint of a different way of thinking, and that in part is our point. Why not have a conversation about doing this differently? The way to ensure the young value our past, is to make them recognise the significance of what they do right now for those in the future. How marvellous would it be for visitors at mayor making 2028– to come not just for the town crier, the mayor and the hot pennies – but also for the first glimpse of our councillors in the most unique set of ceremonial robes in the history of the UK ready to take on the next 100 years of service?
