Rye Bonfire Night is now fixed for Saturday, 5 October, and there will be a street collection in the town during the day. On 21 September, the Town Hall will house a "Bonfire Bonanza" from 10 to 4, with various exhibits and events as well as the usual stalls and refreshments to raise funds for the firework display. Moro immediately, the Bonfire Boys next meet on 15 May at the Queen's Head at 8, and potential helpers are most welcome.
Mrs. Joan Yates, the Conservative candidate for Rye, has been our County Councillor since 1981 when she succeeded the late Maurice Beevers. She has been serving on four committees: Environment, Economic Promotion, Libraries/Records, and Social Services (with its Grants sub-committee). 1981 was a busy year for her, since she was also Chairman of Rother District Council, having been one of Rother's first three Rye councillors in 1974. Overlapping the earlier part of her term on Rother wP- her membership of Rye Borough and later Rye Town Council - in 1977 she was m _or and Speaker of the Cinque Ports (both posts this year being filled by her son-in-law Roger Breeds). Readers will know of Mrs. Yates's involvement with such local matters as the WI Market, the bowls green and the Sports Centre, but not all will be aware that having been the second Chairman of the Community Health Council she was then nominated by the County Council to the Hastings Health Authority on which she now serves. Born in Rye, though she spent much of her childhood away from the town, Mrs. Yates is proud to be a member of the long-established Rye family of Clark. She and her husband live in New Winchelsea Road.
Mrs. Sheila Ungar, the Labour candidate, grew up in Glasgow, and spent five years in the WAAF during the war; widowed in 1958, she took up teaching and settled in :eye in the early 1970s. She has been a part-time teacher at Thomas Peacocke School. Mrs. Ungar is a founder member of Rye CND, and also a founder member of Rye Ramblers who have given valuable public service in the mast year by undertaking a through review of the condition of footpaths is several parishes around Rye. Mrs. Ungar, who lives in North Salts, stood as a candidate for Rother District Council in 1983.
Mr. Derek Goggin is the Liberal-Alliance candidate. Mr. Goggin, who lives in Pottingfield Road, is 37. He is a coastguard officer, and has lived in Rye for years; he and his wife have two daughters aged 8 and 6. He has been a eral since 1978, and is interested in conservation, human rights and world development. His hobbies go well with his job - sailing, windsurfing and water sports generally; he is a keen swimmer. This is his first venture into local government.
Readers will be very glad to know that the Rye Bay plaice is not after all to become extinct on Rye dinner-plates. As reported in the News last week, a new and slashing quota threatened many of our fishing-boats and also, indirectly, the menus of many of our restaurants. The fishermen protested to Ken Warren, who went immediately to the Minister of Agriculture; he agreed that the position was prenosterous, and the ban was removed three days later. (How very valuable is a friend in high places!) There is also another fishing quota on a wider scale which is causing problems locally, and Mr. Warren tells us that he is hoping to get that sorted out too.
In December 1983 Ken Warren was appointed chairman of the Commons Select Committee on Trade and Industry. A year later his committee produced a report on waste disposal - so successful that it actually had to be reprinted! One of his recommendations was that a Minister for Waste Disposal should be appointed; the appointment was announced yesterday. Five other recommendations are also being put into effect.
2.
Mr. Reginald Harding, of Cooper Road, died in hospital on 2 April. The funeral has taken place. Mr. Harding was 82.
Mrs. Florence Rook died at her home in Udimore Road on 9 April; she was 75. The funeral has taken place.
Mrs. Mildred Borough, of Church Square, died at her home recently. She is to be buried with her husband at Ripe, near Lewes, at 3.30 on 25 April.
Mrs. Olwen Girdlestone, of Pottingfield Road, has died in hospital; she was 82. The funeral takes place on Tuesday, 23 April, at 2.15 at St. Mary's.
Mrs. Winifred Stubbs, of Badger Gate, died in hospital on 12 April at the age of 90. The funeral will take place at Rye Methodist Church on Friday (19th) at 2.30.
