Subscriptions are now invited for the July-September quarter; we shall not be printing on 3 or 17 August, so there will be 11 issues in the 13 weeks. Receipts will go out on 6 July. £2.75 is due by 6 July (cheques to THE RYE GAZETTE, please).
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It is now some months since British Rail, for obvious safety reasons, put barriers at the end of the station platforms so that people crossing the line have to use the footbridge. This is no problem for most passengers, but there are sometimes people alighting from the Hastings train who are not, for one reason or another, well-adapted for climbing. Recently the Editor waited at the barrier until both trains had gone so that she and a heavy shopping trolley could be allowed through on the level; she was joined by an elderly couple, the man lame and walking with a stick and the wife struggling with heavy suitcases. They would not, they told her, have realised that they need not negotiate the footbridge unless they had seen her waiting. The following week a couple took their bikes out of the van and, with some difficulty in the case of the girl, carried them up the steps, over the bridge and down the other side. Yes, they said, they would have much preferred not to, but they had not realised there was any alternative.
We felt that it might be helpful if British Rail put up a notice at the foot of the steps on either side of the line saying that those finding the bridge difficult could wait and have the barriers opened. We wrote to the Area Manager at Ashford, Mr. Kember, suggesting this and also suggesting that perhaps a bell could be installed on the up platform, since this is not normally staffed and although it is possible to stand there and yell, not everyone is that exhibitionist! His reply was very interesting.
British Rail, he said, had no money to spend putting up notices at Rye. And even if someone provided the notice, he wouldn't put it up because, in effect, it would put ideas into the heads of people who were supposed to use the footbridge. He said that the only people who were entitled to be let through the gates were "the infirm". Asked what the position was about people who were not personally infirm but had encumbrances (pushchairs, bikes, luggage), he said that they should still use the footbridge.
He told us firmly that at most small stations the crossings had been removed entirely so that it was not possible under any circumstances to avoid the use of a footbridge. Gates were installed at Rye, he said, only because of the number of elderly people using the station. However, we think he must have meant the number of infirm people, since they are apparently the only ones entitled to ask for the gates to be opened - and we all know that "elderly" is by no means the same as "infirm", not here anyway.
We don't really feel that this is a very helpful attitude on the part of British Rail's management, who ought to be encouraging the use of the railway rather than making it difficult. In fact, the station staff are very co-operative about letting the laden through once both trains have gone; but if you don't know this - and how can visitors know? - it is not a great deal of help. All we want is a couple of notices.
2.
Our dark hint last week did in fact prove true on Wednesday morning, when workmen appeared on the roof of the goods shed in the BR car park and started taking off the slates as the first step towards demolition. The Conservation Society had tried, and failed, to get the shed included among Rye's listed buildings, so there was nothing they could do officially. Sir Brian Batsford extracted an unofficial pledge from a BR high-up that the demolition would be halted until the final plans for the supermarket were through, and the delay lasted for a couple of days; but on Monday the workmen were back. They had carefully blocked off the footpath between the shed and the line; but they then proceeded to work on the town side of the roof, dropping surplus slates onto the only remaining footpath. We asked why, but they were disinclined to comment! Birdlovers are very worried about the nestlings being reared in the ivy, but we fear that the demolition company are not likely to be much moved by this. • British Rail say that they are removing the building to extend their car park. (• But see Page 3)
This all seemed connected with the very strong rumours going round the town about the supermarket, so we got in touch with the agent for the developers. We asked if the plans and model submitted when outline planning permission was sought several years ago could be put on display in the town again, to refresh people's memories of what is proposed. However, it seems that a detailed planning application is now imminent, and as the new plans are different in various respects from those originally submitted - due mainly to the requirements of the various authorities involved - it would be misleading to produce the old ones now. We have been promised a copy of the new plans when they are out, so we shall be able to report in detail then. One thing which does seem certain is that they will include better loos; for this relief much thanks, particularly on behalf of the elderly ladies off coaches who at present have to queue embarrassingly outside the scruffy two-cubicle "Ladies" adjoining the bus depot. (At least someone has now put up a notice calling attention to the existence of the Rope Walk loos, but in some circumstances, this is not a great deal of help!)
