Of course, it rained; three times the Queen Mother has visited Rye, and two of them have been wet days. But at least on Friday she didn't need the see-through umbrella which was such a feature of her 80th birthday visit seven years ago; although a car took her through the drizzle from the helicopter to the Sports Centre (along the path newly-widened for that very purpose) it was not used for the return journey, and the expectant crowd waiting behind the tenuous barrier in the playground got more than they could have hoped for by way of friendly words and close-up camera shots. Three small children in the front of the crowd caught the Royal eye: were they from Rye, Her Majesty asked? In fact they were delighted visitors from Ontario, who will never forget the day!
Accompanied by Lady Angela Oswald and Sir Martin Gilliatt, the Queen Mother stepped down from the scarlet royal helicopter with no sign of her leg trouble, to be greeted by the Lord Lieutenant. She wore a summery outfit in pale under-water green and white, her green straw hat trimmed with matching silk and a mist of veiling; every woman will have noticed her magnificent diamond brooch. (Local ladies had dressed for the occasion too, and it was quite difficult to recognise some familiar faces under formal hats!) Kellie Edwards, a Leasam boarder whose home is in London, was the lucky girl chosen to present Her Majesty with a posy; she looked very smart in first-year school uniform, and was chaperoned by Mrs. Flint, the Leasam House matron. Other children also offered flowers, and then the introductions began - there was a list of some 40 people who were to be presented to the Royal visitor. Rye names included the Mayor and her husband, the Town Clerk, Mr. and Mrs. Fooks, Mr. and Mrs. Yates, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Breeds, John Cawdron, Miss Marshall (of TPS), Mr. and Mrs. Frank Palmer, Mr. and Mrs. George Shackleton and Mrs. Tomich. Andrea Talbot represented the PTA. By pre-arrangement, Councillor Mrs. Yates asked Her Majesty to accept a copy of the brochure for the extension to the Rye Art Gallery.
The Mayor looked splendid in royal blue with a pink hat and the gold mayoral chain (see below for the brief conversation); beside her, Mrs. Pulford of EMBS (there as the wife of the chairman of Rother) was elegant in purple. Dr. and Mrs. Jeelani were there professionally, in case medical attention should be required (it was not). A large number of policepersons were there, too Upper School is not normally a haunt of terrorists, but you never know (the Assistant Chief Constable in charge had, among his medals, one awarded after the Grand Hotel bombing). There was a considerable press contingent - and the TVS crew got their material back to Maidstone and onto Coast to Coast less than two hours later, with handsome coverage. Jeffery Waters recorded the visit for the archives of the Rye Movie Society.
After the presentations were over, the real business of the afternoon began. We assume Her Majesty saw the squash court; she certainly visited the fitness room, where Upper School pupils were demonstrating the equipment. The main hall was a hive of activity; trampolining, gymnastics, dance, short tennis, badminton and indoor bowls were all in progress as the Queen Mother walked slowly round, commenting and asking questions. Surrounded by members of the Williams family from the greengrocers, who had advanced their regular Friday-evening game by a few hours, she chatted and then bowled a couple of woods. After signing the visitors' book, it was time to go - walking back to the scarlet helicopter to leave at exactly the specified time (despite a hiccup which meant a brief lifting of the bonnet before the rotor-blades finally started to whirl). As it circled and then departed for Walmer Castle, a hand waved at the window...
And what did Her Majesty say to the Mayor? How lovely it was to be back in Rye - and then, turning back just before she moved along the waiting line, "And I know all about your road!" The Action Group and the TPS Governors were among those who had written to the Lord Warden on this subject - but it is really good to know that letters to her Majesty reach her personally.
2.
Back from her holiday, the Town Clerk rang the DoT to find out how things were going with regard to the A259 proposals. They were still working their way through the letters - between eleven and twelve hundred of them, with the enormous majority against the proposed route. "The DoT have a clear indication of what Rye does not want" Mrs. Scammell was told. "What is not yet clear is what Rye does want." The speaker added that a lot of people had taken the trouble to enclose plans of possible routes, and all were being considered. Presumably things will now go quiet for a while, as far as the Department is concerned; but we will be very glad to report developments on other fronts as and when they happen.
