It is rather gratifying to realise that GAZETTE readers do read the whole paper right to the bottom of the back page; several people have remarked that Joan Parkes no longer has her name at the foot. Without Joan's help and support and advice the GAZETTE would never have started, but she now feels that the claims of her far-flung family might well come between her and the GAZETTE at some critical moment, and she is therefore resigning from the staff while still offering her quite invaluable advice to the paper when she can. She will continue her delivery round until the end of the year, but the 1983 subscription forms will offer a delivery area stopping at the railway line; we shall make arrangements for pick-up points for Rye Hill and Military Road subscribers who so wish. (N.B. Use of the editorial "we" will continue!)
Despite heavy rain throughout the morning, a large congregation filled St. Mary's Church for the Remembrance Sunday service. Standards borne down the aisle to be laid in the Clare Chapel were those of the British Legion, RAF Association, ATC, St. John Ambulance Brigade, the Scouts and two Cub packs, the Guides, and the Brownies who for the very first time had a "proper" standard to carry. Other organisations taking part in the parade were the Sea Cadets, the Fire Brigade, WRVS, Red Cross and police. The Mayor and Town Council attended the service in their robes.
From the pulpit, Canon Maundrell reminded his congregation that to half the country's population both World Wars were now only something in the history books; however, we were also remembering those who died in other conflicts, not only the Falklands and Northern Ireland - he pointed out that 1968 was the only year in the past two centuries when no member of the British Forces had been killed in action. Against hammering rain on the church roof, he went on to speak about the purpose of memories.
At the War Memorial, the Last Post was played by Musician Courage, from the Royal Engineers at Aldershot, who had driven with his fiancée from weekend leave at his Bournemouth home to take part in the ceremony. Standing among the British Legion contingent were two young serving sailors - lads from Iden and Wittersham recently returned from the Falklands, who had also arranged their weekend leave to be present. Wreaths were laid on behalf of Rye Town Council, the British Legion, Women's British Legion and British Legion Club, RAF Association, Sea Cadets, ATC, Rye Police, Rye Fire Brigade, Red Cross, St. John's, WRVS, Scouts, Guides, Rotary, Round Table, Rye Lions, Rye Chamber of Trade, Rye Bonfire Society, and Thomas Peacocke School.
Among private tributes was a wreath to the memory of Corporal Mike Witchell, who was killed in May 1940, the first Rye man to die in action in World War II. The Memorial bears the names of 145 men who were killed in the First World War, and 40 in the Second, with a further nine names of Rye civilians killed by enemy action.
Combined matins and evensong collection for Poppy Day funds was £170, up on last year.
On Sunday evening, a full coach left Rye for the Festival of Remembrance ceremony in Hastings, and Women's British Legion Chairman Joan Camier says that the outing was much appreciated and is likely to be repeated next year.
Miss Margaret Hall of New Winchelsea Road tells the GAZETTE that the medal ribbons referred to in our account last week of Mr. Healey's gift to Rye Museum were part of a range of military items which her late father took into his stock during the war, when Rye's shopping public ceased to be civilian and became very largely military. The lithographic stone was used - well before her time! - for printing the firm's paper bags.
If anyone has any photographs or documents relating to the history of Golden's shop, the Museum would be very glad to be allowed to look at and perhaps copy them.
2.
We regret to report the death of Miss Edith Greenhalgh, on 10 November at Rye Hospital after a short illness. Miss Greenhalgh was 78. Known affectionately as "Teedy", she came to Rye in 1960 and lived with her sister-in-law in Udimore Road until they both moved to Devonport House in April 1982; hers is the first death among this new community. Until she retired in 1971, she used to work at the Tuck Shop in Market Street. Private cremation has taken place, but Mrs. Greenhalgh would like it to be known that she plans to erect a seat in memory of her sister-in-law, and donations instead of flowers should be sent to her at Flat 1, Devonport House.
Patric Dickinson, of Church Square, has just published a new book of poems "A Rift in Time" (Chatto and Windus, £3.95). He is delighted that this has been selected by the Poetry Book Society as its winter recommendation, and he will be reading from it at the Arts Council Shop in Long Acre (Covent Garden), on Thursday. It is a pity that Wells Cathedral School has chosen the same day, the 18th, for its production of "Wenceslas", for which he wrote the libretto and Alan Ridout the music; but such clashes are the penalty of fame, and even poets can't be in two places at once.
