SUBSCRIPTION REMINDER: if your copy is not ticked by your name, and you wish to receive the 3 October issue, please send your subscription to 2 Cyprus Place before the end of this month - £5 for 12 weeks, or C6 for 24 weeks until the end of March. Full details were in GAZETTE no. 97.
We now have a volunteer to take the Cadborough Stores batch of GAZETTES up the hill after Christmas, when the Udimore Road delivery round will be shortened; subscribers at the bottom of the hill will therefore be able to collect from the shop if they wish, as well as the people from further up whose pick-up point it already is. But do nothing now; present arrangements for delivery continue for the coming quarter.
Applause, please, for Mike Thomas of Peasmarsh, Head of Lower School at Thomas Peacocke and Hon. Sec. of Rye Cricket Club. At Chelmsford on Sunday, 9th, Sussex and Essex were battling out the Over-50s Championship; Sussex had already beaten Kent, Hampshire, Surrey and Worcestershire on their way up. In general this has been Essex's season, but this time they went down to Sussex - by a matter of decimal points only (a sudden storm upset the game). And who was Man of the Match? Mike Thomas, who went in no. 6 and scored 52 not out, towards the Sussex total of 148! All local cricketers will wish to congratulate Mr. Thomas on so splendidly practising what he so enthusiastically preaches.
Johanna Ciccone, of Love Lane, will find herself playing hockey in the States when she goes to Washington with the WRNS team for an international tournament shortly, after only a year in the Service. Johanna is stationed at HMS Sultan at Gosport, and is the first person from there for many years - perhaps ever - to be playing at national/international level. Rather unexpectedly, she works in the dental surgery department, and is very fortunate that her immediate boss is himself keen on sport and puts no difficulties in the way of her sporting career. Jo hopes eventually to become a PT instructor, but now that the WRNS and the Navy are more closely linked than they were, there are fewer vacancies for women in this field. Anyway, although her father John doesn't say so, we imagine that they are all rather proud of her at Gosport - as we are in Rye.
The Wings Appeal collection in Rye on Saturday raised 0186 - some £30 up on last year, an encouragement to the RAFA organisers to hope it might be £200 in 1985. At the Battle of Britain Sunday service at St. Mary's, three standards were borne into the church: the RAF Association, the British Legion (Men's Section) and the Air Training Corps. The Mayor and Mayoress attended the service. The previous evening, a cheerful if less dignified event also commemorated the Battle of Britain. Robert Peek of Rye, with the co-operation of Mr. and Mrs. Payne of the Bell Inn at Iden, arranged a "Biggles Night" at the Bell which raised £125 for the Wings Appeal. Around 50 people turned up in "period costume" - including flying suits and at least one demob suit complete with its original hat and tie. The bar was decorated with suitable mementoes - gas masks, tin hats, and even sticky tape on the windows. Canteen food was provided - baked beans, spam and corned-beef hash at the very reasonable if not strictly canteen price of ten bob a head; and Robert had put together a tape of appropriate music punctuated, we are told, with machine-gun noises, etc. It all sounds a lot of fun; perhaps next year one of the Rye pubs might stage a re-run?
2.
Mr. Alan Moore, of The Old Rectory, Playden, died suddenly at his home on 30 August after a long illness. We shall have a fuller obituary next week.
Mrs. Winifred Payne, nee Bourne, of Fair Meadow, died in hospital on 1 September. Mrs. Payne, born in Rye 76 years ago and a pupil at Rye Grammar School, went to work in Tenterden as secretary to the proprietor of Bormans. After her marriage she and her husband Cyril, well-known in football circles, kept the Wittersham garage until his retirement. Mr. Payne died 15 years ago. Mrs. Payne's life after she moved back to Rye was overshadowed for the last ten years by painful and crippling arthritis. She was a member of a family which has played a considerable part in the life of the town; her grandfather was the founder of the removal firm which bears his name.
A new local history research group is about to start in Rye. For some years now, Alan Dickinson of Playden and a group of friends have been meeting to discuss their own research work and to take part in such projects as the summer dig at Stone. But space in their own homes is limited, and they have now had permission to use the reading room at Rye Library for monthly meetings. The first takes place on Thursday, 27 September, and those interested will be welcome to come along at 7.30.
