This week sees the GAZETTE back to normal weekly publication and (when enough happens) normal 8-page size. New subscribers who were turned away during the Editor's move can now, if they like, send £1 to 2 Cyprus Place (stating name, address or pick-up point) for the four September issues; or they can continue with their present arrangements until the end of September when all subscriptions become due and those who wish will be able to pay for six months in advance - full details later on.
Despite the long hot weekend, St. Mary's looked magnificent on Monday when the Flower Festival arrangements still glowed freshly against the ancient stonework. Although the church's Flower Guild bore the brunt of the work, supported by the Rye Flower Club and the Winchelsea Floral Group, the festival was really an effort by the whole town. Organisations which were unable to provide an arrangement gave a donation instead and groups not normally thought of as church-based contributed some spectacular displays; the arch over the outer door was provided by the Scouts and for instance, there was a charming country set-piece from the Young Farmers Club; the RNLI's flowers were placed appropriately under the fishing-boat window and there was an enormous arrangement from the Hotel and Catering Association. Other churches in the Rye Group had lent their support, and the town's other denominations had also added their tributes. A nice little clinker-built dinghy lent by Sea Cruisers provided a maritime touch, and the new staircase shaded a ferny dripping-well; font (Sunday saw two christenings) and pulpit looked delightful, and the chancel (there was a wedding on Saturday) was superb in white and gold. The church plate and vestments were displayed in the Clare Chapel, which also housed a tableau to celebrate the centenary of the NSPCC.
Beryl Rixon tells us that work really started on Wednesday, when material was collected; it was prepared on Thursday, and displays were set up from 8.30 on Friday morning until past ten at night. It was, she says, a very happy event, with everyone working together to make St. Mary's look its best. The Festival is intended for the glory of God and the pleasure of beholders, and it certainly succeeded in both this year.
However, perhaps a financial note would not come amiss? Canon Maundrell tells us that although St. Mary's normally receives useful donations from Bank Holiday visitors, the sum is not usually anywhere near what was raised at the weekend with the profit from the churchyard refreshments (ably organised by Rose Tiltman and her team); just under £2,000 found its way to church funds over the three days. From this, only about £150 has to be taken for the cost of the flowers, since a roughly equivalent sum was raised by three recent coffee mornings. Most of the flowers were supplied and delivered to the church by Mr. Cornelius of Rye Market, who went as far afield as Lincolnshire to get what was required. Other material came from Peasmarsh Place, who were particularly helpful over greenery, and of course from local sources including private gardens.
All those who visited the church during the Flower Festival will surely wish us to congratulate those responsible, in whatever way they helped.
The Raft Race was lucky with the weather this year: no wind, no rain, not too hot - just right. There were lots of entries, some built for speed and some for effect, coming from as far afield as Eastbourne. The winners were the crew from Ibex Pumps of Hastings; second was the George Hotel's "George Junkies and Harry's Hookers" whose gold coolie hats could be seen far up the river. Rye Fishermen came third. The Vikings (Seaspray Caravan Park, Winchelsea) won the fancy dress, and the Seaspray ladies' team were awarded the wooden spoon for the last entry to finish. The event was, as usual, in aid of the NSPCC; Mrs. Diane James says much of the money comes from sponsorship, and she has no idea of the total likely to be raised. (But the NSPCC are quite sure about the £43 raised at their stall at the Lions fete at the Harbour the same afternoon.)
2.
When the County Council bought Greyfriars at Winchelsea in the early 1950s for use as an old people's home, no-one took much account of three largish watercolours which still hung on the walls. They were just - well, there. They remained there, largely disregarded, until last year, when the Warden Mrs. Shirley Smith was preparing a new inventory of the house's contents and wondered if they should be listed individually. Someone from County Hall came to give an opinion. He looked at the three pictures very thoughtfully, and shortly afterwards a Sothebys representative came and took them away, murmuring something about a special sale in March with overseas buyers and a possible price of £10,000. Mrs. Smith was more than a little surprised but took the expert's word for it.
