A midnight swoop by a Customs and Excise patrol at Rye Harbour at the weekend revealed 300 kilos of tobacco, packed in plastic bags, stowed away in a small cabin cruiser being taken out of the water at the Harbour. Two men appeared later before Rye Magistrates and were remanded on a charge of evading excise duty to the tune of some £12,000.
It is probably no more than coincidence that Rye Harbour was mentioned as a possible point of illegal entry for drugs in a TVS "Coast to Coast" report on Monday, on the growing use of heroin in Hastings. Social workers reported that the drug was cheap and accessible in the town, available even in cafes to those too young for the traditional pubs and clubs - though a spokesman for the Hastings police seemed less worried. Without wishing to be alarmist, we do think that parents should be aware of this situation so uncomfortably close to us.
Rye seems to have had rather a rapid turnover, if that is a permissible phrase, in clergy over the past few years. The Rev. Ian Pidoux has only been at St. Michael's House in Fair Meadow for three years, but he has served Rye for longer than any of the other local ministers except the Rev. Ralph Essex of the United Reform Church. Now Mr. Pidoux, too, is leaving us; he announced on Sunday that in April he will be going to Somerset as priest-in-charge of two parishes at Bridgwater and Chedzoy. Mr. Pidoux is, of course, the vicar in the Rye Team Ministry with particular responsibility for Iden and Playden, and he and Mr. Davison of the Baptist Church have been much involved with the welfare of young people in the area, organising the Christian Union and the recent Celebration Evenings among other things. Mr. Pidoux says he and his family will be sorry to leave Rye, and Rye will be sorry to see them go, but we shall hope to see them back here sometimes as we do their predecessors the Carmichaels.
Rye Fire Brigade was called to the public conveniences in Rope Walk one lunch-time last week for the second time recently. Vandalism was suspected - burning paper sent smoke and flames into the roof-space, and firemen in breathing apparatus had to climb up to make sure the fire was out.
Vandalism, too, was responsible for the appearance of a broken lavatory pan outside the station yard Gents ten days ago - and, we understand, for other trouble inside and elsewhere in the town. This time it was an after-dark affair, and we asked Battle Council whether they had considered locking these particular loos once most travellers had gone home; but Mr. Bridges tells us that this is not Rother policy, because of the overtime complications and also the difficulty of deciding when lock-up time should be.
(The two Fire Brigade "spacemen" shown in last week's papers removing canisters from Camber beach were, under it all, David Paige and Terry Pankhurst.)
We are very sorry to hear that Mrs. Winifred Newman of Udimore Road is in the Royal East Sussex Hospital (Surgical Admissions Unit) with a broken leg and an eye injury, after a car accident at Udimore on Saturday. Her husband was released from hospital after treatment for facial injuries. No other vehicle was involved, but the Newmans' nearly-new car is said to be a write-off.
However, it is very pleasant to be able to report that after many weeks in St. Helen's Hospital, Mrs. Crick of Church Square is now showing some improvement.
2.
The report in GAZETTE no. 69 on the sports hall meeting at Thomas Peacocke quoted a reference to the Bexhill pool by Councillor Lutman, Fairlight's representative on Rother and one of the school governors. He tells us that this was no more than an off-the-cuff remark and certainly not intended to convey his attitude to the pool generally - and we are sorry if the wrong impression was given. (In the coming weeks, several of Rother's committees will be considering reports on the pool; the matter will then come before the full Council, and at that point - and not before - we will revert to the topic.)
At intervals last year we reported on the progress of R.Y.E., the 1982/3 Young Enterprise company based at Thomas Peacocke School in which a group of Lower Sixth-formers were finding out the hard way how a business is run. Doubtless many of our readers gave or received the firm's magazine rack or candle-holder, both products made at its "factory" in the school's woodwork room, or the car accessory pack produced as an exercise in marketing goods bought in. This nation-wide scheme is sponsored in Rye by Rotary, and we were all pleased when the group's Annual Report won the South East Forum trophy in June.
