Issue no. 41 of the GAZETTE (29 June) will be the last in the present quarter. For the next quarter (6 July to 28 September) the subscription will be £2.75 for 11 issues - although there are 13 weeks, we shall not publish on 3 and 17 August, to allow for staff holidays and taking into account the fact that not a lot happens in August anyway. Subscriptions are not due until the end of June, and no receipts will be issued until 6 July, but we are mentioning the matter early for the benefit of people who may be on holiday towards the end of the month. There is no discount for early payment; but it would be much appreciated if not all subscriptions came in at the very last minute!
We are glad to report that the lady of 85 who was so brutally attacked last Wednesday, when she was letting herself into her cottage off The Mint after a morning's shopping, is now none the worse for her experience. As she was entering the house, she found herself seized from behind and pushed to the floor of a hall cupboard and the door shut on her. Her sister, also in her eighties, hearing a noise came to investigate, and the robber jammed the door from the living room into the hall; this left both ladies temporarily helpless, neither knowing what had happened to the other. The man then opened the cupboard, where the older sister had scrambled to her feet; she struck out at him, but he grabbed her handbag and ran out of the house. The bag was later found in the Ferry Road car park, with £9 missing.
The older lady must have been very badly shaken, but she was still able to give the police an excellent description of her assailant: a grey-haired man in his fifties, of medium height and slightly built, wearing a grey pullover and dark trousers. She told us she felt sure he was not a local man - he had an evil face which she would know again if she saw it. We are deeply impressed with her self-possession in these frightening circumstances, and hope that this, and another less serious theft the previous week, are not the beginning of big-city crime reaching Rye.
(However, it appears that the shopping trolley reputedly stolen from outside a High Street store was in fact taken in innocence and by mistake and is now back with its rightful owner.)
The Hospital Fete, at the FEC on Saturday morning, cleared £850 for League of Friends funds, so the enormous amount of work involved paid off very effectively. In addition to this success, the morning saw this year's Chairman of Rye and Rother Valley Round Table, Francis Hadfield, watch his immediate predecessor Colin Stutely hand over a very large cheque to Phil Ellis, the League's Chairman - large in every sense, because this handsome-sized piece of paper represented an extremely handsome donation from the Round Table to the League of Friends for their building fund. We hope to hear more of this at their AGM on 1 July. In 1981 and again in 1982 Round Table presented the League with £1,500, but they have excelled themselves this year with a gift of £2,000, making a total of £5,000 altogether so far! The money has come largely but not entirely from the Carnival (6 August this year).
Secretary to the League for 14 years (and on its Committee for 19), Mrs. Ruth Lawson-Tait of Fairlight has recently decided to resign in order to have more time for her work for cancer relief and also to satisfy the demand for her expertise as a flower-arranger - she has just returned from a "working holiday" demonstrating this beautiful art in Jersey. Her successor as the League's Secretary is Mrs. K. Pearson of 2 North Salts (Rye 223522).
2.
Doubtless shoppers will already have put two and two together with regard to the new ownership of the High Street picture gallery recently vacated by Raymond Price, but Tony Wills of Serendipity tells us officially that "Doodle", Serendipity's new baby, will be arriving there on Saturday. Doodle is not quite unique - there are already one or two similar shops dotted about the country - but it will certainly be a new concept for Rye. From what we hear, it will be a magnet for the young (and those shopping for them): among the stock will be some items which have been temporarily housed in Serendipity - coloured writing paper, pretty stickers, unusual pens and the kind of soft toy which appeals to all ages. Anne Wills is doing the buying for Doodle, and she has selected a range of most unusual greetings cards which she thinks everybody will find greatly stimulating - she and her husband have designed the display stand themselves, so that the whole of each card can be seen instead of just the top third. It all sounds very attractive and will of course release space for those who enjoy taking their time browsing through the rather less ephemeral stock in the main shop.
The Quayside Service Station in Winchelsea Road is, thank goodness, definitely not going to turn into a fast-food cafe! We have this on the authority of the new proprietor himself, Mr. Graham Merrison of Rye. Mr. Merrison, who also has a garage at New Romney, hopes to open on 20 June, and will continue to sell petrol and offer the normal garage services - he will, however, be staying open later than used to be the case under the previous management.
