On Friday afternoon Rye Fire Brigade were called out three times, twice to field fires - train passengers may have noticed that a second tractor perished in the flames just outside Winchelsea, as well as the one at Camber the week before - and once to a minor fire in Harbour Road. (The ambulance also seemed noticeably busy that afternoon, but they don't talk to the press.) Earlier in the week, the Brigade had an unusual outing with their long ladder to retrieve a Dutch yachtswoman who had got herself stuck at the top of a mast at Strand quay with the hoist jammed, a particularly embarrassing predicament for the poor lady since she apparently spoke no English.
The A-level results are out, and rather more people than usual seem to be hastily rethinking their plans for further education in consequence; parental circles are overcast with gloom. It is therefore particularly pleasant to report that last year's Head Boy at Thomas Peacock, Paul Chillingworth of Lea Avenue, has a really splendid set of results to add to his 1982 grade A in Maths. Paul has now gained grade A in Chemistry, with a distinction in the Special paper; grade A in Physics, with a merit in the Special paper; and grade B in Further Maths. Paul will be taking Cambridge entrance in November. Last year's Head Girl, Amanda Briggs, now has her this year's Cambridge place secure as a result of her own A-levels.
Mrs. Pauline White of Bankside, has the lucky programme from Rye Carnival, and will be taking her family for a weekend at Butlins. It is the first time for several years that the prize, generously offered annually by Butlins, has been claimed at all, and even longer since there was a winner from the town itself.
Dr. Robert Irvine, in charge of the geriatric unit at St. Helen's Hospital, has received a CBE in the recent Honours List for his outstanding and internationally known work for the elderly; our local hospital is obviously very fortunate to have a consultant of Dr. Irvine's calibre, and colleagues and patients alike will be delighted to know of his honour.
Best wishes to Helen Duffy of Rye and Paul Head of Her Majesty's Navy, based at Portland, who were married in St. Mary's on 13 August. Helen will be missed by shoppers at Boots, where she used to work; Paul left Rye as a child (he is one of the Head family, so much a part of Rye Harbour) but often returns to visit his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Smith of West Undercliff. The couple will live at Portland.
New secretary and warden of the Community Centre is Mrs. Irene Cuthbert, of Winchelsea Road. Mrs. Cuthbert is working the same hours as her predecessor, and will still be keeping the bookings diary in the Centre office; so contact her there (Rye 222850) on Tuesday or Friday mornings, Tuesday early evening or Friday afternoon.
Welcome to a new chamber choir, Madrigalia, formed by Lesley Brownbill at the end of last year; they gave their first public recital as part of the Hastings Old Town Week celebrations recently, and their varied programme was well received by the audience.
Diana and Rowena (they say firmly no surname, please) enlivened the High Street last week with a very pleasant musical busking act, devised originally to finance a camping holiday near Poole earlier in the summer. Among the items played and sung were some of Diana's own compositions. Both girls have taken leading parts Peacocke's musical presentations over the years, but the confidence "going public" will surely help their career prospects.
2.
Mrs. Brenda Ray-Gain, of Pottingfield Road, died in her sleep on 4 August; she had been in poor health for some time, but her death was a great shock to her husband, son and two grandsons. The funeral has taken place. Mrs. Ray-Gain, who would have been 70 in November, was born in Rye and was a member of the Blackhall family, of Landgate.
Mrs. Wynne Lawrence, of North Salts, died peacefully in hospital in Hastings on 13 August after a short illness endured with memorable courage. She was 76. Before settling in the Rye area some twenty years ago, Mrs. Lawrence had led an adventurous and varied life, holding a position of considerable responsibility in the WRNS during the war and travelling extensively afterwards. But to her many friends here she was a quiet and unassuming person, who not only worked tirelessly for whatever charity happened to need her services but also obviously enjoyed it. She will be greatly missed in the town, where she moved recently after having had her home first in Iden and then in Peasmarsh.
Social Services have now settled into their new offices in Cinque Ports Street (opposite Rediffusion) and are ready to receive clients from the Rye area - this for them extends from the Kent border to the edge of Hastings, taking in Northiam, Broad Oak, Brede, Westfield and Fairlight. The social workers based there include team leader Neil Weatherall and Mrs. Ann Dunlop, Paul Madden, Miss Polly Road, Miss Kay French and Miss Sylvia Shaw (home helps), with back-up from the clerical team of Mrs. Greta Willett of Westfield, Mrs. Mandy Hulme of Winchelsea and Mrs. Brenda Warner of Rye.
