SUBSCRIPTIONS for the next quarter fall due at the end of this month. For details see the foot of page 7, or GAZETTE no. 50.
Under Sunday's grey sky, 53 British Legion standards paraded triumphantly from St. Mary's down The Mint and along Cinque Ports Street to a saluting base outside the Police Station. Led by a brass band and followed by a long procession of ex-Service men and women, this superb sight is one which will not easily be forgotten (and was, we are glad to say, filmed by the Movie Society).
The Royal British Legion (Rye and District Branch) was formed in 1922, and doubtless a few of the founder members were present on Sunday. The women's section was formed in 1936, and two of its founders were certainly present - Mrs. Bessie Deeprose, and Mrs. Cissie Sherwood who had come all the way from her Legion flat in Winchester to be in Rye on its great day.
The occasion was an unusual one. Both the men's and women's sections of the Rye Branch were laying up their old standards and dedicating new ones, and this double ceremony only happens rarely. Perhaps this is why Rye was particularly honoured by the presence of the National Chairman of the Legion, Mr. Roy Buckingham, and of the National Chairman of the women's section, Mrs. Brigmore - also of the National Standard-bearer, Mr. Les Peskett. Other distinguished guests included Major-General Foote, VC; the Legion's County Chairman, Mr. Basil Stanford, and the County Marshal, Mr. Dennis Reed; Mr. Kenneth Warren, MP; and Rother Council Chairman, Mr. W.D. Jones, DFC - whose decoration speaks for itself in this context. Our own Branch Presidents, General Sir Charles Jones, GCB, CBE, MC, and Lady Jones were of course also present. 350 guests were expected; and perhaps it is as well that not all the 65 branches invited to bring their standards actually turned up.
Because of the weather, the parade from Rope Walk to St. Mary's was cancelled, and the standard-bearers assembled just outside the church; so very few of the packed congregation inside were prepared for the blue-and-gold forest which steadily filled the aisles. Almost at the end came the old Rye standards to be laid up: Mr. Bert Musselwhite, escorted by Mr. John Ditcher and Mr. John Huggett, bore the men's, and Mrs. Marjorie Giles, escorted by Mrs. Phyllis McGrath and Mrs. Joan Remmer (all three ex-Servicewomen) carried the women's. Finally, Rye's new Standards, still furled, were borne in by the Chairmen of the men's and women's sections: Mr. Bob Bowler (with Mr. Jack Phillips and Mr. Norman Phillips), and Mrs. Joan Camier (with Mrs. Janet Handley, and Mrs. Cicely Prebble whose son in naval uniform, was present on leave).
In a moving and impressive service, taken by Canon Maundrell, the old standards were, received and laid on the altar. The new ones were unfurled and briefly placed with them, then after the address - by the Legion's County Chaplain, the Rev. A.H.H. Harbottle - were handed back to the standard-bearers. But such a brief statement cannot possibly convey the feeling in the church as the great flags dipped for the National Anthem and later for the Last Post and rose again in a pageant of colour that dimmed even the beautiful harvest festival flowers in the ancient building. Those who were there will undoubtedly remember.
After the service - which included an all-too-brief recital by a piper in full dress (Mr. H. Timby from Bexhill), and music from Mr. Charles Proctor at the organ as well as from the Cranbrook Town Band under Mr. N.C. Carter - the band led the parade past the saluting base, back to the car park, and thence to an excellent tea at Thomas Peacocke Upper School, provided by the school's catering team. Here Sir Charles took the opportunity to present the Legion's Gold Medal to Mr. Bruce Palmer, Branch Treasurer for the past 16 years; and many old friendships were renewed among the guests, who came from all over the south-east on 18 September to help Rye celebrate this landmark in its Legion's history.
2.
