Next week's GAZETTE (31 July) will be the last for a fortnight; we shall publish again on 14 August, and return to normal weekly issues on 28 August.he Editor's alternate-week August holiday arrangements are thesame as last year, and have been allowed for in the subscription rate. But please take into account, when letting us know about something you want publicised, that the GAZETTE will not appear on 7 or 21 August.
The RNLI flag day and house-to-house collection during Lifeboat Week in Rye and the villages raised 02,200 - up again on the 1984 record figure of 02,044 despite intensive RNLI fund-raising locally for the lifeboat house appeal during the intervening year. Round Tablers who put on RNLI oilskins and collected round local pubs contributed 0312 to the total.
We have been chasing reactions to the British Rail proposal (GAZETTE no. 138, followed by East Sussex News last week) to close off the Ferry Road car park access and have all traffic to the Goods Yard car park enter and leave via Station Approach and Cinque Ports Street.
First, the police.Inspector Drawbridge, of Bexhill, is in charge of traffic management for the area. He is as concerned as any of us about the probable effects of increasing traffic levels in Cinque Ports Street and Station Approach; the area is congested enough now and he certainly doesn't want to see that congestion increased, and is writing to BR saying so.
It seems, however, that if a private landowner (whether it be you, gentle reader, or British Rail) has an authorised access onto the public highway, you can run whatever you like in or out of it without the police being able to stop you - and this can include the contents of a 200-car/20-coach park via a cul-de-sac bus station if you see fit. If half this traffic then turns right over the pedestrian crossing and down the very narrow section of Cinque Ports Street, and perhaps 25% of it turns right again at Banister's Corner - well, tough!(And that, of course, is only the outward flow...)
Rye Town Council, although they have long deplored the hazards at the Ferry Road exit, do not see BR's plan as the solution, particularly in view of the existing :oblems with school buses.hey suggest that perhaps all the traffic couldenter via Station Approach and leave via Ferry Road - and they would also like to see double yellow lines along both sides of Ferry Road between the corner and the level crossing.
Peter Bridges of Rother's Technical Services Department is equally unenthusiastic, and raises the point that if BR goes ahead with this all the road signs relating to parking, including a carefully-thought-out colour-coded scheme, will have to be replaced: who, he says, is going to pay for this?Not Rother.
Not the County Council either, says Ralph Olesen at Bexhill, referring us to the County Engineer at Lewes for a fuller official answer. We rang County Hall's information office, who promised to find out and ring us back. They rang us back alright, but as for finding out, it seems that (on Monday, this was), the County Engineer hadn't yet heard officially from British Rail at all! Unofficial information, however, had reached him; and unofficially, he is not pleased.
We finally rang David Woodhouse at Ashford Station. He wasn't there. Would he ring us back if he had anything to say at this stage?He remained silent. So,although it would be over-dramatic to say that all those in authority are white and shaken at the BR proposals, Mr. Woodhouse may well realise by now that he is fighting a lonely battle.
Mrs. Jessie Yarnton, of New Winchelsea Road and until recently of Rye Harbour, died in hospital on 13 July aged 91.A widow, she leaves a son and daughter. The funeral has taken place.
Five floats are already booked in for the Carnival procession on 3 August, and the Round Table organisers confidently expect the usual last-minute entries. There will be at least three bands and certainly two groups of majorettes, plus Miss Rye (Rachel Abbott) on her private float.(If the light aircraft which came down on the beach at St. Leonards on Saturday had been a little more to one side, says David Briffa, there wouldn't have been a Miss Rye float at all - he and Round Table chairman Roger Capps were assembling it ready for the Hastings Carnival procession only yards from where the plane suddenly grated along the shingle!)
A new Cup this year is to be awarded to the float gaining most points in the Bexhill, Hastings, Hastings Old Town and Rye Carnivals combined, in the hope of attracting good floats to all four.
The procession will leave Tilling Green at 1.30, and the Carnival Queen will open the proceedings on the Salts at 2. These include, as the main attraction, an arena demonstration on the Western Rodeo Bull - his innards are motorised, but his outer is genuine cow-hide!his is a rather up-market mechanical bucking bronco, and the arena display will be followed by an opportunity for those who feel brave enough to try it for themselves as part of a competition - a small charge being made for the privilege. Round Table are most grateful to Messrs. Russells, the Renault garage in Rye Harbour Road, whose very generous sponsorship has enabled this attraction to be booked. Here will also be the Crazy Tramps - "tom-foolery on a trampoline" - a tug of war ("with refreshing prizes", we were told), bale stacking and bale tossing run by the Young Farmers Club (a popular feature last year), and the traditional sideshows including a proper coconut shy and of course a beer tent.As always, the Fair sets upnext door, on the Bonfire Salts.