The former Davies Garage has been converted by Ellis Bros into a reception area and general office downstairs, together with a pleasant interview room and a larger room for meetings at the back; administrative offices are upstairs, which means that only the staff have to contend with the outside staircase in the rain! (There is, incidentally, a downstairs toilet designed for wheelchair users who have occasion to visit the office.) Don't be put off by the enormous plate-glass window, dating back to the car showroom days; only the office staff are clearly visible to passers-by, the clients have complete privacy once they are inside the door at the side of the building by the steps. The reception desk will have a full range of leaflets, both from Social Services (and these include a couple of useful booklets for wheelchair users) and from Social Security - but the office does not deal with Social Security enquiries, which still have to go to St. Leonards.
Rye Library now has the programmes for next winter's Adult Education and WEA courses. We look forward to seeing a copy, but in the meantime a reader who is currently out of work points out that very considerable reductions in the fees may be made for the unemployed: "read the small print at the bottom of page 3," she says, "and you see a glimmer of hope". She feels that people with time on their hands can benefit from attending classes and is anxious that they should not be put off by the mention of the full fees. Since the viability of these classes depends on the numbers who attend, it is to everyone's advantage if plenty of people enrol (and stick with it, of course) - and the opportunity to meet people is always welcome, quite apart from the skills acquired. Enrolment is at the FEC on 19 and 2C September, and the question of reduced fees can be discussed either then or beforehand.
The Rye Racers raised nearly £240 on Sunday (14th) when 15 teams of three clambered into big hop sacks and then attempted to race round the town, making the usual obligatory stops at a number of pubs. Progress was almost impossibly difficult, and most people eventually cheated, either abandoning the sack entirely or using it as a sunshade; apparently the girls showed rather more perseverance than the fellers!
We are not quite clear who won - but that wasn't really the point. It should be a very good Christmas party for Rye's older citizens, anyway.
THE RYE GAZETTE, 24.8.83 - page 3
If you thought you saw a coach-and-four driving up Rope Walk, through the High Street and down The Mint at lunchtime on Wednesday (10th), don't worry you did. The beautiful restored Royal Mail coach, no. 105, built in 1829 and with the GR cipher to prove it, was taking part in a Trust House Forte promotion; we would like to have told readers in advance that this pretty sight was expected, but we didn't know.
The coachman was Mr. George Mossman, who has a large collection of coaches and carriages, with horses to match, at Luton. He last came to Rye 20 years ago, when some of his vehicles took part in the making of the Dr. Syn film (memo to Rye Festival organisers: what about this for 1984?). Mr. Mossman told us that his business - for business it is, nowadays - started just as a hobby; now there are seven members of his family who habitually drive for the firm, sometimes commercially for films and promotions and often in the kind of show-driving contests we see on telly. He also provides carriages for pomp-and-circumstance occasions such as the Lord Mayor's Show.
Mr. Mossman himself has been driving since before WWI - starting with the butcher's cart, whose horse knew its own way round without any guidance from the child who held the reins. In the village where he lives now, he is a familiar sight driving round most days in order to exercise his horses; he was much amused at the comment of a newish resident that "you'd think old George Mossman really might run to a car by now"!
Horse-lovers will be reassured to know that the beautifully sleek and contented foursome which pulled the coach never does more than ten miles a day - the distance, says Mr. Mossman, of the old coaching stages; coach and horses all arrived on rather more prosaic wheels and were unloaded and harnessed up in the Upper School yard, much to the delight of the Holiday School children.
23 "ghouls and ghosties", appropriately dressed, appeared at Rye Library on Tuesday (16th) when Mrs. Linda Frost and Mrs. Gillian Barrow of the Hastings Area children's library staff conducted a very enjoyable morning event there. As well as having stories read to them, the children played "Pinning the Teeth on the Vampire", and that rather creepy game of identifying objects by feel alone - the contents of the box being chosen for their suitability to the theme! The almost invisible budget somehow ran to black paper and tissues for masks, and there was also an opportunity to learn about "Mollusc Magazine" which is run for the children of the area by the library staff. The next issue of this will be in time for Christmas, and contributions - stories, poems, jokes - are invited now and can be left at the Library for forwarding to Mrs. Frost. They hope to hold another session at Rye before too long; the idea, of course, is not just to provide a holiday activity, but to introduce the children to the world of books and the purpose of the library.
