On the midday tide on Saturday, an elderly lady took to the water in Rock Channel - an elderly lady who has undergone a five-year face-lift which has left her looking young and beautiful again. But the SWA doesn't think so.
"Mascotte" first saw service as a Bristol Channel pilot-cutter. Built in 1904, she was in a derelict condition when Paul Kennard of Rye discovered her in the Isle of Wight, and Stan Pepper towed her round to Rye to start a new life. Over the next 44 years Paul, a carpenter by trade, renewed almost every part of the boat - little by little, so that the original lines shouldn't be lost; the keel was sound, but that was about all. Working with a team of local people, some unemployed or under the auspices of the Manpower Services Commission, he finally reached the stage where "Mascotte" was ready to have her mast stepped, her rigging attached and her engine installed, before he started work below, converting her into living accommodation for his family. They plan, next summer, to take her to Portugal, to the Greek islands, maybe to charter her... This lovely ship must be the biggest boat launched in Rye for very many years.
The launch itself was a joyful occasion. With no trouble at all, winched gently down the Rock Channel slipway from across the river, "Mascotte" slid into the water and was towed up to Strand Quay by "Silver Stream" with Paul's father Harry aboard; it was Paul's daughter Tina who had whacked the ceremonial bottle of champagne across the prow. There were photographers, a video camera and crowds of admirers to see "Mascotte" tuck herself neatly up beside the quay on the fishing-boat side. Her flags fluttered briskly in the wind, brightly in the sunshine. Everyone was happy...
...Until after lunch, that is, when Harbourmaster Colin Marsh arrived, with a policeman in support, to tell Paul that the boat had no business there and that he was to move it within 24 hours!
After that the story gets complicated. The Harbourmaster did not wish to comment apart from saying that he had offered "Mascotte" another mooring. Paul says that this mooring is not suitable, either to step the mast from or to keep an eye on his now valuable property. He has offered to pay normal Strand Quay mooring fees while "Mascotte" is there; the Harbour office has refused, and has, since Saturday, given Paul a second and finally a third and final warning, on that occasion with a police-car crew in support.
We shall be reporting on the latest position next week, but we understand that legal action could well follow the SWA's official warnings. "Mascotte" was still at Strand Quay on Tuesday morning, and is now unlikely to leave before the next spring tides in ten days' time, whatever happens. But if this beautiful boat, all 57 feet of her, has to quit Strand Quay before she is ready to do so, it seems a very great pity. Surely Strand Quay was built for working boats, and should they not have priority, anyway in the short term, over visiting pleasure yachts? What is the Harbour Authority thinking of?
A Thirties-style wedding dress was the choice of Amanda Parker for her marriage at the Baptist Church on Saturday to Philip Vincett, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Vincett of Udimore Road. Amanda, who is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Malcolm Parker of Rottingdean, teaches at Hill House School, and chose two of her small pupils, Louise Newham and Kerry Anne McNicol, to be bridesmaids under the watchful eye of her sister Joanne. Amanda's elegant dress was a two-piece in oyster voile, calf-length and strikingly embroidered in beads and sequins; she wore a small feathered hat to match. Her sister's outfit was in mushroom and white, and the two little girls, enjoying every moment, wore cream pinafores over deep pink dresses. Philip's best man was his brother-in-law Barry Faulkner and his sister Mary drove the bridal car as they left the church for the reception at Iden Village Hall. The couple will be living in Hastings, where Philip works for a finance company; Amanda is keeping on with her job, and the honeymoon is being postponed until the school holidays.
2.
Rebecca Pointer of Peasmarsh, only child of Alan Pointer of Rye Police Station and his wife Barbara, was killed in a road accident on Wednesday. She was 41. The accident happened on the A28 in Broad Oak just north of the junction with Furnace Lane; Mr. Pointer was driving the family's VW Polo, and also involved were a Freight Rover light goods vehicle driven by a man from Preston, Lancs., and another car from Wittersham. The three drivers suffered from cuts, bruises and shock; Mrs. Pointer has a broken shoulder. The police are anxious to hear from any witnesses (Rye 222112). The funeral arrangements have not yet been announced, and enquiries should go to Messrs. JE Blackman. Mr. and Mrs. Pointer ask that instead of flowers, donations in Rebecca's memory should go to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children - they may be left at Rye Police Station, or sent c/o Messrs. Blackman, St. Aubrey, Sea Road, Camber. We are sure readers would wish us to express the deepest sympathy of the whole town to Mr. and Mrs. Pointer at this time of tragedy.
