The New Road swimming pool will open on Monday, 6 June, immediately after the half-term break. Wasting no time, the Swimming Club has its first session at 6.30 the same evening, and will meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6.30 to 8. There is a 20p membership fee for the season, plus a charge of 20p per swim, and membership is open to all ages, though a non-swimmer must be accompanied by an adult (not necessarily intending to swim). A welcome innovation this season are the hot showers in the changing-rooms, for which an extra charge of 5p is made.
A fortnight ago we referred to the lack of progress over the proposed parking restrictions in the cobbled streets; a tattered notice still fixed to a lamp post shows that the original proposal was dated March 1982. Last summer the plan was normally advertised and considered by the County Council's Highways and Transportation Committee, and then an application was made to the Department of Transport for the authorisation of the necessary signs.
However, the Assistant County Engineer tells us that this authorisation has not yet been forthcoming, and he was due to meet a senior Department of Transport representative at the end of May to see what the objection is. We do hope that this meeting took place on site, so that the official could see for himself exactly what the problem is. In any case, we hope to have a further report soon.
Woolworths didn't quite manage to get their extension open for the Bank Holiday weekend, but on Friday (3 June) the new entrance, with its own till, will lead to enlarged departments selling cards, books and stationery, with a special area for records and tapes. Shoppers may well be surprised at the size of the new floor-space, which goes back much further than might be supposed - there will be over 70' of extra counter space. There is also, of course, access through from the extension to the main store.
Manager Mr. Wren has good news for Rye shoppers: to celebrate their expansion, they are giving a 10% discount throughout the store (not just the new part) on all purchases totalling over £1, for a limited period from Monday next (6th).
The new Rother Planning Committee has four representatives from the Rye area: John Cawdron and Pauline Tomich from Rye, Roy Pulford (Iden, Playden, Camber and East Guldeford), and Jimper Sutton (Winchelsea, Rye Harbour and Icklesham).
The Committee held its first meeting on Thursday, and the Nook Beach application (see GAZETTE nos. 30 and 31) took up five pages in the agenda. The Planning Officer's report came down heavily on the side of wildlife and against the proposed new development; he had received a dozen objections from conservation organisations and getting on for two hundred letters from individuals. As Monday was a Bank Holiday, we could not get our usual official information from Rother about the Committee's decisions, which will appear next week; but Pam Haddon, Assistant Warden of the Nature Reserve, who was there, tells us that the Nook Beach application was very firmly stamped on, though Peter Gould - also there to hear his application discussed - implied afterwards that he would appeal.
We also hear unofficially that, despite Department of Transport objections to a retail outlet there, the application for a glass-blowing studio and "seconds" shop in the old Colebrook’s/Griffin Boon building has been approved. Good!
2.
Mr. John Scott of Pottingfield Road died on 23 May aged 68. He leaves a widow and a son and daughter. Mr. Scott will be remembered by many people as the last manager of the International Stores - he and Mrs. Scott came to Rye in 1970, and he retired in 1979. The funeral took place yesterday.
Mr. Norman Mussett, of Lamb Cottage, died at his home on 24 May after an illness. The funeral has taken place.
Applications are now invited, from young people aged between 16 and 24, for a place on a 1984 Sail Training Cruise on the "Sir Winston Churchill" or "Malcolm Miller". This place is endowed as a memorial to Canon Williams, and all candidates must live in Rye, Rye Harbour, Playden, Iden, Camber, or East Guldeford.
Forms are available from Mrs. Kate Davson, 5 Market Road Rye (222661); they should be returned by 30 June, and interviews will be held in the early part of July.
Pauline Tomich tells us that when she was canvassing for her Rother Council seat, she heard of a good many worries about housing. Readers will know that Mrs. Yates has held a regular weekly "surgery" at the Ferry Road offices, where people could conveniently see her to talk about Rother Council problems generally; now that Mrs. Yates is no longer on Rother, she feels that there will be less need for her to do this. So she and Mrs. Tomich, who is on Rother's Housing Committee, have arranged that Mrs. Tomich will take over some of the surgeries, where she will be pleased to talk to people with any Rother problems though she suspects that most of them will in fact be housing difficulties. Mrs. Yates will continue to make herself available, by appointment and probably only fortnightly, to talk about County Council matters which of course still very much concern her.
