Speaking at the Chamber of Trade's annual dinner - a hornet's nest last week if ever there was one! - the Mayor urged Chamber members to stand for election to the Town Council. In the days of the Borough Council, before the 1974 local government changes, 90% of councillors had been local business people, he said.
For the 1983 (non-)election, our present Town Councillors supplied the GAZETTE with brief curricula vitae, and it is from these that we take the information which follows and which seems relevant to the Mayor's remarks.
Of Rye's 16 councillors, only Roger Breeds has lived here all his life. Monica Oliver and Joan Parkes came to Rye in 1948 and 1949, and both worked in the town until their retirement. George Shackleton came to Rye in 1950, and is the dispenser at Boots; he is the only Town Councillor who also serves on Rother. Alex Buchan has lived here for 30 years and is now retired. Eric le Fevre came here in 1963 to set up his architectural practice and works from its Rye office; he moved recently from Pett to Church Square.
Most of the remaining councillors came to Rye in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Jo Kirkham and Ed Wiseman are on the teaching staff of Thomas Peacocke School, and Duncan Starkey teaches at Ashford. Geraldine Bromley has a guest-house in West Street. The rest are retired: Edward Evans, Hilda Nelson-Barrett, Osma Jones, James Menhinick and Bill Simpson, who was Chief Inspector at Rye Police Station in the mid-1950s. More recently retired from the police is Frank Palmer, who has only lived in Rye for six years but comes from a local family.
From this it is clear that the town's working community is seriously under-represented on the Council. Only five of our sixteen councillors work in the town, and two more have jobs outside it; the remaining nine are retired.
The Mayor's words to the Chamber of Trade ought not, therefore, to go unheeded. Although Rye Town Council nowadays is very limited in its actual powers, it is regarded by outside organisations as representing the views of the town: Rother consults it on planning matters, ESCC on highways business. It is important for the future of our town that the Council should represent the community as a whole.
The work - unlike that of our Rother and County Councillors - is not all that demanding. Councillors are normally on two of the three main committees.
The planning committee meets once a month, the others less often. The Town Council meets every two months, and there are occasional "extras" such as the Mayoring and the special meeting on Monday week (see page 6). The Town Clerk reckoned up for us that a councillor on the planning committee might have a total of 26 meetings a year - but, he pointed out, these are normally arranged so that several take place on the same night, so it would certainly not be 26 evenings. Of course the Mayor, ex officio, goes to quite a few outside functions, and some¬times other councillors too; but it is not necessary to have a car, since official transport is provided on these occasions.
In May 1983 there were 16 nominations for Rye's 16 seats. Rumour had it at the time that if there had been more nominations, one or two senior councillors would have stood down in order to avoid the hassle and expense of an election. We hope this was not true, because it is not the way democracy should work even at parish council level (and Rye Town Council nowadays is only a parish council under a posh name). One way to stop it happening is for enough public-spirited people to stand for the Council in 1987 - or earlier if a vacancy should occur - to make sure that there will have to be an election. And if plenty of those people come from active employment in the town rather than from retirement on its outskirts, then perhaps the business community will have less to complain of in the Council's activities?
2.
Miss Amy Wood - addressed affectionately by half the town, despite her age, a Amy - died in Rye Hospital on Wednesday after a short illness. She was 81, and had lived for nearly 70 years in the Winchelsea Road house which she shared with her brother Jim. Few people have enjoyed their lives as much as Amy did; she >was still laughing and joking with visitors in hospital on the day she died, and this was typical of her. From a different background she might have gone far - spirited, self-confident, she adored dressing up, she was a great entertainer and an avid and greatly-appreciated Carnival and flag-day collector, never backward in coming forward in aid of most of the local good causes. Miss Wood was one of a large Rye family, whose father was master of a fishing-boat; the family had other maritime connections too, and she was a valued supporter of the RNLI and of the Sea Cadets, to whom she presented a framed photograph of an Edwardian naval review at their last Annual Inspection. She started work at 14 at the Dormy Club, and continued there for most of her life; although officially retired some years ago, she never really left, and had enjoyed chatting with the members staying at the club last month for the President's Putter. Recently she showed the Editor her collection of photographs, some of historical interest - one was a four-generation group, with the youngest sitter being Amy's cousin; another was of her father on board his boat in Boulogne harbour in about 1910, with as passengers the two sons of Joseph Adams and their friends the sons of the Thorpe Foreman corn-chandlery partnership. She once told a friend that she was writing her memoirs; we do hope she was serious, and that they have been preserved, because people like Amy are part of the history of a place. The funeral will be at St. Mary's tomorrow, Thursday, at 1, followed by cremation in Hastings; flowers may be sent to Messrs. Blackman & Son, Wish Street.
