Newsletters
December 2025
Any visitor to the Mary Stanford Lifeboat House will have been well aware of the loss of shingle recently that has undermined the boathouse due to high tides and coastal storms. In the last newsletter we mentioned that the EA had donated rock armour and that we were in the process gaining an MMO Licence for this rock armour to be placed because that it what Natural England had instructed us to do. However, before we were able to receive the licence because of the lengthy process, a wonderful group of local men led by local farmer Philip Merricks took matters into their own hands and installed the rock armour on the south eastern side of the front of the lifeboat house thus saving the building from falling onto the beach. We cannot thank them enough for without their selfless act, it is likely that the building would not have survived with winter and the work they have done has encouraged the shingle to be pushed back under the boathouse giving it a firmer base.
On 17th December Jacqui took a retired civil engineer down to the boathouse and he took a spirit level and confirmed that the walls are still “true” which was great news and a testament to the builder of the boathouse that he did a good job. Also, on that day we sent our Planning Application to Rother District Council for Listed Building Consent. So things are moving at last!
Although the boathouse did recently suffer some storm damage to the roof. We are pleased to report that this was repaired immediately. We would like to thank Tolletts Builders for repairing this for us at such short notice. It cost £900 because a cherry picker had to be hired, but the patching of the roof is really important until we can get the roof replaced and we will continue to do these works.
When the weather improves there is more graffiti to be removed because unfortunately we have some idiot who thinks this Grade II boathouse is a canvass. If anyone has any information on this please let us know so that we can informed the police.
April 2025
The Friends were really grateful to receive a £190 donation from “Ethel Loves Me” in Rye.
Then on 20th March the Chair, Jacqui Stanford gave the Mary Stanford Disaster Talk to the lovely ladies of Burwash “Not So Young Club” at their Village Hall. The talk covered the history of Rye Harbour, the 1928 disaster, the crew and the events that took place leading up to the disaster, and the events that followed. The Chair also explained what the charity plan to do going forward. The presentation was very well received by everyone and a £60 donation to the charity was generously made.
Also we have recently appointed a new Trustee, Martin Geldart, who has expertise in web design and social media management and he has very kindly offered to update our website and Facebook pages. Watch this space!
January 2025
Cllr Stanford who is a member of Harbour of Rye Advisory Committee is told at a meeting that the Environment Agency have rock armour that they are willing for us to use to protect the lifeboat house – this is great news because this is expensive material. We are hoping that this will help the EA be able to reduce the amount of time they spend replenishing the shingle there.
We contact Natural England to organise a meeting at the boathouse to discuss being able to get this work done as they have to give their permission.
Cllr Stanford has a meeting with a retired Civil Engineer who may be willing to take over the reins from Brian Morton Decd. He seems interested, and will think about committing. He is given a copy of Brian’s Restoration Plan and hopefully will be keen to join us. Doing the restoration work in bite sized pieces is discussed to get the project started.
Cllr Stanford and Jenner Sands meet with Natural England and the EA at the boathouse. The erosion of the beach and rock amour is discussed and the falling into the sea of the boathouse. They are reminded by Cllr Stanford that it is Grade II Listed and that the land is SSSI and the road is the emergency road from Rye Harbour to Winchelsea Beach as RH is a cul de sac. The EA explain they move the shingle in trucks on the road and are asked by NE what they would do if the road was gone. They confirm the shingle would have been trucked along Harbour Road, onto the A259 and then Sea Road at Winchelsea Beach. NE say they need to go away and write a report with help of the EA and revert.
Following the meeting with NE, they have advised that we may need planning approval and an MMO Licence – we are currently researching.
The Rye Variations had planned on doing another fundraising concert in November 2024 following the success of last year’s event with massive thanks due to Andi Croft for organising. Due to his work commitments this has been postponed until hopefully Spring 2025. Watch this space.
The Discovery Centre held an event on the Mary Stanford and following that event, they very kindly donated £200 to the Charity. The Friends would like to say a big thank you to the Sussex Wildlife Trust for this kind donation.