Talking to us about the group's plans, Alan emphasised that it is intended for people who want to take part in research - either on their own pet project or with other people. They are not a support group, and are not asking for subscribers but for practical participants willing to give time rather than cash to the study of local history. It is hoped that the meetings will bring together people at present working on their own; there is no proposal to run lectures, etc. (for which the Museum Association caters already), though occasionally the group may consider they have something worth showing to a wider public.
Alan suggests all sorts of subjects for research, from pre-Tudor times right down to the town in WW2. Anything becomes local history once the people concerned in it are no longer with us, as the GAZETTE is discovering all the time.) One object of the group would be to liaise with other research bodies in the region; another might be to publish members' findings to a wider audience.
The first meeting will be an exploratory one, since the organisers have no idea how many people will come along. The Museum Association is supporting them witb., a generous contribution of £50 towards expenses; Alan is most grateful to the Association, and also to Bryan Purdey of the Library Service for the use of the room. We shall be reporting on further developments.
We have now received several additions and alterations to the double-page Town Diary spread in last week's GAZETTE. Perhaps those who have kindly put on display copies of the list might like to alter them accordingly?
(a)The four talks on Unity which are taking place on Tuesdays in October are in St. Mary's, not the Methodist Church. The final talk, on 23 October, will be followed by a Vigil of Prayer for Peace until midnight.
(b)British Legion (Women's Section) hold their Christmas Fair on Saturday, 17 November from 11 to 1 at the Community Centre.
(c)Rye Memorial Hospital League of Friends have booked the Town Hall for their annual party and auction sale on Friday, 7 December (evening)
(d)Father Christmas has been invited by the Chamber of Trade to switch on the fairy lights on Saturday, 8 December, in the late afternoon; this will be followed by late-night shopping for a whole week (details later).
(c) The January term begins on the 7th, not the 2nd as we said - we had an old list.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 19.9.1984
The Riding for the Disabled scheme run by Maureen Baker and her team for years at Hill House has, hitherto, been confined to the mentally handicapped residents at the hospital. Nationally, however, the scheme is for disabled people generally, and Mrs. Baker wonders whether there are physically as well as mentally handicapped people living in the area who would like to see how they get on on the back of a pony? The Hill House group is gradually shrinking, since fewer of the present patients are able to benefit from riding - those who did have often been moved away to other homes for the more able. But Mrs. Baker, her helpers and the ponies are still keen, and would like to extend the scheme to the area generally if there is a demand.
The group meets on Friday morninas from 10 to 12, at Hill House in the summer and at Mrs. Baker's home in Beckley in winter (the Hill House minibus takes the riders over). There are three helpers to each rider, so no-one need worry about falling off. As the mounts are ponies and not horses, the offer cannot be open to heavy weights; but if you know of a child or small adult who would like to have a go, get in touch with Mrs. Baker at Brede 882642, or leave a message with her husband the Town Clerk, at the Town Hall.
Miss Goldie-Smith's Driving Group, affiliated to Riding for the Disabled but using donkey-carts, has just resumed after its August break, but this will continue to for Hill House patients only.
Sunday, 23rd, will not be a very good day for eastward train travel, particularly for people going beyond Ashford; not only are buses replacing trains on the Rye to Ashford line until 9.30 on Sunday evening, but there will be buses again between Sevenoaks and Orpington. Engineers are working on both stretches of track, and BR apolologises for noise and points out that journey times will be extended - up to an hour from Rye to Ashford alone. Trains from Hastings to Rye on Sunday will leave 26 minutes earlier than usual.
Rye Station tells us that the hourly Sunday service will continue until the engineering works are completed, which probably accounts for why there was no mention of our usual two-hourly winter Sunday service in a recent BR handout about winter plans generally. If in doubt, or thinking ahead, ring the Hastings information service - 0424 429525.