The funeral of Mr. Charles Henry Crowhurst, of Udimore Road, will take place at Playden Church at 12 on Friday (8th), followed by burial in Rye Cemetery. Mr. Crowhurst died in St. Helen's Hospital, aged 86; he was a widower and leaves a son and a daughter.
Graham Watson of Church Square sends us a query which he hopes the GAZETTE'S
"admirable detective service" (thank you!) may be able to solve. He has had a letter from Mrs. Beatrice Hicks of Hamilton, Ontario, who is interested in tracing her late husband's Rye ancestry for the benefit of her three sons and five grand- sons. The name of Watson appears in the Hicks family tree, and a friend found no Graham Watson in the phone book; unfortunately for Mrs. Hicks, he is only (his phrase) "a refugee in Rye" and cannot help her. But there are local Watsons of several generations' standing, and it is these she wants to hear from.
Mrs. Hicks's husband, Herbert Charles, was born in Rye on 4.2.1902, emigrated with his family to Canada in 1913, and died in 1968. His father, Herbert Jeremiah, was born at The Strand on 20.10.1870, and married Annie Frances (Finn) Mills at Canterbury in 1895. His father was Jeremiah Hicks, born in Brede on 17.12.1838 and died in Rye on 1-074.1903; he married Harriet Watson on 17.12.1865 at Orleston, Kent. Harriet was "born Strand Hill, Rye" (where would that be, we wonder?) on 5.2.1342 and died in Rye on 25.2.1897. And she was the daughter of William Watson (baptised at Rye 6.11.1796, died in Rye in 1882) and Mary Ann Fowle (baptised at Rye 4.2.1807, died in Rye in 1885).
Mrs. Hicks, who has clearly put a great deal of research into this already, is now stuck. She has information about the Fowles, but would like to know who William Watson's parents were, and when he and Mary Ann were married (presumably in Rye some time around 1830). Can anyone help her? We feel sure that she would be very pleased to hear from local Hicks and Watson families anyway, whether or not they can answer these particular questions. Write to Mrs. Hicks at: Hamilton, Ontario, Canad.
Or if you don't want to write yourself, do contact the GAZETTE and we will pass on your information.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 6.2.1985
... said a jubilant Alan Buontempo of the Eye Laser Appeal Committee at the Hope Anchor on Thursday, when he received a cheque for £1,000 from the President of Rye and District Rotary Club Tony Wills. The Appeal Committee has now, with actual gifts plus money promised, raised a total ;f £85,700, enough to pay for the expensive double-action laser which can treat both diabetes-related eye disease and also such problems as glaucoma. Until now, sufferers needing this very effective form of treatment have had to go either to Eastbourne or to London - not always an easy journey for someone with poor sight and often elderly as well. The health authorities have promised that the machine will never be moved out of the Hastings area, though it will of course go to the new District Hospital in due course; and the NHS is willing to pay for upkeep and maintenance - reasonably, since it will give Hastings one of the best-equipped eye departments in the south-east. As readers will probably know, there is a plan to move in-patient eye treatment to Eastbourne; but with the new laser, far more people will be able to receive out¬patient treatment in Hastings than ever before.
Rotary has also given £1,000 to the RNLI for the Rye Harbour Lifeboat House Appeal, though the money Ibr this had already been handed over.
Members heard Derek Norcross, of the Hastings Rotary Club, talking about St. Michael's Hospice, for which his members - perhaps with help from Rye? - are hoping to raise some £8,000 to provide special beds; and Mrs. Barbara Wild made preliminary noises about a possible future appeal for the Day Care Centre.
The first project to be undertaken by the new Local History Group is a collection of reminiscences, documents and photographs relating to Rye and its inhabitants during the First World War. It is of course important, says chairman Alan Dickinson, that these memories should be recorded before they vanish for ever and the group will be most grateful for the opportunity to talk to people - mostly now in their 80s - who remember those days. Several members have volunteered to conduct interviews - which sounds much more formal than it would actually be - calling in for a chat at a time convenient to their host or hostess, and making notes of what they are told. It is hoped that eventually the information collected will be assembled into a book for publication. The loan of photographs or documents would be very much appreciated; they will be copied in Rye and returned to the owner.
