diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 108f827cf2..dfa5d8748a 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+Changes in synapse v0.18.6-rc2 (2016-12-30)
+===========================================
+
+Bug fixes:
+
+* Fix memory leak in twisted by initialising logging correctly (PR #1731)
+* Fix bug where fetching missing events took an unacceptable amount of time in
+  large rooms (PR #1734)
+
+
 Changes in synapse v0.18.6-rc1 (2016-12-29)
 ===========================================
 
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index 84592f53ea..fbb2bb57b0 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@
 """ This is a reference implementation of a Matrix home server.
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.18.6-rc1"
+__version__ = "0.18.6-rc2"