The full County Council considered the report of the two committees (Highways and Environment) yesterday. We hope to have details of the debate next week; Rye will expect to find that its County Councillor has done something to repair the damage she did to the town's cause at the earlier meeting.
The two posters which the Action Group have displayed all around the town are designed by local people: Mr. Arnold of Ferry Road produced the lorry-ridden townscape, and Mr. Le Paih of Bridge Place the design with the Rye silhouette.
Both Rye Harbour and Hastings lifeboats were called out on Sunday afternoon in a rescue operation with a happy ending. The previous evening a Dutch yacht crewed by a man and wife with their three young children on board left Rye bound westwards. Our invaluable lifeboat correspondent Mary Lestocq wasn't sure just why they were still off Winchelsea Beach twenty hours later - but by then their engine was giving trouble, and they needed help badly. The Rye Harbour boat, which was able to go alongside the yacht, took off the woman and children and transferred them to the Hastings boat, taking back in exchange two of the crew to help the yacht's owner. It was not the best possible time to bring a boat into the river, since it was some four hours short of high tide, and the shingle bar presented a real problem; however, the Hastings boat eased the Dutch one in very slowly and carefully, and left her tied up to a Dutch-owned Dutch barge which had been gracing the Harbour for several days. The yacht, Mary says, was undamaged. Meanwhile the Rye Harbour boat was zooming round the other yachts waiting to come into the river, explaining the situation and asking them to wait until the operation was completed.
Five of those waiting yachts were flying the yellow quarantine flag which meant they required customs clearance. Customs must have had a busy afternoon, since a little later a contingent from the Sailing Club began arriving home after a weekend race to Boulogne - won by John Royle, incidentally, in just 4 hours!
Last year, the New Sussex Opera Group came over to Rye in mid-December and put on a very well-received performance of "Amahl and the Night Visitors" in St. Mary's. Unfortunately the date they picked was also that of the Lower School performance of "The Selfish Giant", and many people who would have liked to go to both were frustrated.
The singers enjoyed their visit, and are coming again this year - but mindful of how busy Rye is in December, they will be performing on Saturday, 14 November, once again in St. Mary's in the evening; we don't know what opera they are doing, but it will certainly be worth hearing. So, organisers, please avoid that Saturday evening for anything which might clash - we are thinking particularly of groups such as the National Trust, FRAG and the Museum Association, as well as any of the town's choirs. At present the date is otherwise blank..
We also have the dates of two October Saturday-evening events which are bound to be well-supported: on the 17th, Ryesingers are performing Mendelssohn's "Elijah" in St. Mary's, and on the 24th there will be a Town Hall wine-and-cheese party for Playden Church funds, when Stephen Ingham will present slides by Paddy Aiken of churches in Sussex.
- 3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 22 July 1987
Saturday's wedding at St. Mary's - lucky with the weather after all - was between Lisa, younger daughter of Ernie and June Pawson of South Undercliff, and Jim, eldest son of Reg Cooper of King's Avenue and the late Mrs. Cooper. Lisa's dress was in white paper taffeta trimmed with pearls and with elaborate shoulder detail. Her attendants were her friend Michaela Lee, her niece Lauren (3) and nephew Christopher (7) from Parkwood, Iden, and Jim's nieces Lucy and Gemma Newton (3 and 5) from the Maltings, Peasmarsh; Christopher's tie and cummerbund matched the girls' apricot water-taffeta dresses. Jim's best man was Ricky Pierce from King's Avenue; both men wore the kilt (Jim's Scots father was one of the few people taking part in the wedding who was not Rye-born!). The service was conducted by Canon David Maundrell, and was followed by a reception at the Community Centre with catering by Carol Pierce and Ivy Polley. Jim and Lisa will be living in Cinque Ports Street, and both have jobs in Rye; Lisa works at hairdressers Michael Chambers further along the road, while Jim drives the lorry for his family haulage business.
