SUBSCRIPTIONS for the next quarter fall due at the end of this month. For details see the foot of page 7.
Out of the Rother on Friday's high tide slipped the sixth of Lochin Marine's Brede Class lifeboats to be accepted by the RNLI. Heading for her new station at Poole in Dorset (home of the RNLI's HQ) was "Inner Wheel' (no. 07); her first rescue was already behind her, since she had been able to help a yacht in difficulties in Rye Bay on her way home from sea trials.
The first of the Brede Class boats was a prototype, not intended to go into service. "Ann Ritchie" (02) is at Oban, "Leonore Chilcot" (03) at Fowey, "Philip Vaux" (04) at Girvan and "Caroline Finch” (06) at Exmouth; all these went round to their new stations by sea. "Merchant Navy" (05) would have had problems getting to Birmingham by sea, so she went by lorry to the Boat Show there February (where she appeared on television, see GAZETTE no.23); she subsequently visited an international lifeboat event in Sweden, and is now in commission as an RNLI relief boat. Nos. 08, 09 and 10 are on the way; and Lochin Marine, designer Judd Varley, and indeed all of us hope that that will not be the end of it.
The no-parking regulations at the top of the town are now imminent. All the admin side of the job has gone through, and the signs are now being made. A meeting on-site next Wednesday will decide exactly where they are to go, and soon after that we shall see them in place, in theory putting an end to the situation where two thoughtlessly parked cars can completely block any access to Church Square, let alone Watchbell Street. (The latter, wider than the surrounding streets, is not to be included in the new regulations.) What a relief this will be to the fire-brigade and ambulance drivers, let alone normal traffic in the area! At the same time, the bollards closing off the top of Conduit Hill will be put in place (but not the handrail, which still awaits financial support).
Rye and District Flower Club's show had all three rooms in the FEC bright with flowers on Saturday. The Club draws its membership from a wide area round Rye indeed, one prize winner came from Eastbourne. Mrs. V. Piper, second in the novice class, was in fact the only prize winner from Rye itself, though Mrs. O. Parkes's entry in the advanced class was commended, and she and Mrs. E. Moore had arranged one of the five beautiful pedestal displays representing English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Royal castles.
The inter-club class - "The stately home picture gallery" - was won by Battle. The Winchelsea entry was commended, and the Rye club's own entry was ingenious (though not apparently what the judge required); it was inspired by the work of Grinling Gibbons, and dried flowers and seed-heads were cleverly used to simulate a delicately-carved wooden panel.
Some Rye members simply had no time to compete; Beryl Rixon and her helpers were responsible for the beautiful arrangements set up the previous day on the gate-pillars of the FE Centre, as well as for the other purely decorative vases and pedestals which set off the competition entries. Stalls, a raffle and refreshments added to the pleasure of the event.
Meetings are on the first Monday of each month at the FEC at 2; new members are warmly welcomed.
2.
Mr. John Hacking, of Cadborough, died suddenly in the Sussex Clinic on Saturday. The funeral is private, followed by a memorial service in St. Mary's on Friday (16th) at noon. We shall have a full obituary in next week's issue.
Mrs. Christine Fagan died suddenly at her home in Marley Road on 7 September. Mrs. Fagan, who was 58, was the widow of Mr. Michael Fagan, Station Officer at Rye Fire Station until the illness which led to his death a few years ago; she leaves a son, daughter and grandchildren. A State Enrolled Nurse, Mrs. Fagan will be much missed at Hill House Hospital where she worked. The funeral will be at St. Anthony's Church on Friday (16th) at 11, followed by burial in Rye Cemetery.
Mrs. Ellen Bessie Wraight, of South Undercliff, died in hospital recently after an illness; the funeral has taken place in Lincolnshire. Mrs. Wraight, a widow, was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
This month, two national magazines for computer enthusiasts run full-page, full-colour ads for a computer software company based in Cinque Ports Street.
Temptation Software Ltd is in the market to produce computer games, and the firm already has a range of a dozen, mainly intended for the 14-plus age group, in an eye-catching pack. At present, Temptation is busy dealing with the mail orders that have already come in from this country and overseas. Nearer Christmas, however, they hope to have a Rye outlet - and we hope to have a secondary good-news story connected with the firm in a few weeks' time.
