This week's GAZETTE has half-a-dozen stories which would normally make the front page; so please forgive us, those of you who didn't. It's all in somewhere!
This year's Bonfire Night is being acclaimed as the best for a very long time, thanks to a major effort during the whole of the preceding year by the Bonfire Boys and their secretary Joan Parkes. Mrs. Parkes's chief regret was the lack of support from local people - though it was pleasant to see some half-dozen floats in the procession, including an unexpected entry from Thomas Peacocke Vlth Form. But in this respect the visiting Bonfire Societies turned up trumps, and the bonfire and fireworks were well under way before the end of the long torchlit procession reached the Salts. The new shorter route caused a brief complication at the turning-point on Strand Quay, but much less traffic disorganisation in general - though we are not clear whether the Just Married car really wanted to be part of the procession!
Christopher Casenove made a splendid Rye Fawkes, signing autographs right and left and riding with the procession the whole way - first on a lifeboat float produced by Veryan Gray of Lochin Marine, and then chaired by the firemen (who did get back in time from an emergency call, though there had been anxious moments). We feel sure it is an evening which the small blond Casenove sons will not forget in a hurry. They stayed overnight at the George and combined the trip with a visit to relatives in the neighbourhood next day.
16 Bonfire Societies joined in the procession, plus several bands and groups of majorettes, and Miss Rye. All the costumes were, as ever, elaborate and beautiful, and the visitors' shield went to the Incas of Burgess Hill (though the GAZETTE reported them as Aztecs when they won it last year!). British Telecom Social Club returned last year's Stutely Shield and then came over from Medway to win it back with their Home in a Shoe; the 4th Rye Brownies again won the Clark Shield, this time as the Smurfs, with Rye Lions (Last Night of the Proms) as runners-up. Not all the awards are yet announced, so we will have a full list text week.
The fireworks were really magnificent this year, set off as usual by Tony Thomas. They cost £500, but included some superb and elaborate rockets and a lovely silver waterfall. As for the guy, he should have been the winner of the children's competition; but there were no entries for this at all, laments Joan Parkes, so - no guy!
Seven people were arrested during the celebrations, mainly for drunkenness and throwing fireworks into the crowd; the police seized 70 rook-scarers too - but a good many were thrown, to judge from the remarks which came over the official loud-hailer and the very loud bangs which punctuated the procession. There was a strong impression that the Battle society were misbehaving this time, though we hear that some Cliffe supporters did turn up uninvited.
The Bonfire Boys were down on the Salts by 9 am on Sunday, clearing up the debris; after that they checked the route for torches, etc., and then went home to count the money. (They had been rewarded in advance for their efforts on Saturday by tea with the Mayor at the Town Hall, to strengthen them for the evening's work.) On Monday Jimper Sutton banked £650 collected during the celebrations; there is more to come in, but some procession expenses to come out. The fireworks, posters, programmes, etc., were all paid for by money collected during the year. Full details next week.
"It was a lovely evening" sighed someone reminiscently on Monday. "Wouldn't it be fun to do it all again for Christmas?"...
2.
The Thomas Peacocke School staff play - "The Murder of Maria Marten, or The Red Barn" - had the sort of reception from the audiences on all three nights that would delight a West End cast. (For those who treasure the Headmaster's encore on the Friday night, or the disappearing cell window on the Thursday, we can report that the Saturday performance went entirely according to plan.) The large cast played the piece as a full-blooded Victorian melodrama, with Nigel Spooner's piano accompaniment - performed in appropriate costume - setting the mood.
Several sets were called for; we much liked Peter Lee's distant Suffolk cottages, and the lighting was particularly effective in the Red Barn scenes. Pat Bean's costumes were rustically pretty. Stage management was in the hands of Martin Blinkow and Alan Crouch's team of 5th and 6th formers.
Outstanding among a very capable cast was Fay Wright, a delightful heroine, truly affecting over the death of her baby but making a spirited lad later in the play; her seducer and murderer Mike Surman, with a proper villain's approach to the part of the evil-intentioned gent from the big house; and Ray Fooks as Maria's father - oddly intellectual for a mole-catcher? - whose mild rendering of his lines at the beginning grew more and more dramatic as the evening progressed. Jean Kemp as Maria's mother produced one of the most sensational screams we have ever heard on Upper School stage. Frances Paintin saw the avenging gipsy girl as the equivalent of the wicked fairy and made a convincing job of her death scene. Wendy Jasper as the sensible Marten sister, and Gil Wright as her betrothed, recalled Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Grundy to Archers fans watching Tim Bobbin lumbering his comical way through the twists of the plot. Val Mountford narrowly escaped a fate worse than death in the big city, and Bryan Atkins was effective as the wronged brother and eventual instrument of justice. Villagers and gipsies were played by Brian Creese, Anne Taylor, Vicki Rose, Cheryl Hunt, Sherry James, Paul Bishop and Martin Estall. The producer, with every reason to be satisfied, was Chris Rose.
