THE RYE GAZETTE

Issue no. 224 13 May 1987

The May elections: the results

The Rother vote can technically be claimed as an Alliance gain from the Conservatives, since last time we had two Conservative Councillors and now we have one. But it seems only fair to point out that because both the old Councillors stood down at the very last minute, there was only one Conservative this time, who came second (the three not elected to Rother were all standing as Labour). Mr. Shackleton starts his third term on Rother; Mr. Breeds and Mr. Dowdeswell will soon find out what very hard work it is - and we wish all three the best of luck in their efforts on Rye's behalf.

The new Town Council contains a fair cross-section of the town's interests. Four Councillors can now speak for the Estate (Mrs. Oliver and Messrs. Champion, Fortsch and Rowe). Two (Messrs. Champion and Chapman) are employed in the town by Rother; two (Mrs. Gamier and Mr. Ciccone) have shops here; two (Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Bromley) have guest-houses; two (Mrs. Kirkham and Mr. Wiseman) teach at Thomas Peacocke; and three are now retired (Mrs. Oliver and Messrs. Palmer and Starkey).

Working in Boots, Mr. Shackleton is probably the best-known of all the Councillors, reflected in his position at the top of both polls; and most people also know Ringo (if not as Mr. Chapman!). Mr. Breeds, living beside Strand Quay, has a particular interest in things maritime and the Harbour generally; Mr. Palmer and Mrs. Kirkham between them keep guard over the town's history and traditions, while Mr. Le Fevre's architectural experience will continue to be invaluable to the Council. All the Councillors live in the town, most of them work here, and they are well aware of the ongoing problems of traffic and parking. Ten out of the 16 live the far side of the railway line/proposed throughway from the main part of the town.

Politically speaking, we would guess that the majority are Conservatives, though it is still traditional here for them to stand as Independents; but there are now two declared Labour Councillors and one Alliance.

The count moved faster than expected, and despite the complicated vote there were few spoiled papers; the poll was said to be about 50%, very satisfactory for a local election. Mr. Shackleton, on behalf of the Rother candidates, and the Mayor, for the Town Council, thanked Rother's permanent and temporary staff for the very efficient way in which the poll had been conducted - and we were all pleased to see that the "wallpaper" system originally devised for the 1983 Rother election worked equally well for the much larger Town Council list. Tony Lee and his assistants are to be congratulated on the smoothness with which the whole operation flowed. Thank goodness it's all over!

("The Rye A259 Improvement": battle starts on page 3)

2.

New at the Sports Centre

Stuart Lees now has some regular weekly fixtures down in The Grove:

MONDAYS Trampolining, under-13s from 7 to 8, 13-plus from 8 to 9 (adults £1, juniors under 18 80p), leader Paul Mountford of TPS

TUESDAYS Indoor 5-a-side soccer from 6 to 7, leader Tim Bolton of the Centre staff

Fitness Room instruction session, 7 to 8.30 (E1.30 for the 14

hours, not open to under-14s) - both sexes

WEDNESDAYS Workout/aerobics, 7 to 8, E1.30, leader Joanne Fletcher of Rye Dance Centre

FRIDAYS Badminton from 6 to 7 for the under-12s

SATURDAYS Badminton from 9 to 11 for 12-16s

Roller-skating for the family, 3 to 5 (adults E1.30, juniors 80p, bring your own skates as they are not available for hire)

"Family night", 7 to 10.30 - Mum and/or Dad plus the children, £2.50 the lot all-in, have a go at what you fancy.

At half-term there will be a repeat of the immensely popular morning sessions for children (no age-limit, but there tend to be no over-15s), 9 to 12 Mond to Friday, El a time and no need to book.

Further information from Stuart or Tim at the Centre (Rye 224676) between 6 and 10.30 on schooldays, or between 9 am and 10.30 pm at other times. Goodness, those two young men are working hard! The list above doesn't exclude other activities at the same time, particularly as the school gym is included in the Centre complex.

Recent books

A train going through Rye early on Saturday morning bore a placard, "Hastings Diesel Group, 1957-1987, May 9/10/11, 30 years' service". Was it indeed 1957 when our line lost its steam trains - or was that merely when the first diesel arrived? We searched (without immediate success) for the answer in a charming book recently published by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, "Hastings to Ashford and the New Romney Branch" (Middleton Press, E6.95, hardback). This is a fascinating historical survey of the line using a great many photographs - there is a particularly interesting section about the Rye Harbour Branch, but anyone who is fond of our railway will find the whole book quite indispensable.