Buses: there are to be changes in mid-October of which we hope to have details nearer the time. But for the moment the only alterations are on the 414 service which starting this Sunday, loses its Sunday service plus a couple of summer weekday extras. The 550 service continues hourly on Sundays until mid-October.
Six men, five of them from Rye, are putting in a very long day at the Granary Club in Ferry Road next month. Starting at 8 pm on Friday, 5 October, they are playing snooker for 24 hours, sponsored by the hour, in aid of the Sports Hall Venture Fund. Players are Nic Paine, Adrian Carree, Richard Griffin, Derek Willis and brothers Adrian and Kevin Cardemache, and they expect to continue their marathon effort until 8 pm on Saturday, 6th. As well as the snooker itself, the Club will house various money-spinning sideshows, a raffle, etc., and they will be very glad to see sponsors, supporters and even the merely curious during the 24-hour stint.
A photograph in last week's Radio Times has finally wrecked the carefully-preserved incognito of a very successful science-fiction writer. The name which goes with the photograph is that of John Christopher, whose book "The Tripods" has been turned into a BBC1 series which started last Saturday. But the face which looks out from the page is that of Sam Youd of La Rochelle. His wife Jessica tells us with some amusement that it is not the up-to-date photograph they sent the BBC to go with the article, but one from some years back; there is a much better one, she says, in the Brighton Argus. Anyway, the first episode of "The Tripods" was very well reviewed, and lots of people will be sitting in front of their sets at 5.15 on Saturdays for the next 12 weeks.
The Town Council is looking around for a technical boffin living in or near Rye who would be interested in taking over the maintenance of the Rye Model's workings from Ted Harland, who devised them. He must be (we quote) "familiar with transistor/transistor logic and be able to use an oscilloscope". The idea is that the engineer should operate the Model one day a week, probably on a Tuesday when things are apt to be slack, and do routine maintenance in the course of that day; he would also be on call to rush in like Superman when things go wrong.
Training would be given in the course of the winter; the Model closes in mid-October when it will be dismantled and cleaned, and this would obviously be a good moment for the new man to have a look at the works. (We say "man" but of course the job would be equally open to a woman with the right experience.) Apply to the Town Clerk for further details; the office there is open on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings from 9 to 11 or thereabouts.
After a lurid account which reached the GAZETTE from an adult passenger on the 410 service bus which takes Thomas Peacocke children home (the bus drawing up in the wrong place, the fiVe waiting adults being pushed out of the queue by children and having to stand until a lot of the pupils got off at Broad Oak) we went down to the bus station at 4 last Friday to see for ourselves. It certainly is a bit chaotic!
It is a pity that the 410 bus has to be a single-decker; it is undoubtedly very crowded, though we noticed no adults standing on Friday. (Some of the other buses seemed to be inaccurately labelled, which made our observations difficult.) By 4.20 the main bulk of the traffic, including Davie's "lanes" coach and Fuggle--"4 Iden bus, had cleared - leaving two groups, for Camber and Winchelsea Beach. Both buses came in soon afterwards, but three children were left off the Beach bus because it was overfull, and they would not have been home until well after 5 except for the kindness of a teacher who made a special car trip to take them early.
Apart from this, and the fact that it seemed near-miraculous that no-one was run over in the various stampedes as the buses approached, the children seemed to be all right. Adults would perhaps appreciate having the bus draw up at the proper stop so that they would stand a chance of getting on early and being sure of a seat - though senior pupils waiting for the 408 bus told us that they did try to ensure that adult passengers got seats. We gather that the point about proper labelling and using the correct stops has been raised by a Vlth-former at School Council meetings on several occasions, but the problem obviously remains.
The basic difficulty, of course, is that a bus station which comfortably serves the town during the day is just not the right size or shape to accommodate per¬haps half the school's population - say, at a guess, 600 children - twice a day. And what on earth will happen wheh work starts on the supermarket?
Nothing at all from Rye in this week's list.
5.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Southerden, of Cadborough Cliff, will be celebrating their Golden Wedding this Saturday (22nd). We heard from their daughter too late for a full story this week, but will make amends in the next issue; in the meantime, their friends may like to be reminded.