This year's Young Enterprise company had a slow start, but suddenly business is burgeoning and they invited the press round last week. They work, literally, a smaller scale than the previous year's team. A range of jewellery, using polished semi-precious stones and silver "findings", is proving popular at their weekly sales table in the school, and they take orders for particular combinations of stone and fitting as required; prices are very moderate. The firm was also offered a contract from Lower School to produce numbered discs for locker-keys; this was a useful exercise since they had to cost their material and labour and then negotiate a price with Mr. Thomas for some 900 metal discs, stamped with letters and numbers to order - not perhaps one of the more popular jobs for the workforce! And there is now an exciting new development on the horizon: the directors are considering a product offered them by its (VIth form) manufacturer which could be marketed in various ways (and for various uses, as suggested enthusiastically by the press corps) - basically a stand for a boiled egg, elegantly simple and, we thought, very up-market. This is currently undergoing user testing, and they hope to announce its arrival on the retail scene in time for Easter eggs.
The company trades under the name of Tom Byrde (the reference is to the school rather than to the egg-stands). The present managing director is Zoe Bouras (who took over from Andrew Starling), Andrew Heather is secretary and Amanda Banfield accountant. Claire Joyce is personnel manager, Heidi Wicking and Alan Hopper production managers for the two present lines, and Zoe and Amanda deal jointly with sales. The other worker-directors are Emma Pecorini, Brian Masters and Sheena Ridley, so it is a smaller company than last year's. The whole group enjoyed a buffet lunch at the George with their Rotary sponsors earlier this week and discussed their plans with rather more experienced businessmen. We wish them every success and hope to hear more about their progress.
The Rye and Hastings Branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, which helps so many sufferers locally from this disease, has benefited considerably in recent years from the fund-raising talents of Mr. Peter Cooke of Ferry Road. Sadly, Mr. Cooke suffered a stroke last year and is unlikely to leave hospital for some time; and the Branch misses him very much. So Mrs. Goldsworthy and her committee are particularly grateful to Mr. George Cumming, of Rye, who is this year going to run in the Worthing Marathon in April and is inviting sponsorship in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Sponsor forms for the 26.2 mile Marathon are now available from Mrs. Kath Elworthy at 22 Ferry Road, and we do hope Mr. Cumming will get good backing for his generous offer.
• STOP PRESS: James Menhinick expects to report to Radio Sussex again next week; get in touch with him by the weekend if you want something to go in.
3.
About 40 Freda Gardham parents arrived at the school on Thursday evening to discuss the possible effect on the school of the proposed education cuts - outlined in the Headmaster's recent letter (GAZETTE no. 70) - which seemed a satisfactory number in view of the unavoidably short notice for the meeting. It was unanimously agreed to set up an action committee, and the members got going on their task with commendable speed: between them they maintained a presence in the High Street from 10 to 4 on Saturday inviting passers-by to sign a petition. This was addressed to "all East Sussex Councillors and Education Officials.
"We are concerned and angered that the Council is planning further cuts in local education facilities. We understand that for our local primary schools the cuts could mean fewer teachers - no schooling for children until the term after their fifth birthday - massive cuts to school library service - threats to school meals service - further delays in purchasing and maintaining school furniture and equipment - no more violin, cello or guitar tuition - no heating and maintenance to school swimming pool - etc., etc. We believe that these proposals will seriously affect the quality of education available to local children and demand no cuts in the education budget."
525 signatures were collected on Saturday, and more early this week - 660 in all on Monday evening with some petition sheets still not returned for counting. The organisers are naturally extremely pleased at this result, and have arranged for the petition to be presented by a Hastings representative on the Education Committee. None of the three Rye-area County Councillors is on this Committee; Mrs. Yates tells us that Education places are in great demand among Councillors, but she has undertaken to put the Rye parents' case in the right circles at Lewes. The Freda Gardham committee members urge people to write to their County Councillor before 21 February; they point out that, according to figures issued in 1982, ESCC already spends well under the national average per head for both primary and secondary pupils - indeed, it was in the bottom 25% of the "spending league" for primary pupils.
Arrangements are being made to take a coachload of parents over to Lewes on 21 February to lobby Councillors as they arrive for the crucial County Council >meeting. If you would like to go (the cost will be somewhere under £1 depending on how many people book), contact Mrs. Smith.
• Handed in to Lower School after their recent jumble sale (which made over £200) was a wallet found in the pocket of a jacket. It contained a birth certificate and three photographs, and the school would like to return it to the owner's family if possible.
