Meet the team: Arthur Sloman

By Laura Ross

Communications Officer, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

As one of the largest and most important wildlife sites in England, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve is a stunning coastal and wetland landscape that is home to over 4,000 species of plants and animals. Combine this with the award-winning Discovery Centre; a hub for socialising, educating, shopping and more and it's easy to see why we need someone to make sure everyone feels warmly welcome. That person is Arthur Sloman, our new Visitor Experience Manager. I caught up with him to find out a bit more about his new role and where his love for creating a special visitor experience has come from. 


Tell us a little bit about your background
I recently completed a heritage fund project at a community garden in Kent. It provided opportunities for learning traditional skills like woodworking, scything & hedge laying. Every week we hosted outdoor activities for young people struggling at school because of SEN, autism, anxiety or similar.

So, how have you found your first few weeks with us?
It feels great to have joined Sussex Wildlife Trust. I can't remember ever being so warmly welcomed to a new job before. I’d like to say thank you to the people I’ve met so far and a big ‘hello!’ to everyone reading this.

Tell us a bit more about your new role
Visitor Experience, or ‘VE’, is something that exists in every major attraction, although it often goes by different names. I’ve been part of visitor welcome, visitor services and membership teams at the British Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich, National Gallery, V&A, English Heritage and National Trust. It’s all about great customer service. If visitors don’t like it, VE makes it better. If visitors do like it, VE makes it bigger!In my new role I’m going to work alongside Wilder Learning and provide young people with everything we possibly can. I’m also going to focus on creating new activities that will benefit local residents in East Sussex.

What do you see as your main challenge? 



I want to make sure that everyone feels included, even if they're visiting for very different reasons to bird watching. You might visit Rye Harbour Nature Reserve on a school trip, to meet a friend, ride a bike, walk a dog, explore with a child or simply grab a brew, a loo and a view from the Lime Kiln Café. There’s no telling what difference we can make to a person’s life by allowing them access to this incredible nature reserve.

Do you have a favourite spot here?

I love standing out the back of the Discovery Centre and watching the changing tide on my lunch break.

Tell us something about you we might not know.

I was born in Kingston-upon-Thames and learned to sail dinghies on the river when I was very young. My wife Sophie and I currently live in sunny Eastbourne with our dinosaur-obsessed daughter Willa, who is two years old. Her favourite dino this week is “Elasmosaurus” - a swimming creature with a neck up to 7m long!