Three other new books will also be of interest to local historians. Kenneth Clark has brought out "Rye - an Outline History" - primarily an annotated sequencie of dates which marked important events in the town, with a map, a number of photographs of old Rye, and a suggested tour. It is published by Pauline Street (12 Market Road, Rye), price £1.99, and is a useful work of reference as well as a pleasure to browse in. Mr. Clark's knowledge of the town's history is unrivalled and his booklet gives comprehensive coverage of the main events from 1086 to 1980,

June Barnes has now published the second volume of her alphabetical index of the 1851 East Sussex Census, covering Peasmarsh, Beckley, Northiam, Brede, Udimore, Icklesham and Winchelsea (£2.95). We wrote about the first volume (Rye and its immediate villages) in GAZETTE no. 211 and explained how invaluable her index is to family or local historians. This second volume has an improved format, with extra information and an introduction by Pamela Haines of Hastings Library.

Finally, a reprint by ESCC of an even older book - William Cooper's 1850 History of Winchelsea. It gives an extremely detailed account of that town, with a good sprinkling of engravings, a 1763 map, and (bless you, Mr. Cooper) an index. At £11.95 it is not cheap, but (as with the Leopold Vidler reprint published by Gouldens in 1971) it is likely to gain in value once the edition is exhausted - as well as being an interesting and useful reference book. "Winchelsea" is on sale at the Library, and all four books are available from bookshops in the town.

- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 13 May 1987

The Winchelsea bypass - and the Rye bisection

Detailed plans for Winchelsea's bypass, which runs well clear of the village and disgorges its traffic at Strand Quay, are the subject of an exhibition at Winchelsea Village Hall this week - on Friday from 4 to 9 and on Saturday from 10 to 3 (and if anyone can offer the Editor a lift over there on the Friday, she'd be most grateful). DoT staff and the consultants will be there "to explain the proposals and answer any questions" (note the optimism of that word "any"!). The literature, in a fat folder, is available to study at the Library and the Post Office, but (at present anyhow) not at the Council Offices, which would seem to be the logical place.

As for what is universally recognised here as the Rye bisection - which the DoT is pleased to refer to as the Rye A259 "improvement" - the brochure distribution went wrong at once. This time it is not in the hands of the Post Office, but the Department tell us that the job is being done by "a local firm who are supposed to be getting them round in the course of this week". Why so long? "With 2,500 households to cover, they can hardly do it in less!" Absolute rubbish, of course (Peter Ewart and a team of six covered the whole town a couple of years ago in one long morning). But a much more sinister aspect is the order in which the distribution is being done. By mid-morning on Tuesday, those most -concerned - Cyprus Place, Eagle Road, The Grove - still hadn't had copies, while a large number of households at the other end of the town got theirs on Saturday. Is this coincidence? If so, it is a very unfortunate one... Udimore Road has been done; Ferry Road has not. Some households in Wish Ward had their copies on Saturday; some still haven't by the time we write. Perhaps the distributors are fitting in the job with a delivery of Sun Bingo tickets?

Word got round, of course, on Saturday, and those who did have brochures were generous with lending them - so it will come as no surprise, even to those who haven't yet been favoured by the distributors (anyone know who they are?), to learn that the only proposed "improvement" divides the town neatly in two, running to the south of a railway line which is being moved over a bit. This is the version which British Rail told us about some months ago, and which Ken Warren described to a worried constituent as "a silly story" - and so it is, if it was not so serious.

Because the Public Consultation is so imminent, we are not going into much detail now. Plans, DoT staff and consultants will be at the Community Centre next week as follows:

Thursday, 21 May 4 to 9 pm

Friday, 22 May 2 to 9 pm

Saturday, 23 May 10 am to 3 pm.

However, by way of light relief we really cannot resist discussing just one sentence which led Ray Fooks, Headmaster of Thomas Peacocke School, to suspect that the whole thing might be an elaborate hoax:

"The existing A268 bridge over the railway would be removed and The Grove would be closed to vehicular traffic at the railway."

Leaving aside for the moment any questions about what happens to the Camber traffic flow on a summer Sunday, with a level crossing and traffic lights at the foot of Rye Hill, let us consider the position at the 1,200-pupil school. If The Grove were to become a cul-de-sac, Deadman's Lane would be its only remaining access - Deadman's Lane, where a crawling car manages to pass a cringing pedestrian with some difficulty! Access not only for the school, of course - The Grove also serves its own nine houses (several of which do bed-and-breakfast) plus all those in Love Lane, and the Sports Centre, and Edward Mills's farm, with its enormous cattle trucks and invaluable overflow car-park. (We lacked the courage to ask Edward for his views, which would certainly have been unprintable anyway!)