Co-ordinator of the project (but not one of the interviewers) is Brigadier Francis Gore, of Vine Cottage, Point Hill (Rye 223500); he is the person to contact if you are able to provide information for the book, or if you know of someone who might be willing to do so. If there is no reply from his number, a message may be left for him at home.
Rye's Town Crier, Gus Gale, had an unusual evening out recently. A group of young men were on an army course near Folkestone as a preliminary to RCB and, they hope Sandhurst. Among them was Andrew Salmon, who used to live in Iden and rang the GAZETTE with an unusual request: did we know any Town Criers? Of course, we said, and referred him to Gus, who told us the rest of the story on Monday.
As part of an initiative test, the lads had been instructed to produce on a given Thursday evening a very curious assortment of animate and inanimate objects - to include, of course, a Town Crier. One had been asked for a lady busker, one a ticket for the Eiffel Tower, one a menu from Buckingham Palace, and so on. (They rather meanly disallowed the "signed photograph of Albert Pierrepoint", the former public executioner; the cadet copied a photograph from a book and then signed his own name to it, pointing out hopefully that this was exactly what he had been asked for!) Anyway, Gus went over on Thursday and duly "cried" his hope that the lads would be successful; the lady busker was there too, and doubled as another request - a "kissogram" for the officer in charge! Gus said it was a very jolly evening - but we rather hone the GAZETTE isn't now down on their contacts list.
4.
• On Thursday Rother's Planning Committee had three hot potatoes from Rye on its plate. The amended proposals from Merton Properties for the marina/housing/ warehousing/wharfage off Harbour Road were approved subject to a large number of conditions; for details, see the committee agenda the council offices.
The question whether the owners of Saltcote Place should be allowed to build two bungalows on land north of the main house was referred to full Council on Monday evening of this week, and we shall give the decision in the next issue. And the Anglia Building Society was given permission to move its office to Millers (92 High Street) on condition that it completes a Section 52 Agreement to return the ground floor of its present office (88 High Street) to retail use. Since the Society was also asking for, and was given, permission to do just that, it is presumably only a question of time before the application for Longs (89 High Street), deferred on Thursday, will be withdrawn.
We would like to say here that it is very pleasant to see a big company like Anglia willing to take account of local opinion over what must, for them, have been only a small matter. It was good, too, to report on the way the town got together to stand up for what it wanted; and we think it is also proper to thank Rother's planning staff and our Rother councillors for their quiet but effective contribution to this happy ending. Welcome to 92 High Street, Anglia!
Thursday's other applications included one from Hatleys for the erection of an office at their Harbour Road development to provide central secretarial services for tenants of the units (currently advertised as "Rye Rural Industry Park"!); this was delegated to the Planning Officer to approve subject to no objections within the time limit. Permission was granted for a sunblind at Casa Conti, and for the illumination of a Gatehouse Restaurant sign, but refused for two signs at the warehouse in Tower Street. Light industrial use for the old phone exchange will be discussed after a site inspection.
• This week's list contains two applications which concern Rye. Long Products, in Harbour Road, is applying for renewal of permission for temporary office accommodation. Weslake Developments Ltd., of Winchelsea Road, is applying to use land at Castle Farm as a private airstrip. The land referre.dth lies off Harbour Road between the former Weslakes building and the New Winchelsea Road houses; the plan shows a strip taking up only a small part of the area, with an alternative for emergency use in cross-winds. A letter with the application explains that it is important for the future development of the company that it shall be able to provide private landing facilities for clients, and the airstrip would be use` for that purpose only. (Mention is made of the firm's research into light aircraft engine noise, but Brian Lovell assures us that there is absolutely no intention of using the strip for testing purposes of any kind.) There would, continues the application, be no change to the physical nature of the ground, which would still be grazing land between flights, no flying after dusk, and "landing and take-off would not affect areas of habitation either of people or wildlife". (Rother tells us that an Inspector's report has not yet been issued on the recent enquiry into flying activities at Castle Water.)
• The new dates for the enquiry into the question of allowing leisure facilities at Nook Beach (RR83 0631) - the hearing deferred from the autumn - are from 30 April to 3 May and also 8 May, at Rye Harbour Village Hall.
• A Church Square reader upbraids us gently for saying that a bypass south of the town would be desirable. Noise even from the Rye Harbour Road carries a long way, and noise from a main road there would make life impossible for the people in the (highly-rated) houses at the top of the cliff. Since Rye's visitors come to admire the cobbled streets and the view across the marsh, our correspondent says, would it not be misguided to mar it?