Mrs. Winifred Bodilly, of Cadborough Cliff, died in a nursing home in Hove on 11 April; she was 88. The daughter of the much-loved headmaster of the Mermaid Street school, she taught there herself for some years after leaving Rye Grammar School; she then taught the Mixed Juniors in Lion Street, and moved down with them to the Ferry Road Primary school where she remained during the war. Mrs. Bodilly, whose husband Frederick was a talented violinist, was much involved with the tows.'s musical life between the wars; she also had a fund of memories of the Rye of her youth. She will be much missed. Cremation took place at Hove on Tuesday.
Mrs. Moel Paskin, who died on 12 April, had lived at Greyfriars for four years, moving there when she gave up her home in Eagle Road; she would have been 90 later this year. Mrs. Peskin came to Rye after a life full of travel and interest. She was a member of the Order of St. John, and was well-known as a skilled watercolourist and also a superb gardener, a talent inherited from her grandfather - the founder of Kew Gardens. A widow, she leaves no children, but was much loved by her many friends in the town. The funeral takes place tomorrow, Thursday, at 3.30 at Hastings Crematorium.
Mr. Alf Woodhams, who died on 31 March in a nursing home in Bexhill, was 79. A Goudhurst man, he came to Rye after the war to work at Goulds, down the Harbour, and then transferred to the maintenance staff of Rye Borough Council; at one tine he was night-watchman during building operations at Tilling Green. In 1974 he started work for Rother Council, and his most recent job was shared with the late Mr. Frederick Rhodes - between them they ran the car-park in the Goods Yard until British Rail took it back. Mr. Woodhams lodged with the Rhodes family in Lea Avenue, and was a tall and familiar figure walking his dog - first a black labrador, then a springer collie - around the town. He leaves no family.
Two people well known in the town suffered serious accidents in Hastings over the Easter holiday neriod. Our Town Clerk, Mr. John Baker, was pinned between two racked cars in London Road on Good Friday when a third car collided with one of them. Kr. Baker, who is 55, has lost his left leg and was for some days in intensive care, but has now been moved to Ward 2a, St. Helen's, where he is due to remain for at least the next ten days. The Mayor, who has visited Mr. Baker, reports that he is bearing up cheerfully under this dreadful blow.
In December 1983 Ken Warren was appointed chairman of the Commons Select Committee on Trade and Industry.
Also facing the future courageously is 18-year-old Daniel Sharp of Fairlight, younger son of Rye potter David Sharp.Daniel was involved in a cycle accident on the Hastings seafront at night, which resulted in the loss of an eye. Mrs. Sharp tells us that Daniel is at home at present, but will have to return to East Grinstead for further surgery to repair the damage to the side of his face. He was due to take A-level Art this summer, but will now have to defer this; visitors to the Thomas Peacocke School art exhibition at the Easton Rooms may remember Daniel's very professional pottery on show there.
However, it is pleasant to report that Miss Constance Smith of Badger Gate, who was 91 on Easter Monday, has made such good progress during a short stay in St. Helen's that she hopes to return home some time this week.
However, it is pleasant to report that Miss Constance Smith of Badger Gate, who was 91 on Easter Monday, has made such good progress during a short stay in St. Helen's that she hopes to return home some time this week.
3.
A vacancy on Rye Town Council has arisen owing to the resignation on grounds of ill-health of Councillor Alex Buchan, of Udimore Road. The procedure for filling it is a series of "ifs"! If at least ten electors ask for an election, there has to be one; requests for such an election should be sent to the Chief Executive, Rother District Council, Town Hall, Bexhill, within the next fortnight.(There can be one letter with ten signatures, or separate letters from ten people.) On receipt of a valid request, Mr. Powell then invites nominations for candidates, who must be proposed and seconded by electors. If there is more than one nomination, the election takes place in the normal way (it costs about E0600 from the rates). If there is only one, that person is declared elected. If there are none, there is of course no election and the Town Council must fill the vacancy within 90 days. (In the absence of the Town Clerk in hospital, it would seem the sensible if unofficial course for anyone wishing to stand to get in touch at once with the Mayor, Roger Breeds, who can then judge if an election will be needed and take appropriate action - though the official channel must eventually lead to Mr. Powell at Bexhill.)