Mr. William John Hacking, whose death we reported briefly last week, was born in 1911, the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Hacking of Cadborough Farm. His mother was one of Rye's first two women Councillors, in 1927. As a young man, Mr. Hacking spent some time in Canada, working for a while in an Indian reservation; he returned to England and the family farming business in the 1930s, and was active in the introduction of modern farming methods into the area. From his schooldays he was prominent in every kind of sport - he played cricket for Sussex, and at a local level was Captain and later President of Rye Cricket Club - but his prime love was for his horses, and he had a distinguished career as a point-to-point rider; he also worked tirelessly for the Romney Marsh Hunt.
Before the war Mr. Hacking was Captain of the Rye Fire Brigade, and continued in charge when it became part of the National Fire Service. Soon after the war he was elected to Rye Borough Council and in due course became an Alderman. He was Mayor for three consecutive years from 1965, and received the Queen and Prince Philip when they visited Rye in 1966, also entertaining the royal party to lunch privately beforehand at Cadborough Farm.
Although Mr. Hacking had retired some years ago from the day-to-day running of the family farms, he and Mrs. Hacking took an active part in the life of the neighbourhood, and their kindness to the Cadborough Jubilee Social Club will not soon be forgotten. The packed congregation at the memorial service at St. Mary's on Friday was a tribute to the affection and respect in which Mr. Hacking was held both within and beyond the Rye community, and there is great sympathy for Mrs. Hacking, their four children and their grandchildren in their sad and sudden loss.
Isn't it about time the normal footpath through the goods yard car park was reinstated? We didn't print complaints about its closure which reached us while the main demolition work was proceeding, because this seemed a reasonable safety precaution; but the walls have now been down for several weeks, work is going on spasmodically to remove the debris, and yet the direct path from Ferry Road alongside the line to the station is still unusable. On Monday the rubble blocking it had been moved and the string "barrier" had gone, but there was a new and major hazard - the cover of the weighbridge had been broken or removed, leaving an unfenced deep hole full of water and miscellaneous machinery. There is, of course, the alternative route past the dreadful loos, but this is a real hazard for the elderly since it involves picking a precarious way through the car park, and it is also worrying for parents whose children go to Freda Gardham that way. We are making enquiries about the position from British Rail, and - hope to report further next week.
Rye Bonfire Society is proud to announce that Miss Rye Fawkes 1983 will be Angharad Rees, the well-known actress recently seen by television viewers as Demelza in the "Poldark" series. She will be bringing with her two small sons to enjoy the fun.
Bonfire Secretary Joan Parkes says that it would be very helpful if people who are thinking of entering floats for the Rye procession would get in touch with her (Rye 222717) as soon as possible; no-one is committed at this stage, but to have some idea of the likely entry would help the organisers very much.
Suddenly obvious, perhaps because of the scaffold which shrouded it while repair work was being done, is the tall chimney at the back of the Gluepot in Ferry Road. Despite speculation about what the Osbornes were planning to do there - a glue factory, perhaps? - the chimney is no innovation but dates back to the days when the workshop was a bakery. The new owners had to choose between repairing it and pulling it down, and they felt they really could not destroy part of the building's history.
3.
It didn't actually rain during the Bowls Club Finals on Sunday - fortunately the ground drained well after the morning's downpour, and a fair number of members and their guests turned up in the damp to watch, enjoying an excellent tea afterwards. The afternoon turned out to be a triumph for Mr. Alf Igglesden of Udimore Road, who won the Forge Tankard, the George Shipton Shield (a new trophy this year), and the Brookie Clark Cup which carries with it the Club Championship! As Mr. Igglesden was in all three finals, the first two were played off earlier in the week. Runners-up were Mr. Reg Chubb, Mr. Reg Weeks, and Mr. Terry Brown respectively. Winner of the Ladies Plate was Mrs. D. Nelhams; the runner-up should have been Mrs. E. Brown, but she was unable to play in the finals owing to illness and Mrs. E. Bennett bowled in her place. Messrs. E. Doyle and C. Robins won the Drawn Pairs, pursued by Messrs. A. Milton and F. Mann.