A suggestion that Rye Town Councillors' names should be displayed on the Town Hall notice board was turned down by the Council's General Purposes Committee in its report approved at the full Council meeting recently. We were surprised at this, and asked the Town Clerk why? He said that Bother District Council offices had a list, and this was felt to be adequate. However, David Cranston at Rother says that he has no room on his notice-board to display lists of councillors - there are, after all, a dozen or so parishes in his patch, of which Rye is just one. He feels, as we do, that the proper place is the Town Hall.
We wonder why Rye councillors are so modest - too modest, perhaps. There are 16 of them; could you, gentle reader, name even half of them, let alone the lot? The Council complains rightly that very little interest is taken in its proceed¬ings - for instance, only half-a-dozen private citizens turned up at the Annual Town Meeting. We feel that if people knew who their councillors were (there was no opportunity for an election in 1983, since nominations equalled vacancies) we might take more interest; so here is the list.
Mr. Roger Breeds of St. Margaret's Terrace (Mayor)
Mr. Bill Simpson of Cadborough Cliff (Deputy Mayor)
Mrs. Geraldine Bromley of West Street
Mr. Alex Buchan of Udimore Road
Mr. Edward Evans of Military Road
Mrs. Osma Jones of North Salts
Mrs. Jo Kirkham of Cadborough Cliff
Mr. Eric Le Fevre of Church Square
Mr. James Menhinick of North Salts
Mrs. Hilda Nelson-Barrett of North Salts
Mrs. Monica Oliver of Lea Avenue
Mr. Frank Palmer of The Strand
Mrs. Joan Parkes of Bridge Place
Mr. George Shackleton of Udimore Road
Mr. Duncan Starkey of Military Road
Mr. Edward Wiseman of Winchelsea Road.
Where was in fact a group of New Road people at the Council meeting, there to express strong if silent protest at the latest proposal for the Freda Gardham field. The Council is now considering using it for caravans for 28 days a year only - a use which does not, apparently, need planning permission. Estimates for sewage and water supply are to be obtained. We shall report further.
The question of dog fouling was also mentioned in the General Purposes Committee report. Needles Passage is a notorious spot (and, we are told, dogs are not the only culprits here) - but the dry summer has perhaps accentuated the problem in the town generally. There is already a Rye byelaw against allowing a dog to foul a footway, with a penalty of £50. The byelaw on its own clearly does no good. But if anyone sees a dog with its owner in flagrante delicto (the dictionary gives "red-handed" as an alternative to this phrase, but it doesn't quite describe what we all have in mind!), they can report the owner to Rother District Council, who will then take court action if the complainant is prepared to govinto the witness-box. At least two people in the town are now definitelyvlooking out for cases of this kind with the intention of reporting them. We hope they do, since the resultant publicity - and the GAZETTE anyway will be happy to give it - might just deter other dog-owners from risking a similarly embarrassing prosecution, let alone the £50 fine.
Pearl-button-covered Reg Langley (see last week's GAZETTE) made better time than he expected on Saturday's walk from Ore to Rye and back; we encountered him in the town well before noon, taking advantage of the extra hour to make a tour of the High Street with his Eye Laser Appeal collecting box, his little pearly push-cart and his even littler pearly black poodle. (His jacket, he told Mrs. Tomich as she went with him round the town later on, weighed 28 lbs; he looked so sensa¬tional that we do hope he didn't need to put on the wet-weather gear he had in the cart just in case.) He certainly attracted the attention of photographers and donors alike, and we shall report in due course how much he raised for the Appeal.
One aspect of our recent story about the auction windfall which came to Greyfriars when its Albert Goodwin pictures were sold has confused some readers, and we went to talk to Neil Weatherall of Social Services to put the record :straight.
The money, he told us, is to be spent in two ways.
First, for the comfort of the residents, there is to be a hairdressing salon, an extra bathroom, and greater privacy both in the day rooms and at night.
In addition to this, there is a proposal for more intensive day care for a few - between 4 and 6 each day - of the most frail elderly members of the community who are still living with their families. The day care arrangements would be available throughout normal working hours, so that relatives at work would not need to worry about how Mum was getting on by herself at home; the idea, Neil explained, is to fend off, for a few people, the time when they cannot continue living in the open community and need to go into a residential home.
