Issue no. 205 . 10 December 1986
The Victorian painter Millais, at the top of his profession in 1886, exhibited in the Royal Academy that year a painting of a small boy blowing soap bubbles. It was bought by the Pears Soap company, who proceeded - to the horror of artistic circles - to use it for advertising purposes, and as a pair with "Cherry Ripe” of the following year it hung in many a nursery at the turn of the century, with the Pears trademark in one corner.
In 1957 someone had the bright idea of holding a "Miss Pears" beauty competition for female moppets, and they linked the contest with the Bubbles tradition by commissioning a portrait of each year's winner. They now have, in Pears' London HQ, 28 portraits of pretty little girls - an interesting collection by artistic as well as advertising standards.
Miss Pears 1986 is 43-year-old Hannah Phillips of Loughborough, who came top out of six regional finalists and 18,000 entrants. Her portrait is at present in hand - and the artist selected in this Bubbles centenary year is Louis Turpin, of Udimore Road.
In the summer, a portrait by Louis of his wife Davida was among fifty chosen for the Young Portrait Painters exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. The Pears management went to the show with intent; they liked Louis' work, asked to see more of it, and then commissioned him to paint Hannah. Louis' career began in animation work for films, and he has always been accustomed to use a camera as one of his tools; he went up to Loughborough to take a lot of photographs of Hannah (the only way, he reckons, to work with a child that age) and is now busy with the big portrait - and also a smaller picture, part of the commission, which Hannah herself will be able to keep.
The unveiling will take place in London in February (and "Bubbles, which still belongs to Pears, may be incorporated in the ceremony). But Louis hopes to finish the portrait long before then; after his one-day show at his home (GAZETTE no. 202), he has some hard work ahead to complete the material he will need for his first 1987 exhibition, at Henley in March - particularly with a London gallery breathing down his neck for four pictures for its Christmas exhibition as well!
Rye Movie Society members on Friday night once more entertained their friends with an enjoyable mix of films old and new. We have always felt that the Society's most valuable work is in recording contemporary Rye - and contemporary Rye took on a period flavour when the audience watched "Chicken and Chips", a pleasant little 1960s fable about a defaulting bridegroom. Mini-skirts and beehive hairdos were much in evidence, and it was a real pleasure to see again Mrs. Griffiths of Rose-Anne helping the "bride" with her trousseau. The High Street sequence showed Wineways, Clark's and the old surgery but the bells which appeared to ring out from Playden Church were perhaps a trifle over-ambitious for that elderly steeple? Modern times brought the stone- laying ceremony at the new Hastings hospital, the RBL Women's Section 50th birthday parade, and visits to Chilham, Sheffield Park and Biddenden (the latter exemplifying why people with large bottoms shouldn't ride on miniature railways!) After the refreshment interval, the audience was taken to the unveiling of the Domesday Village sign at Playden, the Rye Festival exhibition at the Town Halls and a tour of Winchelsea; we were allowed to watch birds; and everyone enjoyed the Society's vintage "Murder by Mistake", a dramatic version of the Breeds story with many familiar faces among the cast.
2.
A pleasant little ceremony on Friday marked the completion of the new footpath past Devonport House to the Community Centre. Bryan Godwin, the Battle builder who did the work so well, was unable to be present; but the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Town Clerk were, as well as Ralph Olesen from ESOC Highways, Community Centre chairman Janet Oliver, several Devonport House residents, and Eileen Jenkins and Kath Elworthy from the Multiple Sclerosis Society. All were very happy to pay tribute to Councillor Ringo Chapman, whose energy and determination have meant that the work got done; starting with a jumble sale and continuing by personal canvassing, Ringo raised a total of £785 towards the £900 cost. He has a list of the 26 local hueinesses who contri- buted, plus private individuals and the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Rye Council for Voluntary Service, the Community Centre Association (who lent the hall for the sale), and East Sussex County Council who made up the difference in cost from its general maintenance budget.
With the Mayor at one end of a scarlet ribbon and Mrs. Elworthy in her wheelchair at the other, Ringo formally declared the path open for business before handing over the cheque to Mr. Olesen. However, it had been gratefully used already - by the bingo-players on Wednesday evening, we were told, and certainly by the push-chair mums on Thursday. As Mr. Olesen said, the gradient on Conduit Hill is still the same, but the new surface is a lot easier to use.