We are sorry to learn that Mrs. Joan Stanton, of Military Road, is likely to be in hospital for some weeks after an operation. Mrs. Stanton is in the Sussex Clinic, and will be very glad to see visitors once she is feeling well enough.
Mr. Les Paine is now back home in Bridge Place, to everyone's pleasure.
The tangle of lectures referred to in the last GAZETTE has now happily been sorted out; the Museum Association and the Community Centre have both helpfully moved their talks to less congested evenings. As promised, full details of the Diary for the rest of this year appear overleaf. We are happy to waive any copyright on this, and if anyone wants a spare copy - for a noticeboard? - the Council Office's A3 photocopier will produce one for only 5p (the Library's copier is not big enough for a double sheet, but will of course do it in two halves). We will publish additions to the list as we hear of them. Please check whether your event is in.
STOP PRESS: apologies for late delivery of this issue, the photocopier went wrong.
4.
SEPTEMBER:
Thursday, 1st Term begins
Friday, 2nd Vidlers' auction sale
Saturday, 3rd Rye WI Autumn Fair, FEC, 10.30 to 12.30
Methodist Church September Sale, Methodist Hall, 10 to 2.30
Rye Festival Week begins (see printed programme for details)
Monday, 5th Rye Town Council meeting
Tuesday, 6th Conservative Association coffee morning, George Hotel, 10.30
Saturday, 10th Rye and District Flower Club event, FEC
Tuesday, 13th Civil Service Retirement Fellowship meeting, Red Cross, 10.30
Wednesday, 14th ARC coffee morning, 26 Cadborough Cliff
Friday, 16th 1st Rye Brownies Diamond Jubilee celebration, FEC
St. Mary’s Harvest Supper, CC
Saturday, 17th Conservative Association Autumn Fair, FEC, 2
Celebration evening, Methodist /church, 7.30
Sunday, 18th British Legion, dedication of standards, St. Mary's, 3
FRAG, poetry, prose and music at Playden Church, 7.30
Monday, 19th Enrolment for evening classes, FEC, 7 to 9 pm (also Tuesday)
Tuesday, 20th 5th year Parents Evening, TPS Upper School
Friday, 23rd Rye Players "Good Old Days", George Hotel (also Saturday)
Saturday, 24th Craft Market, FEC, 10 to 4
Rye Players "Good Old Days", George Hotel
Thursday, 29th Rye Lions Charity Shop, Red Cross Centre (and Friday, Saturday)
Friday, 30th Rye Players "Good Old Days", George Hotel (also Saturday)
Museum Assn, Alan Dickinson on some ancient local houses, FEC 7.30
OCTOBER:
Saturday, 1st Thomas Peacocke School Michaelmas Fair, The Grove (afternoon)
Rye Players "Good Old Days", George Hotel
Tuesday, 4th FRAG, Michael Tweedie on photographing insects and flowers, TH 7.45
Friday, 7th Vidlers' auction sale
Cancer Relief jumble sale, FEC, 6.30
National Trust, Peter Hughes on the Wallace Collection, CC 7.30
Saturday, 8th WI Group Home Economics Show, FEC, afternoon
Concert, Leo Halle, St. Mary's, 7.30
Sunday, 9th Attic Sale, CC, 10 to 1
Tuesday, 11th Civil Service Retirement Fellowship meeting, Red Cross, 10.30
Friday, 14th TPS Music and Quiz finals, The Grove (evening)
Natural History Society, Peter Goodman on woodland ecology, FEC 7.30
Saturday, 15th Scouts jumble sale, Scout Hut, 1.30
Old Scholars Association dinner, Mermaid-Hotel
Celebration evening, Methodist Church, 7.30
Monday, 17th 4th year Parents Evening, TPS Upper School
Thursday, 18th ATC cheese and wine party, The Grove
Friday, 21st TPS closed (half-term, to Friday 28th inclusive)
Saturday, 22nd RAFA jumble sale, TPS, The Grove, 2
One-day needlepoint lace course, FEC
Tuesday, 25th Bible Society (three lay speakers), Methodist Hall, 7.45
Thursday, 27th Coffee morning, Rye Hospital League of Friends, Red Cross, 10.30
Friday, 28th Natural History Society talk, FEC, 7.30
Laurie Band, slides of Rye from 1860 to 1936 CC, 7.30
5.