The birth certificate is the simple short form, issued at Ore and merely recording the birth of Emily Standen on 10 August 1909. The photographs show a man in RAF uniform of WW2, but with medal ribbons possibly from WWI; an older man (perhaps the same person in later life); and a snapshot of a man perched on a model boat or some kind of framework in the middle of, perhaps, a park boating lake.
Any takers for these family relics? Apply to Lower School office (Rye 222545) or contact the GAZETTE.
• In August 1932 two people on a short cruise, going past Dungeness Point, put a message in a bottle and threw it overboard. Over a year later the message was returned, with a reply; a Rye fisherman wrote to say he had found it in his net, with its bottle smashed around it as the catch hit the deck.
The daughter of that cruising couple, Mrs. Pamela Mason, still has the original note and the answer. The finder was Mr. B. Gambrill, of South Undercliff, and his boat was the Kent Colebrook (RX 62). Mrs. Mason, one of our postal subscribers, wonders if anyone remembers Mr. Gambrill?
What an opportunity for our South Undercliff Ryers! Is Mr. Gambrill still with us (certainly not at that address) or are members of his family still living in the town? Was the Kent Colebrook one of the Colebrook Mineral Waters firm's famous steam trawlers? And, for that matter, who has the RX62 registration number now?
- 4 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 15.2.1984
As readers will know, Rye has recently lost two friends - Pamela Nash (Mrs. Collyer) and Humphrey Lestocq. Both came to Rye in middle life, after building careers elsewhere; both developed talents and interests here which perhaps might not have flourished in other surroundings; both died before their time; and both are sincerely mourned by friends throughout the country.
Pamela Nash met Ernest Collyer before the war, when she was a student at Willesden Art College. They both went into the Royal Navy, corresponded throughout the war, and after it they set up a pottery in Elstree. Their whole output went to Liberty's in Regent Street - regularly carried across London in the tube in two large green bags! Redevelopment drove them from Elstree to Stanmore, and here they built connections with the Hampstead Artists Council and helped to establish the Open Air Exhibitions in London. They were founder members of the Camden Arts Centre, and Pamela mounted an exhibition called "Artist Craftsmen 66", the largest craft exhibition of its kind, with many well-known names among the exhibitors. It became a milestone, copied later, and it was Pamela's meticulous attention to detail which made it and other similar events so successful.
By the Seventies, the Collyers were doing more individual work, including pieces for office buildings and a centrepiece for the entrance to the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City. They had several one-man shows in different galleries, and two larger exhibitions at Camden.
Then developers struck again. They had to leave their Stanmore premises, which they had been encouraged to build on land not actually theirs by deed, and they came to the old station at Winchelsea, though without giving up their London connections. Etching became Pamela's consuming passion in recent years, and local art-lovers will have noticed how she developed this art while continuing with her quite individual style of pottery. More surprising to those who knew only her Sussex life will be the tribute paid at her funeral service to her abilities as an administrator, shown so markedly in her work at Camden. Her charm and goodness as a person, however, must have been obvious throughout her life. She is greatly missed by those who loved and admired her.
Humphrey Lestocq always wanted to be an actor. He came, on his mother's side, from a theatrical family, and took her Huguenot family name for his own career. At Stowe he excelled in sport rather than in academic work, and that unusual headmaster J F Roxburgh allowed him to spend his last year abandoning all attempts at maths in favour of studying the English classic drama as a preliminary to an acting career. While at Stowe he went on two far-north expeditions organised by the Public Schools Exploration Society, and when he went on to RADA he spent his spare time motor-racing, running, and indulging in athletics at White City (he was reserve for the 1936 Berlin Olympics cross-country team). After a particularly nasty racing accident, his father offered him a choice of career: racing driver or actor. Humphrey chose acting - and his father promptly cancelled his RAC licence (those were the days when parental authority extended to the 21st birthday)!
After RADA Humphrey went into rep at Watford until war broke out. He rushed to join up, mentioned his eight hours of solo flying - and was promptly put into the Royal Berkshire Regiment and sent to guard a biscuit factory in Reading. Later the RAF relented, and he flew Hurricanes in the Western Desert and Italy, though he was in fact stationed at Manston when he crashed and was finally grounded.
War ended, Humphrey went back to acting. His best-known part is probably the voice of Flying Officer Kite in the radio show "Merry-go-round", but he also amused children who watched "Whirligig" on television - and thirty years later took part in a programme from Pebble Mill about the puppeteers of the Fifties. He made many films (including the much-seen-on-television "Angels One Five"), and was on a tour of Butlins camps when he discovered Harry Corbett and Sooty -
(continued...)