Mr. Don Williams, of New Winchelsea Road, will soon be opening in business as a greengrocer and fruiterer next door to the new Rother Council offices in Cinque Ports Street (which will themselves be open before long). Mr. Williams's new venture is very convenient for housewives at that end of the town in view of the very recent closure of the greengrocery kept by Mr. and Mrs. Mills almost next door. Incidentally, although the Rates Office will move to Cinque Ports Street as soon as the new offices are ready, the Tourist Information Centre will remain in the bus yard kiosk for the rest of this season; Mrs. Leopold now has the help of Miss Susan Hilton to deal with the thousands of tourists who will cross her threshold between now and September.
The following decisions were taken at the Rother Planning Committee meeting recently (as always, they are only taken from the draft minutes and must not be regarded as gospel by applicants until they hear from Rother in writing, as there are often conditions attached).
Permission was given for the boatel, and also for a private house in Rock Channel; for alterations to 60 Church Square; and for two repainting jobs - Durrant House and one in Fishmarket Road. As reported last week, the Nook Beach project was turned down, the Swiss Patisserie move was approved, and so was the glass-blowing studio. A decision on the Midland Bank sign was left to the Planning Officer.
The remaining application was the conversion of the Mill buildings. Despite repeated efforts we have not been able to get in touch with the Planning Officer about this, and the position is not really clear; but we hope to report further next week.
Among this week's new applications is an interesting idea from British Rail. Users of the Gibbet Marsh footpath will have noticed the recent clearance and fencing of the rather scruffy bit of field the Strand side of the railway line. This runs round the front of the terrace which faces across the marsh, and eventually emerges into the Gateborough Farm Lane. British Rail wants to build sheltered accommodation on this site for 21 elderly people, with a warden. Access would be to the farm lane, with the road set at some distance from the present houses along the outer edge of an area of "amenity land"; the main buildings are placed in the field itself, with, rather oddly, a block of 24 garages in one corner. Perhaps BR intends to let them to nearby householders?
Other applications include a new window for Ypres Lodge, a garage extension in New Road, repainting in existing colours for Simon the Pieman, and a non-illuminated projecting sign for the TSB. There is also an application to make a one-bedroom flat in part of the present craft centre at the Rye Harbour Mission Hall.
THE RYE GAZETTE, 8.6.83 - page 3
We offer our respectful congratulations to Rye and District Fixtures, whose 500th edition, in a smart red-and-gold cover, came out last week. The first issue, with 12 pages and a circulation of 2,000, appeared on 1 July 1935 from Deacons Printing Works in Market Road (owned by Adams & Son, whose main business was then at 7 High Street). Publication ceased during the war because of paper rationing. In 1963 the works moved to new premises behind Adams' present shop at 8 High Street. The circulation is now 6,400 copies a month, with more than 64 pages, and of course the booklet provides invaluable information both in its events pages and in the advertising which means it can be distributed free every month throughout Rye and the villages. As its historical note points out, Fixtures was born in the days when 2/8d would take you to Hawkhurst and back in a Dengate's bus; and in a directory of the same period, we find Masters Bros. in Landgate advertising "Atlas" bicycles from 55/-, and the Rye Building Society urging investors to save £50 by paying 4/6d a month for 14 years!
Do you know of a mother's help or a nanny, perhaps new to the area and not knowing many people? If so, Adele Barnhill, who helps look after the Jempson children in Winchelsea, would be glad to hear from her (Rye 226256). Adele is herself a very long way from home - she comes from New Zealand - and she would like to get to know other girls in the same position, perhaps to plan joint outings with "their" children which would be more fun for all concerned. We don't know if any GAZETTE readers do have help of this kind themselves, but it would be kind if you would pass on the information to friends who might be interested. Perhaps there are young women working in the area in other types of job who would also be glad of a circle of friends? (Rye is such a close community, it is difficult to imagine what it is like for someone who arrives on her own from away to start a new job round here.) Anyway, we do hope Adele gets a good response to this suggestion.