Peter Dennett tells us that Round Tablers have already spent many hours canvassing some 460 businesses in Rye and the villages including a few out on the Marsh - persuading them to advertise in the programme, and they have more ads than ever this year. here is, as usual, a Lucky Number programme winning a free return trip to the Continent for two adults and a car, given by Townsend Thoresen in conjunction with Baldwins Travel.
Major support from the proceeds of the afternoon's fun and games will go to the Rye Mencap Branch, whose float in the procession will be followed by their lovely new (and not yet quite paid for) minibus.
The GAZETTE sports coverage is dreadful, and we are sorry about this, but usually nobody thinks to tell us what is going on. Anyway, congratulations to the young mixed stoolball team who brought home to Rye the Civil Service Shield after a successful day at Hastings recently: Debbie Bourne (captain), Simon Bourne, Gillian Paine, Phyllis Paine, Derek Whiting, Ann Willis, Gary Bourn and Stewart Doyle.
Attendance at the charity cricket match between the Hope Anchor All-Stars and the George Dragons on Sunday afternoon on the Lower School field was hampered by the locked gates into Lower School (which can of course be climbed, but it is very inconvenient); the winners were the team from the George Hotel, and some £30 was raised for Rye Mencap. Another charity match, also in aid of Mencap, takes place on the Salts on Sunday week, 28 July, when a team from the Bedford Arms plays a visiting team from Petts Wood; refreshments will be on offer and they hope for a good crowd as well as fine weather.
- 3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 24 July 1985
A ravishingly beautiful visitor spent a couple of nights in Rye last weekend. Her curves were interestingly foreign, no expense was spared on her outfit, she was clearly the favourite of some millionaire - and she spent much of the time with her bottom on the mud at Strand Quay!
The "Groote Beer" ("Great Bear", with a carved figurehead to prove it) is, we were told, a Dutch botter, and has something in common with a Thames barge or Norfolk wherry.Nothing remotely like her has been seen in Rye since the Gestet-ner Company's converted sales barge came in four or five years ago, and we doubt if anything quite like her has ever been here before.he woodwork in her cock-pit was carved and gilded, her fittings were stainless steel and the ornate mast-head glittered with a coating of (we heard) real gold. A 10' pennant streamed from it in the stiff breeze, and the great mast itself made toys of the other yachts tied up along the quay.o be honest, she looked absolutely brand-new: there was not a mark on her, not a scratch, hardly even a smear. She came in from Dover on Friday's mid-day tide and had been due to go out on Saturday with Brighton as her next port of call en route for Cowes. In fact the rough weather meant that she postponed her departure until Sunday, when she went down the Rother with all sails set - a proud sight indeed it must have been!
Thursday another elegant visitor appeared - a 1932 Rolls Royce parked in the Goods Yard car park (with her radiator cap wisely pocketed by the owner for safety). Clearly a working family car rather than a museum showpiece, she disgorged a crowd of children anxious to see the Market, but her driver Mr. Curtis paused to tell us that she comes from Kent and has had only four owners from new; he is intending to bring her over to the vintage car show which will as usual be part of the attractions at the Rotary Country Fair on 11 August - last year he brought his Bentley!
In GAZETTE no. 139 we named the four patrol leaders of the 1st Rye Guide Company when it was founded in 1916, and asked what had become of them.
They were presumably chosen not so much for their outstandingly good health as for their qualities of leadership (two were the daughters of future Mayors, one the daughter of a very successful headmaster, and the fourth was later associated with Rye Collegiate School).We were astonished to discover that until April of this year all four ladies were very much alive, two of them still living in Rye.
Winifred Walker, daughter of Sprigg Walker of the boys' school in Mermaid Street, became Mrs. Bodilly of Cadborough Cliff, and is the only one of the four not now with us; she died in April, aged 88 (GAZETTE no. 126).Ella Harvey, who taught the piano to generations of Rye children from her home in the High Street, now lives in Henley Close. Barbara Vidler, daughter of historian Leopold Vidler and sister of Dr. Alec, became Mrs. Hamer and lives in Worthing. Gladys Moon is in a comfortable nursing-home in Jesmond, Newcastle, near her niece Anne (nee Longley); Mr. Blacklock of Playden is in touch with her and tells us she is now 87 and only her sight is failing.