Ken Vicarey's new shop at the bottom of the Landgate - Landgate Freezer Centre - opened on Monday. Twenty chest freezers provide nearly 300 cubic feet of space for a very wide range of frozen food, in small-portion packs as well as those catering for freezer-stockers or outsize families. The firm packs its own local meat when possible - Mr. Vicarey used to work for Griffin Boon - and they are currently stocking local beef and pork and will be adding English lamb in season. If he can arrange for suitable supplies, he is thinking about adding local soft fruit and vegetables to his selection.
Mr. Vicarey wants people to come in and browse; as he says, if they know what he has in stock they will come back later when they actually want it. It is certainly a pleasure to see the bright and sunny shop replacing a long-standing eyesore, as well as providing a service which Rye has hitherto lacked.
Following their success in the recent Rye Festival, Digby Fairweather (trumpet), BBC Jazz Musician of the Year for 1981, and Stan Barker (piano) will be running another Jazz Workshop at Thomas Peacocke School on Friday, 26 November. After working with pupils they will give a concert at 7.30 p.m. in the Upper School hall, playing solo items as well as performing with the pupils. The Hastings jazz band, the Jazz Caverners, will share the programme, and members of the public are cordially invited; admission is free, though there will be a collection towards expenses.
When we mentioned in our first issue the existence of a goldsmith working in the Old Brewery, Wish Ward, we were not aware that in fact the Rye Tiles attics house two. Graham Fuller lives in Beckley and has two sons at Thomas Peacocke; like Peter Farrow, he has now set up on his own after working for some years under John Donald, the internationally known jeweller. Graham is primarily a designer, making individual pieces, but he also undertakes work for other designers including John Donald, and teaches two days a week at the Central School of Art as part of its jewellery design course.
Graham is applying for planning permission in principle to convert into a private house the Wool Store in Winchelsea Road; this is the brick warehouse just the Rye side of Western House, opposite the laundry, used for some years as a furniture store.
Thomas Peacocke School has heard with much pleasure that a recent ex-pupil, Zelie Elizabeth Appleton (20) of Icklesham, now at Edinburgh University, has won the Class Medal for Agriculture and also a bursary from the Faculty of Science for the high standard of her work in her first year. The staff of Freeman Hardy and Willis will also be pleased about Zelie's success, since she had a Saturday-and-holidays job in the High Street shop for some time.
Wondering what was happening about the proposed handrail on Conduit Hill, the GAZETTE made enquiries from the County Planning Department - in our first issue we reported on the County Council's plans to erect such a rail and described what was proposed.
There seems to be strong feeling in the town both for and against the rail. Those in favour feel, obviously, that it would be helpful not only to the handicapped and to elderly residents of Devonport House but to many people using Conduit Hill. Those against say, variously, that it would spoil the look of the hill; that it is a waste of money which Rye might well find itself paying; and that cash ear-marked for the handicapped would be more usefully employed in "ramping' some of our pavements for wheelchairs.
We thought it would be interesting to know just how much money would be involved and where it would come from. The County Engineer expects the rail to cost about £4,500 including reinstating the cobbles. Of this, £300 has been offered by the East Sussex Association for the Disabled, and the remainder will come from the County Council minor road works funds. Nothing will be specifically charged to Rye ratepayers.
Objectors include Rye Town Council, the Ratepayers Association, and the committee of the Community Centre who are not happy about the look of the rail. The Conservation Society, who had been consulted about the design from the outset, had no objection. Naturally the East Sussex Association for the Disabled supported the project, and Rother Planning Committee, to whom it was submitted for consultation purposes only, raised no objection.
Conduit Hill is steep, and often slippery. It is also the quickest way of getting from the Rope Walk area to the beginning of the High Street. Alternatives are the long way round via Market Road, with its narrow pavements; the less long way round via Tower Street and a scary scurry under the Landgate arch; or along Turkeycock Lane, crossing to the pavement side of Hilder's Cliff at risk of life and limb from invisible traffic zooming round the corner and under the arch. Once Conduit Hill is closed to through traffic (which will happen anyway) it will at least provide a pedestrian access to the High Street which can be taken at a very leisurely pace, and it would seem ungrateful to refuse a handrail of quite pleasant appearance and for which the County Council is offering to pay.
