A Snapshot of Rye

When you think of Rye and Winchelsea you probably picture beaches and coastline…shifting shingle and sand dunes, beautiful countryside and quaint, cobbled, historic towns and villages full of thatched cottages – and that is all true – it is beautiful!

Rye Deanery stretches along about 12 miles of coastline from Camber to Fairlight.

It wiggles inland for 10 miles where it then follows the Kent Border along the North and East, with the Marshes on the East side.

It covers about 100 square miles and this includes is a large amount of woodland and many winding roads and narrow lanes.

There are lots of potholes and fallen branches to avoid, as well as the occasional Kamikaze fox, badger or deer to keep me alert while I am driving around.

Rye Deanery is blessed with an amazing FSW Deanery Committee who listen to me rambling on at meetings and who work tirelessly to raise funds for our work.

In this Deanery there are12 Primary School, many in pretty villages, and 1 Secondary School in Rye.

It all sounds rather idyllic –

But there is hidden deprivation…

On the East side of Deanery – along Kent border, is an area of the highest deprivation in the Diocese (social and economic).

Schools report higher numbers of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (up to 1/3 of pupils in some schools) and more children receiving Free School Meals than the National Average.

There are Challenges for families living in the rural area:

Lack of transport. Buses running every 2 hours, if at all, from rural villages. Trip to Bexhill and back on public transport can take most of the day!

Lack of affordable private housing and social housing. Holiday Lets and Air BnB have reduced the housing available to families. This results in overcrowding, or families being placed in temporary accommodation for months on end.

Poorly maintained social housing and private housing, leading to problems with damp and mould.

Lack of access to employment opportunities. Long travel times to the towns and fewer jobs available in local area.

Lack of access to affordable food and budget supermarkets. Local shops charge a premium on basic goods. Poor accessibility to larger shops – requires a trip to Hastings.

Lack of access to support and amenities – there are fewer groups and services in the rural area and many parents do not have their own transport to be able to access groups further afield.

My work:

Like most of my Colleagues, a large part of my case load now involves supporting families who have at least one child with Special Educational Needs (sometimes several children). Often there are related social, emotional and mental health difficulties and these can then have an impact on the wellbeing of the whole family.

Sometimes the parents have additional needs themselves, as well as dealing with other issues being faced by so many families at the present time.

Much of the current work is to support families to secure adequate help for their children and themselves. This could be organising paperwork, attending meetings at School, completing Forms and Referrals and generally advocating for them, while encouraging their ability to self-advocate.

Reflection:

While travelling around the Deanery I have plenty of time to reflect – and I was recently considering the similarities between the changing nature of the coastline over the centuries and the stories of the families I have worked with over the years.

Rye and Winchelsea towns used to be flourishing ports standing by the sea.

Old Winchelsea was built on a vulnerable shingle spit.

In February 1287 a powerful hurricane hit the coast with immense force, causing the complete destruction of Old Winchelsea.

Some of our families have experienced deprivation, abuse, neglect and trauma along the way. Their lives are built on fragile, ever-shifting foundations and, as a result they are vulnerable. Their ability to cope may be compromised and they have not always had the opportunity to build resilience or find a support network.

When hit by a catastrophic event, (such as a bereavement, relationship breakdown, illness, redundancy) they are completely overwhelmed and, like Old Winchelsea, find themselves ‘all at sea’.

I am thinking of a family where the Mother left the home due to mental health and addiction struggles and the Father was suddenly left to care for the children. He had to give up his job, lost his colleagues and friends and the family lost their home and had to relocate. He had to learn new skills and re-build a life for himself and his children.

FSW is here to help families to recover, re-group, relocate (if necessary), build resilience and re-build their lives on solid ground.

• Winchelsea was subsequently re-built on a clifftop overlooking the area and able to thrive again. 

Rye was built on a cliff.  It survived the storm, but Rye’s harbour suffered from very gradual silting up over the following centuries, until Rye Town was eventually separated from the sea and its lifeblood.

Some of our families have the resilience or ability to withstand the occasional storm, but the difficulties and challenges of life (such as debt, illness and disability, an abusive relationship, use of drugs or alcohol – or just life events in general), slowly build up until one day they find themselves ‘high and dry’.

I am thinking of a Mum who lived in a damp and mouldy flat with her children for 10 years. For 5 years she had slept on the sofa due to lack of space. She stopped socialising due to shame over the state of the flat and became isolated. Gradually it began to take its toll as the children became unwell (due to the mould) and they regularly missed school. Mum was threatened with fines as a result and was in danger of losing her job because she was missing work to care for them. She was terrified this would lead to them losing their home.

FSW is here to help families who for, whatever reason, find that their lives have become unmanageable and who feel alienated or cut off from previous sources of support. We can reassure and help them to re-connect with support, re-claim lost ground and re-evolve.

• Rye evolved into a smuggling centre (not something I would advise!) and then a successful market town and seaside resort.

I feel that most of us who are drawn to work for, and to support FSW have experienced the ‘storms of life’ in one way or another, or at least can think of times when we have felt all at sea, or high and dry?

Perhaps, like pieces of driftwood, we have had our rough edges smoothed over, perhaps gathered a few barnacles along the way, and developed some cracks!

Families I have supported often talk about going through a storm or a dark time and not being able to see the way ahead…

So, I would like to quote Spike Milligan, who is buried in the Churchyard here. He was well acquainted with darkness and storms in his own life but still brought such humour and silliness to the world:

He said: “Blessed are the cracked – for they let in the light”.

His gravestone reads: Love – Light – Peace – something that I think we would all wish for those families in our care.

Gill Sutton, Family Support Practitioner for Rye