How's that for a long-lived group, almost 70 years on!
Brian Moses of Freda Gardham School tells us that the school has had other literary successes besides that of Tim Saunders (GAZETTE no. 139).Neal Heffernan gained a certificate for good work in the same WH Smith Young Writers Competition, while in the Cadbury's Poetry Competition third-year pupils Theresa Balcombe and Paul Harmer received certificates and will have their poems published in September. Also in the third year, Simon Hopkins gained second prize in the Schools' Poetry Association Competition, and Theresa Balcombe has had a poem published in "Junior Education" magazine. At a rather different level, the Oxford University Presspublishes next month (E4.95) "Catapults and Kingfishers - Teaching Poetry in Primary Schools" by Brian Moses himself and Pie Corbett, son of John Corbett of TPS; we wish both authors every success with their book.
4.
At the RCVS meeting at the Town Hall on Thursday, Neil Weatherall summarised the state of play over the new site for the Day Centre. Opened in the Baptist Hall in November 1983, a year after it was first discussed, it has now grown from its original 8 or 10 members to nearer 30, opening on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays (and more helpers are needed, particularly for Tuesday's catering team). The first proposal for a new site was as part of Rother's sheltered housing development which is to replace Magdala House in Ferry Road. This was under active consideration when the possibility of the old British Telecom building in Eagle Road came up. All those personally concerned with the Day Centre - social workers, volunteers and the RCVS committee - saw the potential of the much larger British Telecom site, which would allow for future expansion in the way of ancillary services such as baths, chiropody, beauty care, etc.. and perhaps too for the Red Cross's home loans store (wildly inconvenient in its present home in the High Street). The difficulty, as far as we can make out, lies in convincing the County Council's Social Services Committee that Rye is unanimous about this. County Councillor Mrs. Joan Yates, who was present, was unable to comment on the position, since it is still under discussion, but we feel sure that she realised the feeling of the meeting and will pass it on to her sub-committee (she is of course a member of ESCC's Social Services Committee).Mrs. Wild then spoke about current affairs at the Day Centre, and expressed the gratitude of the team to the Baptist Church who were now finding their hall increasingly full of armchairs!
Other speakers were Bob Hodgson of Hastings YMCA on the Community Programme (details from the Council Offices), Julia Thomas on the summer playscheme (enthusiastically booked up, but details from Social Services in Cinque Ports Street), and Ruth Lawson-Tait on the future of Rye Hospital - a subject on which there is not a great deal of hard fact available at the moment.
Bob Hodgson is desperately looking for a small office in Rye which would accommodate the part-time Community Programme office staff - in effect, just their clerk, Caroline Addy of Ferry Road.At present the Rye programme has to be supervised from Hastings, which is clearly ridiculous. If anyone has a room spare - over a shop, perhaps? - which they would be prepared to rent, please ring Hastings 429677 and leave a message for Mr. Hodgson; or just contact Caroline.
St. Mary's duly appeared on BBC1 on Sunday evening, though some people who merely looked at their paper for "Home on Sunday" and saw no mention of Rye may have missed it (there will be lots of video around, we feel sure).Gwen Cashmore was interviewed in Nyon, near Geneva, where she works for the World Council of Churches; the Rye connection dates back to the 1950s, when she taught for three years at Rye Grammar School before deciding that she really ought to be a missionary and eventually finding herself in Idi Amin's Uganda.
We reported in GAZETTE no. 125 on the proceedings in St. Mary's, which came over much as expected - but it was odd to see so many familiar faces on the box!
Jean and Peter Greenhalf are looking for help for their YTS trainee in Peter's photographic studio, a girl from Hawkhurst. Coming to work by public transport, she has to leave home at 7.30 am; is there anyone who works in Rye or beyond and comes in from Hawkhurst, who could offer her a lift? The time can be flexible, and it is Tuesday to Friday only each week.If you could help, if only by putting word around at your own place of work, it would be very kind.
The lifeboat went out twice at the weekend, both calls false alarms but with good intent. At one time at Camber there were no fewer than 30 wind-surfers out, so that the coastguard had to ask the boat to run round them just to check that no-one had come to grief unnoticed!