New but familiar faces - and more room for browsing - at D. & P. Street, the tiny bookshop at the top of Market Road, formerly Peter Blest's. David and Pauline Street have moved their book business there from the Mint Arcade, and will be open six days a week, 9 to 5. They have a good deal more space in Market Road, and on Monday were still sorting out piles of books from their own stock as well as some taken over with the shop. Browsers are very welcome - in fact, the new proprietors will be installing a table and chairs for the purpose once they have cleared enough floor-space! Their place in the Mint Arcade is now occupied by Frank Palmer, of Strand Quay, whose stock includes books of all kinds but with a particular emphasis on mountaineering and on local history.
Decisions taken at last Thursday's meeting were as follows. Permission was given for the new bungalow in Rock Channel, and the double garage at Western Barn; for change of use from shop to residential for 15c Wish Street, and from shop to offices for Rye Vaults (full story next week); for repainting in Fishmarket Road and for an extension in North Salts. If there were no objections before the expiry of the consultation period, the Planning Officer was empowered to grant permission for conversion work and a double garage at the Garden House, and also for a non-illuminated projecting sign and a change of colour for Quarter Belle in Lion Street (see below, the latter application has still a week to go). A firm decision on British Rail's plans for sheltered housing was deferred.
There are current applications in for alterations to Little Orchard House in West Street, and for rebuilding Paygate Cottage in Udimore Road; for repainting Little Sussex House in West Street the same colours as before, and for repainting Quarter Belle brown-and-cream instead of the present black-and-white; and for a non-illuminated free-standing sign for The Cobbles in Hylands Yard. Two change-of-use applications: a lady from Woodchurch wants to turn Mermaid Corner from an antique shop and cafe (this is the little shop adjoining the Borough Arms); and Peter Greenhalf would like to use the former YOP premises in Eagle House as a photo-graphic studio. Mr. Norman Jones has lodged an appeal against Rother's refusal to let him build a house on the Castle Water Estate. (Sorry that owing to the Council Office move we didn't print the planning notes last week. We had forgotten that the weekly lists are also available at the library, with back numbers handy as well.)
3.
Frank Dobson (1886-1963) is perhaps best known as a sculptor, and there is certainly a sculptural quality about the well-built females whose carefully posed persons decorate the walls of the Easton Rooms both upstairs and down. As well as these drawings (and art comes expensive in Rye this month, both here and in the Library - see below), there are watercolours of country scenes mostly painted in Hampshire during WW2. There is a Sussex connection with the Hastings School of Art, where Dobson was a student.
The exhibition in the Craft Gallery, "The Printed Word", has examples of book-binding by Faith Shannon, and etchings by Pamela Nash illustrating poems by Cicily Herbert printed by Juliet Millican who also shows illustrated and printed poems of her own. Whew! Ken Townsend is also involved somewhere. This show was opened with a poetry reading in which Patric Dickinson, Cicily Herbert, Basil Dowling and Juliet Millican took part, and which was much enjoyed by the audience in the upstairs gallery.
In Ockman's Lane, the Rye Art Gallery has assembled almost a hundred pictures for a retrospective exhibition of the work of Margaret Barnard (to Rye, of course, Mrs. Robert Mackechnie). Born in 1898 (we wouldn't have mentioned this, but the programme says so), Margaret Barnard is still painting, and there is a picture done this year of a Dungeness fishing boat. Her work is grouped in the catalogue type or subject rather than by date, though there are drawings going back to art school days, and posters done for the London Underground in 1939. She is the artist of the "burning boat" picture which has featured since 1946 on the Rye Bonfire programme, and there is also a Christmas card designed for the Rye First Aid Post in 1942. The exhibition includes many paintings of the artist's beloved west coast of Scotland, and some of Italy which call to mind the work of the pre-Raphaelites - one remembers particularly the flaming-haired "Goat Girl of Lucania", and the beautifully detailed branches in the foreground of "Monte Alburno". The fluid lines of her studies of shells are echoed by pictures of moving water, and the shapes of rocks are most strongly felt in "The Watchdog" where ridges of exposed boulders guard a Highland loch. It surely cannot be often that a small gallery has on show the work of a professional artist painted over more than sixty years!
The exhibition of Fay Godwin's photographs from "The Saxon Shore Way" was held in the FEC studio room adjoining the library, and very nice they looked. (Very Pricey, too; we noticed a price-tag of £60 plus VAT for the 12" x 94" size, apparently unframed.)
