Ken Warren sends us a copy of a letter dated 16 October which he received from Mrs. Lynda Chalker in answer to his enquiry about bypass progress. She says:
"We had hoped to be able to consult the public about possible routes for Rye this Autumn and provisional arrangements for local exhibitions were made on this basis. However, our route investigations have proved to be more complex than we had previously envisaged and we shall not now be ready to present alternative routes to the public for comment before the Spring at the earliest. I am sorry about this but I hope you will agree that it is in the interests of all concerned to ensure full preparation of possible options before we seek the views of the public... I hope to announce the preferred route for a Winchelsea Bypass by about the end of the year."
The public consultation for the Winchelsea routes (the exhibition at Winchelsea Village Hall) was held in mid-November 1983. As for Rye, "Spring" can of course ,-mean anything from early March to late May, so the waiting goes on.... and on...
People at Banisters Corner on Sunday afternoon could hardly believe their eyes when they saw what was coming along Cinque Ports Street: preceded by a police car with a warning sign, a big low-loader was carrying - a barge! Admittedly, it didn't look much like a barge, more like a gigantic iron shoe-box (we even looked back to see if it was being followed by a trailer with a huge Mr. and Mrs. Noah and all the animals). The driver spent a lot of time manoeuvring his problem load round the Wish Ward corner, but eventually drove triumphantly off down Wish Street on his way to the Harbour without damaging anything more than a parking sign (the bollards were off already). Colin Marsh tells us that it is to be used by a new dredging business down at the Harbour, and it had been unloaded at the Point ready to be launched at the next spring tide. "Launched?" we said incredulously, "you mean that thing will float?" Colin assures us that it will undoubtedly float, even when filled with mud - and as Harbour Master, he should know.
Delighted congratulations to Ruth and Ernest Thompson of The Old Vicarage in Church Square! Their guest house has just been chosen as offering the "most civilised" bed-and-breakfast accommodation in the whole country, one of ten special awards made in conjunction with the publication of the Consumer Associa tion's new Good Hotel Guide.
The Thompson came to Rye on holiday some five years ago. They saw that the Old Vicarage was up for sale, and decided to pack in Ernest's job as a clothing importer, buy the place, and run the sort of guest-house they themselves would like to stay in. They have now been in business for four years (with 1985 the best October ever, they told a Coast-to-Coast interviewer on Monday), and this is by no means their first hotel-guide success; it is only difficult to see what they should be aiming at next. We reported recently on Ernest's activities as (literally) a bed-maker, but it seems unlikely that he will have much time for carpentry after such a boost to business.
The winners of the awards were in London on Monday night for a champagne recep tion at the Consumer Association offices near Charing Cross (also present were the CA members whose reports were selected as the most interesting). The Good Hotel Guide is in the shops this week, and laurel wreaths appear beside the ten award-winning establishments from all over Great Britain. Nothing comes back to hang on the wall of the pink house in Church Square, because CA doesn't like its findings (as in "Which") being used as advertising material; but oh, the honour and glory!
2.
Mr. Heinrich Gramann, of Fishmarket Road, died very suddenly at his home last week. Known affectionately as "Gramps" to many people connected with St. Mary's, he gave the church years of quite invaluable service; skilled with his hands, he spent much time attending to repairs - and also playing the organ, by ear, delighting summer visitors and often finding a suitable melody to play for a particular group of tourists. (We remember hearing him, having "played out" the Freda Gardham School carol service in 1983, performing "Baa Baa Black Sheep" to a very small and totally enthralled listener.) As a boy, he once turned the pages for an organ recital given by Albert Schweitzer. His family came from Germany, and his father was in the wine trade; he had been employed until his retirement by a Swiss electronics company. His loss will be greatly felt by the St. Mary's congregation and other friends. He leaves a widow, who has been in hospital for some months, and a son and married daughter. The funeral date has not yet been announced.
Two weeks ago we passed on a warning from ESCC Highways that the Gas Board would be digging up first Mermaid Street and then the High Street in the New Year. Now we have a further installment; work in Lion Street is planned for three or four weeks from 24 March. The Gas Board can't tell until work starts whether it will be necessary to close the road entirely or not, so a temporary closure order, is being made anyway, in case it is needed. If it is, one-way traffic through East Street, Market Street and Lion Street will have to go two-way, via East Street, and this will mean that all parking there will have to be cancelled for the duration.
This really is a long time ahead; but anyone likely to be affected might be wise to take note now?
After reading about Mrs. Mary Brocket in last week's GAZETTE, Mrs. Beryl Hutchings showed us a press cutting with an obituary notice and an account of Mrs. Bracket's funeral. From the point of view of a local historian it goes into admirable detail, in a fashion which was then standard procedure. Mrs. Brocket was born in 1827, the daughter of Stanes Chamberlayne (later Bracket), a Bencher of the Middle Temple who moved to the family seat, Spains Hall in Essex, when he inherited the family fortune; there he was a JP, a Deputy Lieutenant, and High Sheriff for Essex in 1844. Her mother was the widow of John Woollett, a partner with Weeden Dawes in the firm of bankers, solicitors and estate agents which became Dawes, Son & Prentice, who had died in 1819 after giving the town good service. Mary married surprisingly late in life, in 1866 when she was nearly 40; her husband, Charles Pix Meryon, was 12 years older. Their only son, born the following year, died before he was a year old, and by 1879 Mary was a widow. She died in 1906.
