There were three traffic accidents in our area on Monday. Delays on the A259 until 2 pm were caused when two lorries collided at 6.15 am near Broomham, Guestling; firemen and an emergency medical team from RESH worked for over four hours to release the driver of one, a Hailsham man, who was taken to hospital with serious multiple injuries. Two hours later, a van and a 38-tonne lorry were involved in an accident at Udimore; the van driver was released from hospital after treatment for minor facial injuries. And at 4.15 on Monday afternoon, three cars were involved in trouble near the Rye Harbour road junction; three people were taken to hospital - one driver, William Lowe from Cooper Road, received cuts as did the elderly Pett driver of the second car, but her passenger, a London woman, had to be extricated by Rye firemen and is in hospital with multiple injuries. The third driver was uninjured. Police would like to hea from any witnesses of this accident (Rye 222112). Please drive carefully!
We now have more details of the procedure for the Town Council by-election. Assuming that more than one candidate actually comes up to the start, the election will take place on Thursday, 27 June. The Notice of Election was published on Monday, and it informs candidates that nomination papers, etc., are available from the Town Clerk's office at the Town Hall (open from 8.30 to 1 on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) or from the Council Offices in Cinque Ports Street. Forms have to be returned to Bexhill (not Rye) Town Hall by noon on Friday, 31 May, and we shall hope to publish a list of candidates on 5 June. It would be very helpful if they would get in touch with the GAZETTE beforehand so that we can also include a brief biographical piece on each of them in the same issue.
Ken Warren, MP, will be in Rye on Friday week (24 May) at a meeting arranged by Thomas Peacocke School PTA at Upper School at 7.30. The PTA committee are very seriously worried about the deterioriation of facilities at the school owing to Education Authority cuts, and are anxious that both Mr. Warren and ESCC should be fully aware of what is happening. (Mr. Wardle, whose constituency includes many of the school's feeder villages, was also asked, but he and Mr. Warren agreed that one MP would be sufficient.) The PTA had also hoped to have the new chairman of the Education Committee on the platform, but in view of the political complications at Lewes they feel this is unlikely - however, they do expect someone from either the Education Committee or the Education Officer's staff. The audience is expected to include parents, teachers and governors from both the comprehensive and the local primary schools, all of whom have been invited; but anyone interested will be most welcome.Questions to Mr. Warren or the Lewes representative should, however, relate to educational matters only; this is not in any way a political meeting.
Rye's St. John Nursing Cadets did well for their home town again at the weekend. A week ago at Lewes their quiz team had been chosen as one of two to represent Sussex in the regional heat of a national competition; and at Tunbridge Wells on Sunday the four girls came second to the home team, beating Worthing, Folkestone, Farnham and Guildford on the way! The tropies were presented by the Deputy Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, and Rye of course brought home the cup for the runners-up. The team consisted of Claire Piper, Jane Clarke, Astrid Pope and Zena Streeton, and Zena only just missed a cup of her own: her answers were 100% accurate in both the competitions, and she was only pipped for the individual winner's cup in the tie-break with two other cadets at the very end. Mrs. Marilyn Mitchell is very proud of her girls, so successful in competition with teams from much larger towns in the south-east.
2.
Mr. Frederick MacManus, OBE, FRIBA, of Church Square, died in hospital on 7 May. The funeral has taken place. The next issue of the GAZETTE will contain a full obituary notice.
Mr. Ernest Hatter, of Fishmarket Road, died suddenly at his home on 6 May. Mr. Hatter, a widower, was 84. He was well-known in Rye as the bus inspector for many years with the East Kent Bus Company. The funeral takes place today at 11 at Hastings Crematorium.