What are the prospects for the fenced-off lookout at the end of Watchbell Street? We consulted Mr. Olesen of ESCC Highways Department at Bexhill. He tells us that the cost of the repair work on the lookout itself is being shared between ESCC and Rother, with the owner of Bellmount being responsible for the work on his own land; but the actual job is being done as one, under the supervision of a Tunbridge Wells firm of engineers, and the present situation is that builders' estimates are still being sought.
Thomas Peacocke PTA Committee, seeking an "attraction" for this year's Michaelmas Fair, were horrified to find that everything they could hear of was either booked up for several years ahead or so expensive that they could not be sure of getting the money back in increased attendance - even a sheepdog display (and herding ducks at that) cost £150. So they are settling for home-grown talent this year. Custard pies are involved; there will be athletics from Lower School, wet sponges to throw at the Vlth Form, and a display by the Cinque Ports Majorettes at 2.15 immediately after the 2.0 draw for one of the Peacocke Club's big-prize handouts. Stalls will include jumble and bric-a-brac, and the apple-pie stall alone is sure to be a draw. If any parent not already bespoken could spare some time to help out on a stall, Rowena Varley (Rye 222863) would be very glad to add more names to her list before the final stall-holders' meeting on Friday (19th).
4.
To begin at the beginning, Rye Playgroup has 55 names on its roll, with a waiting-list of a further 50. Children can start at the beginning of the term in which they are three, but obviously parents need to book them in well ahead of that!
Tilling Green welcomed 12 five-this-term pupils last week, making its roll up to 61 - at infants' schools, of course, the number increases with each term's new entry until a whole year moves on in July. The school has a parents' evening on 13 October, and the Christmas concert will be on 13 December; the annual jumble sale will be on Thursday, 20 October at 6 pm.
Freda Gardham has 311 pupils this term, and Mrs. O'Donoghue is back helping part-time with remedial teaching. All parents are very welcome to the Parent-Teacher Association AGM on Thursday of next week, 22 September, at 7.30 at the school. The Christmas entertainment will be on Tuesday and Wednesday, 6 and 7 December - earlier than usual and avoiding the awkward clash with the Lower School play 8 and 9 December. The infants present their nativity play on 13 December.
We are glad to hear that there is now a lollipop-lady at Fishmarket Road (Mrs. Hine, herself a Freda Gardham parent) and the school hopes that the New Road crossing will again be supervised very soon.
There are about 1280 pupils at Thomas Peacocke School. The new entry into Lower School is just over 200, slightly up on last year. The 170-strong VIth form includes a boy from London, Ontario, who just wanted to go to an English comprehensive school, and three girls who are continuing the connection with the Falkland Islands which began some years ago. We hear that Leasam House is bearing up well under the strain of co-educational occupancy, and shall be having a full report on the arrangements there later. Lower School will be glad of contributions (sent in the previous day, please) for its Harvest Festival service taken by the Rev. James Gladstone at morning assembly on Thursday, 22 September. The School's Michaelmas Fair is on 1 October, and the Parent-Teacher AGM on 31 October, when all parents are most welcome. Marc Chapman and Karen Bentley are Head Boy and Head Girl, with Daniel Owen and Diane Nickerson as their Deputies, but no-one seemed able to tell us who the Heads of Houses are.
At Rye Town Council's meeting on Monday (5th) its committees reported back on their work during the past two months. The latest developments are as follows.
Negotiations are taking place for the eventual use of the land at Freda Gardham School which the Council bought from the Lottery proceeds. We understand that the Council is, however, still open to suggestions.
It was decided that a charge of £1.50 an hour, with extra for the use of the kitchen, should be made for the use of the Town Hall courtyard, increasingly in demand for summer events.
The Council is, in future, to commission a photograph of each Mayor to be taken at the Mayoring. This will hang in the Town Hall during the subsequent period of office and then be presented to the Mayor at the end. The gap on the wall will, of course, be filled by a photograph of the new Mayor. (We understand that there are a good many portraits of previous Mayors in the Town Hall attics.)
The Council is not yet reporting its view on the sample street lights in The Mint, since not all Councillors have had an opportunity to study them. The Secretary of the Conservation Society tells us that in his Society's view they are perfectly acceptable.
The bus company says that it might be willing to make either the kiosk or the old waiting room available for use as a shelter if there is supervision. One way of providing this would be to offer a catering concession, just at a basic cups-of-tea level - which would, we feel sure, be much appreciated anyway by both bus and train travellers. The Town Clerk is making enquiries. Whatever happens here, we would still like to see some benches along the pavement side of the market fence.