What is quite clear is that the proposals are being submitted by the original developers; and they are builders, not grocers. The plans will certainly not contain the answer to the question that we are all asking: which multiple will actually be offering "Baked Beans - 1p off!!!" on opening day?
It gives the GAZETTE no satisfaction at all to report on disasters, and the fire at Playden Oasts last Tuesday certainly came into that category. Fire engines from Rye, Hastings, Lydd and Tenterden were summoned when the fire first broke out, and the Broad Oak crew and a second one from Hastings joined them when the barn - fortunately not full of new hay - caught. The Rye firemen were called out just before 4.30 pm and were on their own, six of them, for the first 20 minutes; they did not leave until 9, returning a couple of hours later for a final check.
The Burwash engine which went off the road in Udimore, damaging a car and putting the Battle woman driver in hospital, was not on its way to the fire itself but to Rye fire station to cover in case another fire should break out elsewhere; its crew were apparently unhurt, though shaken. Later the same night a car turned over in Rye Foreign, but this was not as serious as it looked, and the driver emerged without injury.
It has not proved possible to speak to Mr. or Mrs. Giles, but we are told that they had only recently moved into the building for good after an extensive refit, and the sympathy of the whole neighbourhood goes out to them. We do hope that the prospects for rehabilitation may be better than they seemed last week, when the manager was quoted as saying that they would be closed for at least the rest of the season and probably for most of the year.
One early report of the fire blamed it on decorators working in the hotel. Mr. Brian Nettle, the Rye painter and decorator and formerly caretaker of Saltcote Place, is justly indignant about this, and we are glad to point out on his behalf that although he had been working in the building the previous week, he had not in fact been able to go in on the Monday or Tuesday because other work there was not finished. Anyway, he never uses a blowlamp, he says they're dangerous. How true!
THE RYE GAZETTE, 22.6.83 - page 3
A very sympathetic young woman in the demolition contractors' Folkestone office said she was sure the men would do their best to leave the birds as long as possible and undertook to mention the problem to "him" when he returned.
Hill House School's current minibus was largely paid for by Round Table from the proceeds of one of the Rye Carnivals, and it is very much appreciated that Round Table members take the children out for fortnightly Sunday drives. However, as well as these outings and regular trips to Hastings and beyond, the minibus has other uses. Last Thursday the driver opened the bonnet to make some minor adjustment and found, tucked well down behind the wing, a nest with baby birds in it! The bus was fortunately not needed over the weekend, and by Tuesday the babies were not only very much alive but playing about all over the engine; so, the staff decided that it would be best to move them, nest and all, to a safer and less mobile location nearby. No-one knows if the mother was brooding the eggs during the bus's journeys the previous week, or whether perhaps the heat of the engine did the job for her. Anyway, it is a very special minibus that appeals to children and pied wagtails, and we hope to hear from Miss Dean that the little family is safely reared and flown in due course.
Last year, to a lamentably small audience in the Community Centre, Blackheath Opera presented Purcell's "King Arthur" after a rehearsal weekend at Syskon College, preceded by a great deal of work back in London. It was the first time for many years, we think, that Rye had seen opera other than Gilbert and Sullivan, and those who were there enjoyed it very much.
This year the Blackheath Opera are back, for their third visit to Rye and a second performance at the Community Centre, and we do hope that we can provide them with a larger audience because they are well worth it. The piece chosen is Offenbach's "La Vie Parisienne" in an English version; we doubt if we need describe the plot, it is just what you would expect and should be great fun. The performance is on Sunday week (3 July) at 3, and tickets are available from The Mint Gallery (77a) at £1.50, half-price for children and OAPs.
Next Saturday's concert at St. Mary's (25th) is notable for the youth of some of the musicians. Performing with Peter Allington ('cello) and Keith Warner (keyboard) is the Rother Schools 'Cello quartet: and one of that quartet is Jane Bowler, the daughter of Bob and Sheila of Fair Meadow. Jane is 13 and has been learning the instrument for less than three years; and she is not the youngest performer. Although the group was only started in the autumn, we hear that a very pleasant evening may be expected. They are playing work by Handel, Franck and Goltermann, the concert begins at 7.30, and admission is £1 (70p for students).
