Local tales come to life in Robertsbridge

A NEW art exhibition telling local tales and marking the area’s history is to open in Robertsbridge.

Not Everybody Rises is a project re-telling forgotten stories or marking, for future generations, significant events.

From local research and oral history sessions, five stories were selected to be re-told in visual form.

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The resulting panels are being positioned in the outdoor landscapes in which the stories took place to be read by the public at large.

This project started a year and a half ago with an idea from local artist Julian Hanshaw and a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Now at the end of the journey the results of the project are being shown at the BlackShed Gallery in Robertsbridge alongside work at Salehurst Primary School.

These stories draw a path through the East of Rother, from Camber to Winchelsea, taking in Rye Harbour and the Firehills and tell tales from WW2, the Boer War and the Mary Sanford Disaster.

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The importance of remembering and preserving memories of this nature is of such value to future generations in understanding their ancestors and places where they live.

The Heritage Lottery also made it possible for this project to work directly with a group of Year 2/3 children from Salehurst Church of England Primary School.

The children looked at their village through storytelling and graphic illustration workshops, encouraging them to consider who their local heroes are, and where the village’s most special places are.

The resulting work will be hung alongside the five stories and additional work by Julian Hanshaw.

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The exhibition is at the BlackShed Gallery, Redmans Lane, Robertsbridge from Monday (September 24) to October 6.

For gallery opening times, visit the BlackShed website at www.theblackshedgallery.org.uk

More information from Melanie Powell, Rother District Council arts development officer, at [email protected]

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