An almost complete collection of the works of EF Benson is now in the library of Lamb House, his home for 22 years. Last week members of the EF Benson Society added volumes collected over recent months to those already on the shelves of the telephone room which were given by Paul Harris of New York, Sir Brian Batsford and others. Benson wrote 108 novels and a number of biographies and other books; of these, not more than 20 in all are now missing from the Lamb House, Sir Brian tells us, thanks to the Benson Society's generosity.
Rye was visited last week by another transatlantic Mayor of Rye - this time, the Mayor of Rye Brook Village, which adjoins the City of Rye, NY. Mr. Jack Kabcenell and his wife Valerie were unable to meet Roger and Amy Breeds when they visited Rye NY in April, and wrote asking if they might pay their respects in the course of their own vacation in England. The day they wanted to come (21 May), our new Mayor was out of Rye (handing over the Speakership of the Cinque Ports to her New Romney successor), but Deputy Mayor Frank Palmer and his wife Irene were able to join the party for lunch at the Flushing. Earlier, Roger had arranged a quick look round the town for Mr. and Mrs. Kabcenell; he got permission for them to park in the police station yard, and only then discovered that as Mayor, Mr. Kabcenell is also Commissioner of Police at Rye Brook - which, with 9,000 inhabitants, still calls itself a village, though it is twice the size of our town of Rye!
The pavement outside the Post Office has now been taken up and relaid completely so that it slopes very gently up to the doorway and almost entirely eliminates the step. Thank you very much, Ralph Olesen. Complaints about the inner door, which only opens outwards, continue; not only is it impossible for wheelchair users to open it unaided, but people laden with parcels also have trouble. The Post Office say nothing can be done until next month when the guarantee period expires, and probably not then as it would be too expensive to alter it now. But why did the architects design the building in the first place without a door that would swing both ways (as the old ones did)? We have failed, so far, to discover the answer.
• Congratulations to Richard Popple, manager of the Rye office of Geering & Colyer, who has just been appointed to the Eastern Divisional Board of Management of the firm, now part of the enormous Lloyds Bank empire.
• Congratulations, too, to Tony and Cynthia Reavell, who celebrated the tenth birthday of their Martello Bookshop with not only a party but also a smart new coat of paint.
• Welcome to Mr. and Mrs. Patel (and their baby); the Patels have come from Crawley to take over the ownership of the Corner Shop at the foot of Market Road.
--3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 28 May 1986
• A report to Rother's Recreation and Tourism Committee from Parks and Recreation Manager Colin Hudson discusses the question of boot fairs on the Salts. Twelve have been booked in for this year - six by commercial promoters and six as charitable events. (Apart from the Carnival, these don't appear in the Town Diary; we will investigate further for next week.)
All are on Saturdays, and Mr. Hudson aims for "a basis of an average of only one commercial event per month" over a seven-month period (which could still, of course, mean four in August apart from the Carnival, since this year it has five Saturdays). After the first of these events, the Chamber of Trade complained to Rother about the unfair commercial competition, and alleged that there are restrictions against such use of the Salts; Rye Town Council has also objected, particularly to the commercial operations.
Mr. Hudson's recommendation is "that the Council reaffirms its existing policy with regard to Car Boot Sales on its land in accordance with the present strict conditions; and replies be sent to the Rye Chamber of Trade and Rye Town Council to inform them of this with an assurance that there will be no increase in commercial hirings in future".
Whether or not yesterday's meeting of the committee approves Mr. Hudson's report - and John Cawdron, one of its members, strongly endorses the Rye view - readers who feel that this is an improper use of the Salts may like to write to David Powell, Rother's Chief Executive, stating their opinions.
• Another report to the same committee is from David Blake, Entertainments and Tourism Director. He sets out at length all aspects of the enormous impact which tourism has on the Rother area, and discloses some figures which will particularly interest Rye readers.
The Rye & District Hotel & Caterers Association has 36 members, and the Rye tourist office holds a further list of 45 non-Association establishments offering beds. The equivalent figures for Bexhill are 14 members and 23 others; no figures are given for Battle, which has no Hotels Association. It is clearly difficult for Mr. Blake to be specific about running costs for the three tourist offices, since they are also used for other purposes; but the figures given for 1985/6 are £4,980 for Rye, £7,790 for Battle, and an amazing £15,810 for Bexhill - amazing because the total number of enquiries received at Bexhill during 1985 was 10,401, as against 56,354 .at Battle and 32,509 'at Rye. One wonders why so much money is needed for the Bexhill office, which has one-third of the Rye enquiries and yet costs more than three times as much to run!