5.
literally at the end of a pier; he summoned his producer to come and look, and that was the beginning of a long career for Sooty (Mary has the original puppet, which Harry Corbett gave Humphrey as a memento).
In the early Sixties, there was an actors' strike. This could have spelt disaster for both Humphrey and Mary, then a stage manager for a commercial television company; so she took a crash course in interior design, and they set up their own company based in London.
Perhaps a turning-point in Humphrey's life came when he and Mary were lying on Littlehampton beach, watching a speedboat towing a water-skier. "It would be fun to do that" he said thoughtfully... The speedboat they bought was fun, but then they wanted something they could sleep in. The next boat was more domestic, but built for the Broads rather than the Channel. And eventually they paid a dramatic flying visit to a small boatyard in Scotland and came home owners of "Star of St. Monance", and in due course introduced her to the South Coast. They had friends among the Rye sailing fraternity, and Mary knew the town from her childhood; but it was really just chance that they came to the town the day that Mr. Odell's cycle shop went on the market, and even more of a chance that took them to Vidlers to ask about vacant shops. They had intended to open the shop as a showroom for Mary's interior design business, with just a few "decorator's pieces" on sale - but the pieces sold better than the designs, and "Mary and I" was born.
For the first year, they lived on "Star of St. Monance" at Strand Quay, and then bought Studio Cottage at Rye Harbour (later building Harbour Cottage, as their home). Humphrey was still acting, in the Emergency Ward Ten series and the Avengers.
But when the Rye Harbour lifeboat station was reopened in 1966; Humphrey volunteered as a crewman, was taken on as a launcher, and was elected honorary lifeboat secretary when David Osborne had to relinquish the position owing to the demands of his own career.
Humphrey did this job for the rest of his life - more than fifteen years - on duty all the time except in the depths of winter, and with endless paper-work and public relations exercises all the year round. A heart attack in Majorca in 1969 was a warning, not repeated until last November when medical tests revealed a very serious heart condition: just how serious became clear on King's Cross Station on 29 January. Like Pamela Nash, Humphrey Lestocq will long be remembered both for himself and for his work in our community.
(The Editor is most grateful to Bunny Collyer and Mary Lestocq for their help.)
Rye WI members certainly let their hair down last week when some 60 members and guests met to celebrate the Institute's 56th birthday. A delicious meal was enhanced with wine made by the President's husband, and followed with party games and dancing. "At 10 pm" says Mrs. Freeman, their press secretary, "the flushed, giggling and slightly dishevelled party-goers changed back into the sober dignified ladies they really are, and the party was voted a Huge Success"!
The Editor would like to thank very much the unknown person who left three copies of Rye's Own on her doorstep last week. In fact, her own collection is already complete, and it seems only fair to say so in case the kind donor would like them back; but both Badger Gate and Devonport House now have sets which lack these copies, and unless otherwise instructed the Editor will pass on this gift to a good home.
The GAZETTE collection now needs indexing, a fearsome but ultimately rewarding task! In the meantime, please do ask if you want to refer to a particular issue. These magazines are so helpful; not only did Mr. Hollands and later Mr. Davson record current events, but they published interviews (often by Dora Sims) with those who were senior members of Rye society twenty years ago - many are, of course, no longer with us, and their recollections are now valuable archive material.
6.
Rother's Treasurer, Mr. Willis, has kindly extracted for us some figures from the Council's Capital Programme about proposed spending on Rye over the next few years (not including housing).
We have already mentioned the car parks beside the railway (£80,000 set aside over three years) - and Mr. Willis assures us that should the bypass go that way the Council would be fully compensated for money spent. £5,000 is allocated for the Gibbett Marsh car park (GAZETTE no. 62). The Town Wall car park is due for resurfacing in 1984/5 (£10,000), and there are plans to provide a wheelchair-access loo at Strand Quay in 1985/6 (£10,000) as part of Rother's programme to help the disabled generally.
The new Council offices in Cinque Ports Street cost £52,120 in 1983/4 (a little more than that altogether, since the deposit was paid in the previous financial year). However, it should be remembered that Rother's actual outlay here is decreased by £50,000, the sum set by its valuers as the amount which the Housing Department should pay for the Ferry Road site - to be used for a sheltered housing annexe to Badger Gate. (This is in fact a paper transaction between departments, but if the site had not been available the Housing Department would have had to pay out money for another on the open market, so the end result to the rates is the same.)