March came. The Greyfriars pictures appeared in the sale catalogue as the work of Albert Goodwin, and Albert Goodwin is now a much-esteemed artist. They sold for £24,000!
County was delighted with this windfall, and was proposing to put it into the general Social Services fund. But Councillor Mrs. Joan Yates, who is a member of the Greyfriars management group, persuaded the committee that the money should be spent specifically on the home, and got her way in the end. The residents will benefit from improved facilities, and there will also be arrangements for day care at Greyfriars so that people from round about who use this service will not have to go to Rye or even to Hastings.
However, there were still three blank spaces on the walls, and the committee gave permission to spend some money on filling them. Mrs. Yates and Mrs. Smith visited local exhibitions, and at the Tuesday Painters found just what they wanted: a large and colourful oil by Rena Thompson of Hastings, a charming bouquet of cottage flowers which will bring back memories to many of the residents. The home has been given another oil painting, a Marsh landscape on a summer day; and Mrs. Yates and Mrs. Smith still have the enjoyable task of choosing the third picture to please their residents.
The Friends of Rye Art Gallery have just published their coming season's list of monthly talks. The Editor has felt for some time that the various local lecture groups all cover such a wide range of subjects that it is difficult to be sure which talk is to what society, and the FRAG list illustrates this point.
In October, Joan Aiken (daughter of Conrad Aiken who lived at Jeakes House between the wars and a well-known writer herself) talks on "Writing for Children/Writing for Adults". In November Gwen Jones gives the talk on oast houses and hop growing, which was so much enjoyed by Museum Association listeners a couple of years ago. In December, watercolourist John Doyle speaks about "The Other Side of the Picture" (no further details), and in January John Feltwell discusses the conservation of British butterflies. The February lecture is on the arts in China, by Cherry Barnett of the Tate Gallery. March sees the AGM, and in April town councillor James Menhinick talks on the American Civil War on which he gave two seminars last year in Atlanta, Georgia. May welcomes Peter Miall of the National Trust to talk about Charleston and the Bloomsbury Group of painters; and the series is rounded off in June with a talk on modern landscape painting by Ian Jeffrey of Goldsmiths' College, whose book on the subject is reviewed in this week's Sussex Express.
Talks are held at the Town Hall at 8 pm on (normally) the first Tuesday of each month, and non-members are welcome; admission costs 80p and advance booking is not necessary.
The County Council is inviting applications for grants to be paid next year to voluntary organisations providing social services in the county - and, Mrs. Yates tells us, usually in the region of £200 to £500 (I.e. not for enormous major projects but to help in small-scale plans). New and existing organisations should contact Social Services in Cinque Ports Street at once, since applications must be in by 14 September though final decisions on grants are not made until next spring.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 29.8.1984
Rye Festival begins on Saturday, and the various events are booking fast at the
North Kent Building Society office in the High Street. The opening concert in St. Mary's is always a pleasure; this year it is given by the Arioso Trio of London, who are playing music by Poulenc, Brahms, Prokofiev, Paganini, Schubert and Arnold Cooke. Ryesingers perform at the Festival service at St. Mary's on Sunday at 10.30, and there is music of a different kind in the Gun Garden in the afternoon - Betteshanger Colliery Band are playing there at 2.45. At the Community Centre at 7.45 on Sunday evening a live performance of "Under Milk Wood" makes a nice change from the Richard Burton repeats on the radio!
Monday and Tuesday see two films directed by Joseph Losey - "The Go-Between" and "The Servant" - both at the Community Centre at 7.45 and both sponsored by John Jempson & Son. Rye Model Laundry sponsor Tuesday's other event, a guitar recital at Playden Church by Michael Conn, one of the four SE Arts Young Musicians of 1980.
