A 500-lb bomb almost 50 years old (made, according to the experts, in 1935) was uncovered by a bulldozer working on the new Hatleys site along Rye Harbour Road on Tuesday afternoon last week. Bomb disposal experts were summoned, the road was closed and two Rye fire engines stood by to keep an eye on the oil refinery and pump the water out of the hole. Homes and workplaces were evacuated, and traffic including the school bus was diverted round by the Beach and back along the SWA's shore road. The bomb was eventually taken away on a lorry by the disposal people - after they had removed and blown up the 5-lb detonator. Some people who heard the bang at 1 am thought it was the bomb itself; but that held 280 lbs of explosive... The firemen eventually got home at three in the morning.
Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Sutton of Winchelsea Beach saw this bomb dropped, their son Jimper tells us. It was one of four jettisoned by a Dornier struggling to get home with its tail shot away. Two of the four exploded on impact. The Hatleys one is the third. And the fourth? (The two which we reported recently as having been dealt with beside the North Point gravel pits were much smaller, and nothing to do with the damaged Dornier.) Digger drivers, please keep your wits about you; somewhere, bomb no. 4 is waiting.
Jimper knows of several strings of bombs which were dropped by fleeing German planes on the land round the Beach and East Guldeford; a line drawn between the two known craters often crosses a third hollow which certainly wasn't there in 1939. And his father had at least two lucky escapes from machine-gun fire on the exposed beachland - planes sneaked in quietly and you were safe from them, but on their way home they would shoot at anything that moved.
This week's planning list will show applications from the Anglia Building Society for change of use for 92 High Street from shop to building society office, and vice versa for 88 High Street. This means that they are proposing to move their office along to Millers and turn the present Anglia office back into a shop.
Peter Salt of Anglia emphasises that the proposals still have to come before the Anglia board, and anyway no firm decisions can be made before the Society gets planning permission. Since the December planning meeting is early (tomorrow) because of Christmas, Rother says that the applications will not come up until the next meeting on 31 January.
Phil Simpson of Millers is sad to see the prospective end of a long-established grocery business - Jarretts in 1899, and before that Thorpes. When Mr. and Mrs. Simpson bought it in 1969, Mr. Miller and Mr. Macer had been running it in the traditional way, and the Simpsons started with eight counter staff, deliveries, monthly accounts and so forth, but found they had to change with the times into the present delicatessen and speciality food shop. Gradually, however, other non-grocery shops have encroached on many of their lines, and the shop has been on the market for the past year. The Simpsons would have liked to sell it as a going concern, but this has not proved possible. (Other long-established businesses in the town have, as residents have noticed, come to the same sad conclusion in recent years.)
Nothing is yet certain, nor can it be until 31 January at the earliest; but it looks as if Longs is safe, and Anglia must have all due credit for having, subject to Rother's approval, found a way out of the difficulty.
2.
Mrs. May Cotterell, formerly of Military Road, died on 28 November in Battle Hospital. Mrs. Cotterell, who was 91, was a widow and leaves a family.
Mrs. Catherine Norman, of King's Avenue, died at her home on 2 December; she leaves a widower, two sons and a daughter. Mrs. Norman was 64.
Mr. Frank Hickman, of Leasam Lane, died suddenly at home on 3 December. He was 82, and leaves a widow and two sons.
Mr. Lewis Webb, of Pottingfield Road, died on 21 November in hospital after a very brief illness; he was 88, and had never before been in hospital. Mr. Webb was one of the group of WWI veterans who were honoured guests of the British Legion at a special party in August. He was born on Romney Marsh, where he started work as a shepherd; later he worked for the River Board, and after he had officially retired he was for some years a gardener in Peasmarsh. His own garden gave him much pleasure, and his daughter tells us that despite his age he done a great deal in it this year, so that his widow and three children will have his sweet peas and broad beans next spring to remember him by. He had, she adds, a very good life - an epitaph we would all like to earn.
The Parish News reports that almost £770 has been given to St. Mary's Church in memory of Miss Edith Turner by her friends and old pupils.
Trains will be disorganised again on Sunday; check your journey. There are no engineering works scheduled for the Sundays before and after Christmas (23rd and 30th), when our normal two-hourly train service should apply. On the coming three Sundays (16th, 23rd and 30th), trains from Hastings, which normally finish at Tonbridge Wells on Sundays because of the electrification work, will continue to Charing Cross. Check the times of this hourly service if you go this way.