These arraugements are not intended to conflict with the very successful Rye Day Centre. The Greyfriars day patients would be people who would find the Day Centre, with its activities and social contacts, rather too stimulating, and who also need care for a larger part of the day. Plans for Rye are very different.
As we all know, Bother Council is planning to build sheltered-housing flatlets as an annexe to Bedger Gate on the site of the old Council Offices, probably in 1986/7. Recently, Government funds have been made available for the provision of Day Centre facilities throughout the country; and ESCC Social Services, seeing the possibility of a grant, is applying to the NHS for the money (around i',50,000) to build a Centre of this kind as a separate unit behind the new flats - a large room with a bathroom and toilets and a kitchen, probably connected to the main building but with its own entrance. Neil envisages this as being used not only by elderly people but also by the physically handicapped who might like their own regular weekly. Day Centre; he reckons that the room could well be in use one way and another throughout the week. The building cost would not fall on ratepayers, since the government would be financing it; Bother would simply be asked to provide the site.
...the day we went to Tenterden! So Rye Museum Association members thought after Saturday's mini-outing to this familiar town - but did you know there is a museum there? rounded about 7 years ago, it stands at the back of the street-market site in Station Road, and houses a most enjoyable display of items of local interest, and also models and drawings showing the history and development of the town. (We particularly enjoyed a collage tapestry made by the local junior school in 1974 to mark the hand-over of local government from Tenterden Borough Council to Ashford District Council; all the (then) pupils appear in it, and they come back at intervals to check that it's still there.) After a. quick look, the Museum's curator Mr. Roberts led us on a tour of Georgian Tenterden, including the back parts unsuspected by shoppers - we felt a little sorry for the young mother whose garden washing-line was suddenly the cynosure of thirty pairs of eyes The party rounded off the afternoon with an hour-long trip on a real steam train, which made all the right noises and smells as it chuffed home into the station.
7.
The Guild's exhibition at St. Mary's, which was opened on Saturday, is a revelation of the range of work done by craftsmen in the county for churches. The exhibits include a metal windvane, lettered memorial tablets, flower stands and other large pieces - and also hessian sculptured figures which would delight small worshippers in a Children's Corner. Among them is an unusually excitable nativity group; another nativity, in polished terra-cotta, has a standing Virgin with the Child in her arms instead of the usual crib.
Opening the exhibition, Canon Maundrell spoke of the complications of installing new work in a church - and, indeed, of removing the ornaments to be replaced - both of which require a faculty from the Diocese. Certainly the pieces on view cannot fail to put ideas into the heads of Parochial Church Councils and potential private donors; work done to order by an individual craftsman is designed to suit the job, as opposed to something ordered unseen from a catalogue - and not always suitable when it comes. It would be idle to pretend that all the work on view will appeal to everyone, though the standard of the craftsmanship is immediately obvious; but the silk wedding smock, with its attendant small bridesmaid's smock, was particularly admired, as were Michael Renton's kneeler designs for Icklesham Church. Michael is the only exhibitor from our area, and there are also examples of his lettering on view; but he has also, said the organiser, done the donkey-work on the spot" in setting up the exhibition.
Anyone interested in embroidery, silversmithing, pottery, woodwork or indeed almost any craft would find inspiration here; anyone thinking of commissioning work, for ecclesiastical or other purposes, should certainly have a look round. Guide prices are not given, but a list of those taking part is available wit 10p catalogue.
Those who knew Bill Sotheby Pitcher and his wife Timmy, who lived at Houghton Green from 1929 until his death in 1959 and hers in 1982, will of course make a point of seeing the new exhibition under this title at the Rye Art Gallery. They may well be surprised. The exhibition includes work dating back to 1911 and continuing until 1950 (and probably later, since some pictures bear no date) which testifies to Neville Sotheby Pitcher's excellence as a marine painter. Between the wars he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and was a founder member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists in 1939; he had paintings in this Society's exhibitions from 1945 until his death. Florence Mary Pitcher had no formal art training, but developed a notable talent under her husband's guidance; when he went back to the Navy during the war, she moved to Cornwall and had more time for her own painting including portraits. She also exhibited in London after the war, on a number of occasions at the Royal Society of Marine Artists with her husband, but after his death she turned more to teachiag, until her eyesight failed.