How many Rye people listen at all regularly to Radio Sussex now that it covers our area? How many Rye people, for that matter, heard Joan Parkes on Friday talking about Bonfire Night (an interview conducted inside the tiny WRVS office on Wednesday afternoon)? We ask because they tell us that they need "an accredited free-lance with long professional experience" as a correspondent for Rye. This is a bit puzzling, since occasional listening to Sussex Scene reveals a correspondent in every little village further west; but obviously people with these qualifications are more easily found than one might suppose so we probably have at least one tucked away here. If so, he or she might like to get in touch with David Arscott on Eastbourne 639359, so that our jumble sales can get county-wide publicity like other people's! It isn't quite clear whether money is involved or not, but it would be a useful service to the community in either case - though more useful if it turns out that local people do listen to the programme. So, back to the question with which we started - feedback will be most welcome and will be passed on to Eastbourne.
Can any of our older readers help Mrs. Guilmant, for her forthcoming illustrated book on Rye, with a problem of identification? A photograph (perhaps once a postcard) labelled "Coronation Morning, Rye Church", shows on top of the church tower eight bandsmen in braided uniforms and peaked hats, holding bugles or trumpets. The three in front look to be in their early teens, the rest are older (but not very old, even so). There is no indication of the date and of course uniform is no help. If you have a copy of the photograph and can date it, or better still identify any of the bandsmen (who might, it is suggested, have been members of the Boys Brigade), please ring Mrs. Guilmant at Bexhill 213913, or contact Mrs. Kirkham who has a copy for examination.
If, as seems possible, the Coronation was that of 1911, then the bandsmen would have been born between perhaps 1885 and 1898.
- 3 – THE RYE GAZETTE, 22.11.1983
We hear - from two quite separate and usually reliable sources, or we wouldn't be passing it on - a really appalling rumour about the future of the Library. Among suggestions to be put before the County Council's Library Committee at its December meeting, as a means of saving money, is the possibility that our library and others in the area might cease to stock any adult fiction at all - and we mean just normal novels for grown-ups, not "adult" in the blue-movie sense! Books on offer would be restricted to those for children and to non-fiction volumes. Since, one of our informants has somehow discovered, about three-quarters of Rye Library's trade is in novels, this would certainly be a very simple way to cut down the number of people using the library and hence, of course, the hours for which it need be open. Mrs. Yates, who is on the Library Committee, was horrified when we asked her about this; she had heard nothing of the idea, but had not yet had the agenda for the meeting. Doubtless we shall be hearing more about this; but not much more, we hope.
We now have more details of the celebrations which are to accompany the switch-on of the town's Christmas decorations on Saturday week (3 December). Scottish pipers will be playing in the station approach from about 4.45, to greet Father Christmas when he arrives on the train soon after 5. His first call will be at the Rotary Christmas tree in Market Road; Rotary has had a "goodwill tree" in the town ever since 1948, first in the High Street and since the late 1960s outside Mary Lestocq's shop, and several thousand pounds have been raised for national and local charities over the years. Rye Chamber of Trade is responsible for the town's street illuminations, which will be switched on at the George Hotel; Noel Varley and his committee are, in this connection "the phantom figures seen carrying ladders around Rye on misty November nights". Also at the George, free balloons will be distributed to the children who accompany the procession. Father Christmas's final stop is at the Town Hall, where he will be welcomed by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities (the Mayor and Councillors and Canon Maundrell); here he switches on the Town Hall tree and lights (provided by the Town Council for the fifth year in succession). St. Mary's choir will then lead carol singing, the first of various local groups singing and playing Christmas music in Market Street over the next few weeks.
The late shop opening on that evening has been taken up with great enthusiasm, and some 30 shops are expected to remain open until 7.30 pm.
Incidentally, instead of arranging to floodlight St. Mary's themselves this year as usual, the Chamber of Trade have given the PCC £450-worth of equipment so that it can be used at other times of year as well; and the church will in fact remain floodlit until after Christmas.