Everyone enjoyed themselves very much at the Romney Marsh Footsloggers' Club Foot Point-to-point at Gateborough Farm on Bank Holiday Sunday - except possibly some family washing-machines next day, because the course (set by young Paul Hacking) included a ditch and the Saturday had been very wet indeed! There were six races, with very agricultural prizes (horse wormers and milk pellets, for instance, though there was an orchid for the winning lady and chocolates for the runner-up). The winners were: Children under 11, Adam Volk; under 15, Colin Robinson; Ladies Race, Eliza Peate; Open Race, Chris Ashbee (well, naturally!); Dog and Runner race, Andrew Kerr with Nero; and the winning relay team consisted of Colin Robinson, Peter Ashbee, Chris. Robinson and Chris Ashbee.
Commiserations to Mrs. Denyer of the Ferryman Cafe at Banister's Corner, who very obviously has the builders in - not, we are glad to say, because of any ghastly accident at the weekend, but dating back to a briefly terrifying moment at Easter when a learner-driver turning up Ferry Road failed to take the corner and collided with the tea-room! Luckily the car ran into the wall and not the big window, or the two people at a table just inside it would have come to serious harm. As it was, everyone concerned was only shaken; but it does mean that the cafe will have to be closed for at least a week to come.
Despite the weather, ten cruisers from Rye Harbour Sailing Club paid a Bank Holiday visit to the sailing club at Le Crotoy, at the mouth of the River Somme, and were royally entertained. There was a Mayoral reception, and Cruising Secretary John Royle was presented with a medal to mark the occasion. Naturally a speech was called for, and John was glad to have his son Chris handy to turn what he wanted to say into suitably elegant French. The people of Le Crotoy are, he says, really very interested in having a twinning arrangement with Rye; they also have a historic past - Joan of Arc was imprisoned there by the English before her trial, though they are willing to forget that if we will forget about the cross-Channel travels of the Rye church bells some fifty years earlier!
THE RYE GAZETTE, 8.6.83 - page 4
The last thing the GAZETTE wants is to influence anyone's vote tomorrow. However, having attended all three election meetings, we propose to report on them - but purely for the record as one voter saw them, since anyone wanting full details will presumably have turned out for themselves.
The Conservatives undoubtedly had the most supporters; the Town Hall was packed (and the big table in the lobby is extremely uncomfortable to sit on for any length of time!). But both Liberal and Labour audiences were of a respectable size, and we thought rather younger on average. Youngest member of all was Alexander Hamilton, still a little unsteady on his feet and enlivening the back of the hall on all three occasions.
Ken Warren and David Amies both brought their wives, and there were two of the Warren children. David Amies was supported by Mrs. Anne Moore, a fellow-County Councillor and a member of Rother; Nigel Knowles was backed by Lord Longford. Chairman for Ken Warren was Mr. J. Pritchard of Rye Foreign (now Deputy Chairman of the new constituency association); John Lutman from Fairlight took the Chair at the Liberal meeting; and Bob Beckwith of Icklesham (and Thomas Peacocke) introduced Lord Longford and Nigel Knowles.
All three candidates, naturally enough, based their speeches on their Party manifestos. All three spoke at length about unemployment and defence (which seem to the two main issues), and the police, and council housing; and anyone wanting to know their views will by now have found them in the leaflets which have come through our letterboxes. They differed, of course, on the question of nuclear disarmament: Nigel Knowles was for it regardless (though not against the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes), while both Mr. Warren and Mr. Amies only favoured it if both sides were willing - which doesn't seem likely at the moment.
Ken Warren indulged in a sly dig at the French and spoke about the fishing industry (the Rye and Hastings fleet together, he said, is the largest single one in the country!) We were a little nervous to hear him talk about "getting rid of some of the antiquated hospitals round here" - we do hope that he didn't mean ours. Questions concerned transport (he expressed confidence in the future of our railway, more confidence than Mr. Amies appeared to feel the following night), the rating system, and capital punishment - he was, he said "moving towards" this in some circumstances. He was not entirely happy about modern schooling and felt it contributed to unemployment among the young.