Last week's home game against Winchelsea on Wednesday was abandoned due to rain, and the Rye club lost to Winchelsea, away, on Saturday. This month sees the end of the season, with the annual dinner and AGM still to-come.
(We are sorry that space limitations have meant that some details have been cut.)
League Champions (Prebble Cup) were Weslake SC, with Winters Dairies as runners-up - (Newman Cup). Team Knock-Out (Horner Shield) was won by the RAF Association.
Amy Ferguson won the Chamber of Commerce Cup for the best average score in league games. Mrs. Betty Tilly and Terry Barrow had the lowest (ladies' and men's) individual scores in league games. Paul Sargent won the individual Knock-Cut, and Steven Hewitt had the Norman Hutchings Trophy for the most improved junior.
Points in the final league tables ranged from 105 down to 30. At the top was Weslake SC, followed by Winters Dairies, The Veterans, Boys Club 'A', RAFA, Boys Club 'B', Iden Putting Club and the Muff Divers. Tony Ferguson headed the list of the Top Twenty averages; the remaining 19 were Terry Barrow, Paul Sargent, Ann Swaine, Mark Terry, Steve Oliver, Stewart Doyle, Robin Paine, Chris Waters, John Booth, Vic Gibson, Max Reader, Ray Johnson, Bob Rogers, Les Bourne, Bill Nelhams, Andy Polley, Len Bannister, Bill Fairbrother and Steve Hewitt.
Back in July, we referred to new legislation to simplify the operation of the licensing laws where organisations want to sell alcoholic refreshment at occasional events. This has now come into force, and we have been checking up on procedure with the Magistrates' Clerk's office in Hastings.
Charities, PTAs and other such groups can now sell drink, with profits going to the organisation rather than to an individual, on up to four occasions a year without having either to break the law or to go through a possibly reluctant publican. The group must fix a time, date and place and appoint a responsible person as its representative to make the application. Forms are obtainable from the Magistrates' Clerk's office at 111 High Street on Mondays and Wednesdays (10 to 1 and 2.15 to 4.15) and Fridays (2.15 to 4.15). A copy goes to the police, and the application is considered at the next session of the licensing justices, who may impose conditions restricting, say, the number of people present, or the time the event shall end. If permission is given - which, we gather, it normally would be - there is a fee of £4 to be paid, and then everyone can enjoy the evening with a clear conscience. (As well as parties, we gather from a newspaper report that the system also covers bottle stalls offering strong drink.)
Mr. Smith of the Hastings office stresses that it is important to make these applications in good time: two months ahead is plenty, two weeks is not. The licensing justices don't sit nearly as often as the normal Courts, and the next session is on 7 November (with another early in December), so groups planning functions for the Christmas season should get moving with their applications soon and - just a reminder - please let the Town Diary know the date, too.
4.
In January 1974 Don Bentley and Bob Phillips, with one secretary, started in business in Rye High Street as Freight Express-Seacon (Rye) Ltd., a subsidiary of the London-based Freight Express-Seaco ship-owning and wharfinger group with its European connections. Almost ten years later the firm is still squeezed into the same offices, below the Customs House; but they have a staff of eight and must be one of British Telecom's best local customers, with three of the latest computer telexes installed in August 1982 and eleven incoming phone lines.
The firm have just received planning permission to use as offices the shop opposite the Town Hall, now Rye Vaults, and if the sale goes through as expected they hope to move up the hill in the course of the winter. The move will allow them room for expansion, and perhaps an increase in staff, in due course.