Those who wondered about the traffic accident just past the New Winchelsea Road houses on Friday night, clearly visible to passers-by on Saturday morning, will be glad to know that there were no injuries (so it does not appear in the press book) - in which case at least two people were very lucky, since there was a burnt-out Mini on one side of the road and a saloon car in the dyke beyond the hedge on the other!
No-one was hurt, either, when a Mercedes car apparently trying to park backed into the Tuck Shoppe bakery in Market Street on Wednesday afternoon, completely demolishing the cakes window and damaging the shelving and the brickwork below. On Thursday, with the window boarded up, business continued as usual, though the Webbs and their staff smiled rather faintly at jokes about the new window-dressing; by Saturday morning Burnhams had installed a replacement window which is in fact only temporary but looks perfectly normal. Alan Webb tells us that even on Wednesday afternoon, with the door still jammed shut, deprived shoppers were putting their heads in under the jagged glass to ask "Are you open?" - a very loyal lot, the Webbs' customers.
4.
The GAZETTE went to the Winchelsea bypass exhibition on Saturday, along with what seemed like half Rye - the other half having gone on Friday! Perhaps that is a slight exaggeration, but there were certainly enough visitors from our end to make the point that Rye had every intention of being in on this enterprise from the beginning. On all sides we heard people urging the case for a joint route for both bypasses, and some kind-hearted souls came away feeling really rather sorry for the Department of Transport staff who were manfully trying to defend an almost untenable position - and even sorrier for the team from Cooper Macdonald who had to defend an untenable position not even of their own making.
Cooper Macdonald & Partners are the design consultants; they have done all the preparatory work on the Winchelsea routes and were appointed as consultants for the Rye bypass just a few weeks ago - they therefore say plaintively that they are really not in a position to answer questions about Rye routes just yet! They are employed to survey the routes and tell the D o T what can and can't be done from the technical point of view. Whether or not it is fair, or even good planning, to tip a village bypass slap into the middle of a nearby small town is not their problem; they just say whether it is possible. What they weren't saying, at least not to the press, is whether they would prefer to design the two bypasses as one.
There was, very properly, a large contingent of D o T staff, so that most people, who wanted to talk to them had a chance to do so - some at considerable length. They commissioned the design work; their Department will eventually recommend which route is to be built. But not for a long time yet. One of a series of booklets available at the exhibition sets out the procedure for planning bypass. Starting with the present public consultation, it moves on to the announcement of a preferred route - one official told us that this would be a matter of about six months, since all the questionnaire replies and letters and suggestions have to be evaluated. Then the preferred route is investigated further, along with any other routes which may have revealed themselves.
Assuming the preferred route is still preferred, statutory orders are then published, and formal objections invited. These could lead to a public enquiry, which must be held if there is an objection from anyone with a legal interest in land or property which is to be compulsorily purchased. And even at this final stage, changes or even cancellations can be made when the Secretaries of State for the Environment and for Transport jointly consider the proposals. Finally, their decision is announced, the land is acquired, and construction starts. The timespan would depend on whether there was a public enquiry and how difficult the land acquisition was, but we are talking in years - probably, someone estimated, more than five years and up to eight.
The booklets about procedure and compensation, etc., will be available for reference at the Citizens Advice Bureau, and the GAZETTE also has a set.
So much for the procedures. Now for the rumours.
We searched out the most senior D o T man we could identify, looked him straight in the eye, and asked for his personal assurance that Rye's choice would not be in any way affected by the Winchelsea route. "Definitely not affected" he said - and then spoilt the effect by saying we had better not quote him by name. It would have been very difficult to believe him anyway - unless, of course, his statement could be construed as meaning that the Winchelsea route would indeed have no effect on a Rye route which had already been selected by those in authority.
This is certainly the impression taken home by some of the various Councillors who were at a meeting held by the officials just before the exhibition opened to the public. They came away quite convinced that Winchelsea would get the railway route and that Rye was foredoomed to its continuation through the middle of the town.
From Winchelsea's point of view, a bypass is certainly much needed; our bus spent some time country-dancing to and fro with a tanker it met at the top of the hill. The Winchelsea people are said to prefer either the green or the brown route (our railway route) as taking the noise and fumes as far as possible from the village. Lucky them to have such an option! (continued opposite...)
5.