Mr. Glyn Williams, of Rectory Lane, Playden who died in hospital on 7 May at the age of 75, was one of Rye's Bonfire Boys in the heyday of the Society after WW2. He used to drive the Dragon in the Bonfire procession, and Mrs. Williams always helped with the dance which traditionally took place after the bonfire had died down (before the fireworks, in those days, there was community singing for the vast crowd down on the Salts). Mr. and Mrs. Williams also ran, on behalf of the Bonfire Boys, the "bowling for a pig" stall each August Bank Holiday sports day - and it really was a pig then, parked nearby in the shade of an umbrella! Mr. Williams, who came to Rye in 1935 from his native Wales, was a widower. He leaves a daughter, Mrs. Pauline Meyer of the Decorator's Warehouse, and she asks us to say thank-you on her father's behalf to all the people of Rye whose kindness and watchfulness and tolerance meant that he was able to continue living in his own home until only a few weeks before his death - in particular, the members and staff of Rye Club, the counter staff at the Post Office, and local tradespeople.
All sorts of people doing all sorts of things fill the downstairs gallery at the Easton Rooms over the next three weeks. Clowns and cricketers and communal bathers, in vivid and sometimes positively day-glo colours, disport themselves exotically, springing from the fertile brushes and wax-baths of Kitty French. Her intensely individual style, her professional command of batik and painting alike, provide a wit and sparkle which cannot fail to please. Upstairs, an artist who works in a very different way: Keith Purser's small quiet collages and buaches are in an idiom rather less easy to understand but have their own charm presenting a complete contrast to the populous world below stairs. The Craft Gallery houses Wally Cole's pots and paintings - both unmistakably the work of the same man, his economical use of line strikingly apparent on plate and paper alike, with "Mother and Child" perhaps the ultimate example. His feeling for form rather than decoration shows in the series of cut-edge bowls in plain white ceramic,' and again in the studies of blackbirds in snow. This delightful exhibition will undoubtedly draw many visitors to the High Street gallery, specially since both Kitty and Wally were featured in the recent TVS "Portrait of Rye" programmes which people are still talking about with much pleasure.
Round the corner - or through the garden, if you prefer - the Rye Art Gallery in Ockman's Lane houses over fifty pictures by the French-born and adoptive British artist Paul Maze. Maze - "The Lost Impressionist" - was in his nineties when he died in 1979, and his boyhood provides a rare link with French painters who were working at the end of the nineteenth century. The exhibition catalogue gives a brief account of his adventurous life; he served with the British forces in both world wars, working mainly in France in the 1920s and 1930s. Finally, in 1907, he decided to settle on the Sussex Downs with his second wife Jessie, who appears in a charming study on the edge of a cornfield with her three pekineses clustered at her feet. Maze's work had an enormous range, both of subject and of style, and his superb command of colour continued to be apparent in pictures painted when he was well into his eighties. This collection is on loan from the gallery at Pallant House, Chichester.
Upstairs, visitors can see work from the Rye Art Gallery's permanent collection, including the John Ward portrait of Patric Dickinson, and a new acquisition a view of the Propylaea at Athens by the late Derek Bridgwater, a gift from Angela Waterlow.
3.
Rye made its views about the commemoration of VE Day very clear last Wednesday evening, when St. Mary's was full - and not only with grey heads. Stouts, Guides and Cubs bore their standards up the aisle after the Service Organisations: the British Legion, the Women's British Legion, the RAF Association and the ATC - the procession led by the flag which forty years ago we called the Union Jack. The Town Council was officially present, for the second time in three days, and one of the readings was given by the scarlet-robed Mayor. The service was a joint one for all the churches, and all the local clergy played a part. The hymns resounded to the roof in a very satisfactory manner - some of the words were a bit modern, but at least we all knew the tunes! After the service, there was a reception at the British Legion Club.
There were not a great many flags out in the town on Wednesday, but one shop window was certainly celebrating VE Day: Sheila Brown at Swan Cottage tea-room displayed a "birthday" cake elaborately iced in red, white and blue (and we don't mean pink and sky, but crimson and royal!) with a plate of small fancy supporters on each side and appropriate trimmings - and music of the period gently reminding Wednesday's lunchers what she was commemorating.