The Rye Harmonic Society Concert last Saturday was much enjoyed by a large audience. With only half-a-dozen rehearsals beforehand, Lesley Brownbill had wondered if it would be all right on the night; but from what we hear, it very definitely was. Before the interval, excerpts from George Dyson's "Canterbury Pilgrims"; afterwards the four choirs involved each made their own contributions, giving the others a chance to relax before the "Zadok the Priest" finale.
The recital on 4 June in aid of the organ fund drew an audience of around 50 people, and the work of the flautist, Charlotte Ward, was particularly admired.
Last week we congratulated Sally Eade on her place at the Guildhall School of Music. What we didn't know, and Sally's father Roy now tells us, is that she would not have achieved this without the tuition and support of Lesley Brownbill, who coached Sally through her Grade VIII exams (the equivalent of A-level in Music) and then arranged for her to have London coaching for the college audition. Apologies to Lesley who was much too modest to mention this herself!
The combination of lifeboat maroons and helicopter at the Harbour on Sunday was, we are glad to say, just coincidence. The lifeboat was out on its usual off-shore-wind-day chore of shoving rubber dinghies back to the beach; the helicopter was casting a benevolent eye along the coast on its way home from something at Bexhill.
4.
Michael Bourn and his wife Sheila, of Udimore Road, went out on Saturday evening. It was, they thought, just one of the Rye firemen's regular social get-togethers; but the rest of the Rye firemen didn't think so. In the large reception room at Peppers, enjoying a buffet and disco, the Bourns found almost the entire Rye Fire Brigade with their ladies, plus the Divisional Commander Mr. Foster (two Divisions cover all East Sussex), Mr. Foster's predecessor Mr. Beaumont, and the two Divisional Officers (Mr. Neads and Mr. Mallion) to whom Mr. Bourn turns for advice on Rye Brigade matters. Sub-Officer Michael Bourn is, of course, the officer in charge of Rye Fire Station; and without his knowledge, the evening had been arranged to celebrate his 25 years in the Fire Service.
Naturally there was a presentation to be made, and Mr. Foster made it. It is traditional in the Fire Service for the fireman's own axe to be presented to him, but Mr. Bourn's is still very much in use. So another was polished up and mounted, together with two cap badges - one of the current issue, and one dating back to the days before the larger Borough brigades were all merged with East Sussex, and cadged from Mr. Bourn senior, since Michael's badge had gone to Rye NY as part of a swap.
Michael Bourn joined the Fire Service as a lad of 17, following in the footsteps of his father and his grandfather; his uncle was also a fireman and so, rather unexpectedly, was his sister - not as a firefighter but busy back at the station keeping the records; Margaret married a fellow-fireman, Arthur Tiltman, and their son Alec now keeps up the family tradition. Michael's son Gary would like to be in the brigade, but his eyesight is marginally below that demanded by the very high standards of the fire service - not that it hinders him when he plays cricket or football for Rye or for Sussex junior teams - but there is always young Philip on the way up. It is in fact 27 years since Michael went to his first fire - at Walter Stocks in 1956, pedalling madly along from his home in Rope Walk at 2 am with his boots on the wrong feet! - but of course there were two years spent doing national service; then back to Rye, and incidentally to great success in the various firemen's darts leagues, though he has now put his darts in his pocket and is leaving the laurels to the younger members of the brigade.
We thought we might be allowed a little more history? Michael Bourn took charge of Rye Fire Station four years ago from the late Michael Fagan. Mr. Fagan's predecessor was Frank Davey, who did the job full-time from Bexhill (but in due course retired to live in Udimore Road, a very popular address for Rye firemen). And before Mr. Davey, who was Station Officer for 18 years? Michael's father, Frank!