Several people have realised that a route along the northern side of the railway for the whole distance could be a possibility. The road would cross the line near Winchelsea station and then continue under Cadborough Cliff, right in front of the Udimore Road houses already bedevilled by heavy lorry traffic on their other side, past West Undercliff and Ashenden Avenue, across the Tillingham and Ferry Road, and demolishing the Mill, two cottages in The Grove, the house at the foot of Rye Hill, the end of the Military Road terrace and at least one house in North Salts, before rejoining the A259 at the East Guldeford level crossing. This is not, of course, one of the present Winchelsea routes, but could still be brought in at the next stage. If it were selected, there could then be no pretence at all that Rye would have any freedom of choice.
We asked one of the officials how wide the road would be. The answer of course came in metres, and our arithmetic is hopeless, but a metre is about 3" more than a yard. The hard surface of the road would be 9.3m, 14.3m including verges - more if cuttings were needed, but a lot less than the 100' suggested to us last week. The "low embankment" referred to in the leaflet would be the same height as the railway embankment and could be incorporated with it if the two were to run alongside. They would propose to plant groups of trees along the landward side of the railway route to break it up visually from the cliff.
There was, as we said at the beginning, considerable pressure to have the two routes surveyed as one from now on. Ken Warren tells us that he foresaw this and wrote to Linda Chalker (the Minister of Transport) about it some weeks ago but has not yet had a reply. We hear of more informal approaches being made, also at a high level; and plenty of Rye people are busy drafting letters to go with their questionnaires. One reader looked up the route on the Rye Town Map, where the land beside the railway is scheduled as of great landscape value; but he tells us that the D o T people at Winchelsea weren't much interested in such a minor planning deterrent.
Something that is happily not a rumour is the news that things look rather better for the Whitings at the beginning of Farm Lane. They have been assured by the D o T that they can move now if they want to in order to avoid the uncertainty which was making things so difficult for them. They don't, of course, want to move at all; but at least there is now a more settled outlook for the family as a whole. Mrs. Whiting asks us to pass on their thanks to everyone who has given them so much help and support in the past few weeks.
We leave this topic under the shadow of a new and even nastier cloud. All the projections at Winchelsea envisaged a traffic flow much the same as it is now. But once the Winchelsea hurdle is removed from the A259, it could become a much more popular route with heavy lorries, and there is said to be hard planning evidence to support this theory - more about this when we get the facts.
Parish Councils in the area recently received an offer from the County Council to have work needed on footpaths done through the Manpower Services Scheme. ESCC asked for requirements within a month, which did not give the Parish Councils much time to meet and arrange to survey their footpaths before replying. Rye Ramblers see this as a chance in a lifetime to get something done about the poor state of many of our local footpaths and have written to 17 villages in the area offering to survey their paths ready for a report to ESCC. Surveying footpaths parish by Parish is dull work compared with the Ramblers' usual outings, but they have already started, with pairs of walkers out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - weather permitting. They would very much welcome volunteers to help with the survey, relieving the pressure on the members; and could also do with help from car-owners who would be willing to drop off walkers at one point or pick them up from another. Ring Mrs. Ungar on Rye 223709. Rye itself, she tells us, is done; there are some improvements needed, but the Ramblers have already provided the Town Clerk with a list to be sent to ESCC.
6.
The tiny Rye Branch Committee of the Association for the Blind report with justifiable pride that their sale and coffee morning at the FE Centre on Saturday, 12th, raised £525, £100 more than last year. The four-strong committee is chaired by Mrs. Hilda Nelson-Barrett, and the other members are Mrs. Monica Oliver, Mrs. Betty Alford and Mrs. Joan Spencer, but Mrs. Nelson-Barrett asks us to express their thanks to all the helpers, and perhaps particularly to people from Brede who came in to run the cake stall, to the WRVS for the plants and produce, to Mrs. Helen Goodwin who organised the raffle which brought in £136, and to the Winchelsea group who were responsible for selling the goods made by blind people at the Winchelsea Care Centre which meets fortnightly at the Winchelsea New Hall.
Could E F Benson have guessed, when he wrote his Mapp and Lucia books set in the Rye of the late Twenties and early Thirties, that half a century later 40 enthusiasts would be sitting over lunch in the town swapping anecdotes from the much-loved stories and wondering whether the redcurrant fool was in fact the exact recipe passed on by Miss Mapp's grandmother?