David Amies worked on a much more parochial level. He and Mrs. Moore had obviously done their homework, and there was a mention of the Leasam - Saltcote amalgamation, and the narrow squeak for the library hours, while Mr. Amies is convinced that this end of the county is not getting its fair share of public spending. One Thomas Peacocke parent, complaining about the lack of funds from County, found that her words fell on unexpectedly fertile ground, as Mrs. Moore is on the Education Committee. Mr. Amies dealt good-humouredly with surprisingly intensive questioning, mostly from Labour supporters pressing him about defence and the Common Market. But we left feeling somehow as if we had been at an election meeting for the County Council, which is really rather an ungrateful reaction.
Nigel Knowles, on the other hand, lives in London and inevitably had to speak without any local knowledge at all apart from what he had gleaned canvassing in Hastings. He was trying to cover a great deal of ground in a short time, which made his views sometimes a little difficult to follow; and arguments illustrated with examples from Japan and Chile seemed a little remote in Rye Town Hall. He also spent a lot of time criticising his opponents' proposals, when he could perhaps more usefully have been elucidating his own instead of referring the audience to a plump but inaccessible Party Manifesto. However, he has not yet the experience of his competitors nor their chances to get to know the constituency, so here again we are perhaps being a little unfair in carping.
We asked all three what their views were on Sunday trading. Ken Warren would have liked to see the recent Bill at least reach the Committee stage; he felt it was not a good idea to have Councils prosecuting those who paid the rates. David Amies just said he could see nothing wrong with Sunday trading in general; and Nigel Knowles offered us down-trodden shop assistants toiling and moiling seven days a week - which is not quite how it happens round here!
5.
• St. John Nursing Cadets were looking their smartest for an audience of parents and friends on Friday evening, when the County Commissioner for Sussex, Mr. K.G. Bolton, conducted an enrollment. Also present was Area Staff Officer Mrs. J.D. Mann. The cadets enrolled were Gillian Paine, Denise Thomson, Denise Maguire, Marie Magrath, Sally Mitchell, Amanda Vicary, Sonia Bourne and Tracy Jenner. Mr. Bolton also presented the Senior Attendance Cup to Kim Gentry, Paula Sams, Karen Pope and Jane Clark jointly; the Junior Attendance Cup to Nadine Mitchell; and various other attainment certificates. After the ceremony, visitors were invited to watch the cadets at work - bathing a baby (not a real one:), bandaging, and making up a bed without removing the patient. There was also an enlightening display on the history of the Order of St. John - it seems a long way from the Knights of Malta to hospital corners in Conduit Hill, but the link is the vow of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude which is taken by the girls at their enrollment.
• Two films were shown at Rye Movie Society's meeting on 3 June, traditionally "Fred's evening". Thirty years ago Fred Masters put together a film of various aspects of Rye life, including some older material, and it was shown at the Mayoring that year. Basket-making, pottery, boat-building and farming were depicted, and there was an item about the cinema, first in ruins and then rebuilt, and other war damage in the town. Commentary was by the late Harry Hopkins of the East Kent Bus Company. The second half of the meeting was taken up by a film sent over from the twinned Montreal Movie Makers, a comedy about a confidence trickster called "Oh Happy Day" with a professional touch to it.
• £225 was raised on Saturday by the flag day appeal held by the Rye Branch of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council for Research. (We are putting this rather cumbersome title in full this time, since apparently not everyone recognises the society by its initials, A.R.C.) The Branch also owes much to the support given it over the past ten years by Mrs. Beatrice Cope of Ferry Road, who runs a whist drive at 7 pm every other Tuesday at the Red Cross Centre - the next one is on 21 June, 30p entry includes a free raffle ticket, and there is room for another two or three tables, so do turn up if you would like to play.
• The Christian Lunch Club is holding an experimental coffee-morning on Thursday (9th) at the Community Centre - experimental, it is stressed, not because of anything unorthodox about the coffee but because, unlike most recent coffee-mornings, it is definitely not intended as a fund-raiser. The Club is only meeting for lunch every other month for the moment, and the organisers are holding the coffee-morning as a purely social event instead (though there will be a bookstall). If you think it is a good idea, do come and meet your friends - and perhaps make new ones? There will, we hope, be no need for anyone to mention the Election at all.