The Town Hall's 1933 Directory gives the names of the Rye firemen of fifty years ago. The Captain was W.J. Burnham of Landgate, the Lieutenant W. Bourne of West Street, the Engineer R.O. Bayley of Wish Street. The firemen were J. Tiltman of Watchbell Street; A. Devonshire, Gas Works; W. Hicks, Albion Place; A. Pope, Bridge Place; F. Bourn, Adelaide Terrace; T. Pope, Bedford Place; F. Kirby, Watchbell Lane; A. Frampton, Ferry Road; G. Small, Wish Street; G.H. Bourn, The Mint; J. Tanton, Tillingham Avenue; T. Wood, Bath Buildings (where?) [near Rock Channel / Salts - JoK]; and P.Cook, Bedford Place. “The first alarm of Fire must be given by ringing the Fire Alarm Bell fixed in front of the Town Hall, which is in electric communication with all the members of the Brigade and await the arrival of the Captain. Keys are kept by the officers."
In 1898 the Captain was W. Wright, and even then he was "in electric communication with all members of the Brigade". The list of names includes 3 Bournes, 2 Southerdens, 2 Morphys, and Henbrey, Blunden, Huggett, Bayley, Almond, Pulford and Hopper.
To complete the record, the present Rye Brigade is as follows. Michael Bourn's Leading Firemen are Bill Paige, Alan Thomas, Malcolm Turk and Dennis Turner. Firemen are David Catt, Graham Cole, Michael Crafer, David Giles, Derek Hanwell, David Paige, Clive Paine, Terry Pankhurst, Roger Polley, Andrew Polley, Bob Rogers and Alec Tiltman. The communication now is electronic rather than electric, and it is no longer necessary to race up to the Town Hall if your house is on fire. But the job is basically the same - dangerous, frightening, dirty and with unsocial hours; the firemen are just as dedicated, with equally dedicated wives backing them; and whether or not it is ever for us that the bleepers go, we are very grateful indeed to all of them.
5.
Rye Fire Brigade's sponsored push this year produced a result which has astonished the firemen, who were very happy with last year's total of £400. Already Rye Station has collected over £1,100 in sponsor money, with about £150 yet to come. As well as this, the four Kent Brigades which escorted the pushers on their way from Folkestone (Lydd, New Romney, Dymchurch and Hythe) collected £211, making an overall total of nearly £1,500 for the Firemen's Benevolent Fund.
Michael Bourn tells us that this Fund was always something of a mystery to the Rye Brigade; they raised money for it, but never really knew where it went. When he took charge at Rye, he investigated, and in consequence is now on the Lewes executive committee. In fact, the Fund pays a few small pensions locally, provides Christmas extras, and also arranges convalescent home treatment when required, and this is done via the Rye station, which makes everything less impersonal and gives the present firemen a real incentive to support the Fund.
• Readers are reminded that the much-praised "Admiral Lord Nelson" exhibition at the Rye Art Gallery has less than a fortnight to run - the final day is Sunday, 3 July. It will be succeeded by an exhibition of caricatures from the German satirical magazine Simplicissimus, dating from the early 1900s, and then by a retrospective show during September of the work of Margaret Barnard (Mrs. Margaret Mackechnie). After that, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery lends a selection of Japanese prints, and from November the gallery has something quite new - "Christmas Greetings", a selection of designs for charity Christmas cards, with the actual cards available at the time.
• Gordon Stanbridge of the Northiam and Rye RAFA tells us that on Thursday, 14 July, he will be taking the Branch's standard up to London in order to carry it at the Royal Tournament, both the afternoon and evening performances. He is not yet quite sure exactly what he will be called upon to do; but if you are there on that day, look out for him. The Branch's outing to the Air Show at the weekend was most successful: a coach fully booked weeks before, a first-class event and good weather!
• Our sympathies to Steve Polley, 12, of Lea Avenue, Steve was cycling in The Mint on Monday evening when he swerved to avoid a pedestrian who stepped out into the road; he hit the rear of a car, was thrown off his bike and went feet first into a window. The RESH stitched the cuts on his legs and sent him home, and he was back in school on Tuesday; but we are sorry to say that his bike is less easily mended. Still, as his mother says, at least it was his feet and not his head that went through the window!