• A three-page press release from British Rail recently about "simplified" fares left the Editor so confused that she decided to wait until they happened before attempting to report them. Now Rye Station tells us that from Rye to London the fare for the ordinary traveller remains unchanged: a day return costs £8.70, and the earliest train on which it can be used is still the 8.45, with no restriction on the return journey. Going the other way, a day return to Brighton costs £5.60, with no restrictions on journey times at all. Normal single and return fares are also unchanged, though there may be alterations for journeys beyond London. Railcard holders, however, may find themselves out of pocket; journeys on which they would have expected to get a 50% reduction may now only cost them one-third less than the full fare - so if you have a card, check the new fare before you commit yourself. (We are not attempting to deal with the complications of Savers, which seem to cost different amounts on different days at different times of year, all for the same journey!)
• Hastings & District Bus Company has introduced a new "Senior Traveller" bus pass, ideal for pensioners and disabled people. The pass costs £11.50 for six months, or an economical £20 for twelve, and allows the holder to travel at half the full fare on all Hastings & District and Southdown routes and some of those run by \idstone & District and East Kent; it is valid for journeys after 9 am on Mondays to Fridays, and at any time at weekends and on public holidays. A photograph (not more than 1" square - passport-style) is required, and the pass can be bought over the counter at the Queen's Road coach station at Hastings, or ordered from them by post enclosing the photograph, cheque or postal order, and a s.a.e. Hastings & District also draw attention to their Explorer tickets - one day's unlimited travel on most East Sussex and Kent routes - only 21.95 for pensioners.
• "In a very small way" said Ernest Wren, manager of Woolworths, to us on Monday, "we are starting a garden centre!" Fascinated, we hastened round to look and sure enough, on what used to be wasted yard space at the back of the store, reached through the new part of the shop at the side, are lots of bedding plants and a good range of shrubs, conifers and even fruit trees, all looking extremely healthy and very happy to be out of doors. Stacked beside them are bags of the various composts and soil mixtures and additives that the shop has not had room for hitherto.
Indoors, of course, they continue to sell garden equipment and furniture and other accessories as before, plus a small selection of plants for those who don't want to cope with the steps - but we would strongly recommend people shopping for their garden to have a look out the back if possible, since there seems to be a wider range, particularly of shrubs, than has been obtainable up to now in the town (except perhaps on Thursdays) for people with gardens but without cars.
4.
Deprived of their flag-day this year, Rye's Red Cross Centre were delighted to discover that there was an extra response to their house-to-house collection, which raised €353 in Rye, an increase of £84 on last year's figure. Hilary Bolton tells us of an ex-POW who came into the Centre while they were counting, said he was going to give them something despite there being no flag-day, and handed over £10. And one young collector brought in a box heavy with the takings from fifteen Rye pubs visited over lunch-time on Saturday: The village results will not be available for some days yet.
Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Thurston took the loss of the flag-day as a personal challenge and organised two events which they hoped would compensate: the coffee morning and lunch last month, and the Plant and Pantry Sale on Thursday. And compensate they did; together the two events raised r270, C40 more than last year's flag-day took in the town.
Rod and Anne Jenkins at the Saltings Hotel had a very welcome visitor recently - Mrs. Dorothy Wells, who with her husband ran Rye Collegiate School from July 1956 to July 1965. She now lives at Kittiwake Cottage, Alderney, Channel Islands, and Mr. Jenkins suggested we should give the address in case any of her former pupils would like to get in touch with her. Mrs. Wells was aware that the Collegiate building was now a hotel, but she was not expecting the latest development, the Old School Carvery, and she and her daughter and two grandchildren were much amused and interested to find the school tradition perpetuated in this way. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins are hoping Mrs. Walls may be able to lend them photographs of the school in her day, for copying and display - if so, we will let you know.
