The first rumour was on Friday's breakfast television (though our informant was not either of the people thought to watch TV AM!), and a report in Saturday's Daily Telegraph confirmed it: "There will" it said, just like that, "be a bypass for Rye in East Sussex". The scheme is one of a good many which the Transport Secretary has just put on the "active list", and since according to the report the list includes spending £68m on the North Circular Road and £30m for a Bedford by-pass, ours doesn't seem likely to happen within the next year or ten. But at least it is now on the list.
The question keenly interesting people with property round the edge of the town is where will it go? The Department of Transport recently asked ESCC to update its information about Rye, and the County Highways Engineer told us then (GAZETTE no.18) that this was just because British Rail were talking about selling off surplus land, and we were no more likely to get a bypass than before. However...
There seem to be three main possibilities, all of course with snags. The route could skirt the town well to the north, somewhere behind Leasam - though this is a long way round and does not offer the sort of level ground that bypass builders like. It could go well to the south, the other side of the Brede from New Winchelsea Road - this, as well as being disastrous visually, would mean some very expensive bridges. Or it could go through the town, one side or the other of the railway - the north side lies very wet as well as having several houses and the Mill, and the town side is of course heavily built up and also involves the supermarket site (still on the boil, we hear).
On Monday one authoritative voice assured us that it would be most unlikely to go beside the railway; another said this was the most probable route! We heard mention of a scheme mooted some years ago which would have taken off from the foot of Rye Hill and involved the demolition of half Bridge Place. There was talk of another project taking the London traffic down Houghton Green Lane and across the Rother straight into the Camber road, but this is a different scheme; the Divisional Highways Engineer at Bexhill said that neither he nor the County Engineer had been told anything by the Department of Transport, but he assumed that "bypass" referred to the A259 running east-west along the coast, so our bit would link Winchelsea to somewhere beyond New Road. He also said that there would be no question of a double-carriageway motorway-style bypass, merely a continuation of the sort of road now linking Winchelsea and Icklesham.
As for timing, the Winchelsea bypass has now reached the stage when public consultations about the route are expected in the autumn. There is no likelihood of that work beginning until 1986, possibly a good deal later if there are problems over the route. One final authoritative voice on Monday said it seemed likely that the Rye and Winchelsea bypasses would be treated as one and done at the same time; but we don't know what grounds the speaker had for this sensible opinion.
The WRVS are anxious to find new recruits - men or women - for their team of cooks who produce meals in the FEC kitchen on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays: no need for us to point out what a godsend this service is. Mrs. Barton said that once the team is at full strength, cooks are only normally called upon twice a month. There are always two on duty, and a newcomer would be put with an old hand; no experience beyond plain family cooking is necessary, since all the quantities are set down - you would not be expected to produce sponge pudding for 25 people all on your own! The only real qualification is an ability to stand for three hours on end - work starts at 8.30 and the washing-up is usually done by mid-day. Volunteers or people even thinking about it should ring either Mrs. Barton (223114) or Miss Cotton (222733). All you need to bring is yourself and an overall.
2.
Mrs. Ethel Henshaw, of Rope Walk, died on 10 May aged 82; the funeral was on Monday. Mrs. Henshaw was the widow of Mr. Alex Henshaw, who came to Rye in the Thirties as a driver for T. Bourne & Son, and eventually took over the coach side of the business after his return to Rye from war service; he was a well-known and much valued member of the British Legion. Mrs. Henshaw, nee Styles, was born in Rye, and in due course ran the little sweet shop once kept by her mother in Rope Walk; the coaches were garaged in the big hall at the back, once the Salvation Army church and now the main showroom of Ann Lingard's antique shop.
Ninety-nine years exactly from the day it was printed, Helen and David Giles, working on their Ferry Road home, found a bit of paper behind the skirting. Space does not allow us to reproduce it in full, with its beautiful Victorian type, but it was a leaflet issued after-a by-election for a single seat on Rye Borough Council on 21 April 1884. The number of Burgesses entitled to vote was 756, the number who did vote was 576, and by a majority of 91 Masters beat Gasson for the seat. The leaflet continues:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I beg most respectfully to thank you for the warm support accorded me today, and to assure you that, having elected me a Member of your Town Council, no effort shall be wanting on my part to justify the confidence you have reposed in me. All matters appertaining to the welfare of the Ancient Town shall have my earnest attention. I am, Ladies and Gentlemen, yours obediently, J.N. MASTERS - 94 High Street, April 24th, 1884."