All the papers have now gone to the Secretary of State for the Environment, and if he approves the County Council proposes to do the work at the same time as the bollards to close the road are erected at the top of Conduit Hill.
(We much regret that for reasons of space we are unable to print in full the review of this important exhibition kindly written for the GAZETTE by Michael Renton)
To mark the centenary of his birth, Rye Art Gallery is showing work by Eric Gill (1882-1940). Selected mainly from an exhibition held recently at Chichester, this rounds off a series of commemorative events which have taken place mostly in places with which he had some personal connection. Starting with remarkable boyhood drawings of railway engines, the exhibition moves on to little-known studies made while Gill was articled to an architect; he soon broke away from this early training, however, to establish himself as a master of stone carving, engraving and lettering. Inspired by the great calligrapher Edward Johnston he was, indeed, a pioneer of a return to first principles in all these arts. Gill's larger sculpture is difficult to represent in any exhibition, as most of it is attached to buildings, including Westminster and Guildford Cathedrals, Broadcasting House and the League of Nations Building in Geneva. Drawings for some of these works are exhibited, however, as well as some smaller carvings, and many wood engravings. Eric Gill's engraving tools are here too, with their handsome box and such personalia as his spectacles and tobacco tin.
The Eric Gill exhibition continues to the end of December. In the upper gallery some items from the Rye Art Gallery's permanent collection are attractively displayed. They include paintings by Edward Burra, Paul Nash, Duncan Grant and Ivon Hitchens, and some colourful prints, with a couple of pre-war posters, by Margaret Barnard - better known to Rye residents as Mrs. Margaret MacKechnie.
Rumours of a fish-processing plant in Rock Channel, with horrid visions of simmering stockpots of catfood and fish-glue, sent the GAZETTE to talk to Duncan Grant and his wife Lesley. We are happy to report that in planning terms, fish-processing just means that something is done to the fish after it has left the sea, and all the Grants are proposing to do is to fillet it.
Duncan Grant, now thirty, once had a fishing-boat at Bexhill; he marketed his own fish and that of his fellow-fishermen so successfully that he eventually gave up his own boat in order to spend all his time on the sales side (but boats are a habit; he has just got another one). The Grants came to Rye three years ago, taking over the Rye Fish business with its Brixham link and its small premises on SWA land at the end of the Fishmarket Quay. They started with a team of three, dropping to two before business built up; they now employ a staff of 15 in increasingly cramped quarters at Monkbretton Bridge.
The new warehouse - part of the old Rother Iron Works complex, with a new roof and a breeze-block skin being raised inside the elderly corrugated iron walls - will mean that most of the first's freezing and packing operations will be moved from Monkbretton Bridge, tidying up the site there. It will also mean much more comfortable working conditions for the staff (there was a family argument going on last week about the colour of the walls in the women's showers!), and also better parking arrangements - they are concreting a large area for lorry parking, at the Rock Channel end, part of it under cover for loading in comfort. The total floor space of the new warehouse is 6,500 feet and looks every bit as big as it sounds; at one end a small extension - about the size of a large living-room - will be used for the filleting work and for "cutting" scallops and picking whelks. Cooking (of crabs, etc,) will continue to be done at the old promises. Two vast fridges and the ice-making plant will take up space along one long wall, and the rest of the area will be used for packing the fish for freezing and dispatch. The Grants point out that they have been working closely with the health and planning authorities over the whole project.
The firm currently buys fish from around 20 boats fishing out of Rye. As a matter-of interest, Duncan says that except for a very few from Hastings, all the boats fishing from Rye are manned by Rye crews, even though they may have 'foreign'' registrations; he adds that since he started up, a high degree of stability has been achieved for the Rye fleet. The firm also buys from further afield - they already have a large freezer at Eastbourne, and since the Folkestone fishmarket closed they get fish from Kent as well. They have also maintained the Brixham link. Duncan works on the principle of buying (and therefore selling) almost everything he is offered - a fish business is not one in which you can afford to have old stock! Birdseye are among his purchasers. Much of the debris from the filleting operations is sold to mink farms, and what even mink boggle at is taken out to sea and dumped, for the ultimate benefit of grateful crabs and such.