The company's main business is as ship-brokers, putting in touch with each other people who have cargoes and people who have ships to carry them, chartering vessels to take goods from Rye or other UK ports to Europe, or maybe from West Africa to Singapore. Their Rye trading is based on Alsford’s wharf, which can take vessels of up to 1,500 tons; before the wharf was built, the limit at Strand Quay was 400 tons, and then only at the top of the tide every other week. Much of the present Rye trade is in stone, imported by Mountfield Roadstone from the granite and limestone areas of the west and south-west; exports are mainly grain. Timber comes from Finland, and also from Russia - a fortnight ago the Danish ship Vibeke Vesta arrived with such a cargo from Mesane on the White Sea, right up in the Arctic Circle. She is one of the few non-Russian ships engaged in this trade.
Freight Express-Seacon also act as the port agents for the commercial vessels which come into Rye during the year, sorting out problems for their masters and crew and generally keeping an eye on the interests of commercial shipping using the port. This is hardly a part-time job, since last year 226 commercial vessels visited Rye (and not the same ones making frequent visits, either). Mr. Bentley tells us that this is the highest-ever number in modern times. We wonder if it would have been topped numerically during Rye's heyday as a Cinque Port six hundred years ago, though the tonnage then would certainly have been rather smaller! In the year ending March 1985, 131,000 tons of cargo were shipped through Rye, a 30% increase on the previous year.
The High Street office walls are hung with an attractive series of photographs - of ships going about the firm's business - some of them taken by Andrew Law, who works there. There are also aerial photographs and maps, all of interest to people who know the area. Mr. Bentley says that, assuming the move-goes through, they intend to use the big shop windows of the new premises as a display area for pictures of this kind, plus perhaps a ship model or two from the parent company. Such a display would certainly bring the harbour into the heart of the town, and would prove very attractive to visitors and residents alike. It seems particularly suitable for a building just opposite the Town Hall - the centre of a community which is still, even nowadays, largely maritime.
Footnote: it was only proper to finish off this story with a reference to John Collard's "A Maritime History of Rye" which deals in great detail with the history of the harbour and its development - we had hoped to say that copies were available in the town. However, the Martello bookshop tells us that the book is in fact out of print, with no immediate prospect of a new edition - which is sad news.
A book which is in print - newly so - is Christopher Lloyd's "The Adventurous Gardener" (Allen Lane). Mr. Lloyd, well known locally as the owner of Great Dixter at Northiam, and a top-level writer on gardening topics, will be signing copies at Martello in the Street from 12 to 1 on Saturday morning (24th), and we are sure that this is a book which, signed or not, will be in many homes before long.
5.
The 1st Rye Brownies celebrated their Diamond Jubilee in fine style at the FE Centre on Friday. Brown Owl (Daliea White) and Tawny Owl (Heather Howard) played a variety of roles in the course of the party, with help from Tina and Maria White, Anita and Jaquie Howard and Janice Gill. First the guests were invited to step into their spacesuits, switch on their life-support systems and travel into the future to attend a Brownie pack meeting in AD 2050. Though brown knickers were still part of the uniform, much else had changed; the robot Tawny Owl in need of a good oiling was a splendid touch, while mention of King William neatly set the time-scale.
The party then adjourned to the canteen for a magnificent tea, definitely 1983-style and with a vast cake made by Webbs as the centrepiece. This was cut jointly by Mrs. Adams of Badger Gate, the oldest ex-Brownie present, Miss Doris Henley, and the pack's youngest member Celia Stunt. Extra "happy returns" went to Amy Metcalf, who was celebrating her own eighth birthday.
After tea the company returned to their seats to hear a report from Tawny Owl on the pack's very varied activities during its sixtieth year, and later a lively account from Brown Owl of the week's Pack Holiday at Lewes earlier in the summer. Amanda Cankett went "through the Brownie arch" to the wider world of Guides, with Miss Lois Benton there to welcome her to the 2nd Rye company (45 years ago this ceremony was-known as "flying up" and involved vigorous arm-flapping round a central toadstool, but Brownies seem to have grown more sophisticated since then!).