Rail fares go up on 6 January. A single from Rye to London rises 50p to £8.10, an Awayday from E8 to £8.70. Much of the BR press release on fares relates to season tickets and is too long to set out here; regular travellers should ask at the station about the new arrangements as soon as possible.
Ken Warren has heard from the General Manager of BR (Southern) about the trouble on our line on 30 October; it was due to engineering work running late, which messed up train times generally. The Ashford staff, the GM said, had done their best, particularly for the school party.
We heard another £2-journey story this week, a family who spent a few days in York (and also much enjoyed the Viking exhibition). Mum had a family railcard, so she paid half-fare; but two children went for a total of El each, and two grandparents paid £4 each for the return journey - four people all that way for £10. One E2 traveller told us that the number of children on the trains was astonishing, mostly in tow to harassed-looking grans and granddads; this is partly accounted for by Kent's half-term falling in November when the £2 offer applied. If BR makes the same offer next year, perhaps East Sussex might have its half-term in November too?
The only criticism of the offer we have heard was from a busy lady who would love to have taken advantage of it if she had known earlier that it was going to happen; by the time BR made the announcement, early in October, her diary was too full!
Helping someone out of a Station Approach phone box last week, we realised that the doors were still very stiff. However, British Telecom say that they were checked after we complained a month ago, and are apparently quite normal; it seems that perhaps Rye people have got too used to the much easier wooden doors in the old Post Office boxes. If you do find the metal doors worryingly stiff, the proper course is to ring 151 and report them as a fault. Over to you!
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 12.12.1984
Roughly half our subscribers paid £6 in September for 24 issues until the end of March; their copies are ticked beside their names and they need do nothing more. The rest of you will owe a further £3 for 12 issues from 9 January to 27 March (half-yearly subscriptions are not accepted in June or December, sorry).
Cheques should be made payable to THE RYE GAZETTE; if you are paying cash, please put /our name and delivery address on the envelope.
The office will be closed for all GAZETTE business from Friday, 21 December to Friday, 29th, inclusive; if you wish to pay before then, please do, but otherwise we need your subscription in the course of the following week, 30 December to 5 January. All receipts will go out with the 9 January issue.
There will be no GAZETTE on 26 December or 2 January. Anything needing publicity before 9 January should reach the Editor by Monday for the 19 December issue.
The Chamber of Trade organised a most successful progress through Rye for Father Christmas on Saturday, with much improved arrangements as a result of last year's experience. Arriving nicely on time on the 4.06 train, he clambered up into a dinghy mounted on a gaily decorated and lit trailer, to be led into the town b the band of the Hastings ATC and the Rye Majorettes. At the George Hotel he was joined by Miss Rye, and suddenly the whole High Street burst into coloured light. There were balloons everywhere, and there must have been more people there than the street has seen since the days when the Mayoral hot pennies were thrown from the hotel balcony. At the Town Hall the respected gentleman turned on the Christmas tree lights, and conducted the crowd singing carols with the St. Mary's choir; he patted endless heads while small sticky fingers reached out to touch his beard and scarlet robe. He then departed into the Town Hall - which looked sensational through the lit windows, with the coat-of-arms in place and the lettered panels almost complete - to enjoy a glass of sherry with the Mayor, presumably leaving later up the chimney in the normal way.
Hopes for a combined Rye-and-Winchelsea bypass, raised by reports in last week's Express and News, are - alas - ill-founded. Puzzled, as were many people, by the announcement apparently made in a written House of Commons reply by Lynda Chalker to Ken Warren that "work on bypasses for Rye and Winchelsea is set to start in April 1987" (Sussex Express), we investigated.
The D. o T. regional press officer explains that the two bypasses appear in a list of major works recently announced as due to start not before April 1987. This date simply marks the beginning of an open-ended chunk of time in which various roadworks are scheduled, and has no special relevance to any of them in particular.
Readers will remember that the first public consultation for the Winchelsea route was held this time last year. The "preferred route" has not yet been announced. When it is, objections and alternatives can be put forward and must be investigated. A final choice of route is then announced; and even after that, if certain objetions are received, there may be a public enquiry. All this has to happen before any work can start - and presumably there is the usual procedure of tenders for the job on top of that.