J.N. Masters continued to serve on the Council, and was Mayor in 1893, when he became the Chairman of the newly founded Society for the Preservation of the Ancient Buildings of Rye. He was a well-known local businessman and ran a large mail-order business employing over 100 people from what is now Adams' in the High Street; 94 High Street is now Olivers, the jewellers. Whether the defeated Gasson was the equally well-known businessman, H.J., Mayor in 1903 and 1904, we do not know.
Ryesingers Spring Concert in St. Mary's on Saturday was, of course, a resounding success, with a large and appreciative audience. Lesley Brownbill conducted with her usual energy and flair, and it was difficult to believe that the orchestra (led by Lorna Carpenter) had had only one rehearsal, the same afternoon. In the first half, Sally Eade's Brahms solo was quite exquisite. The second half consisted entirely of Bach's Magnificat in D, a technically difficult work performed with great skill by choir and orchestra; here the soloists were Jennifer Akhtar, Maureen Boulton, David Cade, Anne Whiteman, Tony Thomson and Marilyn Martin.
Red Cross Week earlier this month raised a total of £1,625 locally, a 17% increase over last year's figure. In Rye itself, £213 came from house-to-house collections, and £23 from street collections on Saturday; the remainder was raised in the villages, which in Red Cross terms include faraway places like Bodiam and Ewhurst.
This seems a good opportunity to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Thurston and their loyal group of helpers on the success of the New Thrift Shop, now reporting on its first year of trading. The shop, with a policy of selling high quality clothes in good condition and keeping prices low for a quick turnover, sells for owners on 25% commission and also sells garments given to the Red Cross outright, when of course the whole price goes to the cause. During the year - thanks, says Mr. Thurston, both to sellers and buyers and of course to the helpers who make the project possible - over 6,000 articles were sold for a total of £10,417, and over £3,350 was raised for the Red Cross.
We do wish, though, that they could arrange an evening handing-in session perhaps once a quarter; working people can't take an unspecified amount of time off on a Wednesday morning to join the queue that fills the Centre for two hours on the third Wednesday of every month.
THE RYE GAZETTE, 18.5.83 - page 3
• Mrs. Margaret Bryant, of Cooper Road, in charge of the kitchens at Freda Gardham School, was one of ten finalists in a Milk Marketing Board contest last Wednesday. The entrants - all responsible for producing school dinners - had to send in sample menus for a fortnight, in detail and properly costed, and the finalists were asked to make up and take along with them one day's meal for judging. Mrs. Bryant went armed with creamed chicken with sippets of bread, buttered carrots and rice, with gingerbread and lemon sauce for afters. She found herself up against cooks from as far afield as Eastbourne and even Brighton and didn't win; but how nice to think that Freda Gardham dinners are among the top ten in the county!
• We have been making enquiries about the progress of the Conduit Hill handrail, and also the parking restrictions for the cobbled streets, "promised shortly" last summer. Apparently, the finance for the rail is not yet quite assured, though tenders have turned out to be nearer £3,500 than the original estimate of £5,000, as long as major alterations to mains, etc., are not needed. Once the cash is available, the handrail could be installed by the autumn; and tied in with the handrail is the shutting off of the top of Conduit Hill, and in the same package as that is the parking clear-out in the citadel area. This sounds as if the parking restrictions are still some way off, which is bad news for people like the van-driver unable to deliver on Monday to the Hope Anchor because of a car parked just past the Methodist Church. The police do their best to help in this sort of problem, but say it is very difficult; there are at present no parking restrictions up there, and if a car parks in the road there is no room for anything even slightly bigger to get past including of course the fire engine or ambulance; if it makes room by having two wheels on the pavement, it is in trouble for driving on the footway!