On Wednesday John Burke, who will be remembered by older Rye residents, talks at the Town Hall at 6.30 on the complications of adapting books to films; he calls it "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Odeon". Later that evening, at 8.30, the Yetties with Titus provide the Folk Night at the Community Centre.
Thursday brings television personalities to Rye. Those who enjoy Henry Kelly's participation in "Game for a Laugh" may be surprised to find him, with Toni Arthur, giving a programme of poetry, song and humour from Ireland; we asked Carolyne Simpson for details, but she says he won't give any. So go and see for yourself - 7.45 at the Community Centre; sponsors are Freight Express-Seacon (Rye).
Rye Pottery and Rye Tiles are the joint sponsors for Friday night's attraction - the Coles, and everyone else, enjoyed the show so much two years ago that they just had to have them back! "Instant Sunshine" is likely to be a sell-out, so book your seats quick. Earlier the same evening Mrs. Proctor is lending her mediaeval cellar at The Old Store House in Church Square for a tasting of English wines from the Carr Taylor vineyard (6.00).
The Festival closes on Saturday with another evening concert in St. Mary's; music by Handel, Bach, Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky is played by the Academy of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. At noon that day Carmen Lynn recalls Buster Keaton in a show called "The Human Mop" at the Mermaid Hotel.
Fringe events include a Madrigalia concert at Ivychurch on Monday, coffee mornings for the Red Cross Hearing Circle at Dolphin House on Tuesday and for the NSPCC at 32 Church Square on Thursday, Rye Flower Club presenting "The Fun of the Fair" on Saturday (8th) from 10 to 5 at the FEC, and Ryesingers at the Town Hall the same day at 2. For children, Kitty French is into banner-making at the FEC on Saturday (1st) from 10 to 12; Hugh Lupton entertains at Tilling Green and Freda Gardham on Friday, and on Saturday (8th) a wandering theatre show opens at Tilling Green at 10.30 and continues in the Gun Garden at 11.30, while a busker appears at the Town Hall at 11. "Ten Painters" (twice that many if they all send in work!) are featured at the Easton Rooms, while "That's Shell" continues at the Rye Art Gallery in Ockman's Lane.
It looks like being a busy and most enjoyable week, organised this year for the first time by Carolyne Simpson.
The current list has another application for industrial development at the Harbour, following Rye Oil's application a few weeks ago: a Bexhill firm is asking for permission to erect a warehouse and a wharf with an open storage area on land about opposite the Weslakes building. Michael Alford tells us that Icklesham Parish Council are very pleased at both applications, which they regard as development for an entirely appropriate riverside use.
Other applications include 3 non-illuminated signs at the front and rear of the antiques showroom at 54 The Mint; an extension in King's Avenue; a non-illuminated sign for the Grist Mill on Strand Quay; and repainting the ground-floor windows and doors at the Mariners in the High Street in "Harrods green" with slight gold trim.
4.
•Congratulations to Alan Sinden, of Udimore Road, who is now proprietor of the Hope Anchor Hotel in Watchbell Street. Alan came to the hotel as manager 18 months ago, but it was only last week that he entered into a three-year lease, plus an option to renew, with the company which owns it; and he and his wife Annie will be running it their way from now on. Not that their way is to be sensationally different from the present very satisfactory arrangements at the 15-bedroom, 29-bed hotel; but Alan feels that it would be nice to have a more relaxed atmosphere which would appeal to local people and to young families (children are most welcome). While he intends to keep the present haute cuisine standards in the restaurant, which will serve dinner only, he is introducing a newly-extended range of bar snacks intended to provide two people with substantial platefuls, a drink each and still leave change out of a £5 note.
The banquet trade - wedding receptions, club events, parties, etc. - is very much part of the hotel business, and Alan already has bookings for Christmas functions. (He tells us that if they have a big event booked, they simply warn hotel guests that they can offer bed and breakfast only for that night.) The restaurant, with its superb view, normally seats 35 but can take up to 50 for a sit-down meal, 60 or 70 for a buffet. The evening menu costs £12 or £13 a head; but at midday bar meals can be taken into the restaurant area by those seeking greater comfort and quietness.
