On Sunday morning Rye Branch of the Royal British Legion said a quiet goodbye to its President, General Sir Charles Jones, and to Lady Jones (President of the Women's Section) who are soon to leave Rye for a new home in Wiltshire. They are moving to 9 Abbey Mews, Amesbury Abbey, one of 18 flats in a sheltered housing development: very well designed, with a nursing-home next door, and in easy reach of both their sons. Also, added Lady Jones, handy for Stonehenge; any Rye friends passing that way will be welcome visitors in Abbey Mews.
Sir Charles and Lady Jones have had a house on Point Hill for twenty years, and have lived permanently in Rye since Sir Charles retired as Governor of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea 11 years ago. It was not until he also retired as President of the British Legion at national level that he was able to take a full part as President of the Rye Branch, but since then he has always laid the Legion's wreath at the Remembrance Day parade, and it was clear from what he said to the assembled company on Sunday that both the Branch and the Club have meant a great deal to him and his wife, and that they will greatly miss all their friends here. We would like to record that, despite his frailty, Sir Charles - a true soldier - stood to make his speech of farewell and thanks, and raised his glass at the end to toast the Legion. Club chairman Brian Booth wished Sir Charles and Lady Jones bon voyage and a happy life in Wiltshire, and Joan Camier presented Lady Jones with an arrangement of flowers.
It is clearly the end of an era for the Rye Branch of the Legion, who will be hard put to it to find such distinguished and respected Presidents again. We too wish Sir Charles and Lady Jones every happiness in their new home.
The weather was kind to the Community Centre's Pancake Race on Shrove Tuesday; all six races were well supported, and there was a substantial if chilly crowd cheering along the sidelines, while Kathy Varley wielded the loud-hailer. Paul Masters of Durrant House won the Champions' Race; other results were
| Category | Name | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels in whites | Paul Masters | Durrant House |
| Restaurants in whites | Tom Edwards | George |
| Hotels and restaurants – ladies | Janet Ayshford | Simmons |
| Hotels and restaurants – men | Charlie Reid | George |
| Maids (housekeeping, chamber or bar!) | Zoe Metcalf | Monrows |
| Pubs | Alan Bates | Ferryboat |
An unexpected and very welcome sponsor for this year's race was the Gas Board. They heard about the race in the course of planning the High Street excavations (and, true to their word, were well clear of the vital stretch on Tuesday) and offered to provide "a prize". What arrived were six very nice zip shoulder-bags with the British Gas flame emblem on them (Zoe Metcalf's is now in Yugoslavia with the school skiing party), six pairs of oven gloves, ditto, for use in the kitchen of the establishment which won them, and a cheque for £10 - with the offer of help again next year. The Community Centre committee was overwhelmed! As usual, there was also a cheque from the Sussex Express, and a frying-pan (courtesy of Jif Lemon) for the Champion. Refreshments at the Centre afterwards included 120 pancakes cooked beforehand by Margaret Owen of the WRVS Lunch Club; it took her four hours - and she had, of course, used a gas cooker. Thanks were given by chairman Janet Oliver to all those who helped with the event, and by the Mayor to the members of the Community Centre committee who do so much for the good of the town throughout the year. The amount of money received from sponsors will be announced later.
2.
Mrs. Kathleen Cloke, of Tower Street, died peacefully in Rye Hospital on 14 February. She was 82, and had been a widow for many years. An Ashford girl, she was married in St. Mary's in December 1931, and the couple lived in Carlyle Place, now part of Cyprus Place. Mr. Cloke was employed in the Gasson family business, and Mrs. Cloke worked for Mrs. Mabel Ellis of the Stocking Parlour. In failing health recently, Mrs. Cloke was cared for in Rye Hospital for the last two weeks of her life. The funeral is tomorrow (Thursday) at Playden Church at 2, followed by burial in Rye Cemetery.