The Rye bypass is eighteen months "behind" the Winchelsea one. This means that our first public consultation is due some time next summer, followed by the same sequence of events but all a year-and-a-half later.
The press office confirms that the two bypasses are still listed as separate projects. Although Ken Warren and many other people have campaigned for a joint bypass for the two towns, and Lynda Chalker has agreed that no route chosen for Winchelsea shall hamper Rye's options, no decision to combine the two has been taken.
In effect, nothing is different - except that work won't now start before April 1987, which as far as Rye is concerned is no news. Sorry!
4.
We have been complaining for some time, both in the GAZETTE and direct to the County Council's street lighting department, about the middle light on Hilder's Cliff. Devonport House residents tell us that it has not been on at all this winter. ESCC told us weeks and weeks ago that the supply had been faulty and was now mended and that the light should be working; it didn't, but admittedly there wasn't a bulb in it. There is now, but the lamp, mounted on one of the pillars of JS Vidler's lookout, is still dark. The contractors are supposed to make a complete tour of the town once a week, and repair within five working days any faulty lights (within two days for essential ones)... so says ESCC. Oh?
Since there is now no money at all for the renewal of the town lighting generally which was promised some time ago, we were puzzled to find a whole new lamp standard suddenly springing up beside the old one where Wish Ward and Cyprus Place join Cinque Forts Street. This is apparently because the old fitting was faulty and so corroded that it could not be removed from the standard, so a new one had to be erected; fair enough, but now there are two lamp-posts on this busy corner - and neither of them work!
There is also, we are told, a light near Adams which has not shone for some time, making that end of the High Street a worrying walk with so much uneven paving.
Rye Lions wasted no time in putting back into circulation the proceeds of their Charity Shop. Just a week later, two coaches went over to Eastbourne, picking up in Rye and the villages some hundred elderly people for an old-time Christmas music-hall show at the Winter Gardens Theatre. On the way home, Father Christmas waylaid the coaches and handed round sherry, mince-pies and sausage rolls, and the outing ended with a sing-song as the guests were returned to their own doors at about 7 pm. Lions thought their guests would like a change from the usual Christmas party, and it is clear that everyone had a lovely time.
Thanks to a generous anonymous donor and also to the Rye Club, the Rye Racers have now reached their target sum for their party for old-age -pensioners on 16 December at Thomas Peacocke School. Entertainment will be provided by the Ashford Accordion Dance Band, already popular with the British Legion Club.
It's a long time ahead, but the Town Council's Bequests Committee has its party, for Rye pensioners, planned for 16 February at the Community Centre.
Sussex Police are once again turning their attention to the drinking driver as part of their winter safety campaign, and are having pre-arranged check-points all over the county - despite the force's commitments on picket lines elsewhere. Both drivers and cars are checked, and last year over 2,000 vehicles had faults, some as many as six. The aim of the campaign is prevention of accidents rather than increased prosecutions, and the Chief Constable has written to all publicans asking for their help.
Last January we reported that the Lion Intoximeter at Rye police station "spent a bored and lonely Christmas and New Year with nothing to do at all"; the police were very pleased with our local drivers. Could this, we wonder, be why the checkpoints listed in advance for this year include two in Battle but none at all in Rye? Keep up the good work.
TPS careers master George Blacker has given the GAZETTE details of what pupils who left school at 16 last summer are doing. Of the 242 pupils, 112 have gone into the VIth form, some for a single year and some to take A-levels. 43 are at Hastings College of Further Education (twice as many girls as boys) and 22 on Youth Training Schemes (three times as many boys as girls). 35 have jobs, three moved to other schools, 13 are known to be without jobs and the school has no information about a further 14. There is, Mr. Blacker says, more unemployment thisvear than previously. We hope for details of Vlth-form leavers soon.
5.
Another congested week meant that the Editor had to miss the Lower School entertainment this year. However, seen at a final rehearsal last Wednesday it was clear that "Mighty Mississippi" would be super - specially with the costumes, makeup and the full resources of the Upper School lighting. Described as a cantata for schools (by Pat Rooke and Gwyn arch), it is a group of six songs linked by a common theme, the Mississippi River. Mrs. Bush was in charge of the music and Miss Marshall of the dance, and there was a huge cast of 40 dancers (who were also sometimes singers), plus 20 non-dancing sinters grouped round the piano. Liza Memeti spoke well as the Narrator, and James Cruttenden and his double-bass were borrowed from the VIth form. Also borrowed was assistant choreographer Michelle Paine, who helped hiss Marshall do a most impressive job, particularly in the sequence during the final song. (NB The piercing whistle from one of the three boys was quite genuine, made with two fingers; he showed us!)