Alan has lived most of his life in Rye; he was a pupil at the Grammar School and went on to study catering at Hastings College. After gaining experience elsewhere, including the Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch, he returned to Rye four years ago, and was steward at the British Legion Club before moving to the Hope Anchor as manager in March last year. He and Annie have a son Benjamin, 2 ½, and another baby on the way; so it seems likely that Alan's mother Mrs. Lilian Sinden, the warden at Badger Gate, will find herself and her husband doing rather more baby-sitting than hitherto! We wish the Sindens every success in this impressive new venture.
• A new shop opens in the Landgate today. Rye Wholefoods will now be based at 16a Landgate, the little shop formerly occupied by Homestyle who have moved to Hastings, and Pat and Mary Bonham have spent the Bank Holiday weekend setting up shop. Exactly two years ago, in the very first issue of the GAZETTE, we hailed the arrival of Rye Wholefoods in Winchelsea Road; since then the business has expanded, and the new shop will give the Bonhams much more scope. They will continue to live in Winchelsea Road, using the old shop for storage. But the Landgate premises will be much more central and convenient for their customers, old and new. Opening hours are 9 to 1 and 2 to 5.30 (closed on Tuesdays).
• Rye visitors to the Town and Country Fair at Hastings recently will have seen (as far as we know) just one familiar face among the exhibitors. Mary Lestocq pitched her tent - literally - and used it as a studio, with examples of her photographic work displayed outside. The response, she says was extremely encouraging, with enquiries from potential clients for work of all kinds. She repeated the exercise at a similar event at Eastbourne the following week.
Mrs. Cuthbert asks us to point out that office hours at the Community Centre have been altered; she is now there on Wednesday evenings instead of Tuesday. The new hours are: Tuesdays, 9.30 to 11.30; Wednesdays, 5.30 to 7.30; and Fridays, 9.30 to 11.30 and from 2 to 4 as well.
Work on the wheelchair loo is now waiting for the builder to fit it into his schedule, but the Centre has also had to find £100 for urgent repairs to the roof. A fund-raising event which will give great pleasure to those who missed it first time around is a repeat of Laurie Band's slide show "Rye in the Past" - this time with a commentary by Reg Hollands - on Thursday 16 October at the Centre.
5.
The 23rd annual exhibition of the Tuesday Painters Club of Rye transformed the FE Centre into a blaze of colour. 104 members and associate members are showing their work, and pictures from 16 non-members are also hung - 341 pictures in all.
The judge this year is William Bowyer, RA, four of whose paintings hang in the porch attracting a great deal of admiration. The Tuesday Painters, who now have Carel Weight as their President, make a habit of inviting Royal Academicians to select the work for their exhibitions - surely an incentive to artists to send in their very best paintings. Certainly, the pictures this year were well up to standard, and the whole exhibition was a pleasure to see. Some work clearly sprang from group outings, with the same scene viewed interestingly through different eyes. Flower paintings are usually one of the strengths of this show, and this years are particularly memorable. There are plenty of local scenes, modestly priced, and we feel sure that visitors to the town will find delightful holiday souvenirs on the FEC walls, as well as local people looking for something special (see page 2 in this respect). The exhibition continues until Saturday.
Also closing on Saturday is the Rye Society of Artists' exhibition at the Boys Club in Mermaid Street, so that evening should see the pavements positively packed with painters or purchasers carrying pictures under their arms!