We ought to make clear that Bunty's, the gift shop in Cinque Ports Street where the cinema once stood, has as far as we know no plans whatever for turning into an office! Last week we referred to "Bunty's" in the course of the story about High Street changes; but this was a time-slip, and of course we meant the original shop of that name, the former sweet shop at 103a which is now Bridgland Insurance. The High Street Bunty's had become an antique shop with another name before the Cinque Ports Street Bunty's ever opened, and we should have remembered that the familiar name had also changed hands: sorry!
A new planning application will give great pleasure. Steve Denny of Penny Royal is applying for change of use from office back to shop for The Apothecary's Shop in the High Street, vacant for months since the sudden departure of the Hastings house-agent. He intends to keep the name, and will be selling there the toilet preparations which are at present stocked at Penny Royal, but in a wider range and with such ancillary items as pot-pourri, candles, etc. - always bearing in mind the small scale of the shop. What about the little drawers, we asked? Mainly used for stock, Steve says, but it may be possible to sell soaps, etc., out of them. He is definitely not setting up as a chemist, but he hopes to bring back something of the original atmosphere of the shop; and if he is lucky enough to get onto the February planning list, he could open in time for Easter.
Well-authenticated rumour has it that both Rye Fashions and Quarter-Belle are to become - wait for it - "high-class gift shops". (All groan together!) As a matter of interest, what new shops would people like to see in Rye? For starters, a delicatessen, a heel-bar, a dress fabric shop selling (or anyway able to order) paper patterns, and someone catering exclusively for the larger lad (particularly now that Rye Fashions is going). Other suggestions will be welcomed, and of course published.
The position about Dewhursts is now clear; on Monday an enormous double-faced board announced that it is "To Let" through an Eastbourne agent, and we understand that there has already been considerable interest.
Other planning applications this week are for a new garage and coast rescue equipment house for HM Coastguard, in the triangle of land at the end of Harbour Road bounded by the road, the car park and the garden of the Old Vicarage - a single-storey brick building with a slate roof; it will mean a very slight diversion of the footpath into that end of the car park. There is also an application for a flat in the roof-space of the Decorator's Warehouse in Cinque Ports Street; an internal staircase ascends from the two new flats below, and the end facing the road (stand opposite and look at it) will certainly have one of the most unusual frontages of any flat in Rye.
Someone has handed in to Rye Police Station a very personal possession - the upper half of a set of dentures. Found in the snow in the fields behind New Road (the Camber footpath side), they were in a small plastic bag. The police will be glad to restore them to their owner, confidentiality guaranteed!
A forged £5 note has recently turned up in the town. The forgery is a poor one, with no watermark; but any note numbered KU53114361 or thereabouts is suspicious.
A remarkable theft took place on the night of 10/11 February from an unlocked shed in New England Lane: a brass bugle worth about £50 and a dozen bayonets are missing. Who, we wonder, is raising a private army?
- 3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 19 February 1986
Rye Town Council's Bequests Committee on Saturday afternoon entertained some 130 of the town's most senior citizens at its annual party at the Community Centre.
All were either over 70 or married to over-70s. Although we had heard it called "the old ladies' party", it was certainly by no means confined to the fair sex a rough check revealed a large number of men scattered among the guests seated at tables in the hall, to say nothing of the six misogynists sitting firmly together in the front: We were also impressed by how fit everyone looked; there were plenty of sticks hooked on to chair-backs, but most of the guests made their own way to the waiting coaches at the end of the party - and a drop-out rate of no more than eight out of a total guest-list of nearly 140 is enviable in any age-group.
After their meal, the guests were entertained by an 8-strong section of the King Pins, including a very young and amiable conjurer; Councillor Ringo provided the music afterwards, and everyone took home a carrier-bag containing a tin of biscuits, a personal gift from the Mayor. He and the Mayoress were of course there as helpers, and we were much amused to notice that - for the first time in 500 years, maybe? - the Speaker of the Cinque Ports was appearing in public in a pirate hat (gold to match the Mayoral chain). Everyone else had party hats too; but his seemed particularly appropriate!