• There has been some comment on the apparent discrepancy between last week's demolition of the buildings around the Mill and the fact that the Town Council's Planning Committee only approved the new plans on Tuesday evening: and the Town Council’s approval was in this particular case a prerequisite for planning permission to be granted. The answer is that if a building is neither listed nor in the Conservation Area, the owner can demolish it without planning permission; and although the Mill itself is listed, the buildings adjoining it are presumably not.
• A local Labour supporter reproves us for reporting Nigel Knowles's views on Sunday shop opening (GAZETTE no..38) as if they concerned only Rye. In extenuation, we plead that we asked for them, mentioning that it was currently a local issue, mainly to find out how far he was in touch with matters which did concern Rye, and as our readers will know Rye has been very much concerned lately with this particular question. However, we are sorry if we misrepresented Labour Party views; at least it could have made no vital difference to the final result.
• Mrs. Fannon, of New Winchelsea Road, is so concerned about the state of the footpath serving the long row of houses beyond the Tollgate Garage that she has assembled a petition with some hundred signatures to go to the Highways Authority. She says that not only is the tarmac path uneven and pot-holed, but it slopes towards the road so that in icy weather there is the risk of someone losing their footing and sliding into the traffic - and of course that road carries a lot of very heavy traffic. The Highways people at Bexhill were very efficient when asked to provide ramps for wheelchair users recently; so we hope to hear in due course that Mrs. Fannon gets the response she wants to her petition, which represents most of the houses in the road.
(Footnote: we apologise for the inflammatory content of this week's issue - it really, is by chance that it includes three different Fire Brigade stories!)
THE RYE GAZETTE, 22.6.83 - page 6
Two meetings on consecutive nights in the Town Hall last week both had very similar bearing on the future of the town, so much so that by the weekend it was not easy to remember who had said what on which occasion. On Tuesday the Town Council held what would, in a village, have been called the annual parish meeting, at which the Mayor and the Chairmen of Committees reported on the year, and there was the opportunity for members of the public to ask questions. On Wednesday, the Rye Conservation Society held its AGM, at which the Chairman, Sir Brian Batsford presented his report on the year, and members of the Society were able to ask questions.
The hall was very much fuller on the second occasion, and as well as considering the report, members applauded well-earned tributes paid to various people whose standing in the Society was being altered in one way or another. Sir Brian stuck to his decision to retire from the Chairmanship this year, and this was his last report. He is succeeded as Chairman by Mr. Alan Crick, the present Vice-Chairman. Mr. John Booth is retiring after seven years as Treasurer and will be succeeded by Mr. C.E. Todd. The new Secretary is Mr. Peter Smith, of 7 The Strand, with last year's Secretary Miss Davina Artis assisting him; Mrs. Graham Watson continues as
Membership Secretary. (All these posts, it almost goes without saying, are honorary ones.) Dr. Alec Vidler wished to retire as the Society's president, and the meeting unanimously approved his suggestion that Sir Brian should succeed him; it was proposed that Dr. Vidler should be invited to join the Society's five other Vice-Presidents (Sir John Betjeman, William Deedes, Lord Reilly, Miss Anne Roper and Donald Sinden). There were no new nominations for the committee, who therefore remain in office: Simon Brown, Maurice Ellwood, Sidney Horniblow, Mrs. Hilda Nelson-Barrett, and Duncan Starkey, with Mrs. Joan Yates as an observer.
Subjects discussed at the meeting included the County Council's plan for a new system of street lighting, only revealed that morning to a group of Town Councillors and, we hope, to be aired again before long. The Society is pressing for the route for the Rye and Winchelsea Bypasses to be settled together, which if it can be achieved would obviously be an excellent idea. The delay over cobbled-street parking restrictions was deplored (see last week's GAZETTE) regardless of whose cars actually cause the problems. Jim Pilcher put the agricultural view in connection with the part of the report dealing with land drainage. It was quite clear from the evening's proceedings that the Society is keeping and will continue to keep a very careful eye on both immediate and long-term developments in the town and its surroundings.