A young Australian couple in Rye this week are visitors with a difference. To begin with, they are living on board their yacht "Tiger Rag", which Brian Milgate designed and built himself and has sailed back here from Australia, with his wife Alison as his crew. They came into Rye on Sunday evening and reckon to leave at the weekend for Cowes, before heading away from this country for good. In the course of their journeyings they were involved in breaking up a drug-smuggling ring out east, and have published a book about it - but that's another story; what we are concerned with immediately is why they are here.
Brian and Alison met at university in Australia, and it was not until after they were married that they discovered that ancestors on both sides had come from Rye! Alison's grandmother was Alice Goodsell; she was born in 1877 and at the age of 40 was married (at St. Mary's) to a soldier, Albert Jones, who took her off to Yorkshire where their only child was born, also an Alice. They then went out to Australia, where in due course the old lady died - pining for her native Rye, poor lamb, ever since she had left it. She was descended from Philip Wooley (or possibly Woolley), who came to Rye from Kent in the early 1800s, was married three times and reared a substantial family (his third wife, mother of most of them, was a Rye girl called Jane Bean). So the seafaring Alison is looking forward to meeting for the first time a cousin, Len Fuggle of Lea Avenue, and hopes he will be able to tell her if she still has other relatives round here.
Brian's family is, he knows, Harbour-based; Rye Harbour churchyard is full of Milgate tombstones, and the one-1 spelling is unusual. His great-grandfather, Herbert Milgate, was a clipper captain engaged in the India trade, and because he sailed out from Falmouth he bought a house there; Brian's father Spencer Milgate was at one time the Falmouth lighthouse-keeper. Brian has made contact with an Essex branch of the family, who fell about in amazement when they saw him because he was so exactly like the photograph of their great-grandfather Zebedee Milgate. But Zebedee wasn't the father of the clipper captain; all Brian knows is that Zebedee had two brothers, John and Jude, and he suspects he is descended from one of them. Family tradition says that they came to the Harbour from Lydd - but when or why no-one seems to know. There are no Milgates on the Harbour electoral register now; but Brian has a contact with a member of the Robus family who may be able to help him.
So can Rye help these seekers from the far ends of the earth? Alison would love to meet any Goodsells, Woolleys or Beans who have been in the neighbourhood for several generations at least; and Brian is anxious to identify the Milgate brothers, John and Jude. (They have reason to think that a Goodsell married a Milgate once before!) We hope to be able to report that they have both been successful in their search; if you can help, either call on them at Strand Quay (town side, sluice end) or ring the GAZETTE and we will take a message round. Because they are only here this week, the matter is URGENT.
4.
... said Edwin Sutton to Lower School pupils assembled for last Thursday's Prize Day. Just as well! A former RGS pupil, Mr. Sutton had no great academic ambitions when he left school in 1950, and after three years' national service he looked around for something a little different, something interesting by way of a job. His first rabbit cost him 6/-; shortly afterwards she produced five more - and now he has 40,000, and is the biggest rabbit breeder in Europe. He travels extensively, most recently for three months in Egypt for the World Bank, teaching local farmers how to keep rabbits; not long ago he spent three days in the Istanbul nick, he told his fascinated audience, accused of smuggling in what was actually simply rabbit medicine, brought by special request for Turkish breeders! Now living in Manchester, Edwin is the brother of Jimper and Hugh and was brought up at Winchelsea Beach - usually cycling into school because he regularly missed the bus. "You have got to do something you enjoy, something for yourself" he told the children after he had presented 32 prizes - two to each of the twelve forms and the rest for games, science, chess, maths and classical studies. Was it a sign of the times, we wonder, that both science prizes and the maths prize were won by girls?