5.
The Sports Centre Steering Committee's event at the FE Centre on Saturday raised £130 towards the purchase of equipment. On top of this, they were delighted to receive a cheque for £250 from Rye and Rother Valley Round Table, and Hilary McDonald tells us that they are also grateful for a recent donation of £25 from Rye Golf Club. She feels that Saturday's event was not as well supported as it could have been, though the organisations which did help were really appreciated: Rye Cricket Club was most generous in the provision of raffle prizes, the Badminton Club offered a splendid choice at their cake stall, and a private venture from Mrs. Tarrant on behalf of her weight-lifting son Stephen gave them a well-stocked produce stall. Otherwise the Committee (as usual) found themselves doing it all...hey do feel that since this Centre will benefit chiefly the younger members of the community, it would be good to see some of those younger members at least supporting with their presence events arranged to promote it!
The Breeds family had brought along a delightful local variant of the traditional "treasure map" sideshow; a squared-off large-scale map of the town had the Mayor's hat hidden somewhere (in the Tillingham, as it turned out), and 10p a time secured a square for hopeful treasure-hunters. The Mayoress tells us that they will be producing it again, with new refinements next time.
Quite a few familiar faces will be missing from the staff rooms at Thomas Peacocke School next term. Senior leaver must be George Blacker, who came to the Secondary Modern School in 1947 after serving as a major during the war, in Malaya and elsewhere. For nearly 40 years Mr. Blacker has successfully drummed the elements of the English language into the heads of our young - and many other parents beside the Editor must have been grateful to him in this respect! - but he has lately been Head of Careers at the school, at one time finding the pupils to fit the jobs but more recently working very hard to find the jobs to fit his pupils. We are not likely to be seeing him very often in Rye, since he lives in Eastbourne where his wife has a hotel; he will doubtless not be sorry to give up the long commuter journey, though British Rail will certainly be sorry to lose him:
Mrs. Rosemary Crouch has taught Art at Lower School for nine years. As well as the normal art syllabus, Mrs. Crouch inspired her pupils to produce some superb entries for the Classical Studies Competition started by John Corbett, and Lower School plays have depended very much on her for scenery, props and sometimes cosmes.She is leaving just as the kiln in the Lower School art room has been restored to working order with funds raised from the tuck shop. Mrs. Crouch's husband Don has also retired recently, from Hill House School.
Illness has led to the resignation of Mrs. Ann Tookey from Upper School where she taught office studies for many years; her husband Tony also retired recently as a senior member of the school staff, primarily dealing with the timetable.
John Coles leaves Rye to become Head of PE at a school in Maidstone, but will be coming back to keep an eye on Rye FC during the coming season.Miss James isalso leaving for a new lob, in Dorking; and Mr. Roberts left Lower School last term to join the staff of Westminster Abbey.Peter Lee will be away for a yearon secondment to a course in London, John Stewart taking over as Head of Art in his absence.
The Headmaster's newsletter lists ten new teachers for next term; Samantha Finch and Craig Chapman are the new Head Girl and Head Boy; Mr. Leeds has taken over as Head of the VIth Form.
The school magazine, PAVO, appeared on the last day of term.We hope to write about it in more detail later, but merely record here that Malcolm Harris spent much of the previous night assembling it all over the floor of Lower School hall. As one Production Department to another, Mr. Harris, we know the feeling!
6.
Back in March we wryly congratulated Olivers, the High Street jewellers, on the stoutness of their security glass which resisted a potential midnight "customer". We are now glad to report that the two men concerned, both from Hastings, have appeared before Rye Magistrates; their getaway car was involved later the same night in a crash in Icklesham and "enquiries led to their arrest"The case wasa adjourned for reports.
Chief Inspector Dyson tells us happily that his sub-division has been enjoying a rather good run lately. The most recent success was clear at Court last Wednesday when two men from Surrey were remanded in custody charged with a break-in at the Guestling garage the previous night. They picked a bad moment. A Rye patrolcar happened to be passing, and the occupants noticed a man inside the garage and found another hiding under a car. After a certain amount of aggro in which both policemen were hurt and one of the suspects got a broken arm, both men were arrested. We hear that the garage owner was roused by the alarm in his house a few doors away, pulled on some clothes and ran up the road - and could hardly believe his eyes when he saw the police car there and its occupants already in action!