Of course, what we would all - residents, visitors and those concerned with the town's tourist trade - like to see is some decent public conveniences down by the station. Although owned by the bus company, the present Ladies (two cubicles) and Gents are managed by Rother; and normally it is Rother's job to provide public loos where they are needed. We understand that Rother is not prepared to do anything about those in the bus yard unless the bus company and British Rail will contribute - after all, the customers arrive on their buses and trains and park in BR's car park; but they won't.
Decent loos are included in the plans for the supermarket which still hovers over the goods yard site. We are assured by the agents for the developers that this project is still very much alive, but hard facts are difficult to come by. So we went to the Council offices to see what the present planning position is - though the plans may well be altered several times before the first concrete-mixer appears.
The original application was in July 1980. Various amendments in 1981 alter the layout slightly, but basically the plan is for a two-storey supermarket of 2000 square metres gross, with servicing facilities beside it; behind it, on part of Crown Field, space is reserved for Ellis Bros. In front, immediately beside the railway, stands a two-level car park for 164 cars. Incorporated in the building complex are toilets, a waiting room, cafeteria and travel information office.
The later plans show coach parking on the land between the railway and the market; (one version, hastily corrected a month later, showed coach parking on the railway) but the Rope Walk end of this area is off the map and there is no indication of what is intended at that end in the way of entrance or exit. Traffic enters the supermarket area from Ferry Road at approximately the present car park entrance, and from Cinque Ports Street down alongside the Post Office. There is a U-turn outside the station and an exit (as far as we could make out) via the present market entrance. The latest plan at the Council Offices dates from October 1981; after that, as far as Rother Planning Department is concerned, the rest is silence.
In this week's planning list, Woolworths are applying for permission to alter their shop-front. Last year they incorporated into the store the shop next door, on The Mint side, when it became vacant, and the present plans are to extend the standard frontage to include this. They show double doors from the street into the second shop, set back with a small lobby floored with cream tiles, and a new Woolworths fascia sign set centrally over the whole frontage. More controversially, they are asking for an illuminated sign projecting 3' from the shop front at the end nearest the butchers'. They have been trying for a sign for thirty years, on and off, since the shop is not visible to casual visitors coming up Market Road from the station. But even so, in view of the number of applications for projecting illuminated signs in the Conservation Area turned down by Rother in recent years, the request seems to show a quite remarkable optimism!
7.
An AGM not mentioned in our recent list was that of the Monday Club. In her annual report, Mrs. Anne Hacking spoke of a happy and successful year, with outings much enjoyed and a bumper Sale of Work (almost £500 profit). A club of this kind (it meets twice a month at the Clinic) needs a considerable amount of back-up, and in her report Mrs. Hacking thanks her helpers: Mrs. Garratt, the Treasurer ("there is never any flap when perhaps things don't tally; it always comes right in the end" - how many treasurers yearn for such a testimonial!), Mrs. Taylerson for her help with stalls and the trolley shop (and they are already collecting for next year's white elephant stall) - Mrs. Chandler, Mrs. Watson and Mr. Whiteman, the tea ladies who know just how the members like their individual "cuppas" - the Committee, especially Mrs. Dolan and Mrs. Edmunds for their help before each meeting, Mrs. Fitzhugh who deals with the orders, Mrs. Upton for invaluable help, and Miss Boger who is responsible for birthday and Christmas cards.
Mrs. Hacking was particularly anxious that our report should include her gratitude to three groups of people who are never at Club meetings but who contribute tremendously to its success: Mrs. Thomas, caretaker Mrs. Masters, and the other clinic staff; Mr. Phil Ellis and his willing helpers who provide the transport without which many members could not attend Club meetings; and the members of the Rye and Winchelsea Inner Wheel Club, who serve teas and wash up at the Club's Birthday Party and the Sale of Work to release the regular helpers for pleasanter duties.
Here Mrs. Hacking stops. But we feel sure that Monday Club members and helpers would all feel that our report was incomplete without a big thank-you to her for what she does for the Club she has run for so many years.