Councillor Mrs. Yates thanked the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Bequests Committee for the party - a particularly good one this year, she said, and by now very much part of the Town Council traditions. She hoped it would continue for many years to come. The dozen or so exhausted helpers - Councillors and their spouses, and the Town Clerk - may have felt differently at that moment; but we are sure they will all be there again next year.
All of us who have enjoyed over the past ten years the sight of Rye Majorettes, smart in their red-and-blue uniforms or twirling light-sticks in the darkness of Bonfire Night, will be sorry to hear that they have disbanded. Val Lovecy tells us that there were only 11 girls in the troupe at the start of this year, and it was just not making economic sense to continue. (This is not an exclusively Rye problem; several local troupes have closed down and a recent Radio Sussex interview made it clear that the same thing is happening elsewhere.)
Mrs. Lovecy would like to say how very grateful she and the girls are to the staff and committee of the Community Centre, who have always given them every support, bending over backwards to help out. (She is also grateful to Poppy of the Crown for an offer of help.) But falling numbers are falling numbers, and closure really was inevitable. Rye - and in particular its street processions - will be the poorer.
In a report to Monday night's meeting of Rother's Housing Committee, Mr. Catt set out various possibilities for improving sheltered housing in Rye, in view of the new flats and Day Centre to be build on the Magdala House site. We shall be reporting on this next week.
But we view with anxiety a proposal, contained in the report, for the ex-Civil Defence building, now nearing the end of its life. This apparently belongs to Rother, and Mr. Catt is suggesting that it should be demolished and replaced by a small community hall adjacent to the Day Centre", which could be used both by the playgroup and for other hirings.
The Health Authority's 1985 Strategic Plan contained a proposal for a new clinic for Rye (originally on the Hill House site, but this has now been dropped). The obvious site for a new clinic is in Ferry Road; and particularly if it is likely to contain the outpatient and other facilities now available at the hospital, it will need to be bigger. It will, in fact, need the Civil Defence site... A new clinic could well incorporate a room suitable for playgroup plus evening activities like the slimming club; but not if Rother has already absorbed the CD site into its own housing development. Help
4.
There has been a lot of talk lately about new industrial units in the Rye area, plus at least four planning applications incorporating something of the kind and two such developments already completed. The Rural Development Area is about jobs, and so of course are industrial units; and it was the RDA Field Officer Leslie Bulman who took the press down before Christmas to see what was happening at Hatley's Rye Industrial Park in Harbour Road. Pressure on our space meant that we couldn't print the story at the time; but since then the position has improved anyway, and the units are now filling up very satisfactorily.
The development consists of a double block of workshops, much commended for its discreet appearance as far as the actual buildings are concerned but still looking scruffy from the road, since the promised landscaping has not yet replaced the rough ground in front. Inside, the 25 units are very roomy - 1,250 sq.ft of floor space, with a headroom of 16ft to the eaves, 22ft to the ridge. Each has a large roll-up shuttered door as well as two ordinary entrances; the internal fittings are the responsibility of the tenant, and of course vary.
Units 1-3 belong to the Point of Purchase Display Company, and Edward Pain, who lives in Beckley with his family, tells us that he makes merchandising equipment to special designs for national companies, particularly those selling soft furnishings and carpets, or horticultural supplies (eg. Suttons). Debenhams are among his customers, and one of his products is in the Hastings store. He also sells overseas, though not yet on a regular basis. The firm employs up to 15 people in Harbour Road, and as many again in its other factory in Kent which handles the wire-work side.
The other side of the entrance, Robin Paine runs from Unit 25 his increasingly successful business as an electrician. Robin, who lives in West Undercliff with his wife Sandra (Osborne) and two sons, was out of a job when Farnborough closed down - but not for long. Working at first from his garage, he set up on his own as an electrician; soon he employed a Farnborough colleague, and now he has two qualified electricians working for him and badly needs a third. He has built up an enormous range of stock, both for his own use and for sale through his trade and retail counter, where yet another ex-Farnborough man is in charge; a TPS lad works there one day a week on work experience, and Robin is thinking of taking on a YTS trainee later.