Saturday, 29th Craft Market, FEC, 10 to 4
NOVEMBER:
Tuesday, 1st FRAG, Sir John Russell on religion in Communist Russia, TH, 7.45
Wednesday, 2rd Red Cross AGM, FEC, afternoon
TPS Parents evening (Lower School)
Friday, 4th Vidler’s Auction Sale
Saturday, 5th Women's British Legion coffee morning, TH, 10 to 1
Playden Church Christmas Fair, FEC, morning
Tuesday, 8th Civil Service Retirement Fellowship meeting, Red Cross, 10.30
Friday, 11th Natural History Society talk, FEC, 7.30
Saturday, 12th Sale and coffee morning for Blind Association, FEC, 10 to 12
National Trust, Alan Dickinson on Iden and Playden, CC, 2.30
Tuesday, 15th Arthritis & Rheumatism Council, ploughman's lunch, CC, 12 to 1.30
Wednesday, 16th Cancer Relief Christmas Fair, FEC, 10 to 12
Thursday, 17th Thomas Peacocke School staff play, The Grove (and Friday, Saturday):
Friday, 18th Museum Assn, Michael Tweedie on Raffles Museum, Singapore, TH 7.30
Saturday, 19th Catholic Church Christmas Fair, FEC
Celebration evening, Methodist Church, 7.30
Rye Bonfire Night
Friday, 25th National Trust AGM, CC, 7.30
Natural History Society talk, FEC, 7.30
Saturday, 26th Craft Market, FEC, 10 to 4
Scouts Christmas Fayre, Scout Hut, 10.30
Monday, 29th Cancer Relief Singalong, Baptist Hall, 7.30
Tuesday, 30th 3rd year Parents Evening, ITS Upper School
DECEMBER
Friday, 2nd Vidlers' auction sale
Museum Association Christmas party, TH 7.30 (members and guests)
Recital of Christmas organ music, Nigel Spooner, TPS
Saturday, 3rd Playgroup Christmas Fair, FEC
Women's British Legion Christmas Fair, Red Cross, morning
National Trust Christmas party, CC 7.30 (members and guests)
Tuesday, 6th FRAG, Ralph Wood on Sussex seaside architecture, TH, 7.45
Wednesday, 7th NSPCC coffee morning, FEC
Rye Hospital Friends, wine and cheese party, auction sale, TH
Thursday, 8th Thomas Peacocke Lower School play, The Grove (and Friday)
Rachel and Geraldine's annual fund-raising event, TH, evening
Draw for Town Lottery's £1,000 prize, TH, evening
Friday, 9th Natural History Society talk, FEC, 7.30
Saturday 10th Craft Market, FEC, 10 to 4
Sunday, 11th Attic Sale, CC, 10 to 1
Monday, 12th Winchelsea Floral Group AGM, CC, evening
Tuesday, 13th Civil Service Retirement Fellowship meeting, Red Cross, 10.30
Lower School carols, Ferry Road, evening
Wednesday, 14th Upper School carols, The Grove, evening
Thursday, 15th Last day of term
Rye Playgroup Christmas party, FEC, afternoon
Friday, 16th Sea Cadets Christmas Fair, CC, afternoon
Celebration evening, Methodist Church, 7.30
Friends of Rye Art Gallery dance (Dr. Jazz), George Hotel, evening
(and that appears to be all for 1983 apart from church Christmas events - details of these nearer the time)
6.
The Cinque Ports Majorettes brought home a trophy from the Hastings Old Town Carnival on Wednesday (10th). The troupe came second - the organisers had made a feature of the majorette entry this year, attracting nine groups, so there was stiff competition for the Cinque Ports girls. Their numbers were down owing to holiday commitments, so there were only twelve taking part in the procession; lead girl was Michelle Campbell of Tilling Green, and the baby of the team was Charlotte Norwood, aged six, who is still at Tilling Green School but has been training with the Cinque Ports Majorettes for two years already! The troupe certainly gets around - their next engagement is at Hailsham.
Rye WI are in the catering business - though strictly in WI circles; members provide cream teas, all home-made, at £1 a head to visiting WIs from all over Sussex and Kent. A recent jumble sale at Camber produced almost £100 for funds, and Mrs. Dee and Mrs. Clark topped this with £33 from a ten-mile sponsored walk - starting out at 5.30 am. Members enjoyed a talk on Borneo from Alan and Wilma Lloyd-Smith, illustrated not only with slides but with poisonous souvenirs; we understand that there were, happily, no casualties! Rye WI hold their Autumn Fair on Saturday, 3 September, and the Group Home Economics Show, always a mouth-watering occasion, is on 8 October.