A well-chosen group of vases from the Cinque Ports Pottery, bought with part of the proceeds of the sponsored litter collection, was presented by the Brownies to be used at Rye Memorial Hospital for patients' flowers - replacing, in some cases, jam jars, said a grateful Sister Bruce.
On behalf of the guests the County Commissioner, Mrs. Catriona Boyce, who had obviously very much enjoyed her evening with the Brownies, thanked them for a lovely party, and we all went home clasping engraved pencils and wishing the pack well for the next sixty years.
A meeting at Lower School at 7 tomorrow (Thursday) is intended primarily for the Cadborough residents who have received letters about the new "Crime Alert" scheme - due to start in that area (see GAZETTE no. 49). However, Chief Inspector Dyson says that anyone who is interested in the scheme is welcome to come and listen, since he hopes it will be starting up in other areas in the town before long.
Footnote: someone who saw two eight-year-old children being bundled into a car in Rye last week reported it to the police - and as a result, to quote the Press Book, the problem was "resolved a matter of minutes" and the children were returned to school. No further information has been issued, but the police point out that the episode shows how valuable prompt reports from the public can be.
Sunday a week ago wasn't a very nice day, either. Seven-foot waves broke on Hastings beach, it blew a gale and the rain came down. But two men from Rye were among a group who went swimming; lifeguards aren't put off by a spot of weather. To be honest, they weren't actually rescuing anyone this time, but taking the tests for their lifesaving awards. Mark Osborne, of Love Lane, went in three times, once to earn his own Bronze Cross and twice as a "body". One of his "rescuers" was Barry Rivers of Cinque Ports Street, who says that at 39 he is the oldest member of the lifeguard team; he has been lifesaving for seven years now and holds a number of awards for prowess in this vital work. Mark and his friends are regularly on standby as lifesavers on Hastings beach, giving up their Sundays for free - though they still have to pay for the hire of the Hastings pool for training, and now 25p on top of that to get into the sports centre at all!
6.
At a meeting at Thomas Peacocke School last week, PTA Committee members invited local Councillors to discuss what is at present only a dream - a sports hall for Rye. Some of the school governors also took part.
It seems that the County Council is at last stricken by conscience about its lack of interest in Thomas Peacocke, and plans a programme of major capital expenditure on the school - originally expected to be in the 1984/5 estimates, but now put back, hopes our County Councillor Mrs. Joan Yates, for not more than a couple of years. Apart from the ROSLA block, built for a specific purpose when the school-leaving age was raised, there has been no serious capital expenditure on the school since it went comprehensive 15 years ago, when there were only 900 children on the roll. One of the things most needed is a second gymnasium, and this is included the programme.
However, there is a strong local view that instead of a gymnasium, it should be possible to build a larger sports hall on the same site, to be used not only by the school but by Rye and its villages (in effect the school catchment area) in evenings, at weekends and during school holidays: a community sports centre. This would, of course, be considerably more expensive - we seem to be talking about somewhere between a quarter and half a million pounds - but it would benefit the whole of this end of Rother District and not just the school. The County Education Committee would agree to the change; and if money for the extra work can be raised locally, it is very likely that the Sports Council would match it pound for pound.
An obvious contributor to, if not sole provider of, local funding would be Rother Council, since the centre would be available to a large part of its area, and the purpose of the meeting was to test the feeling of our local councillors about this. Mrs. Tomich and Mr. Cawdron were willing to support such a request should it come before the Council; Mr. Shackleton felt that he would need to be convinced that there really was a local demand for such a project before he could back it in Council. Mrs. Yates is, of course, giving support from the County Council side-lines; indeed, she has been campaigning on this score for some years, and had mentioned the proposal at the Annual Town Meeting in June.
A complication is Rother's new plan, currently under consideration by the Council, to build a swimming pool in Bexhill. The word is, unofficially, that if this goes through it will mop up all Rother's spare money for years to come. It does seem something of an extravagance for the people of Bexhill (with, did someone say, the highest population percentage of elderly people-in Europe?) since they already have access to excellent pools in Hastings and in Eastbourne.