Good news of Ian Townsend, son of Dr. and Mrs. Townsend of Playden, who at 33 is soon to becomeheadmaster of the village primary school at Fovant, on the Wiltshire/Dorset border. He and his wife have both been teaching near Marlborough - Ian at a primary school and Victoria at the local comprehensive. Her official subject is A-level biology, though she has been coping with classes in electronics; she hopes to find a job in one or the other once the family have moved house and small Sarah is established in school. It's a far cry from the Falklands!
In fact, Betty Townsend tells us, there is good news all round from her family. Vivian, as many Lower School parents will know, is the new secretary in the Ferry Road school office (she now lives in New Winchelsea Road with her two children). - Adrian will be sailing in the Fasnet Race again in August, once more in "April Magic"; he and Louise Pycroft of Little Common plan to get married in September, and he is just completing the three years' on-the-job training which all young doctors have to do, the last part being in his father's Rye practice.
As the last instalment of "Mapp and Lucia" drew to a close on Sunday evening, it was clear that the series now in preparation will include Lucia's dealings on the Stock Exchange which led to her return to Mallards, and her eventual accession to the Mayoralty. A few afficionados of the books have been thoroughly disappointed, even upset, by the first five episodes; some, not impressed at first grew enthusiastic as the story progressed; and some enjoyed every minute and can hardly wait for the next instalment, and we really think they were the vast majority. Miss Mapp and Mr. Wyse have been universally commended; there has been regret at the non-appearance of Captain Puffin and the mouselike Mrs. Bartlett; we would like to put in a word for stalwart Major Benjy, the various domestics, and also the long-suffering house-agent. Diva (with whom the Editor has always identified) was rather plainer than we had hoped, and Mrs. Wyse more elegant than we remembered - and quaint Irene did look so like a land-girl; which leaves Lucia and Georgie.
Were they overplayed? If so, did it matter? Opinions differ, and we would not dare to sway them. Rye came over beautifully, if sometimes confusingly to those who know the town, and it would be interesting to hear from those who have dealings with our visitors whether people have been coming here simply because of the series?
5.
Last week's extracts from the Sussex Express booklet "The War in East Sussex" have revived memories for some readers. There is something of a mystery about the canteen. The booklet says it was run for the civilian men whose jobs kept them in the town after their families had been evacuated. There certainly was a canteen, in the house on Conduit Hill which used to be the St. John Ambulance HQ before the Brigade built its own premises, and which is now the home of Mrs. Duncan Wylson; but we have heard from several of those people who worked there, and they all remember it as definitely a Forces canteen. (Someone dredged up a vague memory of the Baptist minister of the time getting together a group of civilians - did he perhaps run a canteen too?) Anyway, the Conduit Hill one was run by Miss Mary Warren, who received an MBE for her work - and fully deserved it, says a correspondent who would prefer us not to mention her name but who worked there and still remembers the stone-flagged floor which she used to scrub! John Smith's mother also worked there, and so did Madge Larkin (who later became Mrs. Humphries) who recalls that a cup of tea cost id and a refill 1/2d - so a modern penny piece would have had a customer positively awash!
Mrs. Humphries really rang us to talk about National Savings. She moved to Hastings ten years ago, but until then had spent all her life in the house which used to be known as Cadborough Road. As Madge Larkin, she had a full-time secretarial job, but as well as this she ran from her home the first of the town's National Savings Groups. Most of her savers delivered their weekly savings to her, though there were collectors for TJdimore Road (which then started at the foot of the hill) and Tillingham Avenue. After a while the group grew so large that it had to be split into three, and there must also have been others elsewhere in the town - but, as she says, it is 40 years ago and more, and she is not perfectly sure of the details. She does, however, vividly remember the flag awarded to to the town for its champion Salute the Soldier Week collection in 1944 - it was flown from the Town Hall, and there is a photograph taken from the roof looking down at all the foreshortened figures below (by a curious coincidence, almost exactly like Alan Jones's shot of the hot pennies ceremony in last week's News). Mrs. Humphries is not sure whether the flag had to be returned - we don't suppose anyone has still got it?