Incidentally, it is pleasant to learn that the bollards for the rail - and for a new chain-fence along the Strand quay car park, and eventually for the lookout in Watch-bell Street – are being made at the Rye Foundry in Fishmarket Road; when the Phoenix foundry in Lewes closed, the County Council sent its standard bollard mould to Rye, who now make them both for East Sussex and for other Councils - they also, of course, made the Gun Garden cannon.
• When Devonport House opened last year, Lady Devonport set up a fund to provide more amenities for the residents, and the latest additions are a garden seat, made at Hellingly Hospital, and a music centre for the common-room, which has made possible the introduction of pleasant musical evenings on Tuesdays from 7.30 to about 9 - outsiders as well as residents are very welcome. The House has plans for summer outings, and a recent party marked its first anniversary. Mrs. B.M. Leggett, who has now been Warden there for ten months, asked us particularly to mention the 1st Rye Brownies who work so diligently in the garden. The House welcomed recently its newest residents, Mr. and Mrs. H.E. Owen who came here from East Grinstead.
The late Mrs. S. Young, formerly of Nutley Close before she moved to Devonport House, was buried at Udimore on 5 May; tributes at the church bore witness to her very special love of flowers.
• Have you wondered what that red-and-white ship is, anchored in the bay for some time now? We asked the Harbour-Master's office, and Mr. Bagwell told us that she is, in effect, waiting for an accident! The "Sumatras" is a Dutch-owned salvage tug, built in 1977 and registered in Panama, with a gross tonnage of 874, two engines, and big (55m long). When their computer tells the owners that the Straits of Dover are about due for an accident, one of these tugs is apt to appear in Rye Bay awaiting owner's instructions. Here she sits, with the crew on 24-hour standby (no going ashore); she may move around the bay, or go across to the French side, or eventually give up and try somewhere else - or, of course, zoom into action, in which case we should all know because she is not concerned with little boats but with tankers and cross-Channel ferries. It all seems a little ghoulish, but as Mr. Bagwell says, it is no worse than a breakdown truck sitting expectantly beside a motorway - more like an ambulance than a vulture, perhaps?
On Saturday (21st) there is the annual Christian Aid sponsored walk, leaving at 8.30 - sponsor forms from Thomas Peacocke School. (Sorry about short notice, nobody told the Diary.)
Trains to Hastings will be replaced by buses on Sunday (22nd) between 9.12 and 19.12 because of engineering works on the line; the buses do not go via Doleham.
THE RYE GAZETTE, 18.5.83 - page 4
In a converted cell in Rye Police Station, flickering its red eye and waiting spider-like for drink-driving suspects, sits a new computer. Since we feel sure that most GAZETTE readers are never likely to meet it professionally, we thought it might be of interest to record what happens to those who do.
The Lion intoximeter - one of two types of machine now legal under part of the 1981 Transport Act which came into force on 6 May - looks much like an ordinary computer keyboard except that it lives in a large locked case, has some rather unusual tubes emerging from it, and can only be operated by someone who has done a full two-day training course on it (and only then if their name and code number are fed in exactly right). It is made by a Cardiff firm and costs £2,700; and under some circumstances it can replace the rather cumbersome breath/blood/urine tests which are apt to mean at least a month's delay before a case comes to court.
The demonstration to which the GAZETTE was invited was intended primarily for magistrates, so there was a good deal of legal explanation far over our head. However, the new system - theoretically in use from the beginning of last week, though Rye hadn't yet had a suspect to try it out on by Thursday afternoon - works like this.
The original street breath-test is the same as before. If it is positive, the driver is taken to the police station and asked to blow twice down the Intoximeter's tube - we found it needed really quite a long strong blow to satisfy it. The machine displays a reading for each blow, and the lower of the two is the one used. Although the legal limit under this system is 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, a reading of 39 or under means in practice that there may be no further proceedings taken. A reading of over 50 means that he (or, of course, she) will be charged without more ado. Between 40 and 50, the driver will be offered a choice: to accept the reading, to give a blood sample, or to give a urine sample (in theory, now, the police specify whether blood or urine, but in fact the suspect is normally allowed to choose). It is the laboratory testing of the samples which delay prosecutions, and someone being charged simply on the evidence of the machine is likely to come to court much sooner, for good or ill. Ten days ago, suspects tested in Hastings one day appeared in court the next.
