So many people still seem to be unaware that RYE'S BONFIRE NIGHT TAKES PLACE THIS SATURDAY, 5 October, that we are saying so loud and clear on the front page! The Bonfire Boys are organising a Boot Sale on the Salts from 10 to 3, while they are on duty there finishing off the bonfire; there will also be a street collection in the town during the day as well as in the course of the procession, and all money collected on the street will go to charity.
The fancy dress is being judged at the Community Centre, and all competitors should be there by 5.30. Judging of the floats at Tilling Green takes place at 6. The procession leaves at about 7.15; it will be crossing the railway line after the trains have gone through (altered timing this Saturday), and should be in the town centre by 7.40.
A meeting took place on Thursday evening when some twenty people got together in the Social Services office to talk about saving the hospital. They had been summmoned by Jake Jacobs of Beckley, himself worried about the situation, and in general they represented organisations of various kinds in the area; invitations had been sent out widely, but it was perhaps just as well that not all those invi ted were able to attend as there was barely room for another chair! Among those present was the local representative on the Community Health Council, Mr. Palmer from Camber, and (in an unofficial capacity) the Council's secretary Tony Wade, plus Mrs. Yates wearing, so to speak, her Hastings Health Authority hat.
One thing emerged clearly: the Community Health Council is the body which must fight the closure on our behalf at official level, and it can only do this if it is convinced that to close the hospital, even temporarily, would be wrong. (No-one present believed that once the hospital was closed "temporarily" it would ever be reopened; but temporary closures do not require the public consultation procedure that must precede a more permanent proposal.) After some discussion, it was decided to set up a small steering group then and there - on the grounds that the sooner action started, the better. This group holds its first meeting today, and we shall be reporting on its composition and plans next week.
Tuesday of next week sees the Annual General Meeting of the hospital's League of Friends, which has become suddenly very interesting with the announcement that the speaker is to be the new General Manager of the Hastings Health Authority, Mr. Martindale. We need hardly remind readers that the HHA is responsible for all health care in the district, not only for hospitals; and it was the HHA's strategic plan published in the spring which produced the proposal for selling off the present convenient clinic site and building a new clinic on the Hill House land at the top of Rye Hill.
We would like to suggest to Mr. Martindale that he should arrive in Rye on the 8th rather earlier than necessary for the 7.30 meeting. He might then park his car on, say, the Estate and walk from there to Hill House and back. If, while he does so, he cares to imagine himself as a pregnant woman with a toddler in a pushchair as he goes up the hill, and as an elderly person with hurty feet as he goes down it, he will discover for himself why Rye is not very keen on his Authority's proposal for a new clinic site!
Rother Councillor John Cawdron invites suggestions from Rye people as to where they would like to see bus shelters (not including the Station Approach, which will have to wait until the supermarket is finished). He has negotiated with Rother for the provision of one or possibly two shelters for the town - "but you tell us where to put them" they said. Right, then: you tell him, please.
2.
Thomas Peacocke School PTA reckons on a profit of £1,900 from the Michaelmas Fair on Saturday afternoon, which drew a large crowd to enjoy the entertainment laid out in the sunshine. There was music from the school band and from the Jazz Caverners; a professional BMX bike display; Timmy Ruck of Rye Harbour flying his model aircraft, dog-fighting and then scattering toffees to the crowd; a display by the Rye Dance Centre, unfortunately marred by the lack of a long enough extension flex to reach the record-player, for which the PTA apologise humbly to Joanne Haviland - they hope she will forgive them and bring her dancers back another time. Photographs and school record books were on view in the Library, with an opportunity to buy spare copies of recent VIth-form groups, and there were of course all the usual stalls and sideshows, too numerous to mention. The main attraction, the Peasmarsh-based hot-air balloon, performed splendidly this year; ten lucky raffle winners got a ride in the tethered balloon, and it then embarked its normal crew and vanished majestically into the sunset. The pet show was taken over at very short notice by ex-pupil Christina Regendanz, deputising for Jim Fiddimore who hurt his back - vet Caryn Morris was the judge. The staff didn't stint their help, either; Dave Hancock tells us that they saw no reason to spoil the afternoon for parents and children, who are not the target of the current industrial action.
Remarkably, the two top raffle prizes both went to addresses in New Winchelsea Road, the Sinclair pocket television to Mrs. Prebble and the £75 in cash to Mrs. Chandler; Bridget Heather of East Guldeford won £50 and Wendy Phillips from Upper School office £25. The watch went to Pete Gilchrist, and young Peter Care of Fairmeadow was the lucky winner of the cricket set.