Nothing bigger than an estate car can get down Deadman's Lane as it is now; and widening it would only increase the traffic hazard on Rye Hill, where accidents are already caused by its very limited local-driver use. We can only assume that the Department forgot that the school, let alone the farm, was there?

(TO BE CONTINUED)

...needless to say…

4.

Really local radio

Last week's query about "Rye-based" Sovereign Radio brought an immediate, helpful and mature response from ex-Thomas Peacocke pupil Simon Lacey. Simon and his colleague Patrick Moore both live in Peasmarsh, and in effect they are Sovereign - or were, until it went off the air after a final two-day marathon over Easter.

The court case to which we referred had been one of a series in which the operators were fined for running an illegal radio station. Sovereign closed down, however, for a different reason; Patrick and Simon felt that in a law-abiding area like this they would get more support if they went legal. And support is what they are seeking now: to be exact, five thousand signatures to their petition asking for permission to operate a local radio station. This would serve an area of up to 20 miles in each direction from a Fairlight transmitter (they need the height of Fairlight to give good FM reception), and for it they would only require a 20-watt transmitter (compare this with 10,000 watts from the Radio Sussex transmitter at Heathfield).

Simon assures us - and we believe him - that the wavelength they have been using for the past four years, usually on Sunday afternoons, is not interfering with any emergency frequency; a Green Paper out last week lists it as selected for future use, which must confirm what they already know - that it is not u at present. So they have been doing no harm; and even the Department of Trade and Industry officials who have been chasing them are perfectly friendly once they are outside the magistrates' court! As for playing records without paying fees, Simon offered royalties to the record companies, which were refused ("We can't take money from a pirate radio station" they said).

If they get their five thousand signatures, Patrick and Simon will be able to convince their financial backers that the station is a viable proposition, and those backers will then be prepared to help them in the negotiations for the franchise, still several years away unless it comes up now as an election sweetie. If they get the franchise, they will take on staff and run the station 24 hours a day, seven days a week - playing music (including requests) much of the time, of course, but also with national news headlines, local news and announcements (they aim to have a correspondent in every village), on-the-spot reporting of unusual events in the area, interviews - and ads. Ads are something we could really do with round here, ads at short notice from local firms to local customers at local-scale rates.

Simon and Patrick are both still only 19. They became interested in the possibilities of really local radio when they were in their mid-teens, and star up - much as the GAZETTE did, at much the same time - because they couldn't find what they wanted anywhere else. If you too think that we could do with a Radio Rye or even a Radio Rother, and would like to sign their petition (as we have), you can do so at Barry Rivers' TV shop in Cinque Ports Street. Or you can simply write a brief note of support direct to Sovereign Radio c/o PO Box 3, Rye Post Office.

If you truly want to help them, you might feel like sending for a petition sheet and persuading your friends and neighbours to add their signatures. Simon and Patrick both have full-time jobs, Patrick in a garage and Simon as a sales rep

(and DJ at the Oasis on Friday nights). They just don't have the time to door- step the villages, and would be really very grateful to anyone who could do it for them.

If you would like to know more, keep an eye on the Hastings Observer, which will soon be running a feature about local radio, using Sovereign as one of its main examples.

And from Eastbourne...

Radio Sussex's Monday-to-Friday eastern-end magazine programme, The 258 Alternative, moves on 1 June from its present 2.30 time to what may well be much more convenient for many listeners - 8.30 to 9 am. (This is the programme which started, even more conveniently, as Lunchdate, with speakers on local topics.)

5.

Congratulations!

• Barry Yates, Warden of the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, has picked up a very useful £1,000 award for the Reserve. BBC1's Pebble Mill programme last year ran a competition for various aspects of conservation; the Reserve were told months ago that they had won their category and would be eligible for the top prize, awarded last month. As category winners they got £1,000 (the top prize, which they didn't win, would have been even more valuable, presumably) which has already been spent on new electric fencing, now being erected out at the Harbour with the help of Community Programme workers.

The BBC made a video of the work of the Reserve, and this is being shown on BBC1 at the rather unlikely time of 12.30 (lunch-time) on Monday, 1 June, as part of the first of two programmes called "Conservation '87". Barry has been told it will be the first item, so don't leave it late to switch on or you might miss it!