• Just room to congratulate the Webbs on the quarry-tile floor of their centuries-old bakery, in perfect harmony with its surroundings!
5.
The GAZETTE is always keen to report any changeover in Local businesses, but we would like to offer an extra special welcome to Sally Todd, the new owner of Rye Goldsmiths in the High Street. Why a special welcome? Because what this community badly needs is young blood - and Sally (we have her permission to say so) is 25.
The shop reopens today, and will continue the present business in new jewellery, clocks and watches. But Sally will extend it to sell second-hand and antique jewellery as well (though not clocks in this range) - and she knows her job, since she has spent three years working for Aspreys of Bond Street, with the intention of having her own shop one day (she was brought up in Hastings, where her parents are in the antiques trade). Sally intends to offer a full repair and alteration service, and tells us that she hopes never to turn a customer away empty-handed; if she doesn't stock what is wanted, she has very good contacts.
For the record, Rye Goldsmiths was opened ten years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Hodgson, who are now retiring from Rye to concentrate on their Bexhill shop - though Sally is very pleased that Mrs. Hodgson will be able to look in from time to time to see how she is getting on. Mrs. Smith will continue behind the shop's counter. Older readers may still think of 102 High Street as The Stocking Parlour, opened by Mrs. Ellis and owned for many years by Mr. and Mrs. Hadley. put no-one nowadays will remember it in the 1870s and 1380s, when the proprietor was William Sharpey - gas fitter!
Mrs. Joan Page retired yesterday after eleven years as a shorthand-typist at Rye Police Station; her replacement comes from Hastings and has been working for the police there. Before "joining the police" Mrs. Page - grandmother of the strapping Udimore Road twins - worked at the old Rye Borough Council offices, leaving just before the 1974 changeover; and before her marriage she was at Lloyds Bank in Rye, for 17 years altogether. Mrs. Page tells us that although she isn't looking for a regular job now, she might well be interested in taking on the odd bit of shorthand-typing, and we know that there are people in Rye who often want just that; contact her at Eagle Road.
When Miss Doris Henley of Rope Walk started as a junior in the Rye branch of Freeman Hardy & Willis, it was October 1941 and the job was available because the older girls on the staff had gone to the war. The manageress in those days was Miss Dowding - on the verge of retirement but holding the fort for the duration. Young Doris's jobs included scrubbing the mosaic doorstep, and going down to the cellar to chop the sticks and carry up the coal for the shop's open fire; and the shop work, of course, involved coupons, not only for shoes but also for the lisle stockings which ladies under 50, reared on nylons, will not remember. Miss Henley retired at the end of last month. Manageress of the Rye shop for many years, she had left the High Street when the builders moved in and had worked for the last few months at other branches. But we in Rye certainly think of her as the last manageress of our dear old FHW - whether or not she clipped our precious coupons more than 40 years ago. What with the Guides and her allotment, she will find herself with plenty to do; and she reckons anyway that having retired a year early she is going to have 1985 for herself, before starting anything new. (Incidentally, small quantities of silver paper - not sacksful, please - may be left on her doorstep at 29 Rope Walk for the Guide Dogs for the Blind.)
Ian Kinnis of Lloyds Bank is transferring next week from Rye to the New Romney branch, and would like to say goodbye to the friends he has made here over the >past seven years. The Pancake Race, where he is a past winner, will miss him, though a very nasty road accident 18 months ago has put a halt for the moment to his career as a motor-cyclist as well as to his pancake racing. He now lives in Lydd, so his new posting will be very convenient; we wish him the best of luck.
6.
Thomas Peacocke School's 1984/5 Young Enterprise Group invited the GAZETTE down to The Grove last week for a progress report. Called AYCE - "A Young Company Enterprise" - the 17-strong group of Lower Vith-formers has been concentrating so far on one product, a very practical plywood board with fittings for spiral-backed notebook and pencil (the original design was modified in response to consumer demand to incorporate a hole to hang it by). This sold very well, making a useful Christmas present; most sales came through the school, but the Corner Shop gave the group a retail outlet. Now the company is diversifying, and will produce a paper-towel holder. If they were not (as part of the scheme) shutting down at the end of April, perhaps we might see a complete range of kitchen gadgets? Company officers normally change half-way through its lifetime, so Hannah Courtney-Bennett will be succeeded as chairman by Samantha Finch, who hands over as sales manager to Sharon Lamb, while Sharon is succeeded as secretary by Hannah; technical adviser Dominic Varley is succeeded by Frank Roscoe when Dominic takes over as production manager from Simon Hunt. Confused? At least accountant Keith Hale and personnel manager James Neill retain their jobs through¬out the whole period.