However, if a decision is taken to go for the larger sports hall, it will not be built till the late Eighties, and Mr. Fooks feels that it would not be impossible for Rother to do right by this end of its area even after it had got Bexhill afloat. The important thing is to find out whether there is indeed local backing for a sports hall project, from the people who would use it, and the PTA is now considering various methods of sounding out local opinion.
The big world came to Thomas Peacocke last week. First the BBC Overseas Service sent a reporter to talk to the three girls from the Falklands Islands who are boarding at Leasam (if any of our World Service listeners should happen to hear the programme, we would love to report on what actually goes outs). Then Simon May, singer and composer, spent a day at the school primarily promoting the new LP version of his Nicholas Nickleby opera for schools, "Smike" (heard on television a year or two ago) but in fact giving a lot of pupils a lot of pleasure: he took an assembly and a couple of classes, talked about the various jobs involved in the actual making of a record, worked with a Fifth and Sixth Year music group and went over to Lower School to take a first-year class. Finally, on Friday our MP Mr. Kenneth Warren who visited the school to hold a question-and-answer session with Sixth Formers, found it an interesting exercise and hopes to come again.
7.
to be used in conjunction with full list in GAZETTE no. 47
October
Thursday, 6th Christian Lunch Club, CC, 12 for 12.30.
Saturday, 8th Cadborough Jubilee Social Club jumble sale, CC, 2.30
Tuesday, 11th Civil Service Retirement Fellowship meeting postponed to
Friday, 14th, at the FEC (Room 2a), 10
Thursday, 13th Tilling Green School parent-teacher evening.
Saturday, 15th RNLI coffee morning, FEC
National Trust outing (Wallace Collection)
Wednesday, 19th Red Cross Thrift Shop, handing-in (and Thursday, Friday, Saturday) Cancer Relief AGM and talk on "The Art of Astrology", TH, 7.30
Thursday 20th Tilling Green School jumble sale, 6
Friday 21st Thomas Peacocke and Freda Gardham schools closed (and next week)
Monday 31st Thomas Peacocke School PTA AGM, The Grove
Rye Town Council meeting, Town Hall
November
Tuesday 8th CSRF meeting cancelled.
Saturday 12th Hill House sale, TH, 10 to 1 (provisional)
Tuesday 14th ARC Ploughman's Lunch postponed to Tuesday, 22nd, CC, 12 to 2
Saturday 26th St. John Nursing Cadets Christmas coffee morning, HQ, 10.30
Winchelsea Floral Group Christmas Fair, George Hotel, 10.30
December
Thursday 1st Christian Lunch Club, CC, 12 for 12.30 .
Tuesday 6th Freda Gardham School Christmas entertainment (also Wednesday)
Thursday 13th Tilling Green School Christmas concert.
Freda Gardham School infants' nativity play
CSRF meeting cancelled.
Further alterations and additions will ap-tear in the GAZETTE as individual notices.
The Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve hold their autumn event at Tenterden this year. Tony Marr will be giving an illustrated talk on "Birds of the Sussex Coast" on Saturday, 8 October, at 7,30 in St. Michael's Hall (80p adults, 40p children). They hope for visitors from the Rye area as well as from Tenterden itself.
We are glad to report that Rye now has a full commercial photocopying service again, anyway from 9 to 12 every morning. The photocopier at Multipurpose K., at the corner of Wish Street and Cyprus Place, will take paper up to 34 size (slightly smaller than an unfolded GAZETTE). The new facility will be particularly useful to those requiring a long run of copies without monopolising the library machine or asking too much of the Council Office staff. The machine works on any paper - coloured, or the customer's own letterheads, etc. - and will also produce negatives, though we're not quite sure of the technicalities here. The office can also provide help with professional lettering if required. Phone Rye 223307.