Some weeks ago, we welcomed British Rail's new Area Manager for our area, Harry Holt (based at Ashford Station). A recent handout from BR reveals that Mr. Holt and the other area managers now have a good deal more responsibility after the abolition of the Divisional management tier introduced over 20 years ago. Area managers (Alex Green at Tonbridge is responsible for stations from Doleham westwards) now report directly to the Southern Region HQ at Waterloo; and they are, says the handout "the principal contact for passengers; each one will be responsible with the support of a team of specialist managers for the day-to-day running of rail services in his area, the commercial aspects of the business, personnel matters and all relative correspondence and enquiries". So now we know just who complaints - and bouquets - should go to.
Station Managers, as such, no longer exist; they have been replaced by Traffic Managers "located at key stations". But BR has appointed, for the whole Region, three Passenger Business Managers based at Waterloo (called, oddly, Mr. Scott, Mr. Scott and Mr. Nott) who work on the financial side "giving maximum value for money over a wide area of the Region" - our man is Cedric Nott, who has had wide experience on the management side of BR in this country and abroad.
Recently a local family waved goodbye at Ashford to an elderly relative on her way to Sheffield. Somehow tickets got muddled; the old lady found herself halfway to Charing Cross with only a platform ticket for Ashford! But no problem; the Ashford ticket collector had spotted the Sheffield ticket handed in by mistake and had phoned London; London alerted the collector at the appropriate barrier, and before the traveller even had time to explain her predicament, she found someone waiting with a replacement ticket so that she could continue her journey without delay. Congratulations, British Rail!
There were more than 60 film-makers staying in Rye recently; they brought trade, but not dislocation, since they were filming at Bodiam a psychological drama called "Dream Lover" - this week they were moving on to the 27th floor of the London Hilton for the main action. The crew based at the George told us that the film was directed for MGM by Alan Pekula, who directed "Klute" and "Sophie's Choice" and has an Oscar; photography was by Sven Nykvist, twice an Academy Award winner. The stars are, we gather, better known in the States than over here. The film is due for release in February or March next year.
6.
Three books with Rye connections have been sent to the GAZETTE in the course of the last few weeks, and we are most grateful to the authors; we write about them in order of arrival.
Regular readers will already know about Mrs. Aylwin Guilmant's "Bygone Rye and Winchelsea" (Phillimore, £6.95), since we have several times mentioned in these columns Mrs. Guilmant's search for old photographs of the town, and she has had much help from some Rye people who have opened to her their collections. She dedicates her book to "the people of Winchelsea and Rye, both past and present”.
Mrs. Guilmant supplied her publishers with 250 photographs of our two ancient towns and the final choice of 150 was not left to her. If it had been, she tells us, some of the pictures which we have all seen many times before would have been omitted in favour of rarer items. However, the publishers have to consider not just Rye readers but also the general public who lap up pictures of Mermaid Street and the mill; and we can all be grateful for the inclusion of, for instance, the end of the East Guldeford brewery (where the tennis club now stands), or the laundry van outside William Axell's Hygienic Laundry in Winchelsea Road, or the Rye police force in 1911, the 1910 railway station staff, and the fire brigade complete with horse. The GAZETTE naturally takes a particular interest in the shot of the proprietor of the Rye Chronicle outside his office in what is now Shades coffee bar. There is a delightful picture of garlanded schoolgirls celebrating the 1902 coronation; and one dating only from 1949 showing the mayoral hot pennies being thrown from the balcony of the George - when did this ceremony move up to the Town Hall? The last 50 or so pictures relate to Winchelsea and are perhaps less well-known than the Rye ones - they include a charming view of our Queen aged about 7 with her parents outside Winchelsea Church.
One or two of Mrs. Guilmant's captions could be debatable; and it might have been helpful to later historians if individual photographs had been credited to the people who lent them - but perhaps this would have been difficult to arrange. Anyway, it is a most attractive book which will, be much enjoyed both by Rye people and by visitors and will stand endless browsing.
Our second author is E. Kathleen Goldie-Smith of Military Road, who has produced, as she says, "happier news from Castle Water" (her letter was written soon after the recent tragedy there). Norman Jones asked her to provide for his sailing enthusiasts a readable account of the various forms of wildlife to be found under the water, and the result is a most impressive booklet full of bugs and creepies, completely over the head of the Editor who thought a snail was just a snail.