• Rye Young Farmers usually do well at the annual YFC Show at Plumpton, and Sunday's event was no exception. The Club brought home three Cups: cousins Charles and Edward Ramus were already sure of the one for pig-judging (though the Ramuses don't actually keep pigs); Mrs. Dawn Bull (nee Huggett) of Peas-marsh won the Birkenshaw-Walker Cup for the best dairy calf; and the Amoco Tankard for sheep-shearing went to Frank Langrish's shearer, David (Nobby) Hall of Winchelsea Beach. The Club did well, too, in the Domestic section, with prizes in a range of classes from photography to fashion (where they came second and third), via an invalid supper, novelty cakes (first, second, fourth and fifth!), Club display for an 18th birthday party, and scrapbook - among others. They also did well in the field events - and were runners-up to the much larger Hai1sham YFC for the OT Norris Cup awarded on overall points. The event was held on Plumpton Racecourse, and they had a lovely day, Vanessa Ramus tells us - a very satisfactory celebration of the Club's 25th birthday this year.

• Marcus Hamilton, of Udimore Road, has come top in the Final Board for his RAF training course in electronics at RAF Cosford. The course lasted for 62 weeks, and during it Marcus sat 90 examinations! He is extremely pleased to have been selected to join the prestigious 51 Squadron, at RAF Wyton, near Cambridge - the only technician in his intake to be offered a vacancy there. Marcus is now a qualified electronic engineer, and RAF training is second to none - so dare we say that for him, now, the sky's the limit?

• In just one respect Rye's temporary Ancient Greek (GAZETTE no. 222) failed to imitate his famous predecessor. The original Pheidippides completed his marathon run and then fell dead! - we forebore to mention this until after the event. George Cumming, however, continues fit and well and back at work after completing his run in 4 hours and 24 minutes - vastly to the relief of his friends and patients and members of the local MSS Branch on behalf of which h was running. His costume, we were glad to hear, held out until the end – or perhaps "held on" would be the proper phrase. It would be nice to know if anyone did actually spot him on telly, in that enormous crowd of runners in London on Sunday?

The Link fire precautions

Recently Rother approved a report from its Housing Committee that up to C75,000 should be spent on fire safety work at The Link. The original report had been considered in private, so we enquired further. It seems that the tenants were consulted about two alternatives: an interior redesigning which would still mean only one entrance, onto the central staircases, or exterior staircases on to which all the flats would open via emergency doors. The tenants - some of whom had a very nasty fright when there was a minor fire there last year - voted unanimously for the second plan.

Technical Services staff are now preparing a detailed scheme for 8 (possibly 9) external staircases plus fire-escape doors to the 27 flats. Planning permission will have to be obtained, and then tenders invited... so nothing is going to happen for a week or two, that's certain!

6.

Lochin's second Tyne joins her sister

In October we recorded the arrival in Rock Channel of Lochin Marine's biggest-ever boat - a 47' Tyne-class lifeboat, to be fitted out here for the RNLI. She now looks very different, settled comfortably in Lochin's huge fit-out shop, with two-thirds of the work done; after tests in the Rother, she is expectedto leave some time in August, and will probably be stationed in North Wales.

On Sunday morning a sister ship arrived, also just a hull and superstructure, from the Derbyshire builders R. Wright & Son of Poston. She had spent the night in a layby near Flimwell, and the only problem on the last stretch of the route had been at the Ferry Road level crossing - where her police escort had duly telephoned the signalman for permission to proceed, and got no answer (apparently there are no arrangements for such calls to be put through elsewhere if the signal-box is unoccupied). Since they could hardly sit there indefinitely, they proceeded anyway, and took the two tight bends into Rock Channel very delicately indeed, fronting the big artic (Phoenix Marine from Hailsham) into Duncan Grant's loading bay so that the expectant crane could lift the 11-ton hull clear, allow the lorry to back out, and then deposit its load gently onto the waiting building sledge.

On Friday evening police had put up notices in the Rock Channel approach giving notice of the arrival of the 15'-wide load soon after 8am on Sunday - plenty of time, they thought, to warn off regular overnight parkers. The two cars which were parked there were not popular, either with the escort or with Lochin; for the record, they were B783 OGV, a red BMW, and 0758 TCM, a little blue Fiat with L-plates (can't drive or read, apparently!). Frank Nichols asks us to point out, in this context, that there are double yellow lines down one side of the approach lane, and single lines on the other; three large businesses (Lochin, Duncan Grant and Rye Foundry) have entrances there, as well as R & E Engineering, Sandrock Marine and HJ Phillips & Son further along Rock Channel. Sooner or later someone parked where they have no business to be will come to grief, financially or possibly even physically if a lorry has to squeeze past.