Not all their friends, it seems, were aware quite how distinguished a record of work the couple shared; many of the pictures on show were lent by the family, disinterred from the Ship Cottage studio after Timmy's death. But even for those who never knew either artist, the exhibition is a delight; for lovers of marine painting, it is a rare opportunity to gloat. It is certain to bring plenty of visitors to Ockman's Lane, where it continues until 4 November.Mr. Wiseman of Thomas Peacocke School asks us to thank the very kind people who offered their old bikes to the school for his City and Guilds group. Our appeal in July brought in one for each of the eight boys on the course; Mr. Wiseman asks us to apologise if any offer got lost in the end-of-term rush, though he hopes he contacted everyone. We look forward to being invited along later to see how work is progressing on your old faithfuls, already stripped down and ready for rebuilding.
The week's events
Sunday, 23rd St. Mary's Harvest Thanksgiving (family communion service, preacher Rev. Brian Soper), St. Mary's, 10.30
Monday, 24th WRVS Luncheon Club, CC, 12.30
Women's British Legion meeting, FEC, 7.30
• Congratulations to Louise Hickman of Cadborough Cliff and Stephen Streeter of Rottingdean, who were married on Saturday at Winchelsea by Louise's uncle, who is vicar of Westwell in Kent. The reception was at Winchelsea New Hall. Both Stephen and Louise were pupils at Thomas Peacocke School, Stephen a boarder at Leasam House. The couple are spending their honeymoon touring in the West Country, and will be living in Brighton.
• Sunday week (30th) sees a visit to St. Mary's from the school choir of Shoreham College, who will be singing Evensong in the church at 6.30.
• Vidler & Co are holding a special evening sale on Friday, 9 November, for fine antiques. Items for this can still be accepted, but should be entered within the next few weeks in order to be sure of inclusion in the catalogue, which has a wide distribution.
• Speaker at Rye WI's August meeting was Mrs. Barrett, who spoke movingly of the work of the Sue Ryder Foundation: "when Sue Ryder started she was one person on her own, and now there are over a hundred Sue Ryder homes all over the world, wherever there is need", she said. After tea members much enjoyed a short recital by Ryefolk.
• The recent Sea Cadets barbecue raised £57 for Sea Cadet funds.
• Bowls (now nearing the end of the season): Rye lost two matches last week against Winchelsea. The Captain's Team beat the Chairman's team in a club match on Sunday.
• St. Mary's Harvest Supper takes place at the Community Centre on Thursday, 27 September; there are still some places available for this very enjoyable social event. Tickets from Mr. Ted Hickmott, Rye 223457 - or names can be left until Saturday with Mrs. Ellwood at the television shop in Market Road.
• Rye Firemen held a successful jumble sale on Saturday, raising very comfortably over £100. But they had a lot of jumble left over, and although it may have found a home by the time you read this, if you are short of goods for a forth coming sale (perhaps in one of the villages?) it would be worth ringing David Catt (Rye 222741) or David Paige (222888) who could probably let you have a carload.
• The NSPCC holds its annual house-to-house collection during the first week in October (i.e. starting 29 September). There is no street collection - they were refused one by Rother, even though Anne Wood pointed out in her application that it was a one-off request to mark the Society's centenary year! But the Committee will be most grateful for offers of house-to-house help - ring Mrs. Wood or any other committee member.
• Peter Hall of LWT tells us that they have completed editing the five episodes of "Mapp and Lucia" and they are ready for transmission in January, though the day and time are still secret. The team will be back next year to film two more books, hooray!
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, and published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye (Rye 222303). News items for inclusion are always welcome; deadline is Monday afternoon, or 9 am Tuesday for emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly, and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points n Wednesday. A few spare copies of the current issue are available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street; back numbers can be obtained from 2 Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1984)