St. George's Day (23 April) is being marked in the town at the weekend largely through the efforts of the Women's Section of the Royal British Legion. On. Saturday 20th, they are once again selling buttonhole roses in the Town Hall foyer from 10 to 4; there will also be a white elephant stall and a cake stall. On Sunday, they hope for a good turnout from the local youth organisations, all of whom have been contacted, for a parade service in St. Mary's at 10.30. This will also be attended, as usual, by the Town Council in its full splendour, maces and all.
Also on Sunday is the second concert by the Theatre Organ Club of Great Britain on the Thomas Peacocke Wurlitzer.Last April (GAZETTE no.80) we reported in detail on the 1984 concert and on the history of the splendid organ. Now Trevor Bolshaw and Michael Wooldridge are back again, with the drummer, and again the music will be typical theatre-organ material, always a pleasant way of passing a Sunday after- noon. Admission is open to all, entrance £2 (C/.50 for senior citizens); the concert begins at 3.
The next session of the Community Centre's Silver Dollar Club is on Saturday week, 27th - music by Backtrack, tickets £2, a bar and food available. The 30 March event was very successful, with about 85 people from neighbouring country-and-western clubs. Redwings had to cancel owing to illness, but Radio Kent came to the rescue and found Silver Dollar an alternative: pop singer of the 1960s, Christiansen Peters, came over from Swanley with his backing group The Old Crow, and played some of his own hits as well as other c-and-w music. It was, Ringo tells us, a very good evening, and made £68 for Club funds.
For the first time ever, or anyway for many years, the town has the chance to show its gratitude to our ambulance men. The Rye Ambulance Station has just formed a social club, and they are hoping to put something in its kitty as the result of a jumble sale on Saturday week, 27 April, at 2 at the Ambulance Station at the top of Rye Hill. Refreshments will be available, which is probably just as well since the buses don't fit very conveniently; a no.12 leaves Rye at 1.30, but there is nothing back down the hill until 3.20. But this does all give time to see the ambulance station from within instead of just driving oast it as usual. People who would like jumble collected should ring.
The 275 people who enjoyed the Women's British Legion D-Day dance last year will be glad to know that they are doing it again - this time to mark the anniversary of VE Day. Ted Crouch and his Quartet will once more be playing 1940s music for 1940s dances, and there will be a buffet supper. The big night is Saturday, 4 May, from 7.30 to 11.45 at Upper School, and tickets are available from Camiers Cycles in Wish Ward, price £2.50; don't leave it too late.
Rye Police Social Club is holding a dance at Pontins on Friday, 10 May, from 8 to 1; tickets C5 from the police station include a sit-down salad meal and a "picking buffet". There are two groups (Hammond Plus and Jinks), a tombola for charity, and of course a bar with extended hours.
4.
Such is the success of the Rye Day Centre at the Baptist Hall each Wednesday that Mrs. Barbara Wild and her band of helpers are thinking about opening for a second day each week. But what they really need are larger premises, with the facilities (such as a bath) that the Baptist Hall cannot be expected to provide. Readers will know that there has for some time been a plan to build a Day Centre room at the back of the sheltered housing development which is to replace the (now finally demolished) old Council offices - Magdala House - in Ferry Road. However, it is felt that there is not really enough room there, and local Councillors, Social Services and the Rye Council for Voluntary Service are now looking into the possibility of buying the old phone exchange in Eagle Road and converting in for Day Centre and other associated uses - it could, for instance, house the Red Cross store of wheelchairs, swimmers, etc., which are at present kept inconveniently upstairs in Dolphin House. There is parking space, and plenty of room in the stoutly-built single-storey exchange, which is already divided into several rooms of different sizes. This sounds like an extremely good idea; we will report further when a decision has been reached.
The current exhibition at the Easton Rooms brings together the work of three artists well known in the area. Downstairs, Margaret Barnard (Mrs. Margaret Mackechnie of Watchbell Street) gives her sensitive view of the warm south and the far north, the Mediterranean and the Highlands, the hilltop town and the lonely croft; she dwells in detail on the swirling watery shapes of rocks and roots, and fucussing even more closely shows us the intricacies of shells and the delicate petals of roses. Upstairs, John Owen also goes south; his colourful beaches and hills provide the background for bathers in all shades of suntan, with an eye for comedy in his view of Winchelsea Beach, but he also has cooler pictures of woodland and farm, and his lady skaters could have been minor characters in the Benson books. In the Craft Gallery, Paddy Aiken ARPS shows some of the flower portraits which were her camera's first love; we also see pictures of the Marsh churches taken for her new book (reviewed next week), imaginative and luminous studies of light on water, and some charming local views which would make most attractive holiday souvenirs for visitors who have outgrown the picture-postcard. This is a really enjoyable exhibition which should not be missed; it continues until 7 May.