A much-loved gent is missing from his home at Udimore Road, backing onto Gibbet Marsh: Mrs. Lily Sinden's tortoise. Mrs. Sinden has had him for 14 years and he has always shown adventurous tendencies despite her care; she even got him a wife, who happily stays in the garden while he keeps right on roaming. He is a large dark-coloured tortoise; there is a £10 reward for his return.
Since the GAZETTE began we have heard of two lost tortoises. One wandered off from West Undercliff and turned up a couple of days later in Mrs. Hacking's hen-run at Cadborough. The other really was thought to be lost until he emerged sleepily the following spring from a neighbour's compost-heap. Mrs. Sinden, who won't mind us describing her as elderly, is very distressed about the loss of her pet, so if readers would keep their eyes open while he may still be roaming, and vet their bonfire sites before lighting them in case he has found a warm refuge there, she would be most grateful. He, too, may not turn up now until the spring, despite the warm weather; if he does appear in April, and you have by then forgotten who lost him, ring the GAZETTE.
Thomas Peacocke Lower School had a superb display of fruit, flowers and vegetables as well as other produce last week, when the Rev. Stuart Davison took the service at morning Assembly on Thursday. The produce had been arranged by Miss Lewis and Mr. Hogan, with help from 2.1, 2.2 and 2.5, and afterwards it was divided into some 60 bagfuls and taken by the pupils to elderly friends and relatives in the area.
The previous Sunday St. Mary's had been specially decorated for harvest, with a Civic Service attended by the Mayor and Councillors in their robes in the evening. Last weekend it was the turn of the Methodist Church, which was open on Saturday and Sunday to allow visitors to admire the decorations - from the bread, salt, water and kindling materials representing fire at the foot of the altar to the charming arch of leaves and creepers over the door and the jam in the porch; choir and Sunday School, too, had set out their special displays.
This week the Baptist Church celebrates harvest, on 6 October, with a very special service next day at 2 for the children of Hill House School to enjoy the glowing decorations.
3. THE RYE GAZETTE, 2 October 1985
The last bride ever to walk down the original entrance steps at Rye Baptist Church is Jane Double, ex-Udimore Road and now of Peasmarsh, who was married on Saturday afternoon to James Baldwin. (Work is due to start on the new entrance this week.) Jane looked lovely in a white Victorian-style lace dress; she carried a bouquet of roses, and was attended by two friends, Paula Bourn and Penny Wells, and a small cousin. The reception was at Peasmarsh Village Hall, and the honeymoon is being spent on the Norfolk Broads. The couple will be living at Robertsbridge where James works.
Suzanne Hall, chef at Playden Casts, and Andrew Woolgar from Lutterworth were married at St. Mary's on Saturday, the first of three weddings at the church that afternoon. Suzanne's parents live in Germany, where her father works with NATO, and she has been living with her grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Tooth of Cooper Road, who were delighted to have their other son Michael also home from the RAF for the wedding. Bridesmaids were Suzanne's cousins Sarah Bennett, Hannah Ball and Vicky Hall. The couple are honeymooning in Cornwall before moving into their new house in Camber. The day saw a double celebration for the family, since after the wedding reception at the Camber Castle in the afternoon there was a further party in the evening for the Silver Wedding of the bride's parents.
The second wedding at St. Mary's was that of Lesley Catt, daughter of Douglas Catt of Rye Police and his wife Pamela of Cadborough Cliff, and Barry Brookes of Udimore Road. Lesley's bridesmaids were her sister Wendy, her cousin Lorraine and Barry's sister Vanessa - "and Christopher will be dressed as a page" his grandmother told us in advance (Christopher is not yet 1½ so we see why she was being cautious!). Barry's best man was his friend Mark de Netto. The reception was held at the George Hotel, and they are spending their honeymoon in Devon before going cut to Germany where Barry is serving with the Army.
The wedding between Stephen Howe and Kathryn Sinnott, the final one of the after noon, was between two young New Zealanders both working in this country who had originally intended to get married when they got home but then decided that they didn't want to wait that long. Kathryn had a temporary job at Playden Oasts while staying with Mr. and Mrs. Basil Jones in the Grove to gain her residence qualification for a wedding at St. Mary's; Stephen works for IBM. They may have been a long way from home, but we gather that Rye took them enthusiastically under her wing for the occasion.