The young Tilling Society's first meeting was undoubtedly a tremendous success. The group met at Lamb House, where Sir Brian Batsford spoke about Benson's occupancy before leaving his guests to wander about the house and garden and look at the growing collection of Bensoniana which shares walls and shelves with Henry James relics. The puzzle about the secret garden was cleared up, too - the tiny walled square in which Benson did his serious writing and Lucia her illicit exercises, and which was bought by James, leased to his secretary in Mermaid Street, reclaimed by Benson, and finally relinquished by the National Trust to the present owner of the Mermaid Street house. The party then walked on to the Hope Anchor - "The Trader's Arms" of Tilling - where they enjoyed an appropriately entitled luncheon. Here the Society's present organiser Mrs. Cynthia Reavell welcomed its founder Miss Fay Hodges and gave members the latest news of the televising of some of the Lucia stories, setting heads together as cast lists were suggested; the series of hour-long programmes is expected to go out next winter. On view were advance covers of the new paperback edition of the novels, and a couple of Benson's other books also just appearing in paperback.
The Society's members came from five counties and were of both sexes and all ages; but probably the youngest was Katharine Stephen, of Abingdon, who is 21 and a student at the St. Martin's School of Art. She has always loved the books and had brought with her a dozen or so handsome illustrations done on spec for a future reissue of the series; these were very much admired, witty and stylish drawings with both characters and settings easily identifiable. Some of the Rye members hope very much that arrangements can be made to have these on view in the town, perhaps when the television series is being made or goes out, as Katharine tells us that she would be able to produce prints for sale.
After luncheon the Society went walkabout in the town (before the Lamb House visit thirteen stalwarts had already walked up to the cemetery to lay flowers on Benson's grave). Canon Maundrell took them up the church tower, and there was of course an opportunity to look at the Benson windows. Tea was at the Mariners, with an over-flow into another room in the best tradition of Diva's establishment, and then some visitors went home while others, making a weekend of it, prepared to watch the Bonfire Night celebrations.
After something of a lull, Rye Fire Brigade was busy on Monday, called first to an electrical fire in a house in Northiam and then to the George Hotel where workmen had offended one of the always touchy smoke alarms. The Bonfire Night fire was at Iden - "quite a good one" says Michael Bourn cheerfully, with the chimney of a wood-burning stove well alight, and still giving trouble when he returned after the procession to see how his colleagues were getting on. We hope that by the time you read this, the bleepers will be working again; a shout on Monday evening would have meant Mr. Bourn dashing up Udimore Road collecting his crew!
7.
Writing about cash for the Conduit Hill handrail last week, we implied that Round Table was among the organisations which had not felt able to contribute to the ESAD appeal. In fact, we had misunderstood the position; Round Table had not been approached at all about the handrail, and we are very sorry to have given a wrong impression.
Several readers have expressed surprise that the bollards closing the top of Conduit Hill to traffic cannot be removed in an emergency to provide either an exit from or an entrance to the High Street. We had raised this point already with Mr. Olesen, and he told us then that removable bollards are very prone to vandalism. Personally, the Editor agrees with the worriers; but that is the official answer. We do hear that at the weekend the opportunity for extra parking space in what has become an instant cul-de-sac was so swiftly snapped up that the top end of Conduit Hill would probably turn out to be impassable anyway, even if the bollards could be removed. (They didn't in fact sprout on Friday after all, but the road is certainly closed and perhaps they are waiting for the Gas Board traffic to move out.)
Rye Town Council have made enquiries about a likely rent for the Freda Gardham field for 364 days a year as sheep keep. The figures they have are £200 a year if the farmer is responsible for fencing off the ground and providing water, or £100 a year if the Council does the fencing and lays on the water (which would be an expensive exercise). Rother Planning Committee are to inspect the site today before considering the application at tomorrow's planning meeting. We understand that a petition from residents in that part of the town has been sent in; the organisers were, however, unwilling to give us any information about it.
The only planning application in this week's list is from Mary Lestocq, for non-illuminated signs for her newly opened Studio in Market Road (story next week).
Rye Duplicate Bridge Club made a good start at the FE Centre last Friday. About 40 people attended the opening meeting, and the Club's Chairman is Mr. Colin Baker.
It will meet weekly at the FEC (Room 4) on Fridays at 7.30. The Rubber Bridge Club meets at the St. John HQ at 7.15 on Tuesdays (not the second in the month). Players interested in joining either club, or both, can talk to Mrs. Jenkinson at Graham's, 91 High Street (Rye 222357), or just turn up at a meeting.