Unit 23 holds Tony Martin, of Africa Access. Outside, the day we called, was an army lorry being stripped down. Inside, due to go out that afternoon, was the vehicle into which the previous lorry had been transformed: seating 23, with a removable cover, storage space tucked in everywhere and a viewing platform over the cab, the vivid yellow truck will be away from Rye for two years. It was leaving on an adventure safari lasting six months, through France, Spain, Morocco, the Sahara, Niger, Timbuctoo and other romantic and far-away places in Africa, ending at Johannesburg; then it is due to make a series of shorter safari trips based on Nairobi before bringing another group of intrepid travellers back to England. The firm is Lewes-based, but all the work on the vehicles is done in Harbour Road; the lorry we saw in the early stages will be the third conversion by the three men working there.
Dennis Field, in units 5 and 6, is still in process of setting up his Project Three enterprise, but once business is in full swing he could well be providing 6 full-time jobs and another half-dozen part-time - he is about to advertise for a machinist. Working in wood, he will be making an interesting choice of toys for the imaginative child of 3-8: a castle constructed from blocks which can be arranged to suit the whim of the builder, a flat-pack dolls' house with simple furniture, a push-along railway, and a play-desk which will not shoot the owner's work onto the floor every time access to the storage space is needed. He will also be manufacturing a carefully-designed range of garden furniture, and hopes to have this in production for the coming summer. Selling will mostly be by mail-order, but Mr. Field would like to find a couple of local outlets; ring him if you might be interested in becoming one of them.
5.
In unit 13, Godfrey Gardner works with metal - with the help of Geoff Ashbee (retired from Weslakes but not really sorry to be back part-time in Harbour Road) and a YTS trainee. Son of William Gardner the coin designer and medallist, Godfrey's interest in metalwork started with clock parts; but now, with more room and an unusual assortment of machinery, he can undertake a wide range of work, from non-ferrous welding to general machining of large or small parts - either one-off or in small batches. He specialises in parts for vintage cars and racing cars (perhaps with the spirit of his great-grandfather, the first managing director of Vauxhall's, looking over his shoulder?) He is interested in hearing from people with a machining problem of any kind which he might be able to solve; if he can't, he has excellent contacts.
Hellcat Catamarans are the most recent arrivals. They occupy six units plus the Estate's office (where they hope, eventually, to organise a secretarial service for the benefit of all the tenants). Marketing Director Andrew Hind told us that the firm has come from North Wales because the position about supplies is so much easier here. They will be turning out Hellcats 12 and 14, and when production is in full swing will hope to have jobs for 11 people. It is really nice to have a firm of boat-builders in Harbour Road, though what Rye's historic shipwrights would think of a catamaran...!
We have been unable to contact the firm of heating engineers in unit 24; and enquiries from a plastics company for units 10-12 are still at an early stage.
We asked all the firms for comments about the units. Heating presents difficulties: there are no flues for oil heaters, and at present no planning permission for storage tanks for oil or propane and - surprisingly - Harbour Road has no mains gas. So electricity or bottled gas (not always allowed, for safety reasons) is the choice, and this comes expensive for units with high ceilings. But the main problem is the big doors. Water comes in underneath in nearly all the units; and some tenants told us that snow also came in over the top, and of course their nice warm air goes out. W.? put the question to David Swindale of Geering & Colyer's Ashford branch: what was the trouble? Standard doors, he told us, used on "what turned out to be a rather exposed site" (those who know Harbour Road will appreciate the degree of understatement here!) But work is about to start on dealing with the problem, he said. The tenants will be glad to hear this, as they were apparently expecting a start last month, after a lot of site meetings and other negotiations in December.