Among those watching Sunday's operation were our new Rother Councillor Roger Breeds, and several members of a special RNLI weekend event based at a caravan park in Camber. This had been arranged by the Dungeness Branch, but on the Saturday guests had enjoyed a visit to Lochin - then with just the one lifeboat in place. "What a pity you couldn't have come tomorrow" said their guide - so, bright and early, some of them did, and must have been well rewarded. Perhaps we shall see a picture of the operation in "The Lifeboat" in due course.

But Lochin doesn't just build lifeboats. In the other fit-out shop, Frank Nichols showed us half-a-dozen boats in various stages of construction, and for various purposes - personnel carriers to transport the workforce of a huge quarry across a loch near Oban (the alternative being a 50-mile road journey round it), an offshore sports angling cruiser for a private customer in Alderney, a lobster boat for France... (the Boulogne boat we mentioned in October has just come home for servicing, since Lochin is a very handy boatyard for its owner). Mr. Nichols is happy to consider any proposals based on either of the two Lochin bulls, the Lochin 33 or the Lochin 38; the twelve Brede lifeboats which have left the Rye yard are adaptations of the 33-foot model, but most of those currently under construction here happen to be 38-footers.

We went back outside. The Tyne's superstructure, welded on for the journey, had been cut free of the hull and swung clear; the hull was ready to be winched slowly but steadily through the big doors, the sledge riding easy on greased planks which enabled the team to manoeuvre it into exactly the right position. Work was safe for months to come for the 35 shop-floor staff; and there is the possibility of another Tyne later this year, and perhaps a fourth in 1988. Frank Nichols has no praise too high for the skill of the lorry-driver and his mate (fine-tuning the operation from behind by radio), for the Ashford crane operator, for Duncan Grant's kindness in allowing the use of his loading-bay and also for Alsfords, whose generous co-operation over the use of their wharf for self-righting tests is very greatly appreciated.

7.

News in brief

• Another lot of traffic lights appeared unexpectedly in Cinque Ports Street last week, at the top of Rope Walk. Not only is it difficult to turn in and out, but all the parking along the Town Wall area of Cinque Ports Street has been bollarded out to allow for cars queuing. The diggers are British Tele- com, who only told Highways at Bexhill that they were starting just 24 hours before they opened up the road - so Highways were unable to give us their usual advance notice. British Telecom told Highways it would take a fortnight; the man down the hole told us three weeks. We hope he was over-pessimistic.

• Those who wondered why they heard so many French voices here at the weekend may not have realised that over there it was yet another public holiday. Among the cross-Channel visitors were seven families (18 people in all) from the Beauvais Rotary Club, here as guests of Rye Rotarians; the two clubs take it in turn to act as hosts, and most of the French visitors were staying with local Rotary members. After a dinner-party on Friday night, there was an unusual diversion on The Salts on Saturday: two matches, bowls and boules. Members of both teams contributed to the kitty, which was to go to Rotary International's ,C9m Polio Plus appeal; but as Rye Rotary won, the £73 goes to the fund from the Rye Club. These visits have been going on for some 30 years now - and when Rye visits Beauvais next year, the French may get their revenge!

• Dining chairs did well again at Vidlers' May auction, though there was nothing quite up to the standard of the April £3,600 figure for a set of six; this month just five, in need of some attention, went for t500, and another set of five reached £200. The pretty green-and-gilt wardrobe and dressing-chest fetched £200, and the half-tester bed £430. Other antiques: a walnut bureau C650, an oak long-case clock by a Tenterden maker £480, a country-made oak bureau £620, and an oak coffer £200. A set of Delft tiles forming a picture went for C160, and 56 very second-hand old blue-and-white Delft tiles for £390. The neat little minipiano and stool sold for £255 - and the rather charming oil of bathers among rocks, monogrammed but unsigned, £200.