In Rye last week a white toy gorilla was stolen from Doodle, spot-lamps from a car parked in King's Avenue, and a blue toolbox with its contents from Marley Roz Two families are doubtless regretting that they left their property unguarded on the beach while they went swimming at Camber, since it wasn't there when they came back; and when a pair of crooks visited the Strand Garage in Winchelsea, one made a pretext to lure the attendant out of the office while the other stole cheques and cash worth some £400.We quote these two extra-territorial reports as Awful Warnings...
As usual at this time of year, the Summer Show at the Easton Rooms (until 27 August) features the work of Graham Clark. We really enjoyed his current batch, in particular the four Christmas scenes, and the big picture based on Stokesay Castle with all sorts of family interpolations.his is annotated with a delicious letterfrom the castle's steward to his absent Lord lamenting various mishaps, including the timeless problem of dilatory builders and the loss into the moat of the key to Her Ladyship's chastity belt!Another charmer is Salmon's Fish Shop, accurately if oddly transported from Cinque Ports Street to a more rural setting. Desmond Ryan showed small elaborate joinery pieces - boxes, frames - in beautifully figured woods such as cherry and olive. Upstairs Peter de Wit's mechanical toys make a fairyland of colour and movement, and there is a much bigger selection than Rye has seen before. Though the more complicated models are really grown-up’s ornaments, there are swinging parrots and policemen which would make delightful presents for the young. Take the children; they will enjoy looking (and touching) anyway, and so will you.
Business was brisk at St. Mary's on Monday when we went to visit Gerard Gillam and his brass-rubbers. He will, he tells us, be there right through the school holidays, perhaps even until mid-September - weekdays from 10.30 to 6, Sundays 1.30 to 5 or so. He has 35 or so "brasses" for his rubbers to use at a convenient table height, ranging in size from a 6"-square nativity scene to an almost half-life-size piece; the moulding technique gives a very fine definition, and all the scars of the centuries are reproduced in the finished rubbings.
Among Monday's students was one six-year-old who had already rubbed brasses at her school and was now getting her mum to have a go too. Four St. John cadets in uniform had us puzzled until Marilyn Mitchell explained that brass-rubbing was a badge subject, though perhaps not financially within reach for all her girls.
Bad weather will be good for Mr. Gillam during the day - but not so good at night, since he is living under canvas for the weeks he is at St. Mary's!
Hastings & District Bus Company brought a rather special coach to the clinic car park on Wednesday to be shown off to the Social Services lunch-time group. For much of its time it is a perfectly ordinary 73-seater bus and runs on normal service routes. But when required, fifty of the seats take out to reveal tracks to which up to seven wheelchairs can be firmly anchored. here are then still 21 comfortably-upholstered seats at the back of the coach, plus a three-seater bench in front, or there can be any combination of seats/wheelchairs required. A non-slip loading ramp appears miraculously in place of one of the windows; and for those who normally use wheelchairs outdoors but prefer a seat in the coach, up to five folding wheelchairs can be stored in the luggage bin in front.
The coach is, of course, available for hire.Mr. W H Pratt is the company's Coaching Officer, and he has had considerable experience in arranging outings generally, and can also advise on what are and are not suitable destinations for people in wheelchairs or otherwise disabled - either for local outings or throughout the country (he showed us a bulky handbook).Hiring rates for thecoach are slightly less than for a standard one - a day trip to Brighton could cost £951 or a morning outing for three hours £65.But these are indications only; many tourist attractions offer special rates for parties of disabled people :and helpers, and Mr. Pratt is always pleased to give a detailed quotation for any particular trip.
Once again the International Sheep Shearing Contest comes to Camber. On Saturday and Sunday of this coming weekend the Romney Marsh Shearing Society has top shearers from many countries competing for the Open Champion Shearer of the Year and other tj2:71,6s.Entry costs(children free) and covers parking and all kinds of diversions (see posters) which go to make up a country fair, with a car boot sale thrown in - all as well as the actual shearing which is done under cover with seating provided for the audience.he place is Broomhill Farm at Jury's Gap, just out of Camber on the road to Lydd.One of the competitors will be Peasmarsh farmer Bob Bull, who will meet old and new rivals for the top award.