However, this is obviously something which will be cleared up (as will, doubtless, the appearance of the frontage foreground). Mains gas would also be welcome; Michael Alford told us that Segas conducted a rather half-hearted survey in the village some time ago, and announced that there was no demand. But if the other planning applications for Harbour Road come to fruition, things could be different? Perhaps the RDA could use a little persuasion here.
Anyway, it is clear that these new units have already brought jobs to the town, and are likely to bring considerably more. Apart from Robin Paine, the businesses are all new to Rye, lured here by Hatleys' low initial rents, the good road access and the bracing sea breezes. May they be the first of many!
After our excursion to Harbour Road, we began to wonder what was happening in the six Le Fevre Wood & Royle units with the blue roofs, in Rock Channel. Here, too, the news is good. Two are at present occupied by a double-glazing manu- facturer sub-contracting for Glazeflow; when Paul Kennard moves his boat, at Easter, they will move into his two units as well. Unit 5 houses a mechanical engineer, Cecil Burt, working with diesel and vintage cars. Only Unit 6 is still vacant. The old slipway which was originally incorporated in this development is being filled in - boats are launched by crane these days! The new work down there is for the Rock Channel Quay houses, flats and moorings, for which planning permission was obtained several years ago; these things take time.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 19 February 1986
Rye Town Council's Bequests Committee on Saturday afternoon entertained some 130 of the town's most senior citizens at its annual party at the Community Centre. All were either over 70 or married to over-70s. Although we had heard it called "the old ladies' party", it was certainly by no means confined to the fair sex a rough check revealed a large number of men scattered among the guests seated at tables in the hall, to say nothing of the six misogynists sitting firmly together in the front: We were also impressed by how fit everyone looked; there were plenty of sticks hooked on to chair-backs, but most of the guests made their own way to the waiting coaches at the end of the party - and a drop-out rate of no more than eight out of a total guest-list of nearly 140 is enviable in any age-group.
After their meal, the guests were entertained by an 8-strong section of the King Pins, including a very young and amiable conjurer; Councillor Ringo provided the music afterwards, and everyone took home a carrier-bag containing a tin of biscuits, a personal gift from the Mayor. He and the Mayoress were of course there as helpers, and we were much amused to notice that - for the first time in 500 years, maybe? - the Speaker of the Cinque Ports was appearing in public in a pirate hat (gold to match the Mayoral chain). Everyone else had party hats too; but his seemed particularly appropriate!
Councillor Mrs. Yates thanked the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Bequests Committee for the party - a particularly good one this year, she said, and by now very much part of the Town Council traditions. She hoped it would continue for many years to come. The dozen or so exhausted helpers - Councillors and their spouses, and the Town Clerk - may have felt differently at that moment; but we are sure they will all be there again next year.
All of us who have enjoyed over the past ten years the sight of Rye Majorettes, smart in their red-and-blue uniforms or twirling light-sticks in the darkness of Bonfire Night, will be sorry to hear that they have disbanded., Val Lovecy tells us that there were only 11 girls in the troupe at the start of this year, and it was just not making economic sense to continue. (This is not an exclusively Rye problem; several local troupes have closed down and a recent Radio Sussex interview made it clear that the same thing is happening elsewhere.)
Mrs. Lovecy would like to say how very grateful she and the girls are to the staff and committee of the Community Centre, who have always given them every support, bending over backwards to help out. (She is also grateful to Poppy of the Crown for an offer of help.) But falling numbers are falling numbers, and closure really was inevitable. Rye - and in particular its street processions - will be the poorer.
In a report to Monday night's meeting of Rother's Housing Committee, Mr. Catt set out various possibilities for improving sheltered housing in Rye, in view of the new flats and Day Centre to be build on the Magdala House site. We shall be reporting on this next week.