Henry Hilton, living in Playden and with many friends in the Rye area, has just turned his accountancy service into a full-time business. He offers the full range of accountancy services, financial and costing, up to and including Final Accounts and Statutory Returns (e.g. tax returns and VAT); his clients include local businessmen and farmers as well as private individuals. Mr. Hilton, a member of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants, has been in the accountancy business since 1950, and his experience includes computerised accounts. As a rule, he doesn't undertake commercial auditing - he hasn't the time, as a one-man business - but he is always willing to help out a society or charity for a nominal fee. Hilton Accountancy Services can be contacted on Iden 379; and Mr. Hilton is happy to call on clients either during normal working hours or in the evening or at weekends as suits them best.
It was the T-shirts in the window that drew us into Hamilton Galleries in Cinque Ports Street in the first place; they said "I love Rye" so loudly that they obviously needed a mention in the GAZETTE. We found that the shop has a new proprietor, Mrs. Caroline Glibbery, and she intends to alter its image. The assorted gifts and prints will remain in stock for the moment, but Mrs. Glibbery, herself an artist, wants to make the shop into a gallery selling serious pictures
and prints at a price realistic both for the painters and for the public. This sounds an interesting venture, and one which will obviously increase our artistic choice; both the present commercial galleries already have their "stables" of regular exhibitors, and sometimes newcomers can find themselves with nowhere to show except at the annual summer exhibitions. Mrs. Glibbery and her husband live above the shop. What really prompted them to buy it was, rather unexpectedly, the open fireplace: Mrs. Glibbery (who paints as Caroline Rose) enjoys nothing more than sitting by an open fire on a winter day, drawing, and in Cinque Ports Street she will be able to do just that and mind the shop as well!
The Swiss Patisserie is now open in its new premises at 50 Cinque Ports Street, with the tea-room conveniently at ground level and opening for breakfast at 8 (till 5). Both shop and tea-room close on Tuesday afternoons and Sundays, but they will be open on Bank Holiday Monday (29th). The old shop is, of course, now available for anyone who wants to be part of the new image of Banister's Corner (see GAZETTE no. 46).
Peter Chillingworth (Rye 223917, evenings) tells us that he does passport photos a service we had thought was not available in Rye: £1.50 for rush jobs, 75p for the better-organised for whom the normal ten-day delivery will do.
7.
Cash and gold sovereigns to a total value of £278 were taken from a house on Rye Hill while the elderly owner was doing a kindness getting water for "a motorist in trouble". Other thefts include two watches taken from a boat at Strand quay during the night of 15/16 August, £55-worth of rosewood tea-caddy from Mint Antiques during the morning of 16 August, and - astonishingly - a £50 set of greengrocer's scales complete with pan and weights, which vanished from the front window of Rope Walk Antiques; this must, says Ann Lingard, have meant carrying it through the main shop and out past the till!
Chief Inspector Dyson recently had occasion to extract the 1982 crime figures for Rye Town, as opposed to the whole 200-square-mile sub-division and has kindly given them to the GAZETTE. We had 52 burglaries, of which 21 were from people's homes, and 132 thefts (there is a technical distinction here). There were 14 cases of criminal deception, and 16 of criminal damage (where the cost of the damage done was more than £20). 9 motor-vehicles were "taken", and there were 20 thefts from unattended vehicles (there seem to have been more than that already this year, to judge from the recent spate in the press book). We had six cases of handling stolen property, and five assaults occasioning actual bodily harm. Grand total, 254.
A fortnight ago, it was announced on Coast to Coast that Rye was one of three places in the area chosen to have trial "community watch" schemes aimed at crime prevention; this had been previewed at the Council for Voluntary Service meeting in June, so all agog we called at Rye Police Station for the latest information. There wasn't any; apparently nobody had mentioned it to them! Anyway, one of the other areas (Mayfield) was expecting to start within a week or two, so we shall probably have more to report before long.
When, some years ago, the large field to the right of the Rye Harbour Road was sold off as "leisure plots" the theory was that the new owners could only use them for picnicking in - no tents even, let alone caravans and fences. Most readers will know that this is not how it has worked out, and we recently heard the phrase "shantytown" used to describe the appearance of the area. However, in response to an urgent request from the town, Rother's enforcement officer recently paid a visit to the site, and he will be reporting to the September planning committee.
(We have also heard complaints about the run-down appearance of other ground alongside the road, where what used to be good farming land now lies neglected. What happened, we wonder, to the all-powerful War Ag, whose visitations once made lazy landowners quail?)