Miss Goldie-Smith lists all sorts of insects, leeches, snails and worms to be fauna at Castle Water - some of then, she says, not yet noted for the adjoining Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Her book, "Life in Castle Water" (£1.50, available at both the Martello and Rye Bookshops) is bound to be a classic handbook on the subject.
Judy Brown, as readers will know, ran the WRVS lunch club for five years before she retired a year ago. She has now gathered the fruits of her experience into a small book, "Monthly Menus for One or for Many", listing all the recipes prepared for her club members from October l97 to July 1983. "The aim" she says is “simplicity and colour, a well-balanced meal easily digested and easy to eat". The really unusual part of the book is the way Mrs. Brown names her dishes after local places - she calls a lamb stew Henry James Pot, and we smiled at the nautical Rope Walk Roll and the gruesome-sounding Gibbet Broths. This book will surely be a godsend to others trying to produce large numbers of simple meals with limited facilities - Mrs. Brown was catering for well over 60 people at the Community Centre. "Monthly Menus" is available at £l from both Martello and Adams, or direct from Windings, Playden.
STOP PRESS: Kitty French's elderly red bicycle, with rusting metal basket, has been stolen from outside Rye Station where it was left unlocked on Friday night; she suspects someone "borrowed" it to get home, and she would very much like to know where it is - (Black Lantern Cottage, Hucksteps Row).
7.
• We are delighted to report that Mrs. Dorothy Heritage, who was so badly injured in a car accident in Rye Foreign in June, is not only very much better but actually home again - a little shaky and still using elbow crutches, but her sister Rosemary Wilkinson says that the family would not have believed such a step possible even a month ago. Good news indeed!
• The Red Cross have recently had their duplicator repaired, and are offering to help small organisations by doing duplicating for them - 1p a sheet on the customer's own paper. They have in mind groups such as WIs who wish to distri bute perhaps 50 or 100 copies of something - too many to type, too expensive to photocopy, but not enough to get printed economically. The proceeds will go to Red Cross funds and - says hon. sec. Mrs. Diana James - pay off the repairs to the duplicator. This service should be a godsend to organisations which tend to have trouble finding someone to run off typed stencils for such things as newsletters, entry forms, etc. The offer will be open from about the middle of September; ring Mrs. James on Iden 271 thereafter or leave a message for her at the Red Cross office. (Technical advice from the Editor, who learnt the hard way: not all typewriters cut good stencils, try and borrow one that does - and clean the type at the start of each sheet, it really does make a difference!)
• When Frank Palmer needed a new numberplate for his house on The Strand, he decided to add a historical note. Working from an old photograph of Strand House, which was destroyed by a bomb in WW2, Tarquin Cole at Rye Pottery designed a plaque which bears a drawing of Strand House above the number, a note about the bombing, and a fishing boat below to recall the Hessel and Holmes connection: the plaque was painted by June Woolley at the Pottery. Since the Palmers' front door stands just about where Strand House opened on to the street, nothing could be more appropriate.
• Rye Lions drew their annual raffle at the Beckley Fete on Saturday. Lucky winner of the top prize, a microwave oven, was Colin Shambrook of Brede; Mrs. Standen, also of Brede, won a portable television, Mrs. Hoyle of Playden won a food processor, and Mrs. Hamish of Hailsham a case of English wine. It was a busy weekend for the Lions; next day, they raised some £250 at Rye Harbour with their fete held in connection with the Raft Race. Profit from the raffle, after the super prizes had been bought, were around £700.
• The repainting of the George Hotel, carried out by Messrs. Burnham, is now complete - white gloss paint all over, with black for the windows, etc., it looks most impressive. The scaffolding, which the George was able to part with just in time for the Carnival Procession, has now moved along the High Street to Ashbees. Parking opposite Freeman Hardy & Willis still leads to some confusion, not to say bad feeling from motorists who don't realise the yellow lines are different, but the work at the back of the shop is making progress.