Though the figures look different, the limits registered are exactly the same under both systems, i.e. it makes no difference whether the test is at Rye on the Intoximeter or at Battle under the old arrangements. Sgt. Johnson, who was demonstrating, said it is not really possible to give a firm ruling on how much drink puts a person over the limit - it depends very much on the individual and the circumstances; but the magistrates told us that they usually reckon as a rough guide that two pints of beer or two "shorts" was as much as was wise.
A suspect is not tested until 20 minutes after his last drink, five minutes after eating (or smoking, which can damage the computer). To prove that it is working properly, the machine's cycle starts with a test run on a simulator; if that comes out wrong, it refuses to go any further, and it's back to the old blood-or-urine. However, it normally goes on to record the two readings for the suspect, and then a further check from the simulator, with a pause between each while it clears its throat of the previous fumes. It finishes with a print-out in quadruplicate: one copy for the suspect, one for the police (there are always two present), one for the file and one for the magistrates' clerk. Sgt. Johnson was clearly convinced that there was no way of fiddling the machine: even the extreme and unlikely resort of tipping a small gin into the simulator would not deceive it, and the print-out is on special security paper on which subsequent typing or painting-out shows up quite clearly (we know, we tried).
Under other circumstances, the GAZETTE would naturally like to give publicity to the first user of such new and expensive equipment, but we doubt if we would get much co-operation in this case! But anything that saves police time and ratepayers' money is obviously to be welcomed and if it cuts the waiting time for defendants as well, so much the better.
(Sussex Secretarial Services, our photocopiers, who are still in fact at their Claremont address but hoping to move to Cambridge Road very soon, apologise for the ghosting effect on some copies of the GAZETTE; it is due to a fault in the machine, which should be cured by next week.)
5.
The ARC coffee morning at the Community Centre next Wednesday will be an opportunity for the local branch to publicise the Flag Day appeal, to be held on Saturday, 4 June, as a prelude to National Arthritis Week on 5 to 11 June. The Rye Branch last year sent £975 to this very worth-while cause, "due" says Acting Secretary Mr. Francis Barrett, "to the active support and generosity of the local community"; they have already raised £275 this year. Mr. Barrett (Rye 223762) is anxious to hear from people who could give an hour of their time on 4 June, and also from anyone who would like to know more about the work of ARC.
Many people will know the work of Hastings poet Josephine Austin, and on Thursday, 26 May, she and other members of the Hastings New Poetry Society will be reading their own work at Fletcher's House from 7.30 to 9.30. The meeting is one of a series in conjunction with the publication of the fourth number of "First Time", a poetry magazine for previously unpublished writers - not just locally but nationally - which comes out twice a year and is edited by Mrs. Austin. The meeting is open to everyone (there is an admission fee), and floor readers are welcome, so it should be an interesting evening at which hidden Rye talent may well flower.
A real country outing for Bank Holiday Sunday - the Romney Marsh Footsloggers' Club at their "Foot Point-to-Point" (cross-country races) at Gateborough Farm, off Winchelsea Road, on 29 May - first race 3 pm. Originally held at Leasam Farm in the early Fifties, this event lapsed until it was revived in Udimore about five years ago. The course for most races is about three-quarters of a mile and includes obstacles; each member in a Relay Race team of four has to cover this distance, and there are also children's races (10 and under, and 14 and under), a Ladies' Race, and a Dog and Runner Race. The Open Race, however, is run over three miles, also with obstacles... There will be a tote, a raffle, refreshments, and even a wellington-boot-throwing competition. Schedules from Mrs. W.J. Hacking at Cadborough Farm (Rye 223349); and even if you are not competing, do come along plus family and dog. It should be a lot of fun.
Thomas Peacocke School ATC Squadron (which made £130 at their recent jumble sale) is holding an Open Evening for parents and friends on Friday, 17 June, from 7 pm in the Upper School Hall, when they hope to have a Wing-Commander coming to present the year's awards to cadets. There are now four girls in the Squadron, all from the upper end of the school so far, and CO Chris Bell is looking for a woman officer able to help with meetings - Mondays from 4 to 5 and Fridays from 4 to 7, at the school. The emphasis is on general youth training, though of course someone with RAF or WRAF background, or anyway aviation-minded, would be specially welcome.