Does anyone know of a likely source of the flat brown stones which are laid edgeways in the cobbled streets? Mr. Olesen is away that when work starts in Mermaid Street in the New Year (and it probably won't take the full three months which they had to advertise) some of these stones will be found to have split - and he doesn't know where to get more. Ring him at Hastings if you can help.
Rye Sea Cadet Corps is appealing for funds to keep the unit flourishing. The committee feel they don't get the local support they should, either in terms of cash or recruitment (we feel their public relations are not as good as they might be, but that is for the officers to determine). The Sea Cadets are not, of course, in any sense a para-military farce; the boys (no girls as yet) are taught sailing, canoeing, rowing and seamanship (including radio communications) at Rye, and have one of the best-equipped units in the country for the purpose. We recorded in GAZETTE no. 193 the unit's sensational success at the National Sailing Championships at Portsmouth; surely a group which can turn out cadets like these deserves local support? Those who would like to contribute should contact the chairman, Lt.Cdr. John Royle, Burrow Hill, Playden, or write to the Commanding Officer, TS Rye, Rock Channel. Deed-of-covenant and banker's order forms are available.
Ken Clark of Eagle Road has just produced a booklet containing his researches into the history of the 1st Rye Guide Company - "Lady Maud Warrender's Own". With the help of Doris Henley, the present Guider and guardian of the Company's records, he traces the history of the 1st Rye Guides from foundation in 1915/6 to the present day.
Inside the front cover, Ken lists the officers in June 1916. Inside the back cover, to the delight of the present girls, be lists the 1986 officers, Guides and Queen's Guides. Between the covers is a mass of fact and quotation, sadness and celebration, rain-washed camps and candle-lit parties. This is a quite invaluable contribution to one small aspect of the town's history, end costs only 64 from Martello or from the author. Ken has generously presented a copy to each of the present Company; ex-Guides from Rye and elsewhere will also find it fascinating.
Just room to record that on Thursday Museum Association members and their friends enjoyed a delightful party in the Town Hall, arranged by the Association's Committee.
3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 10 December 1986
At Upper School last week, Joanne Haviland's Rye Dance Centre pupils covered themselves with glory - and with not much else in the stunning opening sequence when seven tall showgirls, all legs and scarlet plumes, stepped out! Showbiz 3 was a sell-out, and an admiring audience of all ages watched a full-length show in a simple but effective setting, elaborately costumed, and inventively choreographed to show off the full potential of the Centre's pupils. As usual, the tinies got delighted applause - particularly a very small extrovert who did her own thing much of the time and enjoyed every minute; the tap-dancing mums, specially impressive in their Charleston costumes, also brought the house down. But the mainstay of the show were the dancers aged from, perhaps, 6 to 17; and it was interesting to see how some of them had developed from the first Showbiz in July 1983 at the Community Centre, and the second (December 1984) at Upper School to their present very high standard of accomplishment. Each half of the show had fourteen numbers, and we cannot in fairness comment on some and not others - except to say that the finale had to be completely static because even so there was barely enough room on the big school stage for all the 130 performers.
Joanne Haviland herself was one of the dancers in a duet with star pupil Michelle Paine (and Michelle's solo number was followed by another ballet solo from a small star-to-be, Cherry Couves). At the end Joanne saw to it that all her helpers got thanks and presents, prettily delivered by members of the cast: pianist Myrtle Ball, compere Jim Simpson, costumier Marie Twamley, those who made the scenery and the school's stage crew in charge of sound, lighting and curtains, the Woolwich Building Society for box-office facilities - as well as the older pupils and the parents who had helped her with the production. But the final credit, of course, goes to Joanne, whose Centre has given enormous pleasure to our local girls (and boys) all through the year, and not only on superstar occasions such as this.
(Joanne moves house next week, to Udimore Road; phone still the same).
Last Tuesday the Prestel job-watch service based at Rye Library was officially launched, with representatives from Lewes, RDA's Leslie Bulman, area librarian Brion Purdy, and people from the villages among those present. We wrote about this when it first appeared (GAZETTE no. 201); since then, the promised larger screen has been installed. There is a similar set at Thomas Peacocke School, and it is hoped to have one soon in the mobile library van; people with their own Prestel sets can key into the display at home. Library staff are trained to operate the keyboard, or users can do it for themselves once they have grasped the system; if something likely turns up on screen, enquirers can phone the Jobcentre from the library if they wish. The equipment has been paid for by the RDA, operating charges go on the library phone-bill. We would still very much like to hear from anyone who has found a job through this system?