As usual, members of Rye Rotary Club are backing the scheme. Marc Chapman, who was chairman of the 1982/3 group ("Rye Young Enterprise"), was so bitten by the business bug that he is now reading Business Studies at Bath University. This year's group is doing well, too; financial forecasts show the chance of a good dividend to the shareholders (total capital, £50) plus something over for school funds too.
(See GAZETTE no. 116) A brief report from the Steering Committee after the meeting with the Assistant County Architect on Wednesday states that he has offered to prepare draft plans of both a traditional and a modular building. These will be sent to the Steering Committee for further consultation to ensure they meet the requirements of the community. The Committee is optimistic that the Sports Centre will be built in the foreseeable future.
Next week's GAZETTE will include more details of Councillor Menhinick's parking proposals, and the feedback on the subject which has already reached the GAZETTE, but we thought readers might appreciate a little less planning this week. The Town Council has a special meeting to consider the report on 18 February.
The Coast to Coast piece on the subject was shown last Tuesday; there was an interview with the chairman of the Chamber of Trade, and with a handful of shoppers. And a cheeky bit of editing at the beginning showed a horseman in period costume riding through Church Square - "this is the sort of traffic for which Rye's narrow streets were designed..."; the rider was a steal from the BBC's Samuel Jeake filming going on at the same time!
A cheerful orange booklet has been produced by the East Sussex County Library Service to mark the reorganisation of Rye Library, who lent us a copy. (The front cover drawing has a distinctly Benson flavour; we don't think Rye is quite like that now, to look at, but never mind!)
Inside, the booklet sets out the new classifications, both for fiction and non- fiction and for adult and children's books. Each of the 22 categories has a letter on the back of every book in it, though the letters seem chosen arbitrarily - Biography is P (for People?), Romances S (for Sex?), and Crime is V, which must stand for either Villainy or Victim. Children's categories have the prefix J.
A start on the new labelling was made some weeks ago, when the Library was closed for three days. At the end of this month it will be closed again, from Monday 25 February to Friday 1 March inclusive, opening in all its new glory on Saturday, 2 March. We are asked to give long notice of this so that readers will not be unduly inconvenienced.
7.
Normally the Friends of Rye Art Gallery have their talks on the first Tuesday of each month, but the February meeting is on Tuesday of next week (12th) at 7.45 for 8 at the Town Hall as usual. The speaker is Cherry Barnett, who started travelling in China in 1975; her book "China" (with Sarah Allan) was the first travel book on China to be published here for some thirty years. She is also the Secretary General of the Friends of the Tate Gallery.
On Friday week (15th) Rye Museum Association also has a lecturer of very consideable eminence in her field. An international authority on antique European porcelain, she has written the definitive book on scent bottles. She worked for many years at Sothebys before setting up on her own account, and now travels the world on business. Antiques experts all know her as Kate Foster; Rye knows her as Kate Dayson (and her husband Chris tells us that he frequently answers the phone to be asked "Is that Mr. Foster?"). Anyway, it is with Kate Foster's experience behind her that Kate Dayson is talking at the FEC at 7.30 on 15 February on "Theatrical Influences on European Ceramics", and it would be kind if readers would pass word round among antique-minded friends about this unusual opportunity.
Non-members of both organisations are welcome, on the payment of a small fee.
A particularly charming handmade quilt is first prize in a draw organised in aid of the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve's new Wader Pool project by the Warden's wife, Anne Yates. Double-bed size, with 36 12" squares bearing appropriate motifs of birds, flowers, etc., in applique or embroidery, the quilt was made by fifty people (the extra squares being made up into cushion-covers); a lot of the helpers came from Rye Harbour village, and others were Friends. This quilt really needs to be seen, and we hope it will be on view in Rye before long; in the meantime, on Tuesday 7.9 February from 7.30 to 9 there is a coffee evening at Rye Harbour Village Hall, where it will be displayed with tickets onsale. The draw for this and the other raffle prizes will be made at the FRHNR AGM at Winchelsea Beach Hell on 4 May.