Duncan Grant Ltd, has at present three lorries, soon to bear the firm's name, and once the now warehouse is in use they will be looking for up to half-a-dozen more staff at once plus, they hope, more later. The retail outlet will remain at Monkbretton Bridge, with more room for parking once the packing operations have moved - they expect the new premises to be fully operational by Christmas. We are often surprised to discover that a Rye firm is a much bigger business than appears from the outside, and Duncan Grant Ltd. last year had a turnover of around £750,000.
The Grants live in Hastings - but intend to bring their two small daughters to the Rye area when a suitable house turns up, probably in one of the villages; living on top of the job could be a bit too convenient when your source of raw materials depends ultimately on the tine of high water at the end of the harbour!
(We hope to offer our readers other profiles of Rye businesses from time to time, as we feel that the commercial side of Rye life is sometimes submerged beneath the town's more spectacular historical aspects.)
5.
Rye Scouts had plenty of back-up for the Movement's 75th birthday celebrations at the Community Centre on 11 November. The County Commissioner was there to present Queen's Scout Awards to Ralph Popple and Paul Chillingworth, now Venture Scouts based at Guestwell, but who had both done all their boyhood scouting in Rye from Cub days onwards. Enjoying the evening were a group of former Rye Scouts, around 20 of them, routed out from (in some cases) retirement to join the party thanks to strenuous efforts by Troop Leader Peter Dee.
Both Cub packs presented entertainments, there was a film of the year's Scouting activities, a sing-song, and a ploughman's supper for all the guests. The Mayor then presented to the Scout Troop, for services to the town during the past year including particularly their help with beating the bounds and with the Queen Mother's visit, the Royal Charles Commemoration Trophy. This was given to the Mayoralty by an anonymous local donor to commemorate the Royal Wedding, and last year Jo Kirkham presented it to Rye Majorettes.
Captain Cory's Own will not celebrate their own 75th anniversary until 1984; though they have unofficial evidence that Scouting in Rye started in 1908, the Troop was not registered until 1909, with Lady Maud Warrender of Leasam House as its first President. In 1910 the Troop included two "cyclist Scouts", and in 1911 they were reviewed by King Edward VII, -presumably when he was visiting Lady Maud at Leasam. This was the year of Captain Cory's death, and the leadership of the Troop was then assumed by his widow, the former Miss Rose d'Almeida. She continued as Scoutmaster for 32 years, until 1943 - according to the Cory tombstone in Playden churchyard, which the present Scouts intend to renovate.
The new Rye committee of the Guide Dogs for the Blind is not wasting a moment; Paul Daniels and Rosemary Smith, both from Liptons, and Rosemary Newton of Iden are arranging a social to take place at the William the Conqueror at Iden on Saturday evening,
27 November. Doug and Marjorie Collins, of Hastings, will be bringing along their guide dogs Piper and Cinders at around 8.0, and there is talk of a mystery celebrity to topple a pile of coppers raised at the pub in aid of the good cause. Both the William the Conqueror and the Ferry Boat in Rye have already raised money for “their own" guide dogs, and both have plans for a second; but in general the idea is for projects to be channelled through the new group, and anyone offering help should phone Mrs. Newton at Iden 239, or call at Liptons.
The National Trust (Rye and Winchelsea Centre) announces in its latest newsletter an interesting events programme for 1983, preceded by the Christmas cocktail party on 4 December. They have a wine-tasting booked for February, at least one theatre visit, summer outings to four historic houses, a coffee morning and a garden party in Winchelsea, a visit in October to the Wallace Collection and ham house, and two holiday trips, one to Wales in April and one to the Netherlands in September. The Centre's AGM is on Friday, 26 November, at 7.30 at the Community Centre.
Mr. Doug Beales, of Brede, spends his days driving a 30-ton lorry for Jempsons.
In his spare time, he is an instructor for the Star Rider courses for motorcyclists.