Saturday morning was another financial success for three charities. The St. John Nursing Cadets took a record £164 at their coffee morning, with extra customers from the Blue Peter Sight Saver Appeal sale across the road which in its turn brought in around £160. (This combination of events, a sale at the Community Centre plus refreshments at St. John's HQ, is obviously satisfactory and perhaps worth remembering for another time?) The Blue Peter left-overs are to be divided between two local Appeal sales, and the Black Sheep in the Mint has the list of raffle winners. At the Red Cross, the Women's British Legion took almost £160 for their own funds plus a further £170 in sales of Disabled Men's Industries goods; the tea-cosy trophy is shared by Eileen Baker and Joan Kingham - Edith Rook's cosy had already gone into the County competition, and will eventually be given to one of the Legion's homes for ex-service men and women.
The rush of coffee-mornings has now subsided; after tomorrow (and Saturday's Freda Gardham afternoon sale) we know of no more until 8 January.
4.
One of the town's best-kept business secrets was revealed on Wednesday evening, when champagne corks popped inside Butler & Hatch Waterman's office in the High Street while shadowy figures outside exchanged the old purple fascia board for a new green one with a new name - County Group.
County Group has been formed by a merger of two mainly Kent-based businesses: Butler & Hatch Waterman, which started in Tenterden, and another family firm WH Breading & Son. The group has 15 offices, several new since the merger was finalised in August, and plans for further growth are expected to make the new company one of the larger independent groups in estate agency. The changeover was announced to the eighty or so staff of both firms at a dinner on 19 November, and mouths had to be tightly buttoned for the next fortnight. Andrew Beggs of Butler & Hatch Waterman is one of the directors; he is familiar to Rye people as the spokesman for the supermarket developers during the long months before work actually started. Peter Dennett will continue to manage the Rye office, and on Wednesday Mr. Beggs thanked him and his staff for their hard work during the year, as well as immediately before the changeover. Wednesday's bare window may have caused an occasional eyebrow to rise, but there were some very surprised faces in the High Street on Thursday morning as people realised that the old firm (originally, of course, de Vere Williams) now had a new image.
County Group PLC will be offering a full range of professional services, including insurance broking (based at the Canterbury office), auction sales (at Tenterden, where Mrs. Pauline Chalk will continue as auctioneer and becomes a consultant to the new group), and commercial and business transfers at Ashford (which also has one of the largest surveying departments in Kent). They will also, of course, all continue to sell houses - and boards in shiny new paint were already to be seen in the town on Monday.
Peter Dennett makes it clear that the merger is nothing to do with the Sussex County Building Society. The Rye branch has been the local agent for this Society for some years; but other County Group branches are associated with other building societies, and the similarity of name is entirely coincidental. The link between branch and building society continues exactly as before, neither more nor less.
How very pleasant it was to hear the Salvation Army Band playing in the High Street, in the shelter of the George Hotel garage doorway on Saturday morning - and to see how very young the players were (very young indeed, some of them).
It seems to be agreed that the town's Christmas windows are outstandingly pretty this year. Small children are particularly drawn to the Swiss Patisserie's snow-scene railway, where Thomas the Tank Engine is not only on holiday but is taking the opportunity to collect for Mencap in a strategically-placed tin just inside the door. Just down the road, Salon 54 appeals to small girls with a romantic fairy castle also in a snowy setting - and all made, including the pipe-cleaner skaters, by two of the staff.
The Chamber of Trade is very grateful to those businesses which have once again contributed to the running and maintenance costs of the Christmas lights - and particularly, for the first time, to the Hotel & Caterers Association, which has borne the cost of actually erecting the elaborate cable system.
County Council offices close from Christmas Day to New Year's Day inclusive; but here the Social Services Patch Office is only actually closed on the three Bank Holidays (25th, 26th and let) and operates as usual on the other days, with a skeleton staff.
Rother Council takes the view that it is just not worth opening everything up on a Friday only to shut down again as usual for the weekend; their offices therefore close on Christmas Day and reopen on Monday, 5 January. Emergency phone number for Rather business over the holidays, Bexhill 214171.
5.