Harvey Osborne of Cadborough Cliff joined the Royal Navy in June, so we are rather late with our congratulations to him. He is now at EMS Sultan at Portsmouth studying marine engineering. Harvey is the younger son of David Osborne - who flies the RNR ensign on his Townsend Thoresen ferry - and ex-WREN Anne; he was a Sea Cadet at Thomas Peacocke School, so it is no real surprise that he has naval ambitions.
Marcus Hamilton of Udimore Road has just joined the RAF after waiting some 18 months for the right vacancy to turn up in electronics and radar engineering there were only koo posts in this field to be filled in the whole of this year, his mother Yvonne (of Hamilton Furnishings) tells us. Marcus is now at RAF Swinderby for a six-week course, and is then likely to be stationed in Yorkshire. The George Hotel was sorry to lose Marcus, who has been working there while he waited, in every sense, for his chance; but it welcomes to its staff Russell Powell of Iden, who is proving very popular with customers at the hotel's bar.
Richard Marriott's friends from his days as manager of the George were delighted to see him back in Rye at the weekend, taking a few days' holiday before starting a challenging new job. Richard is to be in charge of the staff of Graisons, the big catering company in the City of London. He will be responsible for banquets in the Guildhall and the various City Livery Halls, and for much Government hospi tality both in London and outside it, as well as for other functions all over the country. With four or five such cooasions each week there will never be a dull moment, and Richard is much looking forward to it. Rye wishes him well.
(How nice to have a whole page of good-news stories, isn't it!)
4.
The Rye Group of WIs Home Economics Show doesn't usual, coincide Faith 3onfire Night, which is of course a month early this year; but it is always a eked-for delight in the early autumn, when the Institutes in the Group compete with one another in the home-making skills of cookery and flower arranging (crafts, of course, have their own show in the spring). This year Rye Harbour and Udimore are without Home Economics Leaders and will not be entering, but the others are certain to be putting on their naval mouth-watering display - the climax being the group entry, a table set out with different dishes chosen to illustrate a cot theme. The flower arrangements, too, are always something to admire - from he big pedestals right down to the class for 4" miniatures.
The competition entries are displayed in the FE Centro's two large rooms, and in the canteen will be refreshments with home-made cakes and scones - and, for the first time, a sales table with food and preserves made to the same high standard (WI Market shoppers will know what we mean). It is hardly necessary to say that this is likely to be cleared in the first ten minutes after the show opens at 3! Prizegiving is at 4.30, and it will be all over by 5.
• New Road people wondering what has happened about the Monkbretton Bridge repainting, for which all the materials were delivered at the expected time and then suddenly taken away again, may like to know that owing to unexpected technical problems - not, we hasten to say, connected in any way with the bridge itself the work has had to be postponed and will probably be done next spring.
• Today is the last day for clothes and blankets to be left at Cherries, Saltcote Lane, Playden, for Betty Townsend's Mexico appeal, since Bournes will be removing the entire Rye consignment tomorrow. Betty has been most impressed at the way people have sent only goods which will really be useful; she has had a response to her Radio Sussex broadcasts from all over the county. From tomorrow onwards, clothing and blankets will still be welcomed by the Mexican authorities, but they must be handed in at a Pickfords depot - the firm is arranging free transport onwards from there. Our nearest depot is at 3b Bexhill Road, St. Leonards, open from Monday to Friday during office hours for the receipt of gifts: warm clothes for adults and children (and babies), plus blankets, please.
• Following the Chamber of Trade's suggestion that coaches should not be allowed to park in the town, a reader with long experience of coach holidays says it is not that easy. A let of coach passengers are elderly, and disembarkation takes time while the subsequent re-embarkation takes longer still; and the ideal spot for both is in a car park accessible to the loos. Our correspondent goes on to express surprise that the coach operators were not represented at the parking-problem meeting; they might not, he says, care to have their very expensive vehicles parked in a field!
• The current show at the Easton Rooms, "Designs for Living", features the ceramics of Jackie Summerfield among other craft work on display. Jackie has a jolly assortment of wall-vases and light fittings this year, a complete contrast to the work of Susan Gibson who is experimenting with a mix of ceramics and other mater ials with much emphasis on texture. Margot Bruce from Winchelsea has some of her beautiful engraved glass on show, and we noticed colourful printed scarves from two different artists, and some unusual jewellery. Other work from the gallery's regulars completes the very attractive show.