The repainting of Monkbretton Bridge, postponed from last year after the contractor had to withdraw, is due to start on 16 June.
The new contractor's first job is to construct a temporary footway above the present one, so that the painters can get at the metalwork around the present wooden decking. This will mean traffic lights controlling the flow of vehicles over the bridge for about a week. For the next four or five weeks, work will proceed on the outside, and the road will be clear; then there will be traffic lights again for a further three weeks while the temporary footway is dismantled and the painters work on the inside walls of the bridge.
A little arithmetic reveals that the second traffic-light period coincides with the August peak traffic period. Is this timing necessary, we asked Martin Braine of ESCC's Highways Department at Lewes? Unfortunately yes, he said; painting a metal bridge with six coats of paint means that each one has to be applied when the weather is suitable - and they have found that the middle of the summer is really the only time they can count on this. Even then the timetable can be badly upset (though readers may remember that when the road was resurfaced the job actually took four days when the original estimate had been a month!). Colour? Much the same - a darkish, and economical, grey.
4.
We have all known ever since the Rye bypass was announced in May 1983 that the choice of route - whether or not it was planned in with the Winchelsea scheme - would present enormous problems. Now Peter Bottomley, the new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for (among other things) bypasses, has issued an exceedingly interesting statement about the Winchelsea and Rye routes, which Len Warren has sent on to us. Mr. Bottomley says:
"Lynda Chalker explained in her letter of 16 January 1984 why the Winchelsea and Rye schemes initially had each progressed at a different pace. The announcement of a preferred route for Winchelsea is a further step forward in the development of that scheme. We have been unable to make the same degree of progress with Rye where our route investigations are proving very complex. We are having difficulty in demonstrating that some of the possible routes would provide value for money on our usual criteria. We are dealing with it as quickly as we can. I will make a further announcement about Rye as soon as possible.
"The selection of a preferred route for Winchelsea has in no way pre-empted future decisions on Rye. There is still a long way to go before the Winchelsea route will be finally decided, probably following a public enquiry. It will be kept under review in the light of future developments of any Rye scheme. Meanwhile I cannot justify delaying further progress on the Winchelsea scheme to allow Rye to catch up.
"I note your views about the preferred Winchelsea route. The reasons for our choice are set out in the enclosed Statement." (This is the document issued when that route was announced, and is available in the Library.) "The preferred route will now be further investigated in preparation for the publication of formal proposals under the Highways Act 1980. There will then be a further opportunity for objections and representations to be made before a final decision is taken. Landscaping measures will be considered to minimise the intrusive effects of the new road. The proposed single two lane carriageway road is considered adequate for the amount of traffic expected to use it. This will be kept under review as the design and statutory procedures for the scheme progress.
In a covering statement Mr. Warren adds "Whereas the Rye enquiry continues, to my regret, to be delayed I recognise the considerable design problem which the Department is having to overcome in order to give us sensible route options to review. I will keep up the pressure on the Minister to get the enquiry started as soon as possible."
Two sentences in particular in the Minister's second paragraph ("There is still ... any Rye scheme") would seem to make the Winchelsea route very considerably less final than most of us had supposed! Could it be that the Blue route (the one joining the A259 at the bend half-way between Rye and Winchelsea) is still a possibility? That would indeed give a much wider base for Rye's options. Anyway, the uncertainty clearly goes on.
Tony Wills of Serendipity is one of those who have believed all along that even the railway route for Winchelsea would not limit Rye's choice, and he explained to us last week that if the Rye road were to go north or south of the town, it would simply pull away from the Winchelsea route somewhere between the two places. And the remainder of the Winchelsea route, running right into Strand quay? That, says Mr. Wills, would be needed anyway, as a feeder road into the town itself while the though traffic was signposted along the bypass. Since either a northerly or a southerly route already has a feeder road into the town (Ferry Road or Winchelsea Road) we are not quite convinced; but it is a perfectly good point of view which we are grateful to him for explaining.
Polegate, near Eastbourne, is having bypass trouble with its neighbour Pevensey. The new Pevensey route was described on Radio Sussex as "clipping off a piece of Polegate", but Pevensey Council takes the line that it is no business of Polegate's where Pevensey bypass goes. Polegats, like us, wants to be considered in the plans for next-door. Perhaps the D o T can only envisage bypasses in small sections, like a child counting on the fingers of one hand!
5.