• Apologies to Devonport House, who had done all the right things about planning in respect of the felled tree. They didn't actually have planning permission (which was what had puzzled the Conservation Society); but Colin Hudson of Rother's Parks & Recreation Department agreed with the tree surgeon's diagnosis that its diseased state was dangerous, and in such a case felling can take place (even in a Conservation area) without planning consent - and the Warden has a letter from the Planning Officer saying so. But in general tree-felling in the Conservation Area is not something that can be done at will, without any reference at all to the planning authority, and proper diagnosis for a possibly dangerous tree is essential (planning, Bexhill 216321).
• An article in the Sussex Express recently, beginning "Every household in the Rye area could soon be watching satellite television..." had us wondering about the planning aspect of the dishes in the Conservation Area. Victor Ammoun at Rother confirmed that there would indeed be a planning aspect - not only in the Conservation Area but also in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which surrounds much of the town, and he has kindly sent us a copy of the relevant part of the 1977 Order. We have been in trouble before when trying to set out in popular terms these somewhat complicated regulations, so we will not try but merely say that anyone thinking of installing a dish should first check whether their property is in either type of Area. If it is, they would be wise to contact the planning people before committing themselves; if not, they will probably be OK.
• Because of the Christmas break, Rother's planning committee meeting takes place tomorrow; there is nothing sensational among the Rye applications to be considered, and we shall hope to have the results next week. The agenda also contains a report which will be of interest to all those concerned with planning permission procedures, either as applicants, neighbours or Councillors. The Planning Officer offers suggestions which the committee may or may not approve on Thursday; but his report sets out the pros and cons of various alternative procedures (among them, more frequent committee meetings, circulation of plans to parish councils, inspections arranged as soon as an application is received, delegation of Part I applications to the Planning Officer...) and makes useful reading. The agenda, as usual, can be seen at the Council Offices. (The next planning meeting will be on 22 January.)
• Marinas: one reader makes a practical point. People arriving by boat as visitors to the town (as opposed to local owners) need transport from the marina to shops and restaurants, and for this neither Rye Harbour nor North Point are a lot of use, particularly for those arriving in the evenings
Patrons of Simmons Restaurant in the Mint have only until the end of this month to enjoy the delicious meals produced by Kenneth and Susan Simmons. When they came to Rye five years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Simmons had in mind to develop a restaurant to exactly the standard of cuisine and ambiance which they personally enjoyed. With no previous experience but a great deal of flair and hard work, they achieved this - and a number of good-food awards along the way. But the hard work has taken its toll, and Mr. and Mrs. Simmons are now looking forward to a rather less hectic life - though still not necessarily out of range of a hot stove from time to time. They have sold the restaurant and living quarters to Mr. and Mrs. Terry of Cannon House, whose son and daughter-in-law are landlords of the Standard Inn just across the road. (Readers may remember the business swop a year ago, when Roy Edmunds traded the Standard for the Terry's furniture shop, now Ferry Road Galleries, and it is also Roy who has bought Pocketful of Rye from Mr. and Mrs. Terry senior.) Mrs. Terry is not sure yet how they will use the Simmons premises; for them, its prime attraction is the proximity to the young family over the way - but when they do decide on future plans, she has promised to tell us. We shall be saying a sad goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Simmons, and wish them and the Terry family a satisfying future.
6.
Readers who use the M25 will doubtless share Ken Warren's concern about Junction 5 "where my constituents, travelling to and from Hastings, can neither enter or leave the M25, nor can drivers on the M26 enter the M25 northbound. Over 100 acres of good farmland were taken over for this inadequate and silly junction - please help!" says Mr. Warren in a letter to Peter Bottomley.
Mr. Warren has also written to the Chairman of the Development Commission for a copy of Dr. Cox's report about possible marina development (GAZETTE no. 203). He adds "I hope your Annual Report next year will record faster, substantial progress in the RDA around Rye". So do we; so far we have a Prestel job- finder in the Library - plus a footbridge on Harbour Road with no means of getting on or off it!
• The new station car-park is due to open very soon, but there will be a nasty shock in store for those seeking to park there. BR's Area Manager Harry Holt, anxious to make sure that there are spaces left for his passengers, has fixed the all-day parking fee at £l - of which 50p is refundable on production or purchase of a railway ticket. Moreover, season tickets for the car park will only be available for holders of railway season tickets. Although BR's view is understandable, this certainly isn't going to relieve pressure on the other car-parks in the town, particularly from people who won't be there for a full day anyhow. (Coaches, Mr. Holt told us, are likely to continue paying £4.50.)