• Despite all the attractions elsewhere in the town ten days ago, Rye Fire Brigade found slightly to their surprise that their jumble sale brought in £150 congratulations! They were called out twice last week, once to a caravan at the Cock Inn at Peasmarsh at mid-day on Thursday, and once to a car at the Pipemakers Arms late on Friday night, which caught fire when the unfortunate owner started it. On less serious business, they brought a fire engine down to Thomas Peacocke's Michaelmas Fair; fortunately the rather scary blower for the hot-air balloon behaved impeccably, or the firemen night have had the fire of the season!
5.
For technical reasons which we cannot go into hero, Rye supporters of the Multiple Sclerosis Society have decided to detach themselves from the parent branch at Hastings and start up locally on their own. Elizabeth Goldsworthy tells us that there will be a public meeting in due course to set up the new Branch, and of course people who already help round here will continue to do so; but they will want more, and she would be glad to hear from anyone who would like to help look after her members, who depend so heavily on outside support for outings, etc.; indeed, the risk of losing these is one of the factors giving rise to the formation of a Rye Branch. One result is that all money raised locally will be spent on Rye-area sufferers.
One delightful fund-raising project just launched by MS for Rye is the very special Advent Calendar designed by Eileen Jenkins of Fishmarket Road, with Christmas symbols in the little windows in the usual way but with the windows themselves set in a drawing of Rye, complete with smugglers and even the bonfire. Complete with a stout envelope for posting, each calendar costs only 80p and makes an unusual mini-present or handsome card, suitable for grown-ups as well as children; they are available from the WRVS office in the FEC when it is open in the mornings, or can be ordered from Miss Jenkins or Mrs. Goldsworthy. The group have bravely printed 1,000, so please order them for all eur friends!
Rye shoppers will have noticed that the Apothecary's Shop on the corner of High Street and East Street stands empty again - the estate agent who has occupied it as a branch of his Hastings office has moved away. We are glad to report, this time, that its Grade II' listed fitments are safely in place, and we are assured that the owner of the property, Mr. James Kimber, is well aware of their importance; their unauthorised removal by his predecessor and subsequent recovery be Rather three years ago made headlines at the time. This property, tucked into the corner of James Kimber's salon, is established as an office rather than a shop (though doubtless change-of-use back again could be obtained); it is tiny, but what a super site!
Dewhursts remains closed, its recently-installed shopfittings removed to reveal the original tiles with the farmyard animals; its future is still under discussion and there is no firm plan yet - Dowhursts were tenants rather than owners.
There is no decision, either, on the future of the present Anglia office once the branch moves to its new premises in mid-October; we understand from the Society's estates office in Horsham that the matter will considered after the move is safely over, and not before. Whatever rumours have been going round the town can only, therefore, be unfounded. What is certain is that the property is scheduled for retail use once the office vacates it; this was agreed at the time of the original planning application for the Millers shop.
New owner of the former takeaway on the corner of Rope Walk and Cinque Ports Street is Ann Lingard, whose new "Rope Walk Antiques" shop will open there within the next couple of weeks. Ann intends this shop to cater for individual buyers - private customers rather than the dealers who have no trouble in finding her "chapel" and the Willow Cottage shop further down Rope Walk; some 95% of her stock, she tells us, goes overseas nowadays, and four of her ten employees are back-room boys working to give her goods the handsome finish which so much appeals to customers.
Passers-by have noticed how spacious the corner shop now is, but Ann has an ingenious idea for the room over the adjoining passage which has inadequate access and too low a ceiling to be opened to the public. She has had a big internal window put between it and the main shop, and will be using the room as a mini-museum with items from her own collection - not for sale, but bound to intrigue (not to say tantalise!) shoppers in search of "kitchenalia".
6.
Rother's planning committee on Thursday granted outline planning permission for three developments along Harbour Road which had been unable to go ahead because of the need to contribute to highway improvements under Section 52 agreements. Now that road improvements are being made with a grant from the RDA and a contribution from Hatleys, these agreements are no longer needed; so permission goes to Norman Jones for light industrial nursery units (RR81 0683), to Rastum Ltd. for a warehouse and wharf near the oil refinery (RR83 1552), and to LP Holdings Ltd. for light industrial factory and workshop units, wharfage and warehouse development alongside Long Products (RR84 1916).
(The minutes from which our report is taken are only in draft; these concerned will get it in writing from Bother in due course, and shouldn't take anything for granted until then, as there will probably be conditions, etc., specified.)