There are three of these courses, run by a non-profit company and approved by the Government, with finance from the motor-cycle industry. The first two are designed to lead to a Part I certificate under the new test system. Bronze standard is for complete novices, with their bikes straight from the dealer, and involves four hours of off-road training in basic control, slow riding, braking, etc.. Silver is a 12-hour intermediate course with instruction both off and on the road. The two together cost just £30, and a satisfactory performance means a Part I certificate, the possession of which is necessary before taking the normal (Part II) motorbike test. (The third, Gold, course is to a very advanced - almost police - standard and is not on offer in Rye.) But Mr. Beales (Brede 882173) is glad to hear from recruits for the Bronze and Silver courses, and he tells us that his Rye courses have pupils of all ages, from 16-year-olds to ladies in their sixties. £30 well spent, we would think, in view of what even a not-very-powerful motor-bike costs.
6.
Thursday, 18th "Down Your Way" visits Rye
Red Cross Thrift Shop, 10.30-4.0 (also Friday and Saturday)
Evening of drama, Thomas Peacocke Upper School, 7.30
Community Centre Association AGM, Community Centre, 7.45
Friday, 19th Saturday, 20th Entertainment (see GAZETTE no. 8), TP Upper School, 7.30
Papa Joe's film: "The Four Seasons", Pizzeria, 9.0
Saturday, 20th Catholic Church Christmas Fair, FEC, 2.30
RYE BONFIRE NIGHT procession leaves Tilling Green, 7.15
(see below)
Sunday, 21st Annual Lifeboat Memorial Service, Rye Harbour Church, 3.0
Monday, 22nd Rye Museum Association talk: Dr. Gwen Jones on "Oasthouses", FEC, 7.30 - all welcome.
Tuesday, 23rd Ploughman's Lunch (Arthritis and Rheumatism Council), CC, 12 to 2
Whist Drive (Conservative Assoc.), Peppers, 2.30 - open to all.
Rye Bonfire Boys still need collectors - ring 84 261 and be part of the scene! Fireworks start at about 9.15, and lighting the bonfire will be Tessa Collins, Miss Rye 1982. All the money collected goes to local charities.
Tony and Pauline Meyer announce that The Decorator's Warehouse will be closed Thursday, 18 November until Saturday, 27th, inclusive.
Stephen and Janet Denny will be spending this week transferring stock from the old Penny Royal shop in The Mint (closed from Monday, 15th) to the new and enlarged Penny Royal at 22 High Street, where the late Leonard Stocks had his tobacconist's business. The new shop will be open for business on Saturday (20th).
Laurie Seal announces that Alley Barber will reopen on 29 November, mornings only for a week and then, from 6 December, 8.45 to 5.0, with half-days on Tuesday and Saturday. We are very pleased to hear that he has recovered from his operation.
Rye Festival Committee raised £340 from their Christmas Fair at the Town Hall >on Saturday.
Congratulations to Rye Harbour Boys FC, whose senior team has had its first win, against Tenterden.
Rye Majorettes are now taking bookings for their show "Christmas Time is Maritime" at the Community Centre on 3 December; phone Rye 2604 or 5105 for tickets.
Anyone going to Eastbourne between 20 November and 20 December will find local artists exhibiting at the Towner Art Gallery. The Collyer-Nash Pottery (from Winchelsea Station) have a display of their unique, delicious-looking and totally inedible food: a "Nostalgic Corner Shop" with goodies of the Thirties, and a table of Christmas puddings, cakes etc., along with other recent work.
Slim Rossiter, landlord of the Globe Inn, is organising a car treasure-hunt rally on Saturday evening, 27 November. The course includes some 35 clues and is expected to take about two hours; the prize is a magnum of champagne. Contestants should assemble by 6.30 in the Bedford car park, ready with the entrance fee of £2 - all proceeds will go to the Firemen's Benevolent Society. Local firemen are helping with this unusual event, which will be followed by a darts social night at the Globe with an extension licence until 11.45.
New caretaker at Freda Gardham School is Peter Dee, of Udimore Road, who moves there from Leasam House.
CND and FoE made around £70 at their jumble sale at the Methodist Hall on Saturday.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. It is published by Mrs. Mary Owen at 94 Udimore Road, Rye (Rye 2303) who is always glad to receive news items for inclusion. Normal deadline is Monday afternoon, though minor alterations can be made not later than 9.0 a.m on Tuesday. The GAZETTE costs 20p a week and is >normally delivered to subscribers on Wednesday.
Photocopied by Sussex Secretarial Services, 11 Claremont, Hastings (942 2633).