What Rosemary Bagley has got are two certificates awarded to her mother - Dreda, Mrs. Harry Ashbee - after Wings for Victory Week in 1943 and Salute the Soldier Week in 1944, for her work as a national savings collector. The Ashbees lived in New Road (in the only house with a telephone at that time, so they acted as emergency communications system for the whole road), and Mrs. Ashbee collecte from New Road and King's Avenue, sometimes taking Rosemary round with her.
So now we have Mrs. Humphries (nee Larkin) across the Tillingham, and Mrs. Ashbee across the Rother, both running local groups. Who did the middle of the town? And who co-ordinated the effort for Rye as a whole - presumably someone in the Borough Treasurer's office?
Thomas Peacocke School PTA had a very successful Car Boot Sale on Sunday, the 40 cars which appeared providing a welcome £200 plus the profits from a stall run by two PTA members. The committee are most grateful to the Cattle Market Company and Messrs. Vidler & Co for their generosity over the use of the site.
The Arthritis & Rheumatism Council's ploughman's lunch, though slightly less well-attended than usual, raised £154, and the committee are well pleased; they are now hoping for fine weather for the first week in June.
The recent Sea Cadets jumble sale raised just over £100.
Between 27 April and 6 May there were in the town two fetes, four jumble sales and a coffee morning. All were in aid of local causes of a social rather than strictly charitable nature, and only one had really good weather. Yet between them they brought in over £1,500!
The Old Vicarage in Church Square is applying for renewal of its present temporary permission to serve teas and to put two signs in its window; there is a proposal to convert the space above Baxters in the High Street into living accommodation, with windows at the back; and Mr. Elwell from Robertsbridge is applying again for moorings at the junction of Rock Channel and the Rother, this time for 54 moorings with jetties along the river bank but without the basin and car park included in his last (rejected) application.
The hole in the ground behind the facade which used to be Millers is causing a good deal of comment. Having removed the ground floor, the builders are now excavating the brick floor of the cellar, uncovering drains which have not seen the light of day for at least a hundred years: Apart from rooms at the back which resemble a stage set with only three walls, about all that is left of the shop we knew and loved are two brick chimney-stacks. Across at the corner of Market Road, the sound of the sledge-hammer has also been heard in Doodle, where the party wall between it and the Rye Bookshop has been taken down - the work here, however, is considerably less dramatic.
Since December, the Boys Club has been led by Stewart Russell, of Peasmarsh, who was one of the Rye YTS instructors until the scheme closed in 1983. Mrs. Russel helps him with the Senior group, as does his son Gordon and Gordon's wife; the Junior group is led by Stephen Haynes of Marley Road, whose mother also helps. Club membership has risen steeply recently, and the books now show 65 Seniors (aged 14 to 20) and over 50 Juniors - though not all of them, of course, turn up at every meeting. The older boys meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6.30 to 9, and the younger ones on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 3.30, all at the Boys Club premises in Mermaid Street.
Recently the senior boys held a sponsored sports marathon - pursuing their usual activities of snooker, darts and pool for a straight 24 hours. If all the sponsors pay up, they will have raised some £200 shared between Club funds and the Day Centre.
The Club premises are closed for part of the summer - the Rye Society of Artists holds its summer exhibition there - and Mr. Russell wonders if anyone has an old boat, suitable for use with a trailer, which the boys could repair and eventually sail? They are also looking for other sports equipment - a second table-tennis table, for instance, and weight-lifting items - more or less anything, in fact, that anyone is kind enough to offer them. Repairs would not present a great problem, since Mr. Russell is experienced in that kind of work and would be glad of an opportunity to instruct his lads in such useful techniques.