5.
A meeting was held last Wednesday for prospective helpers with the new Day Centre. From an encouraging attendance, five people volunteered to help for a full day, and two more part-time. Some Thomas Peacocke School pupils may also be available after half-term, since the day chosen is a Wednesday - not one of Rye meals-on-wheels days, so dinners will probably come from the new kitchens at Battle.
There is, however, disappointment at the Rye end about what some people see as a change of plan. The original letter sent out by the working party headed by Mrs. Monica Oliver asked local organisations for help in setting up a Centre for "the elderly and disabled of Rye and district". Now those working for handicapped and wheelchair people are dismayed to find that Social Services propose to use the Centre for up to 15 frail elderly people only - thus, of course, providing much-needed relief for those devoted relatives who look after them, but not really covering the same ground as the original plan. This means that some local support will not now be available.
We spoke to Neil Weatherall of Social Services about this, and he assures us that they intend this first venture to be only a start. There are, he says, various groups of people in the area who would benefit from a day centre, but they have to start somewhere; once this is off the ground, they hope to move on to further sessions, perhaps at other times or in other places - the "disabled loo" to be built at the Community Centre will obviously be helpful here. The immediate need is for an organiser - someone prepared to spend a full day once a week on the job, and doubtless other time as well; it would, Mr. Weatherall says, be helpful if he or she had had experience of the needs of elderly people, but quite a young person might well be able to do an excellent job. Without an organiser, the Centre simply cannot start; there is a real need here for someone with time to spare. There will be full back-up from Social Services and from the Rye Council for Voluntary Service which is supporting the scheme.
Mr. Weatherall also wonders whether anyone has an armchair or two to spare? They will need both the fireside-chair and the dining-chair types, not too low and with arms, in reasonably good condition, and he would be most grateful for offers (call at the Cinque Ports Street Social Services office, or phone Rye 226922). They are also looking for craft materials.
Another meeting next Wednesday (21st) will give an opportunity for a progress report as well as the chance to discuss what training the volunteers will need.
In GAZETTE no.45 we mentioned Rother's interest in an advertising concession for litter-bins. Mr. Bridges of the Technical Services Department now has a brochure of the types of bin offered by the agency, and one, intended for busy areas, has a lid - the litter being posted through slots rather like a letter-box. This would solve two problems: paper blowing off the top of a full bin, and also the difficulty pointed out to us by someone working at the police station who had watched, in the early morning, the crows (or jackdaws) sitting on the rim of the car park bin, riffling through the contents and discarding the unrewarding wrappers to the four winds!
The Conservation Society have asked for an opportunity to consider and comment on the proposal before any decision is taken about bins in the Conservation Area.
The door which used to stand at the top of the outside staircase to the Upper Room has now been moved, frame and all, to fill the short-lived hole at the top of what will be the inside staircase.
Mr. Len Stocks's benefaction has also paid for the new hymnbooks now in use in the church - basically an updated edition of "Ancient and Modern" with additional supplements, and containing a total of 533 hymns.
6.
A rather disappointing - but not at all disappointed - audience at the Town Hall on Thursday heard David Duff speaking on the writing of his Royal biographies. Regarded as instruction in the subject, the talk lacked something; he was not saying how he did it. But as well as wide-ranging observations on such matters as pre-natal influence and the causes of dreams, plus a greatly-appreciated encomium on the Queen Mother, Mr. Duff told his fascinated audience all sorts of things about earlier members of the Royal family that the history books don't print and the GAZETTE certainly wouldn't dare do for fear of the wrath of Buckingham Palace! We left with a quite different view of Queen Victoria from the traditional one; her relationship with John Brown, for instance...
Some of that audience nipped home for a quick cuppa (or remained to drink the excellent Festival wine) until the second event of the evening - readings from the work of Henry James, "The Lion of Lamb House". Gabriel Woolf and Rosalind Shanks had devised their programme, which contained extracts from James published work plus cuttings from his own letters and those of his friends. (We sympathise with his brother William, who urged him to write a regular story for a change - rather as the Royal librarian of the day had urged Jane Austen to turn her talent to historical romances, and with equal lack of success.) The programme reminded us how cosmopolitan a life James had led before he came to Lamb House. He refers to "making sheep's eyes" at it while he was living in Playden, long before it was on the market; and he came to the area in the first place because he wanted somewhere to ride his bike! Another enjoyable evening, very professional though without the confiding manner in which Geraldine McEwan had shared her Jane Austen recitations with her audience, and an interesting contrast with the earlier presentation.