In a place of honour was an oil painting by Jill Hartman which was commissioned jointly by the school and South East Arts, and which will hang in Lower School a sea-piece, particularly suitable in view of the lifeboat theme which has engrossed Lower School during the past year. Mr. Thomas said how much the children had enjoyed having Mrs. Hartman as artist-in-residence; he went on to thank the Foundation Governors who had provided the prizes, Rotary who sponsor various Lower School activities, and the PTA for all their support - particularly Mrs. Bruce and her tuck-shop team. Lower School was extremely sorry to lose its lab technician Mrs. Julie Tuggle, who is retiring after 19 years in the job nine working with Mrs. Docksey when the Lower School lab was just for biology, and a further ten with Mr. Beckwith as the science curriculum expanded to include physics and chemistry. Mr. Fooks closed the proceedings with thanks to Lower School staff and pupils for the year's achievements; he quoted from a letter which had come to him - "A very touching letter" - from a complete stranger who had twice encountered the Lower School group which visited Burgundy, in which the writer paid tribute both to the excellent behaviour of the pupils and the sensitivity of the staff.
Lower School was honoured to be chosen at the start of this school year as one of a very few schools in East Sussex to take part in this national project. Chris Rose and Margaret Marshall were the staff members responsible, with of course the co-operation of those teaching all the subjects concerned. The theme chosen was the "Mary Stanford" disaster, and over the past year first-year pupils have immersed themselves in the story, and the effect of the lifeboat's loss on the Rye Harbour community. The theme ran through Lower School work in creative writing, music, art, drama and dance, and even Upper School pupils were
drawn in. On Wednesday evening in the Lower School Hall a hundred parents and as many pupils gathered to admire the display in which all the work was assembled - not just pictures on the walls, but a "radio play" which appeared to emerge from a wireless-set of the period and was written as well as performed by the pupils; live art taking place to create a new backdrop for the stage from the top of an unnervingly high stepladder; live art again with Jill Hartman at work on a rather more professional and smaller-scale painting; arrangements of shells and other flotsam brought back from the Harbour; dance and music all blending with the overall theme. Models and stained-glass work added to the effect, and there were also slides, videos and poetry reading. Among the present Rye Harbour lifeboatmen who were there to support the children was Alan Haffenden, exemplifying the family traditions of the boat even nowadays; he retires after 21 years' service in September, but his son Mark is now a crew member. Also helping was Dick Pearce of the Wipers; proceeds from his RNLI souvenir stall, the two raffles and the silver collection went to the RNLI.
5.
Thursday's entertainment at Upper School was a broad mix of drama, dance and music from both Upper and Lower School pupils. The Lower School classical studies play opened the evening, a cheerful and enjoyable version of the kidnapping of Persephone (though not always audible, probably because the young actors were not accustomed to the big Upper School hall). Lower School continued the programme with two dances, one in Balinese style (performed next day before an appreciative Queen Mother) and another, "Robots", more modern. Jo Breeds and Michelle Robus put on "a rather strange play" (their own description of "Vacant Possession"), and this was followed by music from Upper School, with solos by Beth Hall and Graham Clack, two short pieces by the Brass Group, and finally two Beatles numbers given a swinging rendering by the Wind Band. After the interval, things got more serious. "Full Circle", the winning play from School House in the Upper School drama competition, was written and produced by Marcus Gould with Mark Curry as Death and Tania Hanover as Life, plus supporting cast; it was very philosophical and confusing, but impressively acted and produced. Finally, the 5th and 6th form drama group presented their interpreta- tion of the Mary Stanford tragedy both before and after the event, including a dance by a Lower-School second-year group called upon at very short notice. It was a moving finale to the evening, which left the audience wondering whether to clap - or cry.
One criticism which nagged away at intervals throughout the evening: the extended stage acquired for the production of "Ulysses" is a great asset to the hall, but it is simply not suitable for scenes where the actors sit down or lie on the floor, because none of the audience beyond the first three rows can see what is going on at all! Sitting at the back, we were able to stand up at critical moments; but it seems a waste of the proper stage to leave it unused in favour of something only half the height and largely invisible?