In a report this week Chief Inspector Dyson records a most welcome reduction (the first in five years) in the regular upward trend of drink-driving cases. In general, drunkenness offences remain low, and there were no complaints, in the year covered by his report about under-age drinking. He would like to place on record his thanks to the licensees of the district for continuing to exercise such supervision.
In the district covered by Rye Petty Sessions there were licensed, in 1983, 34 pubs, 32 off-licences, 25 restaurants, 7 clubs and 8 residential or restaurant/ residential premises. So the good news in the previous paragraph clearly does not stem from lack of opportunity!
The press book shows several thefts from unattended motor vehicles recently in our area; hauls include two sheepskin bomber jackets, a tool box and assorted tools value £150, and a stereo radio cassette player and tapes.
Forms are now available for those who want to enter items in the Thomas Peacocke PTA 50:50 Auction on 17 March. All parents should have already received a copy, and there are plenty more at the Upper School office and at Penny Royal in the High Street.
In order to shorten the sale from last year's marathon, the total number of entries may have to be restricted, and the committee reserves the right to lot together smaller and less expensive items from a single source; vendors might like to bear this in mind when they fill in the entry form.
The organisers would like forms to be sent in to them at the school in advance of the sale; goods booked in in this way are certain of inclusion. Other items should be brought to the Upper School Hall (The Grove) complete with form, on Friday evening, 16 March, between 6 and 8, or on Saturday morning, 17th, between 8.30 and 11 - don't leave it later than you can help. Viewing starts at 1 pm, selling at 2.
8.
Thursday, 16th Coffee morning for Rye WI Funds, Devonport House, 10.30 to 12
Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10.30 to 4 (also Friday and Saturday)
Friday, 17th Ken Warren MP, "surgery", Council Offices (by appointment)
Museum Association talk on monuments and memorials, "Worms and Epitaphs" by Stella Pigrome, FEC, 7.30
Saturday, 18th Coffee morning in aid of Further Education Centre funds, FEC, 10
Mayor's Party for senior residents, CC, 3.30
"Mainly Acoustic" concert (Eddie Walker), Saltings, 8
Monday, 20th Half-term week
Monday Club, Clinic, 2
Tuesday, 21st "Mapp and Lucia" filming begins
Wednesday, 22nd Over-Sixties Club, Red Cross, 1.45
Blood donor session, Baptist Hall, 2 to 4, 5 to 7.45
• Two groups looking for jumble and buyers on 25 February: the Cinque Ports Majorettes in the Community Centre, and St. John Ambulance Brigade at their HQ just across the road, both at 2.
• Miss Turner would like whoever it was who rang her recently asking about the Grammar School motto - and didn't leave his name or phone number - to know that it is "Aut disce, aut discede" which being translated means "Learn - or leave"!
• Not all readers may realise that Rye Library has altered its Saturday opening hours - now 9.30 to 5. On other days it opens at 10, closing at 5.30 on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and at 7 on Mondays and Fridays. It is, of course, shut all day on Tuesdays.
• Hastings Health District is running a sponsored no-smoking day on 29 February. The sponsor forms (they sent us some) don't carry the address to which the cash should be sent - it is The Health Promotion Unit, 4 Holmesdale Gardens, Hastings. Further information can be obtained from the Unit at Hastings 441933, though unfortunately they were not able to give any information about the "Doppler Fund" for which they tell us the event is organised.
• British Rail apologises to people living near the railway for noise from heavy machinery carrying out all-night maintenance work throughout the Southern Region later this month. Our turn comes next Wednesday (22nd) from 10 pm. Probably this is just the vividly-illuminated chunk of machinery which has juddered along the line in the small hours every so often for years; if it is more than that, at least we have been warned.
• Round Table announces that the theme for this year's Rye Carnival, on 4 August, is "Sport for All" (with a nod both to the Olympics and to the sports hall plan). This obviously lends itself to a wide range of interpretations, and groups now have plenty of time to plan their entries. Readers will remember that last year's procession was rather short of floats, particularly local ones - can we do better in 1984?
• Advance notice, too, that the dance at which Miss Rye 1984 will be chosen takes place at the Oasis on Saturday, 14 April; details nearer the time.
• More signs of spring: the Goods Yard car park had "Full" signs up last Thursday for the first time this year. And there was a bee in the office last week!
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 Monday afternoon, Tuesday 9 am 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 1984)