Welcome to two more Rye businesses, newly opened in time for Easter. Farmer's Feast, at the bottom of Landgate, is a takeaway of a type Rye has not seen before, selling charcoal-grilled lamb kebabs and seasoned "steak-on-a-stick", all butter-basted and ready to eat. Spanish omelette - a filling cold slice with potato and onion - is also available, and salad, and a 12-flavour selection of American Dayville icecreams. This is a new venture for the proprietor, Francis, who comes from London but is now living in Peasmarsh. He has gone to considerable trouble to ensure that the food is prepared and sold in attractively hygenic conditions, and hopes to build up a local clientele as well as tempting the visitors.
Sheila Brown comes from Essex, and has recently given up a large business on Canvey Island in favour of a tea-room in the very different surroundings of The Mint. Swan Cottage Tea Room lies behind the recently-installed bow window in the house once famous for Jarrett's bloaters, and before that (a long time ago, but then part of it does date from 1420) the Swan Inn. The main entrance is still from The Mint, but Mrs. Brown has opened the steps down from her back garden so that there is also access from Cinque Ports Street, beside the Wool Shop. With the help of her builder, John Ward, she has completely reorganised the inside of the house, replastering throughout and highlighting the green-and-crimson colour scheme with a dramatic stained glass window onto the yard of the Standard Inn.
She was thrilled to find a hidey-hole the height of the house, but not yet the cellar she has been told is there. Mrs. Brown is helped by her daughters Tracy and Louise with the business, which includes bed-and-breakfast as well as coffee, teas, light snacks - and delicious locally-made icecreams in tall glasses.
5 .
It seems to be generally agreed that "Mapp and Lucia" has got off to a very good start. Prunella Scales as Miss Mapp is much liked; some of those we talked to felt that Geraldine McEwan's Lucia is a little too mannered, too stylish, but certainly your Editor thoroughly enjoyed the first episode. Much of this was filmed at Chilham, where a large enough garden to house the "fete" (a full-blown pageant in the book) could be found; so we assume it was Chilham Church tower which Lucia and Georgie were apparently admiring from Watchbell Street, which could create complications later on: For technical reasons Swan House in Watchbell Street is standing in for the exterior shots of "Mallards", which Benson clearly meant for Lamb House; but the first indoor scene at Mallards had a very fine copy of the Lamb House staircase, so LWT were certainly doing their best. Rye comes off very well; not only does Watchbell Street look like something on the movies, but the pictures which open each instalment are delightful in themselves.
Mrs. Carman of New Winchelsea Road sends on her GAZETTES to her daughter in Dublin, who tells us with some amusement that "Mapp and Lucia" has already appeared on their television, with the last instalment at the end of March; she and her family much enjoyed the series.
TVS were filming round here some months ago for a series called "Putting on the South".This is an arts programme going out after the ten o'clock news, and the two programmes dealing with artist/craftsmen in the Rye area will be shown on consecutive Thursdays, 2 and 9 May
Recent planning lists include an application from Rediffusion for a vehicle access from their yard into Cinque Ports Street through the alley beside the shop, using a ramp; it is unfortunate that this very sharp turn should emerge onto the narrowest part of the road with hardly and pavement space beside it. The new owner of Colebrooke's factory in South Underciiff, Mr. Pope of Peasmarsh, is proposing to demolish the existing building and re-use the bricks to build a terrace of three small houses and a flat over parking space for four cars, with two more spaces at the back; other materials will be weather-boarding and clay tiles. Chris Davacn tells us that the alterations proposed for the Rye Bookshop and its neighbour Doodle are cosmetic rather than structural; the removal of the partition wall between the two shops will restore its internal appearance when it was part of the Milsoms complex on the corner in the first quarter of this century. The new shop will be under the Doodle management, Mr. and Mrs. Wills of Serendipity. Other planning applications are for an illuminated pole-mounted sign and non-luminated lettering at Alsfords Wharf; for a new kitchen and the demolition of a store-room at the Ypres Castle Inn; and for the demolition of a chimney at 92 High Street, with alterations to form an office for the Anglia Building Society with a flat above.