• This information came our way in the course of a buffet lunch at Ashford last week to mark the new Area structure for BR. Tonbridge Area vanishes; Ashford takes under its wing our line as far as Hastings (previously the boundary was just beyond Winchelsea) plus the St. Leonards stations and out as far as Battle. There are also Area extensions on the lines further north.
• We asked David Woodhouse, Passenger Traffic Manager, why our booking office is still closed from time to time. It seems that although three staff members are qualified to man it, only one is on duty at a time; if he happens to be off sick, or is needed elsewhere in emergency, that's it - but Mr. Woodhouse assures us it doesn't happen often. Has anyone yet been charged full fare on the train instead of a cheap rate, under these circumstances?
• One of the Movie Society's guests on Friday arrived a little late. She had come down from London on the train which should have decanted her at Rye at 6.45. She told us that it did stop, but so briefly that there was no time to alight (and she is an agile young woman) onto the apparently darkened platforr before she had even opened the carriage door, the train picked up speed again and went on to Winchelsea. Other people are said to have had the same trouble; would they like to give us details?
• BR announces its holiday travel arrangements. On Christmas Eve, everything shuts down by 10pm, and early-evening travellers should check in advance on their trains as the run-down starts at 5pm. There are no trains on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, but services revert to normal on Saturday, 27th, until Wednesday, 31st (which sees extra New Year's Eve late trains on some routes). New Year's Day has a Sunday service, and things are back to normal on Friday, 2 January. All the telephone enquiry bureaux are closed on Christmas Day, and some on Boxing Day as well; Waterloo (01.928.5100) and Brighton (0273.206755) will be open. On other days, ring Hastings 429325 as usual.
• Rail fares go up from 11 January by an average of 5%. We shall have details after Christmas of the fares from Rye, but commuters are warned that to get the benefit of existing season ticket rates they must order, pay for and collect their new tickets by Saturday, 10 January. (And that is bound to be a day when the ticket-office happens to be shut because someone has flu, so don't cut it that fine if you can help it!)
As for Christmas on the buses, we are not attempting to summarise the arrangements; passengers must check for themselves with whichever firm serves their route - there seem to be about half-a-dozen altogether.
7.
• A sturgeon was caught by a Rye boat at the weekend - the first, it is said, for 36 years. Ricky Goodsell, who keeps his boat at the Fishmarket, duly offered it to the queen, who politely declined; so he sold it to wholesaler John Botterell of Rye Harbour, and on Tuesday it was already on its way to the tables of a West End restaurant.
• There is now a bookshop in the shadow of the Landgate Arch. Landgate Pictures, Rye's source of artists' materials for many years, has branched out into books. With a good range already on the shelves, both paper-backs and hardbacks (and including dictionaries, etc., and children's books) Mrs. Lyward says she can order anything in print and have it in the shop next day. She will still be selling art materials and the other attractive stock items, and the framing service continues as before. The shop is now open regularly from 9 to 5, Monday to Saturday (closed all day on Tuesdays); phone, Rye 223877.
• Boots offer Christmas treats this year, on Thursday of next week (18th). Father Christmas has promised to be there (though it was not possible to turn the manager's office into a grotto for him, as they had hoped), and the staff will be in fancy dress. For grown-ups the: will be an opportunity to taste the various home-brew products of which the raw materials are sold in the shop - an interesting chance to compare the expert's results with Dad's version... For under-8s, there is another colouring competition, and the form with an outline drawing will be available in the shop from today.
• Those who were at the Art Gallery in October when the portrait bust of Phoebe Merricks was handed over to the Gallery by her family, or at the meeting of Subscribers and Friends later that month, will remember that it is proposed to clear and replant the lower garden at the Gallery in her memory. The money given at the time of her death last year, together with her legacy to the Gallery, will be spent on this project, and work has already started. Several of Phoebe's friends have said that they would like to give an individual shrub in her memory, and it may well be that there are others who would like to do so; cost varies between £10 and £20 depending what is chosen. Offers should go to the Secretary of the Trustees, Dax Copp, c/o the Easton Rooms, or to Canon David Maundrell at the Rectory.