Rye Festival runs from 5 to 12 September, and leaflets are now available from the Art Gallery and elsewhere in the town; what follows is a very concentrated summary, and we shall be including the leaflets themselves in a later issue (bookings open for the general public on 17 August). The Endellion String Quartet opens the Festival, and performs twice more in the course of the week; the closing concert features the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra and the Barbican Piano Trio. At Playden Church on the Thursday there will be a harp and flute recital, and Charles Proctor plays Bach at St. Mary's on the Wednesday over lunch. At a less intellectual level, there is the usual band concert in the Gun Garden on the Sunday afternoon, and folk at the Ypres Castle pub on Tuesday evening. The big Friday-night spot this year is 'The Fairer Sax, an all-girl saxophone group who have been seen recently on TVS to good effect. Literature is represented by the life and loves of Colette on the Sunday, and Graham Clarke talks about his "History of England" at the Town Hall on the Wednesday (not in the leaflet). Monday's two films are "Charlotte's Web" for children, and "The Assam Garden" in the evening; the third film, on Thursday, is also timed for children, but is likely to draw a larger audience since it is the version of "Dr. Syn" which was filmed in and around Rye in the early 1960s with Patrick McGoohan as the smuggling parson; those who appeared in it as extras, or who enjoyed it first time around as children, may welcome its exhumation. The Hooe Village Band also has a local connection: one of its members is Dennis Batcheler, who used to play alongside his late father and brother in the good old days of the Rye Town Band. Lonnie Donegan has had to cancel, since he is taking his son to the States for medical treatment, but there will be a replacement. Children can paint murals with Louis Turpin and friends in the RAG courtyard, Palfi the Clown entertains at Tilling Green. The Easton Rooms will have work by Ralph Steadman, the Stormont Studios an exhibition of urban landscapes, and the Old Vicarage will show work by Gerald Robert Tucker, RSMA. Finally, the Museum Association connoisseurs' evening, the NSPCC coffee morning, and the local history and conservation exhibition at the Town Hall. Something for absolutely everyone!
6.
Sunday was wet and windy, and the only consolation to the organisers of the Romney Shears International Sheep-Shearing Competition held in the Cattle Market was that it would all have been even wetter and windier out at Jury's Gap (where this event has been held since 1981). But there was time to make preparations, and the organisers are particularly grateful to Rye Scaffolders, who not only stepped in at very short notice to put up the tarpaulins protecting contestants and spectators from the weather, but asked that their fee should go to charity. Eight hundred sheep, lent by Frank Langrish and the Baker brothers, were kept under cover for the best part of three days and only allowed out to graze when there was not a grey cloud in sight (you can't shear wet sheep). The programme had to be altered slightly because of the weather - the old-style shearers had planned to use an old-style shearing machine, but settled gladly for the use of the indoor stage during the lunch-hour instead.
There were three main classes: Intermediate, Senior and Open, and some shearers competed in two, so the 84 entries represented in fact around 65 shearers from all parts of Great Britain, France and the Antipodes. There was a vocal French fan-club, and more Welsh voices heard in the town than for many a day. A vast array of awards was assembled on stage at the end, including a number of Rye Pottery mugs as well as cash and the more traditional trophies; sponsors inc1uded the Wool Board, William Cory, Kent Wool Growers, Coopers, Martin Channon, Mr. and Mrs. Bertie Bull, the Royal George Hotel at Hurst Green (where the party was held afterwards), Lloyds Bank, Ogle Clark & Partners, Marshall's Meats of Lamberhurst and Anglo-Dutch Meats of Charing.
The system ran very smoothly. Four shearers worked on stage at a time, and as each ewe was shorn she was dispatched backstage with a brisk pat on the rump before the shearer grabbed the next candidate from the pen. In the early stages, each competitor sheared four sheep; but for the finals of the Open class, 20 ewes had to be dealt with in quick succession - and it was quick, with the first man finishing in just under 22 minutes! But judging was not only on speed; the shorn ewes were inspected backstage by two judges, whose opinion added or subtracted points for quality, so the final results were not known until the awards were actually presented.