There was also a largish cast for "A Christmas Carol", adapted by Mr. Lewis from Dickens's story to provide parts for as many actors as possible. Scrooge was played by Julian Underwood, a remarkable achievement for someone still in his first term in Lower School. James Davies was Marley, Darren Moore was Bob Cratchit, Glen Mallen played Tiny Tim, and Nicholas Law, Cary Gibbs and Jake Burbridge the three Christmas ghosts. Danny Burchell opened the play with a solo carol. We heard excellent reports of this play, and there were also tributes to the many staff members who helped with both performances after a full day's teaching. (We would add thanks to the Leasam House boys who stand out in the rain on these occasions and marshall the car park.)
As we said, the "Mighty Mississippi" performance we saw was not in costume. But for the benefit of those who don't often see Lower School children in bulk, we would like to say how extremely smart the cast looked in their everyday navy sweaters and blue, white or grey shirts. These badged sweaters, an innovation of some years' standing by Mr. Thomas as an alternative to expensive blazers, have clearly won the hearts of the 11/13-year-olds, and give Lower School a very up-market appearance!
Rye Movie Society's guest night at the FE Centre on Friday was, as always, a feast of entertainment and nostalgia. A film of bird life ended in a memorable sunset; this was followed by a comedy from the 1960s, "Bath or Bust" - am amusing piece anyway, enhanced by the glimpses of a vanished Rye in the background. Then four castles: Bodiam, Sissinghurst, Camber (post-excavation) and Leeds - the latter filmed during a concert last summer complete with cannon and fireworks, and triumphant synchronisation of the sound. Another Sixties comedy, "Be Prepared", was filmed partly in Vidler's market-hall sale room; Leslie Stutely and Brian Morris looked much the same then as now, but Colin Stutely was barely recognisable though in general people were saying how unfair it is that the men hardly change at all in twenty years while the women look so different!
After the refreshment break, guests were diverted with a recent film entitled "Not the Muppet Show", whose title speaks for itself, the product of an evening's experimentation. We then saw - and heard - Freda Gardham children "playing trains", making with voices and percussion instruments the sound of a railway journey - and the applause here was undoubtedly for the performers too. Film of the 1969 Bonfire Night was followed by a 1980s scrapbook, with Percy Sherwood's funeral, the filming of "Yellowbeard", the arrival of Father Christmas by fire engine, the 1984 Pancake Race, and this year's Mayoring.
Many thanks to the Movie Society, not only for a delightful evening but also for their invaluable work in recording the town's history. Smile next time you see a local cine-camera; you may be archive material in 2004!
(PS One film showed the old bridge at the foot of Gardner's Hill, Iden; who else remembers the enormous steel beam which lay beside it for months, marked "Please don't take away this girder, we need it for our bridge"?)
6.
Woolworths reckon that eighty customers took advantage of the store's special evening opening on Thursday. It was, says manager Ernest Wren, a very pleasant evening in every sense - for once, the weather stayed fine too. He would like to thank Rye Lions for providing transport for his guests; the Chamber of Trade for turning on the coloured lights immediately outside the shop ahead of the official switch-on; and the St. John nursing cadets, five of them with Mrs. Marilyn Mitchell, who not only pushed wheelchairs but helped with the washing-up afterwards. (Everyone remarked how extremely smart the cadets looked, with creases in all the right places and none of the wrong ones!)
Mr. Wren apologises to the lady who phoned to say she hadn't been collected; as she wouldn't give her name he could do nothing to help her, but he hopes this will reach her.
A charming new shop opened in Rye last week. At 6 Landgate, David and Jean Kobus have filled the shelves with a positive rainbow of natural beauty products in five ranges, using a coconut oil base but with various combinations of herbs. Each range is in a different colour, with shadings based on the individual products - so that (for instance) a really smart bathroom with yellow fittings could provide an array of four different kinds of shampoo plus a super-mild one for toddlers, a conditioner, a moisture lotion, hand and body lotions and bath products - all the bottles toning beautifully with the main room colour. There are also day and night creams, and other products may be added later as the Robuses assess the demand from their customers. These "1066 Country Cosmetics" are made up especially for the shop, and the attractive gold label was designed by David. The shop is offering a 10% discount until Christmas, and the pretty bottles would make most acceptable Christmas presents - to give away or to keep!