The District Sea Cadets application for a building for use as aa activity centre at Castle Water has been referred to the full Council meeting on 4 November with a recommendation for refusal. Objections to the building - single-storey, 30’ x 70', in galvanised steel - came from Icklesham Parish Council, the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, and the Nature Conservancy Council.
The roads scheme for the supermarket site was deferred for further information no±. yet supplied by BR about the running of the car and coach park (GAZETTE no. 146). Two other deferred applications were those for a double garage on the north side of South Undercliff and for the rebuilding of Wee Nestle in Fishmarket Road. Subject to satisfactory negotiations regarding the window, the planning officer was delegated to grant approval for the work at 1-3 Bridge Place; and subject to no objections within the statutory period, permission was granted for a new shop-front for 32 The Mint. Permission was given for a new end wall for 45 The Mint (this was originally just a party wall with the house next door, demolished by a bomb, and it is now beginning to be the worse for wear); for a two-storey emten-sion in Udimore Road; for the division of the Decorator's Warehouse premises (ex Cassons) into two shops and two flats; and for a front porch in Marley Road.
The Department of the Environment inspector has dismissed Norman Jones's appeal against Bother's refusal of planning permission for flying actiedties at Castle Water. This included storage of aircraft, supplies and fuel as well as use of the area for aircraft to take off and land. Mr. Jones does have permission, as the result of a second D o E decision, to continue to use premises at Castle Water as a sailing schoolroom; but other uses for the premises must cease after twelve months unless Mr. Jones succeeds in obtaining specific planning permission for them.
This week's planning list shows a second attempt to get outline planning permisse for four houses on Hacking land at the top of the Cadborough Cliff cul-de-sac, with demolition of the present row of cottages. Christopher McGrath tells us that they have attempted to overcome some of the objections to the first application, refused by Bother in July; there was then marked lack of enthusiasm for the plans from Cadborough Cliff resident.
The week's other application is for a hanging sign at first-floor level on the new Anglia office at 92 High Street - 37" x 22i", it would have white and yellow lettering on a blue background and would hang from a curly wrought-iron bracket. Anglia propose to illuminate it with floodlight spots attached to the wall. Some eurprise is being expressed in the town that the external painting of 92 High Street has gone ahead, despite the planning application being put in so late that it cannot now be considered by Rother until the end of October - though there is unlikely to be any objection to what is proposed. We hope they don't put up the hanging sign on the same assumption, though, because internally illuminated signs in the Conservation Area are stamped on by Rother with satisfying regularity; several externally illuminated ones have been allowed lately in less sensitive planning areas, but we do not recall a recent application of this kind for the High Street.
The question of change of use for 103a High Street from shop to office did not come before last week's planning committee; the next one is on 24 October.
7.
One of the last Rye Grammar School students to study music under Bill May must be Errol Girdlestone, who was about to take his music A-level when Mr. May died. How proud the teacher would be to know that his pupil will be appearing at the Coliseum Theatre in London on Friday week (11th) as conductor of the English National Opera Company's performance of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte".
When Errol was at the Grammar School, he became interested in organ music and used to play the St. Mary's organ - and sometimes the school one too; it arrived while he was a pupil there, but at the time its historic importance was not appreciated. He also sang in the St. Mary's choir, and on leaving school he went to the Royal School of Church Music, and then on to read music at Keble College, Caford, where he gained experience as a conductor with student choirs. This was followed by a year on a British Council scholarship, studying the art of conducting at the Warsaw Conservatory. Then, back in London, he was looking for a job. He had been a member of the New College choir at Oxford, and before long joined the St. Paul's Cathedral choir, a paid job which still gave him the opportunity to take on various professional engagements as a singer (he sings counter-tenor) with small chamber-music groups at recitals and on the air; he was also teaching general musicianship subjects at Trinity College of Music, and helping run the opera class there. (18 months spent teaching music at a secondary modern school in Bethnal Green had been a rather different matter and is not something he particularly wants to do again!)
In 1977 he was offered a job as assistant conductor of the Pretoria Symphony Orchestra and its associated opera company, which was run by the Transvaal Arts Council; he wasn't very happy with the situation there since music was regarded by the predominantly business community as a status symbol rather than something to be enjoyed in its own right. He was glad to move to Cape Town, and then to Natal, each time to jobs directly under the Arts Council of the Province concerned (in South Africa the Arts. Councils employ people direct rather than giving grants as they do here). In Cape Town he met his wife Sue, a dancer with the ballet company connected with "his" orchestra. It is easy to see that Sue is a dancer, though she does not dance professionally now; she is also a beautician, and for some time did both jobs. Although Errol's contract was originally for two years, he stayed in South Africa for eights but he and Sue were increasingly unhappy about the way things were going out there, and they were already making plans to come home when Errol's mother died earlier this year. They have been back in the Pottingfield Road flat since April.