We didn't see the Senior Class finals, which were won by Barry Goodsell of Udimore; but three Open Class finals were very exciting, with Robert Bull of Peasmarsh making up time to finish half a sheep behind JTL Davies of Wales and then gaining backstage points which gave him the championship; Mr. Davies took the class prize for quality back home with him. In the old-style competition the award went to Joe Pilcher, with his brother Jim as runner-up; the wool-winding trophy also went locally, to Tracey Evans of Military Road in competition with three girls from New Zealand - all four worked unbelievably hard. There were two girl shearers, one from Wales and one from Scotland; the Scots lassie, Vivian Oag, got as far as her semi-final in the Intermediate class. We can't attempt to list all the winners, but there seemed to be a very good spread over the various nationalities.
Robert Bull took over the chairmanship after last year's competition. This is proving a good month for him, since he won the British Open and the English Championships at the Royal Show on 8 July. He spends a good deal of time instructing for the Wool Board; his predecessor as chairman, and the present president, is Brian Goodsell, now the chief Wool Board instructor for the Southern Region (which stretches from the Welsh borders to East Anglia). So there were two very proud fathers on Sunday, both well known locally, watching their sons win - Barry Goodsell's father Brian and Robert Bull's father Bertie. The Rye element in the crowd was very well satisfied too.
Robert Bull told us afterwards that they would really like to hold the event indoors, after this year's experience. With the Drill Hall doomed and the Agricultural Hall subdivided, has anyone any suggestions? (We doubt if the Sports Centre would really be very keen on the idea- all those sharp little hooves on their nice shiny floor!)
7.
• It is not often that there is the chance of a part-time term-only job in Rye, but owing to Mrs. Fuggle's retirement Lower School is looking for a lab technician from September: 19½ hours a week, Monday to Friday, term-time only, with pay scaled to age and relevant experience. Basically they are looking for someone intelligent and willing to learn, though obviously laboratory or similar scientific experience would be valuable; there is plenty of contact with 11/13-year-olds. Because there may not be anyone on the other end of the phone during the holidays, applications should be in writing to the Headmaster, Thomas Peacocke School, The Grove, Rye, as soon as possible.
• Whitewashed windows in Cinque Ports Street on Friday meant the departure of Rennie and Veronica Briggs of Squirrels, after eight years in business in Rye (the shop was originally in cramped quarters in Needles Passage, when Mr. and Mrs. Briggs still lived in Battle). They have been extremely happy here and have made many friends - Rennie tells us that they are moving for purely business reasons. The shop reopens at the end of this month at 9-10 Carew Court, Hawkswood Road, Hailsham (0323 844454). Rye will be very sorry to see them go, but it is good news that the Cinque Ports Street premises are to become a sports shop - Allsports, a branch of the business already established in New Romney by Mr. and Mrs. Colin Pope. Mrs. Pope will be in charge of the Rye branch, and her mother Mrs. Hubble will live in the flat above the shop.
• Congratulations to Jo Kirkham's Wednesday-afternoon local history group at Thomas Peacocke; their first publication has appeared just in time before term ends. This is the autobiography of a well-known local man, Arthur Woodgate, and we look forward to writing about it more fully soon; this week we only have room, before the group breaks up, to thank Kay Beeching, Dean Blanshard, Tracy Champion, Denise Cotterell, John Green, James Kemp, Marie Pawson, Michelle Robus, Stephen Tollett and Sharon Vidler - plus all those who have helped them with the project - for preserving for posterity so much of Rye's recent history.
• The town's major events in August are spaced out very neatly this year. The Carnival is on the afternoon of Saturday, 1st (with a Greenpeace benefit gig at the Wipers running on into the evening); also on the 1st, the Rye Society of Artists Summer Exhibition opens to the public at the Boys' Club (to 5 September). Rotary have their Country Fair all day on Sunday, 9th, on the Freda Gardham field. Rye WI's Summer Fair is the following Saturday, 15th; on Sunday, 16th, the firemen have a Boot Fair at the back of ex-Farnborough from 10 to 4, and the Rye Racers will be enlivening the middle of the town over the middle of the day. The Tuesday Painters show opens at the FE Centre on 26 August (until 5 September), and Sunday, 30th, sees the annual Raft Race held for NSPCC funds.