• Peter Ewart (near Canterbury) tells us that he is about to acquire a copy of the material for Rye's 1881 census (and, later on, perhaps for 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871); this is in microfilm form, and he is also equipping himself with a second-hand reader for it. He very kindly says that in return for a s.a.e. he will be pleased to make reasonable searches and settle questions about who lived where, thus saving tedious visits to Hastings and beyond.
• Rye will shortly have a chance to see the model of the new Hastings District General Hospital. Mrs. Yates and the Town Clerk between them have arranged to have it on display in the Town Hall. The latest timetable for work on the hospital gives a commissioning date in the summer of 1991, with the first patients admitted at the end of that year; let's hope they have better luck than the builders of Dungeness B!
8.
Saturday, 1st "Plan a Banner" with Kitty French (children), FEC, 10 to 12 Rye Festival opening concert, St. Mary's, 7.45
Sunday, and Festival service, St. Mary's, 10.30
Betteshanger Colliery Band concert, Gun Garden, 2.45
Under Milk Wood, Community Centre, 7.45
Monday, 3rd Monday Club, Clinic, 2
Film, The Go-Between, CC, 7.45
Tuesday, 4th Hearing Circle coffee morning, Red Cross, 10.30
Guitar recital, Playden Church, 7
Film, The Servant, CC, 7.45
Wednesday, 5th TERM BEGINS
Christian Lunch Club coffee morning, Red Cross (bring-and- buy, TEAR stall, new books stall)
A Funny Thing Happened... (John Burke), TH, 6.30
Folk Night (The Yetties and Titus), CC, 8.30
• Congratulations to Mrs. Winifred Stubbs of Badger Gate, who will be celebrating her 90th birthday on Tuesday, 4 September.
• Congratulations, too, to three newly-weds...
... Patricia Thompson of Udimore Road and Gary Murray of Peasmarsh, who were married in St. Mary's on Saturday with Pat's two little nieces as bridesmaids. Pat (who didn't know about the Flower Festival!) is Rye's newest traffic warden.
... James Fuggle of Tilling Green and Carole Allen of Brede, whose Hastings wedding on Saturday was followed by a reception at the Flushing Inn. The couple will be living in Brede.
... Mary Summerfield of the Tower Launderette and John Weaver of Chislehurst, who were married at the beginning of August. Mr. and Mrs. Weaver will be living at Chislehurst, but Mary's friends and customers will be seeing her about the town for a while yet.
• Vickie Piper reports delightedly that the coffee morning for her Mentally Handicapped group at the Town Hall on Saturday raised £259, and she is most grateful to all those who helped with this very gratifying result. We would remind readers that the charity shop run by the same team, now in the bus yard kiosk, continues until the end of this week.
• Dogs will be helping the Lifeboat House appeal (we understand that the new building rising fast, can now no longer be referred to as a "shed" despite tradition!).
On Sunday, 9 September, Rye Harbour sees an exemption dog show. For details, look out for posters or contact Mrs. Robus at the North Kent Building Society.
• There will be no trains between Ashford and Rye on Sunday; track renewal means that there will be a bus service instead, adding possibly 40 minutes to the time for the journey. BR apologise for this, and for the inevitable noise.
• The total profits from the Carnival are still not known, but the Muscular Dystrophy Group report with much satisfaction that they took £100 at their stall on the Salts.
• The coffee morning held by the Hill House League of Friends at the Town Hall recently raised over £100.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, and published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye (Rye 222303). News items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline Monday afternoon, Tuesday 9 am for emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly, and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday. Extra copies and back numbers can be ordered from 2 Cyprus Place; a few spares (current issue only) are obtainable at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, Rye. (Copyright Mary Owen, 1984)