The Club has a group (in the musical sense) - though as the premises are not licensed for music it has to rehearse elsewhere; the drummer is particularly good, and they are already entered in a talent contest. Another activity is break-dancing - also practised away from the Club, because the dancers need a suitable floor. Offers of second-hand pool and snooker cues would be very much appreciated, since the club has some keen players - Gary Cutting (19) is representing Sussex against other regions at Brighton, and two juniors (J. Ronchetti and N. Winton) are also doing well. Offers of equipment, or other help, should go to Mr. Russell at Peasmarsh.
Two Rye-built Brede-class lifeboats feature in rescue stories told in the current issue of "The Lifeboat". "Forester's Future", on a year's evaluation at Alderney, rescued a crew member from a sinking French sloop; and "Inner Wheel" from Poole took a doctor in rough seas to a sick man on a cross-channel ferry. There is a picture of the Brede-class "Safeway" at the 1985 International Boat Show. The list of lifeboat services for August to October shows that Bredes were busy: the Alderney boat went out ten times, Exmouth five, Fowey four, Girvan three, Invergordon once, Poole eight. At Oban the regular Brede went out 17 times, and her relief (also at Brede) 4 times: By contrast, the Rye Harbour boat was only called out once. Dave Caister, of her crew, has been awarded a certificate of service on his retirement after 18 years with the boat.
7.
• Rye's Carnival queen for 1985 will be chosen on Saturday (18th) at the Oasis Club at 10 pm, when Rye and Rother Valley Round Table, who run the Carnival, hope to see lots of lovely girls persuaded into the line-up by their admirers. Apart from the honour and glory, the title is well worth winning - it carries a prize of E50, free entry to the Oasis for a year, a free hair-style by James Kimber, and a free photo-session at Peter Greenhalf's studio. The queen's prime duty is, of course, to open the Carnival and lead the procession round the town, attended by her maids of honour; she will also be invited to represent Rye in other carnival processions in the area. We shall be announcing the winner in next week's issue.
• Over the Whitsun weekend (from 10 to 5 on Saturday and Monday, and from 2 to 5 on Sunday), Playden Church houses a most unusual exhibition, arranged in aid of the Save the Children Fund and church funds. The subject is Ethiopian Crosses, and the organisers believe that it is the first exhibition of this fascinating and ancient art form to be held in this country. They are fortunate to have an expert in the subject living nearby, Mrs. Eine Moore, and she has written what will doubtless be a most informative and interesting catalogue, obtainable by post (35p) from the Vicarage, Fair Meadow, Rye. And if you don't know what Ethiopian crosses are - well, this is the time to find out. The 18th century .abroidered chalice veil given to the church by Mrs. John Ryan will also be on display over the weekend.
• The Romney Marsh Footsloggers Club is holding cross-country "Fun Run" races at Gateborough Farm (off Winchelsea Road) on Sunday, 26th, the first race at 3. There are six races in all: two for juveniles, one for adults and juveniles in combination, a dog-and-runner open race, and a pony club relay race for teams of four, all over a course with obstacles; and an open race over a three-mile course, also with obstacles, for the Challenge Cup. All winners get prizes in kind, and rosettes. Sponsors are Longs Bakery, Agricare, Vidler & Co, Ogle Clark & Partners and Martyn Channon.Entry fee is 50p a race (£l for a relay team). Car parking costs El, and there will be refreshments and a raffle.
• Norton's Farm, on the A21 near Sedlescombe, has various attractions including a nature trail - amd, primarily for the benefit of its farm visitors, a tea-shop. The owners have generously offered the use of this to local good causes to run in aid of their own funds, and on 26 May (Sunday of the Bank Holiday weekend), Rye St. John Ambulance Brigade will be taking it over. So if you are driving that way, or looking for an unusual outing for the afternoon, please remember them - they will be very pleased to see Rye faces among their customers.
• Whitsunday at St. Mary's is marked by a Pentecost birthday party for the Church (in its widest sense) - a celebration, from 3 to 5.30, for people of all ages from all the congregations linked in the Rye and District Council of Churches. The same evening, Bishop Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, will be the preacher at the United Service at Rye Baptist Church; Bishop Cormac is making the visit which was postponed during the bad weather at the beginning of the year, and we are assured that his sermon will be very well worth hearing.