But we view with anxiety a proposal, contained in the report, for the ex-Civil Defence building, now nearing the end of its life. This apparently belongs to Rother, and Mr. Catt is suggesting that it should be demolished and replaced by a small community hall adjacent to the Day Centre", which could be used both by the playgroup and for other hirings.
The Health Authority's 1985 Strategic Plan contained a proposal for a new clinic for Rye (originally on the Hill House site, but this has now been dropped). The obvious site for a new clinic is in Ferry Road; and particularly if it is likely to contain the outpatient and other facilities now available at the hospital, it will need to be bigger. It will, in fact, need the Civil Defence site... A." new clinic could well incorporate a room suitable for playgroup plus evening activities like the slimming club; but not if Rother has already absorbed the CD site into its own housing development. Help
7.
Rye Chamber of Trade - and the rest of us - are very grateful to those of the town's business community who subscribed towards the cost of the Christmas lights. The list includes some but not all of the High Street shops - starting from Hilder's Cliff, we have My Sweet Old Etc., Fruits of Rye, Peacocke's, Rye Fashions, Horrells, Penny Royal, Boots, Martello, the Leather Shop, Martins, Woolworths, Rayners, Frank Golden, Serendipity, Longs, Graham's, Oliver's, Rose-Anne, John Dennis, Bennett's, Ashbee's, Rye Goldsmiths, Hamilton's, the Pette Shoppe and Woolgar's. Catering is represented by the George Hotel, Casa Conti and Rye Tandoori; Dawes Son & Herington contributed on behalf of the law; Butler & Hatch Waterman and Anglia were on the list, as were Lloyds, Natwest and Midland Banks. The Landgate, too, benefited from the lights: Burnhams, Blackmans, Chandlers, Huffs, Man of Rye, Osborne's and Phipps & Co contributed. The rest of the lit area was represented by Durrant House, the Tuck Shoppe, Freight Express, Merrythought, F/etchers House, Simon the Pieman, Artique, McGann's, Kurrein Gallery, Peacock Wine Bar, Pilkington's, Gasson's and the Golden Fleece. Finally, perhaps rather special thanks to half-a-dozen businesses who contributed although their streets were not lit up at all: Worths and the Union Inn in East Street, Swan Cottage and Le Fevre Wood & Royle in The Mint, Camiers in Wish Ward, R & S Paine in Harbour Road, and also Rye and District Lions. Thanks, too, must go to the team who set up, maintained and eventually dismantled what must have been about a mile of bulb-hung cable!
• Before Christmas, someone handed in to the Wool Shop a very interesting photograph for the collection being assembled by Rye Scouts. Now the donor has called again (and turns out to be Mrs. William Brodrick); this time she has given them a postcard of the presentation of colours to Captain Cory's Own by Mr. Kingsnorth Reeves, at a parade reviewed by King George V on 4 July 1911. Frank Dowdeswell is very grateful; he is trying to research the history of the troop, and has been told that it was the second one ever founded in Great Britain. It was not regis- tered until 1909 (with Lady Maud Warrender as Its first President), but is believed to have started unofficially in 1908. If anyone has documentary evidence of this, he would love to know.
• The Town Diarist is glad to observe that Rye is waking up again from its winter hibernation - but sorry when four events are booked in for the same night. Friday, 7 March, sees the Movie Society meeting to contest the RX Trophy; the Museum Association's lecture by Dr. G. Woodcock on the latest developments in archaeology in Sussex; the ATC's presentation evening, postponed after the mini-Jus accident; and the AGM of the Rye Conservative Association, at which Kenneth Warren, MP, will be the speaker. This is more than enough for one evening; please don't arrange anything else.
• Tickets are now on sale for the TPS PTA Barn Dance on 8 March at Upper School at 8. They may be bought from any PTA committee member or from Penny Royal or EMBS in the High Street, price £3 (which includes a buffet supper). The music will be by the Catsfield Steamers, an extremely popular band who usually bring quite a following of non-local fans, so local dancers would be weiladvised to make sure of their tickets in advance and not chance getting them at the door. The PTA barn-dances have proved popular with pupils as well as parents - something which a whole family can enjoy together.