For two years before he went abroad, Errol had been working for the English National Opera Company as a repetiteur - a vocal coach for the singers and a musical back-room boy in general, he says - and he was therefore delighted when he was offered the opportunity of working with the company again. Since he has been back in England he has spent much of his time preparing for the performance next week. (Conducting an opera, he assures us, is not a bit like conducting an orchestral concert, where a guest conductor can occasionally step off the plane on the day of the performance:),
Errol hopes very much that as a result of what happens on the 11th, he will be noticed by agents who are in a position to offer him other jobs, either one-off or perhaps more permanent, and if so he and Sue will probably not be living in Rye for uch longer. Because of this, he has been keeping his head down as far as local musical circles are concerned; it would, he says, be wrong to risk letting down a local group by suddenly disappearing for a professional engagement - but of course his career has to come first. However, he will be back on the organist's bench at St. Mary's for the Ryesingers Carol Concert on 14 December, and would like to have a comfortable sheaf of engagements spiked on his conductor's baton by then...
But in the meantime, if you or a friend will be at the ENO performance of "Cosi fan tutte" on the 11th, look out for a tall dark stranger and give an extra special round of applause just for him, our local lad in charge.
Christian Lunch Club, "Mediaeval Meat" (Rev. Brian ), CC, 12 for 12.30 (GAZETTE no. 147)
National Trust, "A short history of tapestries from 015 to C18" (Monty Sinclair), CC, 7.30
Friday, 4th Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale, 10 Movie Society, script discussion, FEC, 7.30
Bonfire Boys' Boot Sale, Salts, 10 to 3
WI Group Home Economics Show, FEC, 3 to 5 (see page 4)
RYE BONFIRE NIGHT (see front page)
Baptist Church Harvest Festival
Rye Hospital League of Friends AGM (speaker, General Manager URA), Town Hall, 7.30 (see front page)
Rye WI, "China Journey" (Mrs. Ferridge), FEC, 7
• Friends and family of the late Mr. Maurice Hickman of Marley Road have given £184 in his memory to the League of Friend of Rye Memorial Hospital.
• On Thursday, 10th, the Thrift Shop holds a giant clearance sale at the Red Cross from 10.30 to 4, with everything on sale reduced to half its normal price.
• People who wondered about the oddly-dressed characters in the High Street on Saturday morning may like to know that they were something to do with a charity cricket match on the Salts in aid of the RNLI.
• Readers are reminded that the winter bus timetables are nee available at the Council offices in Cinque Ports Street.
• A distinguished churchman, the Rev. Professor C F D Moule, is conducting the Bible Study weekend in Rye on 12/13 October. The subject is "Man and Nature in the Bible - a Theology of Environment". The Saturday session, from 10.15 at the Methodist Church, ends at 4 with evensong at St. Mary's, and Professor Moule will preach at Parish Communion at St. Mary's on Sunday at 10.30. The detailed timetable appears in Fixtures for Septemben (Parish News).
• The Quayside Service Station announces that it has expanded into selling used cars; if you are thinking of a change of vehicle, call in and see them.
• Coat and dress hangers are on offer at Frank Golden's in the High Street, for 2p each in one of the shop's two charity boxes.
• A reader has returned to us her old GAZETTES from February 1983 to November 1984 minus about a dozen issues - 79 copies in all. If anyone would like the lot, please ring Rye 222303; a small donation to the NSPCC or RNLI would be kind.
• The recent sponsored bike ride round Sussex churches attracted at least two local riders. Peter Manktelow of Udimore Road, only just 13, managed 16 churches including some in Hastings - a very long way on a hot day; and in return for a mention of the MS Advent Calendar (see page 5) Elizabeth Seldsworthy reluc tantly allowed us to congratulate her on checking in at 22, going as far as Bexhill on two wheels to find them.
• We all complain about the traffic in the High Street nowadays, but perhaps it isn't really that bad: lee noticed on Monday a tiny inch-square patch of grass growing in a little hole in the middle of the road outside Liptons!
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)
(PS Just room for a reminder about the Jeake's House attic sale on Sunday.)