Full subscription details were in last week's GAZETTE. £3.00 is payable at the end of this month if you wish to receive GAZETTE no. 53 on 5 October. All the receipts for the new quarter will go out with that issue. In the meantime, if you have paid, there will be a tick against your name on your copy (two ticks if you have paid £6.25 to cover the next two quarters). Subscriptions to 94 Udimore Road or to 5 Bridge Place, with your name and pick-up point please!
8.
Thursday, 22nd Red Cross Thrift Shop, 10.30 to 4 (also Friday, Saturday)
Harvest Festival, Thomas Peacocke Lower School, 9
"Crime Alert" meeting, Lower School, 7 (see page 5)
Freda Gardham School PTA AGM, New Road
Saturday, 24th Craft Market, FEC, 10 to 4
National Trust: Barry Funnell on "Romney Marsh Churches" (repeat), CC, 2.30 (see GAZETTE no. 49)
Harvest Flowers, Methodist Church, 10 to 6 (see GAZETTE no. 50)
Sunday, 25th Rye Police Station Open Day and Display (see GAZETTE no. 49)
Monday, 26th WRVS Lunch Club, CC, 12.30
Women's British Legion meeting, Red Cross, 7.7.0
Wednesday, 28th BRCS Over-60s Club, Red Cross, 1.45
• A house-to-house collection for the NSPCC will be held during the week of 1 to 8 October; the local branch is not also having a street collection.
• Tickets for the Rye Players "Good Old Days" show on Friday and Saturday (30th and 1st) at the George Hotel are now available from Mrs. Yvonne Cotterell (Rye 222453) at £1.50; only 80 seats are on offer each night, so book early.
• Mrs. Rozel Poole tells us she has resigned as Rye correspondent of the Sussex Express. The only way now to contact the Express is to write to or telephone the Editor at Lewes, or to ring the Hastings Observer office (0424 51351) and leave a message for Martin Ellis.
• Planning: the weekly list includes a request to erect a pole-mounted transformer at Scots Float sluice; an extension to a house in Ailsworth Lane; two signs for the Gluepot in Ferry Road; and change of use for "Mary and I" from a shop to a photographic studio with retail sales.
• At the last meeting of the Winchelsea and District Floral Group, a cheque for £65 was presented to RNLI Secretary Mrs. Joan Parkes, the proceeds of a recent coffee morning held at the Red Cross Centre by the Group.
• £168 was raised at the coffee morning last week arranged for the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council by Mrs. Phil Ellis at 26 Cadborough Cliff.
• Rye WI members entertained both Dutch and Asian guests during the holiday period as well as WIs from other parts of this country. The September meeting had a film on the RNLI, and Mrs. Oliver spoke about her recent Welsh caravan holiday.
•Two burglaries in Rye: a silver rose-bowl worth £250 was stolen from a house in Church Square last Tuesday (13th) and a handbag from Penny Royal on Thursday morning. Early on Thursday there was a rather startling burglary in Camber: stolen from the Royal William was £410 in 50p pieces, £295 in 10p pieces, £789 in various notes and coins, plus an unknown quantity of Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes in packets of 18 with the serial number 32880.
• A reader recently in Spain was surprised to find how very similar the Spanish 100-peseta piece is to our new £1 coin. It is the same in colour, thickness and weight, if slightly larger; but it is only worth 48p of our money, so keep an eye on your change. If you do find yourself with one of these, or any other foreign money, an RNLI collection box by the till at Liptons in the High Street will gratefully accept it, since the RNLI makes good use of foreign small change.
• The pile of bricks in the Community Centre car park, a kind gift, are for repairs to the back wall once the YTS gets under way - not for an outside wheelchair loo.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office. It is published by Mrs. Mary Owen at 94 Udimore Road, Rye (Rye 222303), and news items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline is Monday afternoon, 9 am Tuesday for emergencies.
The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday; a few spares are available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street.
(Copyright Mary Owen 1983)