• And finally, long notice that the RAF Association will be running another coach trip to the Military Pageant and Flying Display at Duxford, near Cambridge, on Sunday 4 August. This event happens every other year, and the RAFA have been to the last two and found them most enjoyable - and there is plenty to do under cover if it rains. Last time the coach was over-subscribed, so if you might, want to go contact Gordon Stanbridge now and make interested noises.
... to two people whose names we got wrong recently. It was Richard (not Reginald) Baker who sent us the delightful memory of cricket in Rye before WWI. And the victim of the cycle accident in Hastings last month was not Daniel Sharp but his elder brother Ben - whose mother tells us that he is now doing very well indeed.
Thrift Shop, Red Cross Centre, 10.30 to 4 (and Friday, Saturday)
Local history group, Library, 7.30
Rye Society of Artists jumble sale, FEC, 2.30 - plants sold outside from 11 if fine (and see below)
Rye Carnival Queen context, Oasis Club, 10 (see page 7)
Rye Town Council meeting, Town Hall, 6 (followed by Planning and Leisure-and-Tourism committee meetings) - all open to the public.
• Two more local households have recently discovered the thrill of a first grand-child. Helena, daughter of Anne and Robert Mair of Wick Farm, Udimore, is the proud mother of Philippa; and Emilio, eldest son of Tanya de Viam of
• Udimore Road, has just presented his mother with a grandson. Congratulations too to Simon and Angela Jupp of Winchelsea on the birth of Gary, brother for Lisa and a second grandchild for Mr. and Mrs. Jupp of Ashenden Avenue.
• Mrs. Doris Murrell, of New Winchelsea Road, is in Ward 1 of the Royal East Sussex Hospital; we wish her a speedy return home. Good news, though, of Mrs. Bessie Underdown of Cyprus Place, who is back at Greyfriars after some weeks spent in hospital.
• Anyone with jumble for the Rye Society of Artists sale on Saturday can leave it with Louis Turpin at 19 Udimore Road or with Wally Cole at Rye Pottery - or phone Louis (Rye 222307) to arrange collection.
• Couldn't somebody from Rother or the Southern Water staff remove from the Tillingham between the bridge and the Mill the litter-bin which has been there since before Easter? Its immersion was reported to the Council weeks ago.
• Harbourmaster Colin Marsh tells us that there is a job going for a part-time Harbour Assistant. It would be suitable for an active retired person, with up to 20 hours a week to fill. Pay is £2.50 an hour, and Mr. Marsh adds that applicants would need to have their own transport. Ring his office for further details.
• Rye Bowls Club have had a good start to the season; they won their first game, at home to Old Hastings, on Wednesday, and were leading against Battle on Sunday when rain stopped play. The recent coffee morning raised £42 for Club funds.
• Mrs. Barbara Wheipton of Trader's Passage, who paints as Barbara Crocker, is showing her paintings together with sculpture by Neil Godfrey, from 31 May to 9 June at Reightens, Houghton Green Lane (near the Military Road junction). From 1 June the exhibition is open from 11 am to 8 pm.
• Thomas Peacocke School was affected on Tuesday by one-day industrial action on the part of some teachers. Pupils from the 4th year upwards were taught as usual, but 1st to 3rd-year children stayed home.
• Rye had a half-page write-up (by Greer Harris) on Saturday in the Daily Telegraph's travel pages. "Mapp and Lucia" was mentioned briefly, but the emphasis was on the charm of the town, its history, its shops and restaurants - it really made the Editor think she ought to go there some day:
• Some time ago we asked whether anyone undertook china repairs. We got no answer, but Mrs. Jenkinson at Graham's in the High Street tells us that they know of several skilled repairers who live locally, and she will be pleased to help enquirers.
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; a few spare copies are available from Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, and back numbers from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1985)