Writing recently about the old Rye quarter Sessions, we quoted Ivo Fowle on "the post-war trend which has taken away from Rye responsibility for its own affairs and placed them in the hands of people miles away from the town who lack local knowledge and, some would say, interest."
Now it is happening again. Some time during the second half of this year, Rye's status as a Sub-Division of Sussex Police is to vanish - and we shall get chucked into a vast area described as Rother (whether strictly the same as the District Council area we don't know). It will be centred on Bexhill, and extends from the Kent boundary to foreign-sounding places such as Hooe, Ashburnham, Dallington, Burwash and Ticehurst on its western edge. Rye Police Station will be in the charge of an Inspector; and since, as usual, Rye is on the extreme edge of the swollen sub-division, we shall doubtless feel as neglected by the police as we are by other authorities. (How can anyone expect a Bexhill copper to take any real interest in Rye, let alone Camber?)
The chop will be administered at a meeting of the Police Authority tomorrow. Theoretically the members may turn down the elaborate Review prepared by Sussex Police to save money - but it does not, to be honest, seen very likely. If it is approved, the changes start on 1 July and are expected to be complete by the end of 1986.
Rye's good friend Chief-Inspector Dyson will be transferred to become second-in-command at Bexhill - not even promotion, just a move sideways. Inspector Sid Northern is likely to remain at Rye. What else the change of status will mean has not yet been spelt out, but members of the Crime Prevention Panel are asked to make a point of attending the meeting next Wednesday (4 June) at 7.30 when the implications of the review will be discussed.
Although, after burning our fingers recently, we swore not to meddle with nuclear matters in the GAZETTE again, it does seem reasonable to ask just what is this "present emergency plan" for Rye and district which has been referred to several times lately in the press and radio.
Several years ago, when Bill Simpson was Mayor, discussions apparently took place in Rye to test interest in contingency arrangements for a possible disaster of any kind. This could include flooding, fire, chemical spillage - or trouble from Dungeness, though at that time the area thought to be at risk from such a source was only a couple of miles in radius. Hearing rumours of these meetings at the time, we spoke to John McWhirter, then as now the ESCC's emergency services officer. He told us then that consultations with the Town Council and other organisations gave the impression that Rye did not seem to be greatly interested. We pointed out to him that no-one had actually asked the man-in-the-street for his views - and as far as we know, no-one has done so since.
However, ESCC did draw up an emergency plan for Rye and our corner of the county. We still haven't got all the details, but the idea was that the three zones into which Rye itself would be divided would be evacuated from rendezvous areas at Freda Gardham, the Strand and Upper School, to reception areas at Hastings, Bexhill and Hailsham (also mainly school premises). The evacuation would be controlled by the police, and the voluntary organisations like the WRVS and the Red Cross would also be involved, Mr. McWhirter tells us.
Although this plan was last updated in January of this year, the implications of Chernobyl have now made it out of date. Last week ESCC appointed a firm of consultants to advise on new safety/evacuation arrangements. Until its recommendations have gone before the County Council, it would be unreasonable to expect Mr. McWhirter to announce new plans for Rye; but when that time comes, he really must announce them publicly instead of the present hole-and-corner system!
A different kind of emergency: Rye Harbour lifeboat went out on Sunday afternoon to support "Mona Lisa" (Chris Robus and Trevor Briant of the Harbour) whose engine had broken down; repairs were effected, and the lifeboat escorted her safely back into the Harbour.
• What do Lamb House, Jeake's House and The Forecastle have in common, apart from antiquity? Between the wars they were all the homes of writers with international reputations - two with domestic arrangements which must have been, from time to time, of considerable interest to the rest of the community.
A book to be published tomorrow brings together the often interlinked lives of eight writers who at one time or another lived round here, with briefer accounts of a further ten. Iain Finlayson makes it clear that the subjects of his "Writers in Romney Marsh" (Severn House, £5.95 paperback, £12.95 cloth) were in no way a literary group, merely a number of authors who happened to like the area (indeed, not all of them did like it very much). His definition of Romney Marsh is loose enough to include Rye, and the town figures largely in the main text as well as in his entertaining introductory chapter; while writing the book, he lived for some time in Church Square, and now has a house in Hastings Old Town.
The main subjects are Henry James at Lamb House, HG Wells at Sandgate, Joseph Conrad in Kent, Ford Madox Hueffer in Romney Marsh, Stephen Crane at Brede, Conrad Aiken at Jeake's House, EF Benson at Lamb House, and Radclyffe Hall in Rye. His final chapter records The Rest, ranging from John Fletcher (born in 1579), through Richard Barham, E. Nesbit, Russell Thorndike, Noel Coward, SheilP Kaye-Smith, Mary and Jane Findlater and Jocelyn Brooke to our own, our very own Patric Dickinson.