One more for our list of young Rye recruits to HM Forces: Glenn Thomson is now on HMS Hermes as a seaman radar operator - though he took part in ceremonial duties when his ship was in port in the Mediterranean recently. She returned to this country on Tuesday, and Glenn hopes to be home for Christmas before joining HMS Penelope in the New Year. Like David Payne, he joined the Navy from the Sea Cadets.
Rother Councillor Mrs. Pauline Tomich has just spent a few very illuminating days as part of a group from the European Union of Women, visiting the European Parliament at Strasbourg.
An audience of about 40 Museum Association members and friends very much enjoyed last Friday's lecture by Mr. Michael Tweedie on his work as Curator of the Raffles Museum, Singapore. Particularly appreciated were unusual pictures of field work undertaken for the museum. Mr. Tweedie also spoke of his experiences as a P o W.
The handsome wooden seat which recently appeared on the cobbles outside the Police Station is the one bought as a memorial to Miss Mary Warren from the fund opened earlier this year by the Mayor, Councillor Simpson. Rother staff unfortunately moved the wrong seat down from the churchyard, where it had been placed temporarily; but seat and plaque are now reunited.
We evidently maligned Lower School spelling last week when we wondered whether someone there might be privy to forthcoming nuclear disaster in Europe; we are assured that those joining the Easter trip to France and Belgium will indeed be expecting to see sites rather than sights, and we are sorry to have cast such unwarranted aspersions. (But it was thought-provoking, all the same...:)
8.
Friday, 25th Puppet show, CC, 2.30 (see GAZETTE no. 58)
National Trust AGM, CC, 7.30
Natural History Soc. "Geology - Gypsum", Monica Cowell, FEG, 7.30
Saturday, 26th Craft Market, FEC, 10 to 4
St. John Nursing Cadets Christmas coffee morning, St.J HQ, 10
Scouts Christmas Fair and coffee morning, Scout Hut, 10.30
Winchelsea Floral Group Christmas Fair and Show, George Hotel, all day from 10.30 (but not also on Friday as advertised)
Puppet show, CC, ,3 (as on Friday)
Monday, 28th Cancer Relief Singalong, FEC (not Baptist Hall), 7
Community Centre Association AGM, CC, 7.30
Tuesday, 29th Rye Church Missionary Association coffee morning, Red Cross, 10.30 to 12 (see below)
• We are so sorry to hear that Mrs. Barbara Maundrell is in hospital in Slough with a broken leg; she slipped and fell at the station on her way home from a visit to the new baby.
• Happy anniversary to two of the GAZETTE's pick-up points in the town! The Landgate Freezer Centre opened for business for the first time on 15 November a year ago, and Penny Royal moved into its present High Street premises the same week.
• Coffee will cost a little more than usual, 30p a cup, at the Church Missionary Association coffee morning on Tuesday; but Mrs. Joyce Clark points out that this sum represents food for a family in the Third World, and the Association now needs to devote its efforts to the bodily as well as the spiritual welfare of the people whom it serves.
• The full figures for the local Poppy Day appeal are not yet available, but the sale of poppies house-to-house and in the street in Rye and the surrounding villages brought in £1,635, well over £100 up on last year. We shall have a detailed result in a couple of weeks.
• £210 went back to the disabled ex-servicemen's workshops at Maidstone after the recent Women's British Legion coffee morning, while the raffle raised a further £48. The Maidstone goods will be on sale again at the organisation's Christmas Fair at the Red Cross Centre on 3 December.
• A profit of £500 resulted from the Catholic Church sale at the FEC on Saturday.
• Rye Police recently gave Hill House School £100, part of the proceeds from the Police Ball draw, which has gone to buy a go-kart. Another £100 went towards a life-support ventilator for RESH.
• The new management of the Union Inn will be looking for part-time bar staff; enquire for Miss V. Colley at the Union between 9 am and 6 pm, or ring 222334.
• Temptation Software Ltd. (see GAZETTE no. 50) is looking for children with their own computers who would like to review new computer games for the company. Those interested should call at The Decorator's Warehouse in Cinque Ports Street and talk to Tony. (Please pass word round to young computer-owning acquaintances!)
• People sending a lot of Christmas cards - or even with an eye for a good buy anyway - might like to be reminded that the Rye Post Offices are selling 12.5p stamps in books of 20 for £2.20, a saving of 30p on the full price.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, and published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 94 Udimore Road, Rye (Rye 222303). 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; extra copies and back numbers can be ordered from 94 Udimore Road, while a few spares are available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, Rye.
(Copyright Mary Owen 1963)