An equally careful eye is being kept by the Town Council. We were relieved to discover on Tuesday that most of the matters referred to in the reports read at the meeting had been covered by the GAZETTE when they first cropped up, and we are not therefore reporting on them again here. But readers may not have heard that the Mayor's Party, instead of coming at Christmas in the midst of an enormous whirl of festivities for the elderly, will this winter be held in February to brighten a dull month and give people something to look forward to. Mrs. Yates, speaking as our County Councillor, referred to the sports hall, at last a real possibility, to be built on Thomas Peacocke School land but used by the whole area. She also said she was very strongly pressing Rye's case to keep its own cottage hospital under any circumstances.
Topics raised by the audience included the future of the railway, mentioned in a worried way by Mr. Michael Alford from Rye Harbour. He asked the Council to do all they could to get it used more. (We have had various views on the railway's prospects expressed to us lately, some very much more gloomy than others. Our own approach to British Rail over a minor improvement did not meet with any sympathy at all - see front page; maybe the gloom-mongers know something we don't?)
John Royle proposed the possibility of a twin-town arrangement with Le Crotoy (see last week's GAZETTE). All the Council members agreed that the difficulty here was the cost of hospitality; Continental towns apparently have better arrangements for financing civic entertaining, and it is embarrassing not to be able to reply invitations at the same high level. It was agreed that in theory Le Crotoy would be a very suitable pairing, and the Leisure and Tourism Committee would consider the proposal. But the suggestion was made that perhaps the matter could best be arranged through a separate and independent group, and Mr. Royle found that some very thoughtful glances were being cast at him!
7.
Still wondering why nothing at all was happening to the old Sussex Express office, we went to see Mr. John Vallender, Postal Services Manager at Hastings Post Office. Mr. Vallender is also in charge of accommodation for the postal services, and his area runs from Cooden to Camber, with five main post offices and a further four large buildings used for sorting, etc., which do not immediately concern the public.
Mr. Vallender tells us that there are detailed plans for Rye Post Office which would entirely absorb the little office next door. They would mean improved counter facilities, better accommodation for administration and staff, and perhaps a new entrance with, he hoped, wheelchair access. When, we asked? He wished he could tell us, but he didn't know himself; like everything else, it depends on when the money becomes available - and it would be a lot of money. But we did have the impression that it might be sooner rather than later; and anyway, our original question was answered, and we hope to hear more when there is more to hear.
On 11 June, Rye Artisans Golf Club had a game of golf followed by a lunch – rather a special lunch. Among those present were their own President for 21 years, Mr. Ken Wright; Capt. Martin Evans, President of the Rye Golf Club; the Golf Club's Secretary, Mr. Peter Howlett; the professional, Mr. Peter Marsh; and the new Artisans Club Chairman Mr. Allen Oliver and its Secretary Mr. Ernie Pawson. Also, of course, Mr. Vic Moore of Udimore Road, who retired in April after 17 years as secretary of the Artisans Club followed by 10 years as its Chairman.
We are delighted to report that at the lunch Mr. Moore was made an Honorary Member of Rye Golf Club. Already an Honorary Member of the Artisans, Mr. Moore tells us that he feels this new distinction is really a tribute not only to him personally but to the excellence of the relationship built up between Rye Golf Club and the Artisans Club since the latter was founded in 1939. It now has 100 members, a limit raised recently when the Golf Club built its new 9-hole course near the old tramway, open to Artisans players without the peak-time restrictions which apply to the main course.
Mr. Moore has already played his first game for his "new" club, against the Royal Engineers. He first played golf as a lad on the Rother course out along the Military Road during the Twenties, and then on the equally short-lived course round Camber Castle. He must, he says, be one of the very few remaining founder members of the Artisans Club; and he is also the Treasurer of the National Artisans Clubs Association, which has 5,500 members throughout the country.
As an Honorary Member of Rye Golf Club, Mr. Moore joins a very select group which has included Winston Churchill, golfing writer Bernard Darwin, Maidstone Gaol Governor John Vidler - and also "Blower" Pierce of King's Avenue, for many years steward of the Rye Club in Market Road but also six times Sussex Amateur Champion and three times the National Artisans Champion.