Mrs. Tomich's first session will be on Friday of this week, from 3.30 until around 5. She hopes that in general people intending to see her will write to her first setting out their problem (though this is not, of course, essential) so that she can do her research beforehand and hopefully sort things out at the meeting in a fairly short time. Her address is "The Walled Garden", New England Lane, Playden (222803).
Peter Cooke and Kath Elworthy have devised an interesting and comparatively painless way of raising money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. We are all familiar with the mile-of-pennies appeal painstakingly laid out along the edge of the High Street pavement by several of our local good causes; but a mile is further than one might think. Peter Cooke reckons it will take two months to achieve it, since 15 1p pieces make a line one foot long, so - needless to say - his "mile" will appear on paper only. However, on paper, it runs from the foot of the steps by Tower Forge, along Fishmarket Road, South Undercliff, Strand Quay, Wish Ward, Cinque Ports Street and Tower Street, under the Landgate arch and up Hilder's Cliff, along the start of the High Street, and then up East Street to the Town Hall.
He hopes for support both from people with property along his route (a 20' frontage works out at £3 in pennies) and from others - because this is not just an appeal, it has a draw thrown in. Tickets cost 20p, and of this 15p goes straight to the MS Society and contributes a foot to the route; the other 5p is for the provision of prizes in a draw to be made by the Mayor at the Town Hall at noon on Saturday, 30 July - £25, £20 and £15 go to the holders of the first three tickets, and there are smaller cash prizes as well.
Tickets are now on sale from 22 Ferry Road, and the organisers hope that people will buy £5 books of 25 tickets and resell them to friends, customers and workmates, though of course tickets can be bought singly as well. If the pennies subscribed do cover the entire mile, there will be almost £800 going to the Society.
...To Helen Menzies-Sacher and Hayley Young, fourth-years at Freda Gardham, who have both had work published in a broadsheet issued last week by the Schools Poetry Association and distributed all over the country.
THE RYE GAZETTE, 1.6.83 - page 3
Over three-quarters of the children who move in September from Lower to Upper School at Thomas Peacocke School have a real treat in store this month. Starting on Monday, two forms at a time are spending four nights under canvas at the Blacklands Guide camp site near East Grinstead. The site is well-equipped, with a swimming pool and sports facilities - and meals are mostly prepared for the campers, though one night sees a traditional campfire with DIY cooking. There is canoeing on a nearby reservoir, rock-climbing, and visits to places of interest including the Bluebell Railway. Each child pays £15 towards the cost of the trip.
Mr. Edwards, who with his wife, is in overall charge of the project, tells us that this is something that the Headmaster has wanted to arrange for a long time, but taking four groups of up to fifty children out of school for the best part of a week needs a bit of planning. Each group will of course be very adequately staffed, and one of the objects is to enable staff and pupils to get to know each other outside the normal classroom contacts.
A reader tells us that the herons (presumably from Leasam) have discovered the joys of "fast food" and patronise the fishing boats tied up at the Fishmarket; she saw one the far side of the river, but she has had a report of herons actually perched on the masts of the fishing boats. We said, doubtfully, seagulls? But her informant was quite sure they were herons - which puts them on a par with milk-bottle bluetits and the urban fox!
Recently Mrs. Forbes in Cinque Ports Street found a pair of thrush nestlings on the ground in her garden, presumably fallen from a nest on the Town Wall behind her flat. Summoned to help, Mrs. Briggs of Squirrels put them in a box on her (upstairs) kitchen windowsill while she wondered how to look after them - but she needn't have worried, because almost at once Mum appeared complete with worm! One of the birds, which was injured, died; but Mum continues to feed the other one, and since her idea of breakfast-time is 4.45 am, Mrs. Briggs is woken up with loud tappings on the window if she forgets to leave it open!