• The plans for the old Hinds site on Strand Quay are now imminent, and we hope to describe them next week if they have reached the Council Offices. In the meantime, the removal of the large central timber store from the yard has opened up a view of the cottage at the Wish Ward end. This has been used as offices for a long time, but was once lived in by the Jempson family when they ran the haulage business from the yard, before the 1933 move to Slade's Yard. In those days, Frank Palmer tells us, it was called Ebenezer - and it appears in the book about Jempsons, "The Transport Contractors of Rye" on page 22 and possibly also page 20, looking rather smarter than it does now. We don't suppose McCarthy & Stone are likely to preserve it - but wouldn't it be nice if they could?

• Hilary Bolton tells us that Red Cross Week in Rye - not the villages, where the figures are not yet available - brought in £545. This included C139 from the Open Day at the Red Cross Centre, house-to-house collecting in the town, and money collected at 11 High Street. Mrs. Bolton is most grateful to all the collectors and other helpers, and to Mrs. Festing for her hospitality.

• Eileen Jenkins also asks us to thank collectors (and of course contributors), in this case for the Multiple Sclerosis Society's flag-day on Saturday. It brought in a tremendous £659 - much more than last year, and a most gratifying result. The sponsorship money raised by George Cumming's London Marathon run next day is not yet certain, but we shall have the figure later. (See also page 5.)

• The final sponsorship money for the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race has only just come in, and Yvonne Metcalf asks us to say that the Community Centre is £425 better off as a result of the event. This sum includes £43 from the street collection which was held while the racing was going on. Once again, many thanks to racers and their sponsors, other helpers, and those who gave prizes (notably the Gas Board).

Bulletin board

The week's events

Rye Council for Voluntary Service AGM, TH, 7.30 Coin Club, Quiz (Ken Wiggins), FEC, 7.30

Women's British Legion Spring Fair (knitteds, cakes, plants,

etc.), Red Cross, 10 to 1

Arthritis & Rheumatism Council coffee morning, FEC, 10.30

Mill Road gardens open (for Playden Church), 2 to 5

ATC jumble sale, Upper School, 2

Rye Society of Artists jumble sale, FEC, 2.30 (plants only on sale outside in the morning, if fine)

FRAG Musical Evening (Ian Barnett, classical and jazz guitar music), Studio, 7.30 - all welcome, entrance £1

Miss Rye contest, Oasis, late evening (very late, usually!)

Conservative Association coffee morning, 113 Udimore Road

Thrift Shop, handing-in only, Red Cross, 10 to 12

Landgate WI (resolutions, VCO), CC, 10.30

Community Lunch Group, Clinic, I (no speaker, but Rye's new

Social Services Officer Derek Carter will be there)

• Congratulations to William Kirkham, Boys Club snooker champion for the second year running.

• We notice that the clock repair business in Needles Passage has departed for Appledore (details in the window); wouldn't the tiny shop make a good place for the heel-bar which is so badly needed in Rye?

• The Travellers Theatre Group gave a most enjoyable show at the FE Centre on 2 May, and all their audience hope they will come back again. The evening raised £90 for FEC funds, as well as being a very pleasant social event.

• Cobbles tea-room, in Hylands Yard, is now open from 2 to 5 for teas (delicious really home-made cake), Wednesdays to Sundays inclusive, and on Saturday from 10 am.

• Sorry we misread the diary last week; Dr. Graham Mayhew's lectures are on Tuesday evenings (not Monday), with the first one on 19 May as we said.

• We also got our rivers in a twist; the RDA bridge is beside the Brede sluice, not the Tillingham one. (The work still isn't finished; now they have run out of the right kind of bricks, it seems...)

• Ken Warren made representations to BR about people wanting to travel to Canterbury from our line in the mornings, and BR have now "responded". Not, perhaps, a very enthusiastic response: people leaving Rye at 6.55, 7.20 or 7.56 am now have to wait only 4, 17 or 7 minutes for their connection - but anyone hoping to have a normal day out in Canterbury leaving later than 8 in the morning still misses the train by 8 minutes at Ashford.

• St. Margaret's Terrace residents may have been somewhat surprised to find a crashed car stuck on the posts outside their houses on Sunday morning. Police tell us that it was being chased after a burglary at Camber, and came to grief just before 5 am. Proceedings are pending, so we can't say more.

• Planning: an application from Mr. and Mrs. Fowle at Southridge, in Church Square, to paint the rendered south and west walls white.

• Finally, Frank Palmer remarks sadly that he was watching four young canoeists at Strand Quay at the weekend, and two of them weren't wearing life jackets. He commented on the folly of this - and they simply shrugged...

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; the paper costs subscribers 30p a week, and a few spare copies may be available from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1987)