The Artisans Club lunch was also an occasion for presents. The Club gave Mr. and Mrs. Moore a set of garden furniture, which went into use at once during the obligingly fine weather. Mr. Howlett is retiring in September after ten years as Secretary of the Golf Club, and his hosts also had a present for him, in appreciation of the great kindness and help he has given to the Artisans Club during that time: a copy of a picture of the seventh green at Rye which was recently presented to the Golf Club by one of its members.
It is very pleasant to hear from the Youth Opportunities people that thirteen of the trainees who have left the scheme since January have now got full-time work, some in Rye and some in their own villages. We do congratulate those concerned - this certainly shows the value of the YOP scheme to the trainees who stick with it. Mrs. Stevens tells us that under the new Youth Training Scheme they have to have their teaching space all under the same roof, and they are therefore shifting their premises yet again, this time to a large workshop area at the Tollgate Garage in Winchelsea Road. They hope to be installed in September. The phone number will, Mrs. Stevens hopes, go with them, and we give it here since it is not in the book and there have been problems with Directory Enquiries: Rye 224859.
8.
Wednesday, 22nd The choir of a boys' school from Ottawa will sing Evensong in St. Mary's (TODAY) at 4
Thursday, 23rd Rye WI "coffee morning plus", Red Cross Centre, 10 to 12
Rye CVS meeting, Town Hall, 7.30 (see GAZETTE no.39)
Saturday, 25th Women's British Legion jumble sale, Red Cross Centre, 11 to 4
Craft Market, FEC, 10 to 4
Rother Schools 'Cello Quartet concert, St. Mary's, 7.30 (see p.3)
Barn Dance, TPS PTA, Upper School, 8 (tickets from Penny Royal, £2 including buffet)
• Congratulations to Miss Clare Crick of Church Square and Mr. James Miles of London, who were married in St. Mary's on Saturday.
• Star of the NSPCC Summer Fair on Saturday was undoubtedly the cake stall, which was an amazing sight and took over £200. Total profits were £772.
• The Civil Service Retirement Fellowship (Rye Group) had 21 members and friends at the June meeting at the Red Cross Centre, and they hope to meet there regularly in future. Next meeting will be on 12 July, new members welcome.
• Christopher Thompson, whose parents have the Old Vicarage in Church Square, helps run a Sunday football team in London, and they would very much like to come down on August Bank Holiday Sunday and play a friendly game with a local team. Christopher's father is not sure whether they are up to the standard of either of the Rye regular teams; but either he (Rye 222119) or Christopher (01 558 5305) would be very pleased indeed to hear from any club interested.
• Jill Cochrane of TVS comes to Rye on Sunday week, 3 July, to open the annual Fete held by the League of Friends of Hill House. The fun starts at 2 pm in the hospital's grounds, and besides Jill the attractions include a Punch-and-Judy show, the Cinque Ports Majorettes, Gilbert White and his forge, and a tug-of-war between the police and the firemen. Also doing their thing in the course of the afternoon will be the Hastings Town Crier, and the Boys Brigade Band; plus, of course, all the usual stalls and sideshows.
• We hear that since Raymond Price closed his art gallery in the High Street, disappointed patrons have been asking where they can buy his pictures. He and his family now live in Icklesham, and Mrs. Price tells us that they will have pictures for sale there - phone 042484 388.
• Crime: several cases recently of cash taken from shops, and things stolen from parked cars; a pair of Belstaff leggings and a fibreglass windsurfer are also reported missing. We are glad to say that no locals were involved in the incident at Camber which resulted in charges of grievous bodily harm being brought at Rye Magistrates Court last Tuesday.
• Next meeting of the Christian Lunch Club will be on Thursday, 7 July, when Gay Hyde, the singer from Ashburnham, will be talking on "A Voice for God" - and maybe singing as well?
• A directory of 1840 that we were looking at recently referred to the Queen Adelaide and the Ferry Boat pubs as being situated in The Wish. Not Wish Ward, obviously, nor yet Wish Street; was The Wish another name for what we now call Ferry Road, or just part of it (no railway then, of course), or what? Does anyone know? [Yes- from Wish Ward and Wish Street to the R. Tillingham. JoK]
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 Tuesday 9 am 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).