A report in this week's Sunday Telegraph refers to a bequest to Rye Museum from the late Mrs. Muriel Jones of Winchelsea. Mrs. Jones, who died on 6 May, has left the Museum a Ferguson's Astronomical Sun and Moon Clock, one of only 50 made about 1778, with the unique feature of showing the tide at Rye instead of at London Bridge. Curator Mr. Geoffrey Bagley at present knows no more than this himself, but we hope to have a fuller report when the clock actually arrives on his doorstep.
Last week's reference to the High Street numbering has a new twist. Tony Campion, whose Mint Arcade is for practical purposes 71 The Mint, tells us that it is rated as 71 High Street; and since High Street is a prime trading area, the rates are considerably higher than they would be for comparable shopping space in a less popular trading area. But Mr. Campion has other property in the town, and if the rating authorities communicate with him about this, they address the envelope to him at 71 The Mint! We all know that The Mint is not, as a shopping area, comparable with the High Street, and Mr. Campion contends that many visitors looking down it from Woolworths (30 High Street) or up it from the bottom of Mermaid Street assume that it is residential and go another way. He thinks that if property in it is rated as High Street, the authorities should provide a sign at top and bottom indicating that it is part of the High Street; but they say this is not necessary. It does seem as if businesses in The Mint are neither having their cake nor eating it.
We notice with interest that ideas differ at the High Street end about where The Mint does begin: John Masters' Cyma shop is definitely called 32 The Mint, but the Old Bell Inn appears in the phone book as High Street; next door, the Copper Kettle is 34 The Mint, but further down still Tuckers describes itself as 35 High Street.
(If anyone has any old street directories for Rye, the kind with street numbers as well as names, the Editor would be most grateful to be allowed to photocopy them to help with her survey of business changes in the High Street in the last hundred years or so; copying them by hand is a very tedious job indeed, she finds!)
THE RYE GAZETTE, 1.6.83 - page 4
The Town Clerk has given us a list of which members of the new Town Council are on what Committees, and we thought readers might be interested.
The Mayor (Bill Simpson) and the Deputy Mayor (Jo Kirkham) are ex officio on all Committees. and Councillor George Shackleton serves on all three main ones so that they can benefit from his liaison with Rother.
Others serve as follows.
Councillor General Purpose & Finance Leisure & Tourism Planning (6 meetings a year). (10 meetings) (12 meetings)
Roger Breeds x x
Geraldine Bromley x x
Alex Buchan x x
Edward Evans x x
Osma Jones x
Eric Le Fevre x x
James Menhinick x x
Hilda Nelson-Barrett x x
Monica Oliver x x
Frank Palmer x x
Joan Parkes x x
Duncan Starkey x x
Ed Wiseman x x
The Bequests Committee only meets twice a year and is therefore not counted as one of the two Committees normally allowed for each Councillor; it administers various charitable funds left to the town over the years. Its members, as well as the Mayor and his Deputy, are Councillors Buchan, Jones, Nelson-Barrett, Oliver and Parkes, and also Mrs. Doris Chatterton and Mrs. Margaret Leopold, co-opted so that advantage can be taken of their special expertise in this area.
We wondered, at the Mayoring, why some Councillors were dressed more impressively than others. The answer is that the furred robes and tricorn hats date from the days when Rye had four Aldermen, who did not have to stand for election (see last week's piece about John Neve Masters). When the Borough Council was transmuted into what is technically only a parish council, this arrangement had to cease, and the furred robes are now worn by the four longest-serving Councillors. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor, of course, wear the red robes; the furred ones hitherto went to Mr. Prebble, Mrs. Nelson-Barrett and Mr. Shackleton, with one put by for Mrs. Kirkham when she should cease to be entitled to a red one. Now that Mr. Prebble has left the Council, there are three Councillors equally eligible for the vacant outfit:
Mr. Breeds, Mrs. Oliver and Mr. Starkey. Lots were drawn, and Mr. Breeds will be wearing it; but Mrs. Oliver and Mr. Starkey have equal standing as Senior Councillors.