Rye Movie Society's Jeffery Waters, her camera and her ex-"tanky" husband Bernard were invited to West Germany recently to witness the presentation of new colours to the four Royal Tank Regiments by their Colonel-in-Chief Her Majesty The Queen. Mrs. Waters was able to film the advance of the 148 main battle tanks and their march past at 40 mph followed by other armoured vehicles, and then by "the boys of the old brigade" (including her husband) at a much slower pace. Back at the barracks Mrs. Waters filmed Her Majesty at close quarters during her walk-about with the generals.We shall all look forward to seeing the results, and particularly perhaps Bob Bayley of Cyprus Place who was one of those not able to accept the invitation to be present in Germany for the occasion.
• After a year of fund-raising (including a sponsored 25-mile cycle ride by some 30 pupils, and an auction of staff and VIth-formers), TPS's School House was able to present £150 to the Pett Inshore Rescue Boat - the cheque received gratefully by the boat's beach master, Lew Parsons.
• Mrs. Joan Spencer's form in Lower School, 2.1, raised £48 from a sponsored silence and a sponsored fishing competition, and on the last day of term presented it to Patrick Witchell of the Ferry Boat Inn for Guide Dogs for the Blind.
• The RAFA announce that the coach trip to Duxford on 4 August is now full, with a waiting list. Their Dakota flight from Lydd Airport, scheduled for 31 July, may have to be put off until 20 August as the plane's owners have had to alter their timetable; Gordon Stanbridge has notified the 30 people who have booked, but we mention it here in case anyone new would like to join the party for the later date.
Local History Group, Town Hall (not Library), 7.30
Rainbow Fair Plus One, to be opened by Dr. Alec Vidler, TH, 10.30 to 4.30 (see GAZETTE no. 139 and Freight-Express window)
WRVS Lunch Club, CC, 12.30 Informal meeting for young people, CC, 7.30 (see below)
Garden teas and stalls for East Guldeford Church at The Old Vicarage, East Guldeford, 2.30
Rye Town Council meeting, TH, 6.
• Congratulations to Michael and Angela Gamier, of High Halden, on the birth of their daughter Rachel Louise (three weeks early and 5 lbs 6 ozs) on 14 July a first grandchild for Bert and Joan Camier of Wish Ward.
• Welcome home to Mrs. Kathleen Cloke, back in Tower Street after several weeks in hospital.
• Continuing apologies - there are still some items which should have appeared in the last couple of weeks and haven't; we do hope to catch up next week.
• Monday evening's meeting at the Community Centre is intended for older teenagers who are bored and would like somewhere to meet regularly, with housing and welfare benefits advice available as well as, perhaps, badminton and a coffee bar. Ifyour son or daughter or a friend comes into this category, do encourage them to go along to the meeting, see what it's all about, and join in the planning.
• One of our rather senior residents would like to thank the Gas Board's engineering staff at Hastings, who helpfully advanced the installation date for a new boiler to replace the one which had died on her, when they heard that she was having to carry kettles of boiling water upstairs to the bathroom.
• The Methodist Church Summer Sale on Saturday raised around £250.
• The Rye Conservative Association coffee morning in Mill Road last Wednesday raised £85 from the 45 people who attended.he Association plans to have a stall inRye Market on 15 August.
Planning: the current list has two Rye applications - a change of use for the front room at 39 The Mint from residential to retailing health- and whole-foods, and a change of use from opticians consulting room to office in East Street. We missed out one application last week: a first-floor extension to accommodate a bedroom and bathroom at the back of Watchbell Street.
• The new edition of the guide to St. Mary's Church has gone international; as well as the full English text there are now abbreviated versions in French, German, Spanish and Dutch, with appropriate flags to indicate each.
• Just one thing is needed to complete the two Bequests boards in the Town Hall ante-room. Can anyone tell the Town Clerk (223902) the year when the almshouses along Military Road were pulled down? Monica Oliver thinks it must have been the early 1960s, but they need to know for sure.
• Local-paper addicts will enjoy a short Channel 4 series which started on Monday (6.30), dealing with the fortunes of the Hastings Observer (sister paper to the Sussex Express) after the takeover last year.
• Rye vet Nick Mills was heard on Radio Sussex's Lunchdate on Monday, talking about the marsh-frog - its habits generally (did you know they eat mice?) and its very audible love-life in particular!
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, and published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye (Rye 222303).News items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline is Monday afternoon, or Tuesday 9 am in emergency. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly, and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday (but see front page); a few spare copies are available from Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, and back numbers from Cyprus Place. (Copyriht Mary Owen 1985)