We would like to offer the compliments of the GAZETTE to Freda Gardham School, and particularly to Mr. Brian Moses, on issue no.1 of "The Freda Guardian", their new venture into the world of the media. Unlike many school magazines, this one is intended to interest adults as well as children, and contains a wide range of material from all four years of the Junior School. It will doubtless be read with interest by staff at Thomas Peacocke Lower, where some of the contributors will be by September; perhaps Susanna Luck will mercifully have forgotten her "Ten Rules for Upsetting the Teacher" by then, though Fabian Devlin from the top infants has four years ahead of him to concoct his teacher-eating robot. Neil Archer illustrates Helen Menzies-Sacher's unusual poem about a badger, and Nigel Hammond lifts the lid on Mr. Collins - who seems a little shaky about either his age or his birthdate, or perhaps just careless over his proof-reading!
As well as work from pupils, the magazine has invited contributions from two previous Headmasters. Mr. Beevers, who was of course Head in the Ferry Road days, recalls the time just after the war when the evacuees returned, and school transport from Camber was an open lorry, while pupils and teachers paid 4d each for unsubsidised school dinners. Mr. Whalley writes of the last ten years, and of Brigadier and Mrs. Gardham who meant so much to the school; and Mrs. Kirkham reports on the role of a School Governor. Mrs. Keegan and Mrs. Boreham show the flag on behalf of the parents and the grandparents. We look forward to issue no.2.
6.
Thursday, 19th Thrift Shop, Red Cross Centre, 10.30 to 4 (and Friday, Saturday)
Saturday, 21st Coffee morning, Friends of Hill House, Town Hall forecourt, 10
Rye and District Guides Summer Fair, FEC, 2.30
Choir of St. Bartholomew's the Great sing Evensong, St. Mary's, 5 Celebration evening (all welcome), Methodist Church, 7.30
Monday, 23rd Mayor making, Town Hall, 5.30, followed by hot pennies at 6.30
Wednesday, 25th ARC coffee morning, Community Centre, 10 to 12 (see page 5)
• In response to public concern, please will whoever has the key of Graveney Antiques in the High Street water its despairing and moribund pot-plant?
• Congratulations to Gillian and Kevin Abnett, of Lydd, on the birth of Marie, 7 lbs 11 ozs - first grandchild for Barbara and Mick Wood of 28 Pottingfield Rd.
• Also, congratulations to Jo Kirkham, newly elected this year's Chairman of the Cinque Ports Mayors Association. Founded in 1979, the Association now has 92 members, all past or present Mayors of the Cinque Ports.
• Local artistic circles certainly produce very desirable jumble; after the Art Gallery "posh" jumble sale took £400 recently, the Rye Society of Artists made another £200 at the FEC on Saturday!
• The first of the election meetings for our new constituency takes place at the Town Hall on Saturday, 28 May, at 7.30, when David Amies, the Liberal/SDP Alliance candidate, will be addressing voters.
• The next Attic Sale at the Community Centre will be held on Sunday, 10 July, and regularly every other month thereafter (11 September, etc.) - prospective stall holders should contact Rye 223917 (evenings only).
• Tony and Michelle Campion announce that they have now moved their picture-framing business from Strand Quay to The Mint Arcade (home phone number Rye 222876, where Tony also takes orders for glass).
• At the Police Ball at Pontins in March, £200 was raised from the tombola, and Rye Police have sent £100 to Hill House School for adventure playground equipment; the other £100 goes towards Hastings Police's £5,000 appeal to provide a life support resuscitator for the casualty department at the Royal East Sussex Hospital.
• Rye Lions are hoping for better weather than last Sunday's for their Boot Fair out along New Road on Bank Holiday Sunday (29 May). Site rental is £5 per car - if paid in advance (cheques for Rye and District Lions, to Trevor Humphreys, 15 Fair Meadow, Rye), or £6 at the gate - which will open from 9 for sellers, and from 10 till 4 for buyers.