• The Roman coin which Eric Wetherill picked up in Military Road (GAZETTE no. 202) is a forgery - a Roman forgery! The British Museum told him that it was made as a replica of a Constantine II coin minted in 302 AD - a number of forgeries were produced for use by the Roman army of occupation, who were apparently short of change. Whether its presence in Military Road is really evidence of Roman occupation here, or whether someone lost it very much later, is still debatable; one of the local history group members knows that there is one verb old coin in a Ferry Road garden - because he dropped it there when he was a lad. This is always a problem for archaeologists;- but at least Mr. Wetherill knows his coin is Roman, and is not in the embarrassing position of Benson's Lucia over her Apollinaris bottle!
Those whose copies are not ticked or marked '81 this week are at the end of their subscriptions. The new quarter runs from 7 January to 25 March, and we shall need £3.60 (in cash, please) by New Year's Day at the latest.
People who paid half-yearly in September will find their copies ticked (half-yearly subscriptions cannot be accepted in December, sorry). Copies marked 'S' means that you pay by standing order - at least, we think you do, but there does seem to be some confusion in the system, and after a detailed check over Christmas we may have to ask some of you for a back payment (perhaps you would check your own bank statements for 30 March and 30 September, when £7 should have been paid to the GAZETTE automatically).
We would very much appreciate it if anyone not intending to renew a subscription would be kind enough to let us know by the end of the year. (You don't have to say why if you don't want to!)
Rye Sea Cadets Christmas coffee morning (mince-pies, gifts, cakes), Red Cross, 10.30
"Save-a-life" session, Clinic, 7 to 9 (GAZETTE no. 200)
Rye Coin Club, "Orders and Medals of the Netherlands" (W. Webb) and "Elizabethan Coins" (J. Walton), FEC, 7.30
Last WI Market of the season, CC, 10
CSRF Christmas lunch, Hope Anchor, 12.30
Nat.His.Soc. "Birds of SE England" (John Buckingham), FEC, 7.30
FRAG Christmas party (members), Town Hall (not Gallery), 6.30
Last Craft Market of season, FEC, 11 to 5
Freda Gardham School Christmas Fair (with Father Christmas), New Road, 2
Carols with Ryesingers, St. Mary's, 7.30
Rye Racers' Senior Citizens Party, Upper School, 5 to 8
Camera Club, "The Four Seasons" (Eric Hickmott), FEC, 7.30 Carols with Methodist Church Choir (followed by coffee and mince-pies), Methodist Church, 7.30
Thrift Shop (handing-in only), Red Cross, 10 to 12.30 Landgate WI Christmas party, CC, 10.30
• Tomorrow for 20 minutes or so from 12.30, "the lunatic fringe" of Thomas Peacocke School's School House will be enlivening the Market - three-legged and in fancy dress, they promise - collecting for the Buchanan Hospital's Baby Unit, and giving up their lunch-hour for this good cause supported by the House.
• Rye Playgroup, whose fund-raising is all dedicated to the new building they will have to find in two years' time, wonder if anyone has an old cassette player to spare - the children would love to hear the Postman Pat and Thomas the Tank Engine tapes which the group already have. Offers to Mrs. Pat Benn, Rye 224416, please.
• Rye Fire Brigade are once again helping Father Christmas with his deliveries on Christmas morning. Parcels may be left at the Fire Station on 22 and 23 December from 4 to 9pm, and on Christmas Eve from 2 to 6, and a small charge for the label goes to firemen's charities.
• The NSPCC coffee morning at the George Hotel last Wednesday raised £433.
• Although the new Greenpeace group is not yet sure how much was raised by recent sponsored walk, it was well attended. They will be meeting on the first Tuesday of each month, with the next meeting on 6 January at 8.30 at 33 South Undercliff (223871), but before that they will be singing carols round the Rye pubs on 19 December - all are welcome, and they start at the Wipers at 8.30. A jumble sale is planned for 24 January, and a benefit concert on St. Valentine's Day at Ma Beeton's (details later, but it will be good!).
• Crime - two broken windows: £500-worth at the Glue Pot in Ferry Road, caused by "bodily pressure" (a man has been charged and will be appearing before Rye Magistrates), and £6-worth in Winchelsea Road, where a prospective burglar reaching for the catch inside cut his hand so badly that he abandoned the attempt!
• Finally, we apologise to several people whose stories are not in this issue; next week looks like being less busy - we hope.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7DR (0797 222303), and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. Deadline is Monday afternoon for Wednesday's delivery to subscribers and pick-up points; the paper costs 30p, and spare copies may be available from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1986)