Several readers have pointed out that we omitted two proprietors of the greengrocery business at 13 High Street in our brief history (GAZETTE no. 125); the sequence should read Waghorn, Wallace, Brown, Warrington and finally Moore. John Smith says that the Rye Bazaar was not there until the 1920s (before that it was the other side of the High Street); the Goodes moved their Bazaar down to the corner of Market Road in the early 1930s, and Mr. Waghorn then opened the greengrocery business in the High Street.
Veronica Briggs at Squirrels, who has an excellent and at times terrifying view of the traffic at Bannister's Corner, tells us that in the past three weeks she has counted eight accidents there (not including the bus which smeared the scaffolding).All eight involved colliSbns between cars travelling along Cinque Ports Street into the town, mostly too fast, and cars pulling out of Ferry Road, mostly too far. It is very difficult for drivers coming out of Ferry Road to see if the coast is clear until they are almost over the dotted line. Is the SLOW sign in Wish Street too far back, so that drivers don't expect to find a real hazard just past rather than on the next corner?
6.
On Friday the new sluice at Scots Float, costing over £2m, was opened by Kenneth Warren HP (appropriately enough an engineer by profession), who unveiled the modest plaque and pressed the button to operate the lock gates. The curtain slid aside, the gates rose in a stately manner, the brown creamy water (it had been very rainy the day before) swirled enthusiastically beneath them and the sun shone. It was a lovely day; and the official business was followed by an elegant luncheon for the large party in the depot's lorry shed - so scrubbed and whitewashed that one would hardly have guessed! The party had been welcomed by Frank Midmer, once at the Rye depot and now Manager of Southern Water's Kent Division; among the guests were Sir Godfrey Taylor, Chairman of the SWA, and his Deputy and Chief Executive Mr. B R Thorpe; local representatives Roger Breeds as Mayor, and John Alsford, Clem Ramus and Bert Catt, all with a long association with harbour and land drainage interests; a director of the contractors, W A Dawson Limited, of Luton; and various other water people, if we may use the phrase (but George Roberts of the Scots Float office was away on holiday). The sluice, the fish-pass, the lock (already used several times), the control room operated by one man who combines it with other duties - all were admired. Ken Warren reminded his audience that six hundred years ago the whole area was under water, with the sea lapping the cliffs behind the depot; he spoke of the fine standards set by the SWA. Later there were thanks to all concerned - the various committees, the designers, the builders, not forgetting the people who actually did the work. (And amid all the mighty concrete and steel and high technology, we liked the human scale of the very small wooden dinghy drawn up on the beak below the sluice!)
Last April there was a press invitation to see the new gates which had then just been installed, and in GAZETTE no. 79 we wrote at length about the layout. The SWA has some splendid photographs, and we hope to report that when Freight Express Season's builders depart in a few weeks' time there will be on view in the Lion Street window, so that we can all see just what has been accomplished in the past two years. In the meantime, we thought a brief historical survey (extracted from John Collard's "Maritime History of Rye") might not come amiss.
The first sluice at Scots Float was built in 1736 (Smeaton's 1763 report on the Harbour refers to it as "Scotch flat sluice", but we can only assume that he knew no better) as the most recent in a series of sluices each further downstream than its predecessor and therefore protecting a wider area of farmland from the salt water. In March 1812, an exceptionally high spring tide broke down the gates and ran up to Bodiam, scouring the river from Bodiam down to the sea in a very satisfactory manner and enabling the river barges to go right upstream at all stages of the tide. Trade picked up, and Rye people were delighted. Not so the big int landowners who sat as Commissioners of the Upper Levels, who saw to it that the sluice as rebuilt the following year. The level of the water upstream was then kept low again, the lock arrangements were inadequate for the river barges, and there followed a long legal wrangle between the Commissioners of the Upper Levels, representing the farmers, and the Harbour Commissioners representing the shipping interests at the mouth of the river.