A Doric 14" colour TV set went missing from a caravan at Winchelsea Beach between 17 and 21 May, and on 21 May a Vespa scooter (SKL 186 Y) was stolen from Bowlers Motel (ex-Rumpels), Rye Foreign. The police ask drivers to take particular care about locking parked cars, and making sure valuables are stowed out of sight, if possible locked in the boot; a window was smashed to enable a thief to get at the contents of a car in the Rye Harbour car park recently, and crime of this kind, they say, tends to escalate in the summer months.
Our sympathies to Mrs. Kinsella senior, of South Undercliff, who had her purse snatched from her shopping basket as she made her way home down the Ypres Castle steps after a morning's shopping trip last week. The theft was from behind, so all she saw was a hand and an anorak sleeve. Moral: tuck your purse well down under your shopping if you don't have a zip pocket to your bag.
5.
We have now had a copy of Gordon McNally's press release (see last week's GAZETTE); there is no way we can reproduce it in full, but he proposes, if elected, to call for a referendum (at his own expense) in which the local people could express their points of view on some of the important issues of the day; he would then abide by the majority decision on any given subject and cast his vote in Parliament accordingly. Anyone who would like to discuss with him this interesting concept should look out for him in Rye High Street next Monday (6 June) when he will be canvassing in the town from 3 pm; he will not, we understand, be holding an election meeting nor issuing a manifesto, since he does not wish to put forward his own opinions as such.
The Labour Party are holding their election meeting on Saturday (4 June) at the Town Hall at 8 pm. Their candidate Nigel Knowles will of course be speaking, with Lord Longford in support. As both the other parties held their meetings last weekend, we are delaying reporting on them until next week's issue when we shall have, as it were, the complete set.
This year for the first time Graham's Coaches are offering a variety of half and full-day outings from Rye (Mrs. Trill tells us that as a result of recent legislation they are now able to apply for licences to do this - hitherto it was party bookings only). The current list is displayed in the window of the Regent Motel, Cinque Ports Street, where Mrs. Jean Clarke will take bookings - though she tells us that it would be best if people were to call between 2 and 6.30 when she is in the office, as in the mornings she may be inaccessible upstairs. Obviously actual bookings must be made in person, but the Motel's phone number for enquiries is Rye 225884. Coaches pick up at Rope Walk and Tilling Green for Rye passengers.
A more ambitious project, already well supported, is planned for 5-12 September, when Mr. Trill will be taking a coach to Scotland: a night each way in the Lake District, with two bases in Scotland at 3/4-star hotels.
Wood'n Things, which has replaced the fish shop in Landgate, is largely the brainchild of the Robus family from Rye Harbour: Jean, David, Keith and Paula. They are selling small wooden articles, with wicker-ware due any moment now, and their spoons and napkin rings and wall-plaques are decorated in what is now called pyrography but is a rather more stylish and delicate version of dear old pokerwork. There are some very pretty drawings of wildlife, but a most useful service available at the shop is the "pyrographing" of names or even messages on to something while you wait - a personalised present which doesn't let on that it was only thought of at the very last minute (as well as being easy to pack and post).
Claude Auberson tells us that he has received planning permission to transfer the Swiss Patisserie business along Cinque Ports Street to no. 50, at present the green grocer’s; he was already painting the window on Monday! The original Swiss Patisserie will remain open, of course, until the new premises are ready, probably in mid-July; the Aubersons will be pleased to hear from anyone interested in buying no. 6, which could either be used in its entirety or divided into a lock-up shop with a separate flat above.