The recent meeting of the Rye Council for Voluntary Service was mostly taken up with matters on which the GAZETTE has already reported. But a highlight of the meeting was the announcement that Rye will have a holiday play-school this year. Grateful parents will remember Jo Ciccone's group in 1983, but then Jo went into the WRNS and in 1984 there was nothing. In 1985 Julia Thomas from Leasam House - with backing from Social Services and under the auspices of the RCVS - is hoping to run a scheme for up to 35 children, based once again at Upper School and probably open from 29 July to 16 August. Volunteers will be needed to help -lots of volunteers might mean room for more children - and we shall be publishing more details after the Easter holidays.
Our reference to the "Cadboro" last week is echoed unexpectedly in Friday's Sussex Express by a story from the Faroe Islands, where a fishing-boat built at Rye by G & T Smith in 1885 has just been taken out of service. 82 tons and 76', she was built for a Grimsby firm as the "James Spurgeon", and she later fished from the Faroes as the "Hoganes". Readers will be glad to know that a Faroes preservation group intends to cosset her in dry dock there. And an even older boat, the "Oxfordshire", built by James Hoed, is also to be not merely preserved but sailing again if Faroes preservationists have their way.
As for the "Cadboro", John Smith tells us that he and his wife went to Cadboro Bay, BC, in 1977, to visit an old RGS friend Reg Pattenden. On his return he was able to supply the Victoria people with a good deal of information about the original "Cadboro", culled from the records in Rye Museum of which he was then the Secretary.
Christian Lunch Club - speaker from "L'Arche", with slides, CC, 12 for 12.30 (GAZETTE no. 116)
Nat.His.Soc. "A Botanist in Madeira" (Trudy Side), FEC, 7.30 Auction, caricatures, Bedford Arms, 8 (GAZETTE nos. 114, 115) FRAG, "The Arts in China" (Cherry Barnett), TH, 8 (see p. 7)
Rye WI, "Local Houses" (Alan Dickinson), FEC, 7 (see below) TPS Parents' Evening (1st year), Lower School.
• Birthday greetings to Granny Peek, whose 101st birthday fell on Monday. She celebrated with a party at St. Helen's, with champagne and a cake baked in the shape of the figure 101 - and we don't suppose Alan Webb does many of those! Mrs. Peek is not all that well at present and needs to stay in hospital for the moment, but her family and friends hope she may be able to return to Rye Hospital, where she was very happy earlier and much more accessible to visitors.
• The Rye British Legion (Women's Section) is the proud winner of a silver cup for the Area branch with the largest increase in membership over the past year (there are now well over 100 members, which is why they now meet at the FEC instead of the Red Cross room). Joan Camier and Margaret Owen went over to receive the cup from Lady Astor at the Area Conference in Folkestone on Friday.
• A change in the published WI programme: Alan Dickinson speaks to the February meeting instead of the April one, which he found clashed with a conference; April speaker will be Mrs. Phyllis Smith, giving the talk which was postponed from a snowbound January.
• Many thanks for the seat which arrived recently beside the Mill footpath to Rotary (who provided it) and to Rother (who erected it, bedded firmly in concrete!).
• The Lower School jumble sale last Friday made some £130, which goes towards safety measures necessary before the Lower School art room kiln can be used.
• Tomorrow (7th) Brian Hawkes talks to National Trust members at the New Hall, Winchelsea, on "Discovering London".
• Rother proposes to increase car park charges throughout the District, and to make various other alterations to its car park regulations. The proposed Order is on view at the Council Offices, and objections must reach the Chief Executive at Bexhill Town Hall by 22 February.
• Blood donors: next Thursday (14th), please, Baptist Hall, 2 to 4 and 5 to 7.45.
• A lorry-driver delivering in Rye last Wednesday morning complained bitterly about people driving without lights - it was apparently foggy on the outskirts of the town, and he was appalled at the number courting disaster in this way. We pass it on.
• Crime: a full-length sheepskin coat with a Simpsons of Piccadilly label was stolen from a car near Bridge Place between 5.15 and 6.45 on Saturday evening (26 January).
• Apologies to those who noticed that we had thoughtlessly endowed Samuel Jeake with a terminal '0 last week; he was, of course, a singular man in every sense of the word. We can only plead that there were three of him (father, son and grandson); someone suggested that perhaps the appropriate collective term should really be "Samuels Jeake"!
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 are available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, and back numbers from Cyprus Flace. (Copyright Mary Owen 1985)