... as far as we know, will be for the County Council in May. The area boundaries are to be extended, and there will be only two Councillors at our end of the county instead of the present three: Mrs. Joan Yates, Mrs. Jean De Pree and Mr. Robert Bromley.
As it happens, this change will not cause the awkwardness which might normally arise, since Mrs. De Pree has announced that she will not be standing in May. She and her husband are contemplating moving to Hampshire to be near their family. The De Prees have lived in Beckley for 36 years - Major De Pree's father came to the village to farm in the 1920s. Mrs. De Pree served on Rother (and previously Battle Rural District) Council from 1972 to 1982, and her husband was also a Councillor. In 1978 Mrs. De Pree was elected to the County Council to represent the villages round Rye; her constituency now vanishes, split between Winchelsea and Rye.
The new Winchelsea area will consist of Winchelsea Town and Beach, Rye Harbour, Icklesham, Pett Level, Pett, Fairlight, Guestling, Three Oaks, Westfield, Brede, Broad Oak and Udimore; Mr. Bromley will be standing again for this seat in May.
The Rye area will include Rye, Camber, East Guldeford, Iden, Rye Foreign, Playden, Peasmarsh, Beckley and Northiam, and it is this which chiefly concerns the GAZETTE. Here Mrs. Yates will again be a candidate - with every support from her predecessor in the villages, Mrs. De Pree tells us; while Mrs. Yates makes the point that while it would be a larger area to care for, she would have Mrs. De Pree's excellent example to follow.
If there are other prospective candidates for the Rye seat, we shall be pleased to publish their names if they like to get in touch with the GAZETTE; but we do emphasise that it is much too early for election addresses yet!
(AND HAVE YOU CHECKED THAT YOUR NAME IS ON THE VOTERS' LIST? NEXT WEEK IS TOO LATE - the lists will be removed from the Council offices, Post Office, etc., by the weekend.)
7.
• Members of Thomas Peacocke School choir and orchestra will be singing carols in the centre of the town in aid of Save the Children Fund, Steve Denny tells us, during the run-up to Christmas. About 30 pupils will be giving up their time in the course of the afternoon of Saturday (15th) and then Wednesday to the next Saturday (19th to 22nd).
This follows on from the two nights of late shopping on Thursday and Friday, 13th and 14th, arranged by the Chamber of Trade, when many shops will be open until 8. Spar in Cinque Ports Street is cffering customers a very special welcome on both evenings, with Father Christmas in attendance handing out sweets and balloons to the children and other hospitality to more mature shoppers.
• One or two people have been worried about the future of the late Mrs. Evelyn Bull's Norfolk terrier, Bibi. Mrs. Bull's son Tony tells us that Bibi, a mature little lady aged 8, would be welcomed back at the kennels where she came from; but the family would be very glad for her to go to a private home locally, and if there is anyone who would like to have her they should get in touch with Mrs. Bull's sister-in-law Mrs. Sue Vidler, who has Bibi with her at the moment.
• There is a chance to win a giant teddy-bear as a memorable Christmas present for a person at Thomas Peacocke School this week. Tickets are 10p from Upper School Library or Lower School office; the bear has been given by caretaker Bob Choate, and all proceeds from the raffle go to the NSPCC. The draw is on Monday.
• At St. Mary's on Sunday, morning service was held jointly with the congregations at both Rye (New York) and Rye (New Hampshire). In his sermon, Canon Maundrell referred to the reopening of the Upper Room, originally reconstructed by the generosity of an American in the 1920s and now back in use after more building work including the new staircase from inside the church. Canon Maundrell says that the Upper Room is a convenient meeting-place for groups of up to 25 people, and he would be glad to hear from people interested in using it for regular or occasional meetings of a suitable kind.
• John Ciccone tells us of an astonishing coincidence recently: his Jo and the Town Sergeant's Sandra were playing on opposite sides in a recent WRNS hockey match for an Inter-Ship Cup.
• Ralph Olesen assures us that the coping-stones which have vanished from the low wall of the Hilder's Cliff lookout are safe, and will be put back in due course so there is no need to look with suspicion at your neighbour's newly-topped wall. The mortar had weakened, and the stones were, of course, lotentially dangerous.
