Volunteers forRye charity aregiven awards

The awards were presented at a recent open garden event which was attended by Rye Mayor Cllr Bernardine Fiddimore and Rye Town Crier Rex Swain.

It was held at the beautiful High Street garden of charity supporter Rae Festing.

Shop manager Denise Ellis said: “It was a particularly special day for us as the Mayor arrived to give out our long service certificates for our volunteers .

“We had three five year awards. Janet Balcome Caroline Askoul and Joy Carmate.

“A ten year award was presented to Pat Boniface and a very special award was given to Gabrielle Frietag who has spent 25 years volunteering with Sue Ryder.

“It was a very emotional to all the team as we discussed how special the Sue Ryder charity was to us .

“We had a brilliant fundraising weekend for the Rye retail team.

“We started on Saturday with our second open garden of the summer. We had linen for sale and a very popular bottle and tombola stall. The cake and tea stall was busy all the way through the day.

“On Sunday we attended the Rye Maritime Festival by the quay in rye.

“We decided to have a theme for our stall and agreed on Sponge Bob Squarepants. Everyone helped collect all that was needed for the theme

“All in all it was a very busy weekend and we raised a total of £907.00

“I have been completely overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of Rae Festing and the Rye team of volunteers.

“They are all very special people. I would like to thank them for all the hard work they do and here’s looking forward to the next project.”