• A letter addressed to "The Editor, The Local Newspaper, Rye, England" was recently delivered to Cyprus Place, and we give it in full. "Dear Sir, I would be grateful if you would publish this letter in your newspaper. My name is Ruth. I am a girl. I am 12 years old. My hobbies are: animals, collecting stamps, reading, writing letters, knitting and other things. I would like to find a penpal in your country, as I have heard so many wonderful things about it. Yours sincerely, Ruth Dieckmann." Ruth lives in Steinfurt, Germany. She certainly writes very nice clear English for her age. We will be glad to hear if anyone does become her "penpal".
Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10.30 to 4 (and Friday and Saturday) WI Market AGM, CC, 2 (with a speaker on "Preserves")
Cadborough Jubilee Social Club jumble sale, CC, 11
Movie Society Annual Dinner and Upton Trophy, H.Anchor, 7 for 7.30
Variety Night with the King Pins, Upper School, 8 (GAZETTE no.165)
Thrift Shop Grand Half-Price Sale, Red Cross, 10.30 to 4 WRVS Lunch Club, CC, 12.30
• Better news this week of Councillor James Menhinick: still in intensive care, he is now fully conscious, demanding The Times and pleased to receive cards from his friends (though not, says the hospital, flowers - and no visitors yet) at the IT Unit, Royal East Sussex Hospital, Hastings. We look forward to reporting soon that he is out of intensive care; Mrs. Menhinick quotes the doctors as showing "cautious optimism".
• The Women's British Legion (whose Ploughman's Lunch on Saturday made a profit of L43) are delighted to report that their recent plea for a typewriter brought them in two - one from a Watchbell Street resident, the other from one of our local Councillors. The secretary now has the office model which she needed, and the minutes secretary can work at home on the portable. They are most grateful to both kind donors.
• No response at all to our suggestion of a coach trip over to the St. Michael's Hospice valuation day with Sotheby's at the Concordia Hall, St. Leonards, on 28 February; if anyone wanting to go can't make their own way (and David Cranston tells us that the hall is not really that difficult to find, we had misread the map!) ring Liz Hammond on Hastings 423000 to see if the Hospice committee can arrange a lift.
• Sheila Brown of Swan Cottage Tea Rooms in The Mint announces that they are now open every day from 2.30 to serve afternoon teas; full-time opening, for coffee and lunches, will follow nearer Easter.
• Anyone with a heap of Christmas cards still lying around might like to be reminded that they are put to good use by Mrs. Viola Bayley of West Street. She cuts them to fit one of the basic blanks provided by the Church of England Children's Society, and then sells them nearer Christmas at very modest prices, with all the money going to the Society. Last year she sold more than 5,000! Birthday and other greetings cards are also welcome at any time, and those which she can't use go up to Hill House School for the children there.
• Ringo (Brian Chapman) is now on the telephone - much to the relief, one would imagine, of his fellow Town Councillors and the Town Clerk.
• A postscript to last week's report on the Ladbrokes buy-in to the Senews local paper group: On Radio Sussex (and hence in the GAZETTE) the figure quoted for the deal was £9m, given in the course of an interview with Robert Breare. Later in the week the Sussex Express knocked it down to "about C6.1m", while the News practically halved the original figure to "some £4.8m". Since both papers are part of the Senews group and Mr. Breare is its chairman, who is one to believe?
• Finally, a somewhat dubious recommendation from Radio Sussex for a foreign holiday it is sponsoring. On Tuesday morning we were told that "there are more facilities in your hotel than you can possibly want, and the warm waters off the Malaysian coast thrown in for free". We hope they only mean a water-bed..:
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye (Rye 222303), and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers, Rye. News items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline Monday afternoon (Tuesday 9 am at latest and only for real emergencies). The GAZETTE costs 30p 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 1986)