• The GAZETTE doesn't normally advertise meetings in Hastings, but this is a little out of the ordinary. Jenny Hadfield tells us that the Hastings and Rye Branch of the National Childbirth Trust is holding its first Study Day on 11 June, at the Adult Education Centre in Priory Road (near St. Helen's Hospital) from 10 to 3.30. The three speakers include Dr. Tettenbourne, the Hastings paediatrician, who will be talking about the problems of children who cannot tolerate cows' milk – this might, we think, be of interest to adults who also have this allergy? The fee of £4 includes lunch, made without the use of cows' milk at all, to show what can be done. For more information phone Jenny (222828).
We thought readers might be interested to know that we now have a paid-up circulation of 260 copies a week, plus a further 20 regular complimentary copies to our pick-up points, etc. We have been printing 300 for several weeks now, and it looks as if this will have to be upped very soon. On the basis of 250 paying subscribers, we should have an annual turnover of £3,000; and there is a possibility of our registering for VAT, since newspapers are zero-rated, and we could reclaim the tax on our outgoings without having to charge it to our customers. Another possibility is our own photocopier, which would mean a more flexible format and perhaps room for regular advertisements. This is all due to your support; thank you very much.
It seems a long time since our first issue in early September; but the paper's progress has proved that there is indeed a market for small local news in Rye.
6.
Thursday, 9th GENERAL ELECTION
Christian Lunch Club coffee morning, CC, 10 to 12 (see page 5)
Friday, 10th Tea and bring-and-buy, Greyfriars, Winchelsea, 3 to 4.30
Saturday, 12th Rye Bonfire Society's "Garden Morning", Ypres Castle Inn, 10
Vidler & Co.'s boat auction, Cattle Market, 10
Sunday, 13th Open Gardens: Lamb House and 18 Church Square, 2 to 6 (for the National Gardens Scheme)
Tuesday, 14th Rye Town Council Annual Meeting, Town Hall, 7.30 (see below)
St. Mary's Tuesday Club - Rev. James Gladstone on "Israel", Rectory, 7.30
Wednesday, 15th Red Cross Thrift Shop open for receiving, 10.30 to 12.30.
Rye Conservation Society AGM, Town Hall, 8
• We hear from the Returning Officer at Hastings that the election result will be posted both in the Council Office window in Ferry Road and outside the Town Hall - which is as it should be, Rother please note!
• Maurice Ellwood tells us that reception is very good in the Rye area for the BBC Radio Brighton station now relayed from the new transmitter at Bexhill. The service - which is supposed to be acknowledging its wider audience by a wider range of material - can be heard on 1161 kHz, on medium wave, between Radio 1 and Radio 3, or on 258M on the older type of receiver.
• Rye visitors to the South of England Show on Friday afternoon really should make a point of visiting the COSIRA stand, because that is when Virginia Fox of Military Road will be demonstrating her skill in welding (see the story in GAZETTE no. 34).
• The plant sale at the Town Hall on Saturday, organised by Beryl Turpin for the Friends of the Rye Art Gallery, raised £80.
• Neither the fire brigade nor the lifeboat reports any trouble locally after the storms at the weekend, though the police have still (Tuesday morning) not issued details of the pile-up on Rye Hill on Sunday - we understand that no-one was injured, anyway. The driver of the lorry which caught fire on Gardner's Hill last week escaped unscathed, though his cab did not.
• Work is now starting beside Strand Quay to replace the wooden posts of the chain-fence by iron bollards - as we mentioned recently, these are being made in Rye.
• Congratulations to Pam Nash, who sold five pictures at a recent art-and-crafts exhibition held in Appledore Church.
• Rye Town Council holds its Annual Meeting on Tuesday (14th) and this is the time when anyone can not only attend (Council meetings are always open to the public) but also ask questions about the conduct of the town's affairs, past and future. Here is the opportunity for people who don't normally have much to do with Town Council business to find out just what does go on and how a (very small) proportion of our rates is spent. Before the meeting the Mayor will present Royal Humane Society certificates to Tom Kelleher and Peter Caister of Rye Harbour for their rescue in January when a man fell from Alsfords' wharf into the river.
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 is Monday afternoon, or 9 am Tuesday for 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).