Rye Harmonic Society is giving its seventh annual concert on Saturday, 18 June, at 7.30 at St. Mary's. There is an interesting and varied programme, involving over 100 singers altogether; the conductor is Lesley Brownbill, with Charles Proctor at the organ and Mary Densem and Enid Graham at two pianos. The first part of the programme consists of excerpts from George Dyson's "Canterbury Pilgrims", and after a short interval four local choirs - Ryesingers, Ryefolk, Rye Methodist Choir and Winchelsea Singers - will be singing their separate contributions. The evening will end with Handel's "Zadok the Priest".
Two young musicians who visited Rye last summer were so taken with St. Mary's that they wrote asking whether they might return this year to give a recital there. This is why, on Saturday at 7.30, Charlotte Ward (flute) and Haydee Schvartz (piano) will be playing music by Vivaldi, Mozart, Ravel, Ibert, Ainastera, Schumann, Brahms and Poulenc. There will be a collection in aid of the Organ Fund.
6.
Friday, 3rd Vidlers' monthly auction sale, 10
Nursing Cadets, enrollment and open evening, St. John Centre, 7
Saturday, 4th Rye Hospital Fete, FEC, 10.30 to 12.30
Plant sale, Friends of Rye Art Gallery, Town Hall forecourt, 10
Jumble sale, Rye Majorettes, Community Centre, 2
Recital (flute and piano), St. Mary's, 7.30 - see page 5
Labour Party election meeting, Town Hall, 8
Tuesday, 7th Cub Scouts (1st Peacocke Pack) parents' evening, Scout Hut, 6.30
FRAG talk "Our Imperiled Landscape" (Dame Sylvia Crowe), TH, 8
Rye Lions were surprised and gratified at the success of their Boot Fair in New Road on Sunday - the grey morning improved, and the field did not lie wet even after Saturday's rain. People were selling from around 40 "boots", and the Lions had hired one of those blow-up castles for the children to bounce around on while Mum browsed, though Trevor Humphreys suspects that some buyers were lured in by the sight of the castle as they drove past! The Lions hope to clear about £300 when the expenses are paid.
Simmons Restaurant (68 The Mint) is pleased to announce that from today it will be open for lunch from 12 to 2.30 on Tuesdays-Saturdays during the season. Regulars will know that Mr. and Mrs. Simmons have done Sunday lunches almost ever since the restaurant opened in April 1982, and these will of course continue; but there are no evening meals on Sundays, and the restaurant is closed all day on Mondays. For bookings phone Rye 222026.
British Rail summer services started last week. As far as Rye is concerned, the weekday services remain the same, but on Sundays trains run every hour instead of two-hourly.
Summer services on the buses began on Monday. When we asked the agents, Baldwins Travel, on Saturday for the new timetable leaflets, they had not been able to get hold of a supply, but doubtless they will have them by the time this note appears.
ARC's acting secretary Francis Barrett writes that the coffee morning at the Community Centre last Wednesday raised over £100 - which is, he says, rather gratifying in view of the way that Rye's citizens must be awash with coffee at the moment. (He also ponders on the endlessly circulating jumble and suggests that there may now be "collector's pieces" which have appeared over a hundred times!)
Peter Ewart, editor of "Let's be Men, Let's be Ryers" (the Cecil Rhodes book) tells us that he is still getting a steady stream of correspondence about it. He is in the middle of moving house, and answers to letters may be delayed a little, but he does hope people will keep on writing - to his new address: Fern Cottage, School Lane, Staple, Canterbury, Kent, CT3 1LJ.
We are sorry not to be able to record the names of the winners at the Footsloggers' Point to Point on Sunday - for it, too, the weather improved just in time; but we hope to have them next week.
The Conservatives’ Garden meeting on 23 June in New England Lane is cancelled, as the prospective hostess finds herself with a Rother Council meeting that day.
Traffic diversions on Thursday were caused by a lorry "losing traction" on Ferry Hill, Winchelsea; it was eventually shifted by a local breakdown service.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office. It is published by Mrs. Mary Owen at 94 Udimore Road, Rye (222303), and news items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline is Monday afternoon, or 9 am Tuesday for emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday morning.
Photocopied by Sussex Secretarial Services, 10 Cambridge Road, Hastings (0424 422633).