• Crime: two Stanley knives and a stapler were taken in a recent break-in at Lower School, and a Waltham stereo radio cassette player plus speakers and tapes from a car in the town on 1 May; and there were two cases of criminal damage to cars - £70-worth to a VW on 7/8 May, and £100-worth to a Daimler parked near the Gun Garden on 13/14 May.
• Welcome home to Tina Cole, daughter of Wally and Eileen, sister of Tarquin, who has an exhibition of paintings and drawings in the Easton Rooms from 21 May.
• Has anyone else wondered how the cherry blossom from the churchyard manages to blow along Pump Street and then take a sharp left turn to lie in long drifts in the gutter in front of Town Hall Cottage - a mass of pink petals, without a cherry tree in sight?
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office. It is published by Mrs. Mary Owen at 94 Udimore Road, Rye (222303), and news items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline Monday afternoon, 9 am Tuesday for real emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday morning.
Photocopied by Sussex Secretarial Services, 10 Cambridge Road, Hastings (0424 422633).
Page 7
The Town Diary has so far been notified of the following open events (not jumble sales, and not members-only or by-invitation functions.) If we have left something out, please ring Rye 222303 so that it can go in the Diary and eventually in “This Week’s Events” in the GAZETTE.
JUNE
Saturday, 4th Rye Hospital Fete, FEC, 10.30 to 12.30
FRAG Plant Sale, Town Hall, 10 to 1
Flute and Piano Recital, St. Mary’s, 7.30
Tuesday, 7th FRAG talk “Our Imperilled Landscape” (Dame Sylvia Crowe), TH, 8
Thursday, 9th Polling Day
Saturday, 11th FRHNR all-day event, FEC
Rye Labour Party Bazaar (including lunch), FEC, 10 to 3
Bonfire Boys “Garden Morning” (coffee, etc.), Ypres Castle
Sunday, 12th Open Gardens, Lamb House and 18 Church Square, 2 to 6
Saturday, 18th NSPCC Summer Fair, FEC, 10.30 to 3.30
Rye Harmonic Society Concert, St. Mary’s, 7.30
Thursday, 23rd Rye WI “Coffee Morning Plus”, Red Cross, 10 to 12
Rye Council for Voluntary Service public meeting, Town Hall, 7.30
Saturday 25th Barn Dance (TPS PTA), Catsfield Steamers, The Grove, 8
JULY
Friday, 1st Jazz and Blues evening (FRAG), 35a The Mint, 7.30
Saturday, 2nd Open gardens (FRAG), afternoon.
Sunday, 3rd Hill House Fete (Rye Hill), 2
Choir of Mayfield Parish Church sings evensong, St. Mary's
Saturday, 9th Hill house School coffee morning, FEC.
Visit of Stowmarket Schools Bank (also Sunday)
Sunday, 10th Attic Sale, Community Centre, 10 to 1
FRHNR Strawberry Tea, Float Farm, Udimore, 2.30 to 6
Wednesday, 13th ARC coffee morning, Fair Oak, Fair Meadow, 10.30 to 12
Saturday, 16th Boot Fair (TPS PTA), Upper School car park, afternoon.
Talk "An Introduction to Homeopathy'', George Hotel, 3
Wednesday, 20th Tuesday Painters Exhibition, FEC (till 30th)
Saturday, 23rd Catholic Church coffee morning, EEC, 10.30 to 12.30
Sunday, 24th Cancer Relief Fete, Monypenny, Rosemary Lane, Pett, afternoon
AUGUST
Monday, 1st Rye Society of Artists Exhibition (till end of month), Mermaid St.
Saturday, 6th Rye Carnival
Sunday, 14th Rye Racers "silly race", Ypres Castle, mid-day
Sunday, 28th Raft Race (NSPCC), afternoon
SEPTEMBER
Saturday, 3rd Rye WI Autumn Fair, FEC, 10.30
Rye Festival Week begins.
Sunday, 11th Attic Sale, Community Centre, 10 to 1
Sunday, 18th British Legion - dedication of standards, St. Mary's, 3
OCTOBER
Saturday, 1st Michaelmas Fair, Thomas Peacocke School, afternoon
A LIST OF AUTUMN AND WINTER EVENTS WILL APPEAR WITH A SEPTEMBER "GAZETTE" ISSUE.