Rye Team Profile 2021 Part 1

The Rye Team Ministry PROFILE for the appointment of a Team Rector to the Benefice The Rye Team includes six churches arranged in four parishes in a beautiful coastal and rural area at the eastern end of the Diocese of Chichester and the County of East Sussex. Centred on the small historic market, port and tourist town of Rye, the team area includes industrial, holiday and rural communities. It has a rail link to the high speed service from Ashford and a diverse commercial and cultural life but also some areas of deprivation. The Rye Team Ministry was established in 1980, comprising the incumbent of the benefice (ie of the Parishes of Rye, Rye Harbour, Playden, Iden, Camber and East Guldeford) whose office shall be Rector and two other Ministers. This arrangement has continued until recently, with one House-for-Duty serving Playden and Iden, and another serving Camber and East Guldeford, with lay reader and Permission to Officiate assistance. However, the three clergy posts are all now vacant and all the parishes would benefit from renewal and outreach. The Team Rector post offers the challenge and opportunity to work with the diocese and the parishes to recruit and lead a team to develop spiritual life in the parishes and increase the role of the church in the community as well as to personally look after ministry in Rye and Rye Harbour. There are opportunities to further ecumenical links and liaison with the two primary schools, secondary school and local hospital in the Team Ministry area. Around Rye Some images on this page © Shirley Lancaster The Rye Team Ministry As our search for a new Team Rector begins, we cannot avoid the enormity of the context in which that search is set. We have all had, at best, a sad and disheartening year; some of us one of deepest tragedy. Our experience is not without precedent. When, in 1662, the year of the Book of Common Prayer, Joseph Elmer became Vicar of Rye he could not have known of the Great Plague which would be but three years later. His predecessor, Revd John Allin wrote from Southwark “the Lord fit me and all of us for our last day, for we do not know the hour our Lord will come.” So it has been for many of us during these darkened days. For the return of hope we have so many to praise with humble, thankful hearts and take courage that no national crisis to the present day has put the Book of Common Prayer out of print, destroyed or permanently closed the 12C church at Rye, the 12C churches at Playden and Iden, 16c East Guldeford; Rye Harbour of 1849 or Camber of 1956 and are confident that neither this emergency, nor any other that might ensue, will see any of our churches falling by the wayside. All our team churches bear constant witness in their communities to the strength and truth of the Christian message. Though we may no longer subscribe to the 17C view that pandemics are the result of human transgression provoking divine retribution, much in current secular comment points for the need for us to change how we conduct our lives and live more considerately. We must all “build back better.” We fiercely share that determination, with our central aim being to work together with all the parishes in the team in true partnership, recognising and working for the individual needs of our churches and enabling growth in the context of their communities, whilst supporting the diverse characters and traditions of each. With this aim we need YOU, that special priest who has prayerfully come to the certainty of having been called to build the Kingdom in these four parishes. You will find a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself into the church, community and civic life of this historic market town and those of our partners in the team. Your prayerful and visionary leadership will develop our resources with energy and drive so giving us the tools to undertake our individual responsibilities in mission. Your confidence as a communicator will enable you to reach out to people of all ages and social backgrounds in church, school and community settings and your openness of approach and creativity will encompass both formal and informal worship as well as civic ceremonial. This is a wonderful area in which to live and work; you will enjoy a spacious rectory a few steps from St Mary’s church; we will welcome you warmly and together we will do the work “through the tender mercies in Him alone, who is our Life, and our Health, and our Salvation, Jesus Christ, our ever blessed Saviour, and Redeemer. Amen” RYE with RYE HARBOUR www.ryeparishchurch.org.uk Rye The ancient town of Rye,with a population of approximately 5,000, is a member of the Cinque Ports Federation. Situated on the A259 at the confluence of three rivers on the western fringe of Romney Marsh and close to the sea, it has a strong farming community, sea fishing tradition and many recreational boats. There are three nature reserves of national importance in the locality; at Rye Harbour, Dungeness and the wooded cliffs east of Hastings. Rye is a busy tourist resort with an information centre, museums, art galleries, National Trust property, Rye from the River Rother numerous hotels, guest houses, restaurants and pubs. St Mary's Church is one of the most visited parish churches In England and is a member of The Major Churches Network.. Rye has a supermarket, Post Office, two dispensing chemists, two dental surgeries, two doctors surgeries, community centre, sports centre & swimming pool, library and a wide variety of independent retailers selling everything from postcards to clothing. There is some light industry in the area; unemployment is usually just below the national average but has risen due to Covid-19. As a market town it serves outlying villages lifting the dependent population to an estimated 20,000. There are three modern housing estates to the East and West of the town and ribbon development along the approach roads providing family sized accommodation. There are also five complexes providing sheltered accommodation for the elderly, a Day Centre for the elderly, a day nursery and a playgroup as well as a primary school and a secondary community college (Years 7-11). 55% of the population is over the age of 45 and 28% over the age of 65. The nearest hospital is the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, some 15 miles away, although there is also Rye Memorial Care Centre which provides beds for respite care, post-operative care and the terminally ill. Some out-patient clinics are held too. There are pockets of social and economic deprivation within the town with high levels of child poverty, relatively low levels of income, high unemployment rates Mary Stanford Lifeboat Memorial and significant barriers to housing and services. Rye Harbour The village of Rye Harbour is 1.5 miles to the south of Rye town and is in the civil parish of Icklesham. It has population of approximately 450 and is situated at the mouth of the River Rother. The village has a strong community spirit, a legacy of the lifeboat disaster in 1928 when the entire crew of the Mary Stanford was lost at sea. As well as the church, there is one pub, a village hall, village shop, residential caravan park and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. There are some areas of deprivation. Rye Foreign The parish also encompasses the hamlet of Rye Foreign which is strung out along the A268 to Peasmarsh. Those residents who attend church mostly worship at the nearer churches of Playden, Iden or Peasmarsh. Church Buildings From whatever direction one might approach Rye, the eye falls first on the massive shape of St Mary’s Church which seems to grow out of the top of the mound upon which the ancient part of the town sits. It is a beautiful building, of cathedral-like proportions, dating originally from the early 12th century, and is open to visitors throughout the year. The popularity of the church to our visitors is described under Tourism and the church is indeed a place of many treasures from notable stained glass to one of the three oldest working turret clocks in the country. This and magnificent views over Sussex and Kent can be seen and enjoyed by anyone who climbs the tower. The last Quinquennial inspection was carried out in 2018 and shows a building in a generally good state of maintenance with only two major items noted. These were the rebuilding of the two western pinnacles, of which the more urgent southerly structure has already been completed and the northerly pinnacle will be tackled before the end of the period as circumstances and funds allow. We will continue to work through the remaining items, including some repairs to plain glass, when more normal conditions allow scheduling and there is a recovery in income. Among other works completed recently is the conversion of our lighting to LED which will yield an environmental as well as financial benefit and we will be installing a fire alarm system and protection for roof metal again as St Mary’s Centre conditions allow scheduling. We are grateful to the Friends of St Mary’s, who are acknowledged later in the profile, for offering assistance with these last two projects. In 2012 we were able to purchase a building (St Mary’s Centre) a few yards from the church to use as a church hall and Parish Office using funds from an educa- tional trust.

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