• The 2nd Rye Guides (Thomas Peacocke) have been much honoured by an invitation to sing at the Albert Hall on 16 February in the course of a Thinking Day Spectacular to mark the 75th anniversary of the Guides Association. 14 Rye Guides will be among 50 taking part from the whole of the south-east, and there are 500 performers
altogether. The girls are being put up in a hotel and their travelling expenses paid, Miss Benton tells us. The invitation comes as a result of their second place in the south-east regional round of the national "Encore 84" song competition in June.
• The Tower Launderette will be open on Christmas Eve from 8 to 1; closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day; open on Friday (28th) and Saturday from 8 to 8 as usual, and on Monday, 31st, from 8 to 6; closed on New Year's Day and back to mornal on Wednesday, 2nd.
• Indignant letters from Mrs. Reavell and from two Wittersham ladies complain about the report in GAZETTE no. 109 on the Radclyffe Hall plaque in the High Street.
We hereby record their dissent, but stand by our view. Anyone anxious to kno more about Ms Hall's work should get in touch with the Martello bookshop, or with Miss Monica Still at Ham Green Cottage, Wittersham, who will be able to supply the full details which the GAZETTE unfortunately has no room for. As far as we are concerned, the subject is closed.
Thursday, 13th Hill House School carol service, Playden Church, 2.15
Lower School carol concert, Lower School Hall, 7
Late shopping till 8 (and Friday - see page 7)
Friday, 14th WI Christmas Market, CC, 10 - the last Market until March Civil Service Retirement Fellowship coffee morning, FEC, 11 Kenneth Warren, MP, holds a surgery at the Council Offices in the morning (appointments, Hastings 423110 - GAZETTE no. 110) WI Carol Service, Playden Church, 7.30
Nat.Hist.Soc., "Cevennes Wildlife" (Dr. Feltwell), FEC, 7.30
Saturday, 15th Sports Centre exhibition, Thomas Peacocke Upper School, 10 (see below)
Sea Cadets Christmas Fair, CC, 11.30
Rye Playgroup Christmas Fair, FEC, 2
Rye Majorettes Christmas Show, CC, 7.30 (GAZETTE no. 110)
Ryesingers Christmas concert, St. Mary's, 7.30 (see below)
Sunday, 16th Confirmation by Bishop Peter at Playden Church, 10.30
Rye Racers' Christmas party for pensioners, Upper School, 5
Monday, 17th Monday Club, Clinic, 2
Upper School carol concert, The Grove, 7.30
Tuesday, 18th Community Health Council meeting, TH , 7 (see below)
Wednesday, 19th Thrift Shop (handing-in only), Red Cross, 10.30 to 12.30 No school - term begins again on 7 January.
• Welcome home to Mrs. Barbara Maundrell, back at the Rectory from hospital in time for Christmas.
• The Steering Committee for the Rye Sports Centre urges all those interested in the project to come to the information/bring-and-buy/coffee morning at Upper School Hall on Saturday. There will be a model of a typical centre (which will be on view in the Freight Express-Seacon window in Market Street for the next fortnight), slides, tours of the proposed site and a chance to make your views known; questionnaires will be available. We reported on the positio about finance in GAZETTE no. 109, and hope to have a further report next week.
• Ryesingers' concert of Christmas music in St. Mary's on Saturday evening has Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols among other seasonal songs; there will be a chance for the audience to join in some of the carols. Admission £1 at the door. (This concert is instead of the Gilbert and Sullivan production which Ryesingers has mounted for several years in January.)
• It is inconveniently close to Christmas, but the Community Health Council would welcome local visitors at its next public meeting - at Rye Town Hall on Tuesday, 18th, at 7. There will be an opportunity for people to raise matters concerning any aspect of the health services provided in the Hastings District - or notice can be given beforehand to the Secretary, CHC, St. Helen's Hospital, Frederick Road, Hastings.
• Joan Parkes has some RNLI Christmas cards available - call at Bridge Place.
• Planning: last week's list has just one Rye application, from the Custom Paint Company for two non-illuminated signs for their warehouse in Tower Street.
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 Monday afternoon, Tuesday 9 am for emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly, and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday; some spare copies of the current issue are available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, and back numbers from Cyprus Place.
(Copyright Mary Owen 1984)