We are not able to speak from personal experience of the remaining Festival events, but the jazz evening was a sell-out. There were good audiences for the various concerts and for the Shakespeare films, and also for the poetry reading at the Town Hall by Patricia Hughes and Robin Holmes of BBC3.
At the party before the final concert on Saturday, the Festival's Chairman Ivo Fowle confirmed that this year's event had indeed been a popular success (though whether also a financial one, he wasn't yet saying). Particular thanks were due to the people on the commercial side: Mrs. Daphne Jones who ran the box office, and Francis Hadfield who conjured up the ads for the programme. But very special thanks this year were due to Mrs. Biddy Cole, who is retiring as the Festival's organiser after having done the job for ten years - "Rye Festival is what it is today because of her" said Mr. Fowle, "and its success is hers". The opinion was unanimous.
Mr. Fowle told us that the Festival started under Brian Lamble in 1971, as a natural outcome of the frequent concerts arranged in St. Mary's by Canon Williams. It was intended to be an occasional event, and did not take place the following year, but from 1973 it has been an annual happening, and the amount of money involved each year runs into thousands of pounds. The new committee, and a new organiser, will be chosen at next month's AGM, but Biddy's act will certainly be a hard one to follow. She is, of course, deeply involved in the success of her Rye Tiles company (see GAZETTE no.36), as well as with her own family responsibilities; so perhaps she is not so much retiring as merely changing her priorities.
The Red Cross Hearing Circle raised £45 for local funds at their coffee morning last week. Mrs. Hilary Bolton tells us that these coffee mornings are held regularly, on the first Tuesday of the month from April to December, and though they are intended primarily for those who are hard of hearing, all friends of the Red Cross and visitors to Rye are welcomed. Anyone wanting advice, particularly with a hearing aid problem, should come along; if the Red Cross can't help you, they can put you in touch with a charming young woman in Social Services who has particular responsibility for people with impaired hearing and regularly visits in the area - she herself has only partial hearing so she knows the difficulties.
7.
• The Royal British Legion service on Sunday (18th), for the laying up of old Standards and the dedication of new ones, will be preceded by a parade, assembling at the Rope Walk car park at 2 and moving off at 2.25 led by the Cranbrook Town Band. After the service, the parade will reassemble, and the salute will be taken outside the police station. The Legion apologises for the inevitable parking restrictions connected with the parade.
• The annual Battle of Britain service for the area will take place this Sunday at Udimore Church at 11.15. The RAFA is having a house-to-house collection during the week for its Wings Appeal, followed by a street collection in the town on Saturday (17th); there is an associated display of aircraft photographs in the window of the Anglia Building Society at present.
• Also on Sunday (18th), the Finals for Rye Bowls Club's trophies are being played, from 3 pm, and the Club will be happy to welcome spectators to this event. Despite last Sunday's atrocious weather, 18 members of the Club enjoyed a match between the Captain's team and the Chairman's, which resulted in a 6-point win for the Captain's side. The previous Wednesday, the Club lost to Hawkhurst, away.
• Sunday also sees "A Light-hearted look at Creation in Poetry, Prose and Music" organised by the Friends of the Rye Art Gallery at St. Michael's Church, Playden, at 7.30; the readers are Daniel, Janet and Rosina Thorndike and Ian Haines. (Daniel Thorndike is a National Theatre actor); Mary Haines plays the virginals.
• Rye Methodist Church celebrates its Harvest Festival the following weekend, when the church will be decorated on harvest themes. On Saturday (24th) it will be open to visitors from 10 to 6, and refreshments will be available. Dr. King will conduct the Harvest Service on Sunday, when the church will also be open throughout the day. Tuesday, 27th, sees the Harvest Supper, in the hall below the church, with entertainment by the Methodist Choir; tickets, obtainable from church members, cost £1.25 (£1 for children).
• ARC ask us to mention that the date of their Ploughman's Lunch has been altered, and is now on 22 November at the Community Centre from 12 to 2.
Next week's GAZETTE will include a list of all Town Diary events which have been notified to us since the main list came out with issue no. 47, so please update the Editor in good time on anything fixed recently.
Issue no. 52 (28 September) will be the last in the present quarter, and subscriptions for the next three months will then be payable (earlier if you like!). Issue no. 53 (5 October) will only be delivered to those who have paid their subscriptions by that day. There will be 12 25p issues in the new quarter, as we shall not print on 28 December, so the subscription is £3.00.