Shepway Demolition really have done their best for the birds nesting in the Goods Shed ivy, as they promised; when the ivied corners finally came down, they found only one egg among the debris! Those who mourn the shed's departure may like to know that the bricks turn out to be worth money - which is why the job has taken longer than it would if they were simply being tipped into a convenient hole; cleaned up, they are all destined for re-use, twelve thousand of them in the United States. When the site is finally cleared, British Rail intends to run the two car parks as one - possibly with different access arrangements, but if so, this will come before the planning committee in due course. The only new application in Rother's recent planning lists is for a house extension in North Salts.
Rye Police Station have taken into protective custody - or, to be more exact, they have fostered out - a tortoise found loitering in Udimore Road near the Estate entrance, now six weeks ago. They have had no enquiries, but feel sure it must belong to someone, and it has one rather distinctive feature by which the owner could certainly identify it. This is not a sob-story - even if the owner doesn't turn up, we gather that there is no question of the tortoise being put down.
But it may have travelled some distance: the Paine family at the town end of West Undercliff lost theirs last week when it dug its way under the fence, and two days later it turned up in the Hacking hen-run at Cadborough Farm!
8.
Wednesday, 24th Organ recital, Nigel Spooner, St. Mary's, 7.30 (see below)
Saturday, 27th Second-hand sale, Launderette (Tower Street), 10.30
Exhibition by four artists, FEC, all day from 11
Sunday, 28th Craft Market, FEC, 10 to 4
Ryesingers jumble sale, CC, 2.30
Raft Race (NSPCC) starts from Rock Channel, 3
Rye Lions Fete, Rye Harbour (where the Raft Race finishes)
Terrier Races, Watlands Farm, Udimore, first race 3
• A reminder that the Rye Society of Artists exhibition at the Boys Club, Mermaid Street, closes on Monday evening (29th).
• Rye Bowls Club lost - but much enjoyed - two recent matches, against Gullivers at Bexhill on 9 August, and against Stonehouse from Dartford at home on 14 August when the Club's president Mrs. Yates came along to greet the visitors.
• Is there anyone in the area with a coach and horses which they hire out for weddings? If so, Mrs. Briggs at Squirrels would be glad to hear about them.
• Our March "recycle your rubbish" included three homes for old spectacles (there must be a better way of phrasing that!). All three outlets have now closed. Does anyone know of an organisation which still wants spectacles for reissue in the Third World? If so, we would be glad to publish the address.
• More holiday entertainment for the young, this time those at Primary and Lower School. The churches are combining to set up a Christian Holiday Club, which runs for the rest of this week in a tent in Edward Mills's field at the junction of Love Lane and the Tillingham Avenue footpath. Two sessions daily (10.30 and 3) with stories, games, magic, quizzes and all kinds of fun - everyone welcome, and the only charge is a small one for refreshments if required. Organisers are the Mission for Christ, from Brede. Many thanks!
• Lesley Brownbill, whose standards are high, tells us that Nigel Spooner's first organ recital in St. Mary's a fortnight ago offered an interesting and entertaining programme, with a lucid explanation of each item for the benefit of the uninitiated; his second recital tonight should not be missed by those who appreciate the work of a first-class organist.
• The Community Centre will not, owing to holiday commitments, be holding their September Attic Sale; the next will be on 9 October, with a pre-Christmas one on 11 December. However, jumble addicts will welcome a second-hand sale this Sunday, from 10.30, just across the road at the Tower Launderette; as well as clothes and bric-a-brac, the sale goods will include an interesting selection of DIY fittings and fixings.
• We failed to find out anything at all about the four artists exhibiting at the FEC on Sunday, except that the organiser comes from Sunbury-on-Thames. Sorry.
• Two entertainments for Sunday afternoon - it's a pity that they clash. The annual Raft Race is always a splendid diversion for the spectators and the participants also appear to enjoy it. For a good view, go across the field beside the Harbour Road just past the Jehovah's Witnesses building - stout shoes are recommended. The Romney Marsh Footsloggers Club hold their Terrier Races at Watlands Farm, out on the Battle Road just before Dumbwoman's Lane - first race at 3. Non-terriers also have an opportunity to compete, and their escorts will enjoy the excellent refreshments, raffle and produce and home-bake stalls.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office. It is published by Mrs. Mary Owen at 94 Udimore Road, Rye (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. A few spare copies may be available at Squirrels, Banister's Corner, Cinque Ports Street.
(Copyright Mary Owen 1983)