​A trip down memorabilia lane

From this week passengers travelling to Rye are being wowed with a new exhibition made up of railway memorabilia from years gone organised by Sussex Community Rail Partnership (SCRP) . The bulk of this focuses features the station itself, alongside further information along the line from Ashford to Hastings. The posters and information have been supplied by local resident Stuart Searle.

Stuart is a past employee of Southern and even his own purpose built station in his back garden. He has been a collector of train memorabilia for many years and has also been featured on BBC2 with his collection.

Kevin Barry from SCRP's Community Rail Development Manager for the Marshlink line, said: “This exhibition will provoke many memories for rail users and local residents of Rye. Stuart has a lot more than we could possibly fit into the station, which does leave us with the opportunity to do another display at a later date. It is brilliant that people like Stuart are happy to engage with us at SCRP so that children, as well as adults can see and remember what it used to look like.”

Kevin Boorman, Chair of the Marshlink's Community Rail Partnership, added: "Rye is a lovely, traditional station, and Stuart's meorabilia is just perfect here and very nostalgic. We are very grateful to Stuart for lending us some of his collection and to Kevin Barry for the work he has done to put this fantastic exhibition on."

Simon Greenfield, Station Manager, said: "Over the years Kevin has provided some wonderful art displays at stations along the line. One of the most notable of these was the Captain Pugwash exhibit he organised at Rye a few years ago. It's wonderful to have such a nostalgic look at the station and those surrounding it over the years and I thank Kevin and Stuart for all their efforts."

The display can be seen at Rye station until 2nd April.

Pic shows l to r Kevin Boorman, Simon Greenfield, Rye deputy town crier Paul Goring, Stuart Searle, the Mayor of Rye Cllr Johnathan Breeds, and Kevin Barry.