(For the convenience of occasional subscribers who have asked us to do this, we now feel confident enough to invite subscriptions six months in advance instead of the normal three. The first quarter of 1984 will have 13 issues, so the total subscription for the two quarters would be £6.25 (plus, of course, postage where appropriate). There is absolutely no obligation to pay for more than the coming quarter, however, unless it really suits you to do so; it makes no difference to the GAZETTE.)
If, owing to some domestic disaster, the GAZETTE should fail to appear one week, subscriptions will simply be carried over and the "quarter" extended accordingly.
It would be appreciated if people who have been buying copies regularly from Squirrels and who wish to continue with the GAZETTE could now pay their £3 subscription in the normal way; the Squirrels spares are really intended for people who want extra copies to send away, or just want to see what we are like.
Cheques payable to THE RYE GAZETTE; money can be left at 94 Udimore Road or at 5 Bridge Place, but please, oh please, remember to put your own name and pick-up point or address in or on the envelope!
8.
Friday, 16th 1st Rye Brownies Diamond Jubilee party, FEC, 5 to 7.30 (ex-Rye Guiders and Brownies welcome)
St. Mary's Harvest Supper, CC, 7 (see GAZETTE no.48)
Saturday, 17th Rye Firemen's Social Club jumble sale, Fire Station, 1.30
Conservative Association Autumn Fair, FEC, 2
Celebration evening (Phil Rowlands of Wealden Youth for Christ), Methodist Church, 7.30
Sunday, 18th Harvest Thanksgiving at St. Mary's and at Rye Baptist Church
Royal British Legion special service, St. Mary's, 3 (see page 7)
Rye Bowls Club Finals, Salts, 3
FRAG, prose and music at Playden Church, 7.30 (see page 7)
Monday, 19th Monday Club, Clinic, 2
Evening classes enrolment (see GAZETTE no. 49), FEC, 7 to 9
Tuesday, 20th 5th year Parents Evening,
TPS Upper School Evening classes enrolment, FEC, 7 to 9
Wednesday, 21st Handing-in, Red Cross Thrift Shop, High Street, 10.30 to 12.30
• Congratulations to Karen Meldrum, of Ferry Road, and Lars Carlsson of Stockholm, who were married in St. Mary's on 3 September. The couple met on holiday in Spain, and both now work in Stockholm. Members of Lars' family came over for the wedding, and his father read a passage in Swedish from St. John's Gospel in the course of the service.
• Archbishop Lord Coggan, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, was in Rye on Tuesday to address 70 clergy and lay readers, while Lady Coggan spoke to their wives. The Archbishop then talked to the whole group about his time at Canterbury.
• Rye Police Station was presented with two US police badges and photographs of American police cars by Miss Eileen Langer last week. An imposing lady, Miss Langer is a policewoman from Rye NY over here on a private visit; she enjoyed a tour of the town and the opportunity to meet some of her Rye counterparts.
• Invalids - we are glad to report that Mrs. Stanton of Military Road is now home again. Mr. Marriott of the George Hotel was due to leave hospital yesterday.
• The recent Sea Cadets flag day raised £437. The NSPCC coffee morning took more than £110, and the committee is most grateful to the Mayor for the Town Hall.
• Rye Players regret to announce the cancellation of the first two "Good Old Days” performances (on 23 and 24 September); but the show goes on at the George Hotel on 30 September and 1 October as arranged.
• Another of Rye's pub-based benevolent societies is in the news: EMDSCOR has decided to wind up its affairs, and the £300 in the kitty is to be divided equally between the Rye Bonfire Boys, the Rye Racers, and the RH Lifeboat Fund.
• It is now more than a month since eight sheep appeared mysteriously in a field at East Guldeford; Rye Police tells us that they have received no enquiries for them at all. Have they, we wonder, wandered further from home than usual - or perhaps been dropped off by conscience-stricken sheep-rustlers?
• The extraordinary conglomeration of domes and pinnacles seen gliding westward along the Channel horizon on Sunday morning and described to us as looking like an early-warning station, was very probably just that - a surveillance vessel, says our information, though whose side it was on we don't know!
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, 9 am Tuesday for emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly, and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday; a few spares are usually available at Squirrels at 9-13 Cinque Ports Street. (Copyright Mary Owen 1983)