Iain is a journalist by trade, and his book would be a pleasure to read even if it were not of local interest. As it is, it covers the town's high society much as Peter Ewart dealt recently with the less fortunate of our citizens, and is full of equally fascinating anecdotes (which, alas, we have no room to quote) about the private as well as the professional struggles of his authors. Doubtless some of Peter's subjects worked for some of Lain's; descendants of both still live in the town today.
• A book which should certainly be available to the guests of every hotel and bed-and-breakfast in Sussex is "Explore Sussex," the latest book by David Arscott of Radio Sussex. This time he is partnered by photographer Tim Sharman, and there are plenty of pictures, mainly in black-and-white but some coloured (Rye gets a bonus one from the BR half-page ad, which shows a train crossing the bridge beside the Mill). The aim of the book is to list the tourist attractions in the county (most of them, anyway); each has a page or more of description, including the really invaluable up-to-date details of opening times, any special arrangements for guided tours or wheelchair access, refreshment facilities, how to get there, entry price guide, and a relevant phone number.
David says - how right he is - that Sussex is such a huge county that people living one end of it know very little about the other end, and his book is also intended for local residents. He starts at Uppark, north of Chichester, and ends with Lamb House, travelling eastwards along the coast with occasional inland excursions. There is an index with a sketch-map above, and a dozen or so up-market ads are sensitively incorporated in the text. At £5.95, with its A4 format, coloured cover and generally handsome presentation (the publishers are Local Heritage Books, of Newbury, Berks) "Explore Sussex" is a most useful addition to anyone's library.
• The Rev. Noel Perry-Gore, of Military Road, has recently published "Coherence Through the Eyes of Mary" - an evocation of the Virgin and the infant, dead and risen Christ in pictures and words (we quote from the enthusiastic review in the Church Times). Mr. Perry-Gore's designs have been engraved by Simon Brett, and there is a foreword from the Dean of St. Paul's. The book is printed by the Rocket Press at Blewbury, near Didcot, and published by the Paulinus Press of Marlborough; copies can be obtained by post from either, with the soft-back edition selling at £16 (plus £1 post) and the limited hardback edition at £45 (£2 post).
We are always very pleased to mention a book by a local author, whatever the subject, if we can have details or borrow a copy.
7.
The Sport-Aid event at Thomas Peacocke School took place on Sunday afternoon in brilliant sunshine and a crisp breeze. Somewhere over 175 runners slogged round the perimeter of the school grounds; the lists we saw, soon after the start, showed 32 from the 1st year, 22 2nd-year, 29 3rd-year, 14 4th-year, 26 5th and 6th years, and 56 parents, staff and friends (to say nothing of little bruvvers). The groups of parents sitting in the sun even had to haul back at intervals some very, little bruvvers (and sisters) wobbling off to join in the fun: It is obviously not possible for the PE staff to say yet how much money was raised, but we hope to have the figure when it has all come in.
Another group of runners did a 6-mile jog to Appledore (time, 1 hour 34 minutes) and between the five of them raised over £200 for the appeal. Sharon Cocks and June Woolley of Rye Pottery thought of it, and were joined by Anne Swaine of the FE Centre and Mary and Don Vicarey of the Freezer Centre. Reg Cooper acted as back-up and transport home; and they are all deeply grateful to the Red Lion at Appledore who kindly contributed free pots of tea when they reached the end of the run.
Mrs. Gwen FitzHugh (nee Baker) of Pottingfield Road well remembers Miss Gladys Moon whose death we reported last week. Miss Moon was supervisor at the Rye telephone exchange (situated above the Post Office in the High Street) when Mrs. FitzHugh started work there, one of three or four girls operating the switchboard. She recalls Miss Moon as "always very kind and helpful and taught me all I had to know about telephony". Mrs. FitzHugh left the Rye exchange to work on the Plummers switchboard in Hastings, and then became a Fire Service telephonist during the war; it is pleasant to think that she keeps Miss Moon's memory green after so long.
In the early 1580s, while Rye was busy discussing the fitting-out of a ship to serve against the Armada, one of our Jurats was also finding time to carry on his own business as a shipper of cloth. William Didsbury, Mayor of Rye in 1582, had commercial dealings with the Corsinis, two Italian brothers who were among the biggest merchants in London; he wrote to them from time to time with details of shipping arrangements and customs delays (then as now!), with the letters taking two or three days to reach London.