In 1819 the Lord Chancellor decreed that the Commissioners should carry out alterations to the sluice to enable barges to pass through, the work to be done within three years.The Commissioners took no notice. On 26 April 1830 a party from Rye, led by a band, marched out to the Star Inn and after partaking of refreshment set about the destruction of the sluice. The magistrates were called, the Riot Act was read, and was read again two days later by a County Magistrate. By 29 April a large body of troops had arrived, the crowd was dispersed without bloodshed, and the sluice was repaired. But the same year the Rother Levels Act 1830 became law: a proper lock was to be built, and the arrangements for scouring (dredging by using the fast flow of water downstream) were specified. In the early 18408 an entirely new sluice incorporating a satisfactory lock was built, and this is the one which has survived for over 140 years and has now been replaced. How much of it will remain in situ in, say, five years' time is undecided; part may be needed to buttress the road, but the piling is already falling about in a discouraged way. The view upstream will soon be very different.
Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10.30 to 4 (and Friday and Saturday) Christian Lunch Club (speaker from the co-workers of Mother Teresa of Calcutta), CC, 12 for 12.30
Local History Group (George Wood's photographs), Library, 7.30
Women's British Legion sell St. George's Day roses, TH, 10 to 4
St. George's Day service, St. Mary's, 10.30 (see page 3)
Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve guided walk, RH car park, 10
Theatre Organ Club concert, Upper School, 3 (see page 3)
• Congratulations to Kate and Francis Ford, of Charlton Hill House, near Wroxeter, Shropshire, on the birth of their daughter Sylvia on 13 April - a sister for Lily and Gloria, and a third grandchild for your Editor.
• Rye WI members enjoyed the talk postponed from January, Mrs. Phyllis Smith on "Seeing Design in Photography", her own slides accompanied by examples of her handicrafts in collage, embroidery, patchwork and other media. As Mrs. Oliver was not well, her "Cures from the nineteenth century" were postponed until June.
• Congratulations to Rye's unlikeliest lorry driver, Mrs. Robertine Nunes Nabarro of Tower street: The mother of two hefty sons, she graduated from piano tuning, and recently passed the EGV test which enables her to drive an 8-wheel lorry. Simon Burke of Antiques of Tomorrow immediately sent her off to Italy with a lorry and trailer full of reproduction furniture; she got there and back quite safely, but was ignominiously sick on the boat coming home. Shall we see Mrs. Nabarro, we wonder, driving for Jempsons before long? And has Rye any more lady lorry drivers?
• As well as the vacancy for a temporary traffic warden at Camber, Rye Police have a vacancy for a full-time permanent warden in Rye. Applicants should call at the Police Station today, Wednesday, to complete the form, since the closing day is tomorrow (this would of course have appeared in our last week's issue if there had been one).
• Congratulations to Jane Bowler of Fair Meadow, who has just gained a Merit in her Grade 7 cello exam. Jane is in her fourth year at Thomas Peacocks, and will be leaving to study music full-time after her 0-levels next year. James Cruttenden, of the school's Upper Vlth, has a Grade 8 pass for double-bass; he is also taking up the full-time study of music in the autumn.
• The National Trust wine-tasting and lecture, for members only, is at 7.30 on Saturday evening (20th) at the New Hall, Winchelsea.
• Former Chief Constable of Sussex Police, Sir George Terry, was guest of honour at the RAF Association's annual dinner at the George Hotel recently.
• British Rail apologise for noise likely to be caused by engineering work on our line on the nights of 23 and 24 April.
• Easter Monday's coffee morning for Cancer Relief raided a clear profit of £160.
• The organ in St. Mary's now bears a bronze plate, the work of Michael Renton, commemorating the installation of the 16' pedal reed stop in April 1983 in memory of Canon John Williams "who brought much music to this Church to the glory of God and the delight of men".
• For those who haven't been that way lately, a cautious walk up Dead Man's Lane as far as the Queen's Well corner will provide a delightful surprise; work in the Mountsfield grounds has meant the clearance of undergrowth, a newly-planted orchard, new hedging, and considerable work on the pond which is now furnished with a mallard drake of suspect antecedents...
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; a few spare copies are available from Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, and back numbers from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1985)