• Graham Clarke's annual exhibition at the Easton Rooms this year includes all 18 of his splendid "History of England" series - ranging from the building of Stonehenge to Edwardian times. There are other prints too, all in Graham's inimitable style, but it is the entertaining detail of the "History" pictures which will draw the eye - those who can't even think about affording the prints on sale now will be glad to know that they are to appear in book form in the autumn. In the Craft Gallery is an interesting and attractive group of glass bowls, plates and vases - unusual colours blended in traditional shapes - by the three workers who together form the Glass Market from High Wycombe.
• The exhibition of Audubon bird studies at the Stormont Studio, which continues until 23 August, will appeal to bird-lovers as well as art-lovers; Rye Harbour Nature Reserve members will particularly enjoy the engravings of seabirds which the American artist depicted so vividly in the first half of the last century. Conservationists would not approve of him if he were painting now, because he found it necessary to shoot specimens in order to study them while their colours were still fresh - but before the days of photography, what else could he do to ensure accuracy? The 30 plates on show also include some from the artist's "Viviparous quadrupeds of North America", mostly shown in dramatically snarling postures.
Mencap garden party, 11 High Street, 10
Women's British Legion sale of Disabled Men'is Industries goods, Red Cross, 10 to 2
Coffee morning for Mencap, organised by Rye Labour Party, Butter-market (Town Hall, downstairs), 10.30 to 12.30 Multiple Sclerosis Society jumble sale, CC, 2
Songs of Praise hymn-singing with the Salvation Army Band, Gun Garden (St. Mary's if wet), 3
Town Council committees, TH
Coffee morning for the Catholic Church Restoration Fund, 7 Ashenden Avenue (by kind invitation of Mrs. Jupp), 10
Local History Group ("Social change in C16 and C17 Rye" by Dr. Stephen Hipkin of Christchurch College, Canterbury), Library, 7.30
• Congratulations to Tracy Kirkham, daughter of Jo and Jim of Udimore Road, who has just been awarded a BSc (Hons.) in Maritime Studies from Liverpool Polytechnic - following a family tradition on both sides, and surely the only ex-Mayoress of Rye ever to hold such a qualification!
• Congratulations, too, to Derrick Carter of Social Services' Rye office and his wife, proud parents of a daughter born in the early hours of Wednesday last week.
• If anyone has a photograph of Kellie Edwards presenting a posy to the Queen Mother, she would be most grateful for a copy - which can be sent to her at Leasam House for forwarding, since school breaks up today.
• Planning applications for Rye have subsided in the last two weeks - the only one is for a new garage and alterations at 60 King's Avenue.
• Since it is only just outside our area, we have been asked to mention the Book Sale this Friday and Saturday at Playden Church, for church funds hundreds of books, mainly 15p for paper-backs, 30p for hardbacks, nothing over £1 - 10 am to 6 pm, both days.
• Freda Gardham PTA are delighted to report that the Fun Day on 11 July raised £950 for the fund to repair the indoor swimming pool. They already have £312 saved up, so are well on their way to the £1,500-plus likely to be needed.
• Landgate WI very much enjoyed their July garden meeting at the home of Mrs. Marsha Bourne, with the weather relenting just in time. We hope it will be equally kind for their picnic on The Salts in August.
• The barrage balloon tethered above the Salts this week is an unusual form of advertising for the current attraction there, Gerry Cottle's Circus (until Saturday, see posters). Not everyone approves of circuses, but for those who do we are told that this is a very good one - professional but friendly, well-turned-out and with well-cared-for animals including an elephant. Our informant went rather doubtfully, to take her grandchildren, but came home having thoroughly enjoyed herself.
• Playden Church needs a dovecot. Pigeons in the bell loft were not popular with the choir below, so they were ejected and now sit about disconsolately outside. If anyone has an unused dovecot which would accommodate about six birds, ring Ruth Ingham.
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, Monday afternoon for Wednesday's delivery; the paper costs subscribers 30p a week, and spare copies are occasionally obtainable from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1987)