On 11 June, Christies Robson Lowe (the Christies subsidiary which deals mainly with postal history) is selling the Corsini correspondence. Among it are five letters from William Didsbury, and the price guidelines per letter range from £60 to over £100. For Rye historians with this sort of money to spend, the 140-page catalogue costs £5 from 47 Duke Street, St. James's, W1; the sale begins there at 11 on the 11th, and the Didsbury letters are lots 66 to 70.
The town was extremely full over the Bank Holiday weekend. Margaret Leopold and Elvie Bylake were both on duty in the Tourist Office all day on Saturday, and did half a day each on Sunday mad Monday; they were worked off their feet, not only with general tourist enquiries but also finding accommodation for people who hadn't booked because they thought that in a little place like Rye there would be no problem. The last straw was a family party of ten who turned up at 5pm demanding accommodation under one roof; Mrs. Leopold, with the town already bursting at the seams, sent them down to Camber to see if Pontins could help.
In August, a big angling competition is to be based here; some 400 people are expected, and if even half of them expect to be found beds in the town at the peak of the season there will be problems. But an even worse prospect was offered to Mrs. Bylake last week:: a trade union official appeared at her desk with a pleased smile - could Rye accommodate their 4,500-delegate conference? When she expressed dismay, he asked coldly if trade union money wasn't good enough for Rye? Far from it, she replied; but 4,500 delegates would mean turning the town's entire population out of their own beds!
Craft Market, FEC, 11 to 5 WRVS Lunch Club, 12.15, CC.
FRAG talk, "The old houses of Rye and Hastings'" (David Martin), Ockman's Lane, 8
Hearing Circle coffee morning, Red Cross, 10.30
Landgate WI outing to Michelham Priory (Rope Walk, 10)
Coffee morning and bring-and-buy for Flower Festival expenses, St. Mary's, 10.30 (see below)
Crime Prevention Panel, Police Station, 7.30 (see page 5)
• The Blood Transfusion Service visits Rye again on Thursday week (5th).•The coffee morning at St. Mary's on Wednesday is the first of three (also 2 July and 6 August) which aim to raise money for the expenses of putting on the St. Mary's Flower Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Last time, these three events were much enjoyed; once again, if the weather is obliging, they will take place in the churchyard under the trees (War Memorial end).
• Fifty Guides from Rye and District, including two Rye companies and four from the villages, will be singing for Princess Margaret at Brighton on 8 June, she attends a service to celebrate 21 years of Guiding in East Sussex. Lo: Benton has been asked to bring the choir, who will be singing "Praise the Lord, O my soul". A Brownie choir is also taking part in the service.
• Rye Bowls Club have continued their excellent run of home wins. On 11 May they beat Battle (65:60); on 17 May, Peasmarsh (80:50); and 18 May saw a close game with Tenterden which Rye won with 83 points to the visiting club's 81. The first away match, against Fairlight on 24 May, was lost by 62 points to 89 -but it was ever so windy up there, our correspondent tells us:
• Red Cross Week produced a record total this year: the street collection in Rye brought in E248, and house-to-house collections produced a total of £1,630 in the large circle of villages covered by the Rye Centre, with a further £291 in the town itself. This amounts to Z2,169 in all, as against £1,886 in 1984, and £1,841 in 1985 when there was no flag-day.
• It is a real pleasure to report that last week's piece about the footpath fund was out-of-date. Donations have been received (150 from the East Sussex Association for the Disabled and £50 from the Multiple Sclerosis Society) which bring it up to the £600 level which allows Ralph Olesen to ask for estimates. When they have been studied, it will then be possible to say how much more money will be needed for the work.
• We were very sorry to learn that the Paul Bishop reported as involved in a road accident last week is in fact Mr. Bishop of Thomas Peacocke School. School is shut this week; but on Friday the news was that he has had an operation on his leg and is "improving" in hospital.
• On Monday, prices in the Goods Yard car park went up to Z5 for coaches and 60p for cars - in each case, this covers all-day parking.
• Apologies to Mark Obbard of Camber - it was his Austin Maxi, and,not a motorbike, which was damaged in an oil-slick accident last week. There were several such accidents in the town, and we got them confused:
• A historic plant-trough ornaments a garden in Ferry Road; once a pig-trough, it proudly bears the maker's name - "Jones, Rother Iron Works, Rye".
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, TN31 7DR (0797 222303), and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers of 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)