It seems clear that she was known as Mrs. Meryon throughout her marriage, as it was not until 1895 that her elder sister died and the Bracket inheritance came to her. She apparently continued to live in Rye until her death 11 years later, though doubtless she took a benevolent interest in the affairs of the estate in Essex; certainly the bailiff and a group of tenants from Spains Hall were among the mourners at the funeral, and the rector of its village, Willingale, took part. A grateful Grammar School was represented by 30 pupils led by the Headmaster, with John Neve Masters there on behalf of the Governors. The service took place not at St. Mary's, but at the cemetery chapel, and all the prominent names of the period are listed - Dawes, Pix, Proctor, Harratt, Franks, Milsom, Gasson, Vidler, Prentice, Cory, and Smith (T. - probably the solicitor, Theodore); "also assembled round the family vault were many of the labouring classes in whom the deceased lady had manifested practical interest". It seems clear that Mary Brocket gave cause for gratitude to many people in the town; we would like to think that her memory could be perpetuated in some way.
The same cutting reports the death of Mrs. Walter Dawes, nee Marian Plomley, suddenly at her home, Fairfield, at the age of 62 - a double loss to the town's top families at the end of 1906.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 6 November 1985
Having checked with Rye Police, we are relieved to be able to deny the story which appeared in the Sunday Mirror at the weekend, that there had been a rape at Rye. It seems that the Mirror decided to run the Westfield rape story which has been occupying the local media on and off for several weeks; some suburban sub-editor must have assumed that Westfield, near Rye, could be accurately described as Rye, full stop! In fact, of course, Westfield is postally "near Hastings", but it comes into the Rye sub-division for police purposes.
Coast to Coast on Monday reported a serious shortage of firemen in the south-east. This is not the case here; Rye Fire Brigade has 16 firemen plus one just finishing training; with six men on each appliance, Michael Bourn still has five "spares" at work or on holiday. Things have been fairly quiet lately, though a chimney fire on the Estate coincided with the start of the Boot Market on Sunday which the firemen were running in aid of their National Benevolent Fund. (This is the time of year for chimney fires, we were told, when people's fires and woodburners are lit for the first time.) As for the Boot Market, they were lucky enough to have a sunny day, if a bit chilly at first, and from the customer's point of view it was a really interesting sale with car boots laden with genuine surplus possessions rather than just boxes of Far Eastern cheapofacts. The Benevolent Fund benefits .y some £170, and the firemen are most grateful to the Cattle Market Company for the use of the market site.
Early on Saturday morning the firemen had been called out to another fire, this time at Peasmarsh. The elderly lady whose airing had fallen onto the fire dialled 999 all right, but was then so flummoxed that the operator could only extract her phone number before the call was abandoned. They traced the address, and when the firemen arrived they found a lot of smoke and a certain amount of fire damage - and the caller still inside, reluctant to come out! They established her in the fire engine while they dealt with the fire, and then packed her off, suffering somewhat from shock and black with smoke, in the ambulance for a check-up in hospital. Moral: do what the ads say - dial 999, give the address clearly, and then GET OUT!
Just as the first hard frost of the year arrived to lay low the remaining flowers in our real gardens, Louis Turpin's exhibition at the Easton Rooms opens to remind us of the glories of high summer. Both the downstairs galleries are full of marvellous warm pictures of growing flowers, not (mostly) individual blooms but eat glowing mosaics of colour which combine to surround the visitor with the sort of garden that only a great house can now provide. To remind us that Louis is not only a garden portraitist, there is (perhaps?) the view over the back fence, a field of rape; there are three studies of flowers picked, in vases; two portrait heads, monoprints; and a delightful group of three small (by Turpin standards) portraits in which the sitters recline like odalisques - or perhaps not, since one is a man! But what sticks in the mind afterwards is the garden.
This is Louis’ first one-man show in a Rye gallery. Living in Udimore Road with his artist wife (Davida Smith) and small son Aaron, he started painting full-time in 1975, and has shown his quite unmistakeable portraits along with his other work in successive Rye Society of Artists exhibitions. Reviewing the 1985 show, we complained that he only had three pictures in it - but he has certainly made amends now. This year he has had work at five galleries in the south of England, including one in the West End, and a show is planned for 1986 at the Beaux Arts gallery in Bath. He has nothing at all left in his studio at the moment.
Upstairs, Joanna Hull shows drawings and large sculptures in wood and plaster. She is interested in legs, mostly attached to a brief chunk of torso and pointing skywards; the most eye-catching piece has only part of one leg, with an open (real) umbrella held up by the remaining foot! There is also a large white plaster dog attached to the wall by a stout chain - but whether this is to protect nervous visitors or to deter thieves, we are not sure... Anyway, an interesting and unusual show.
The new plan, deferred by Rother's October planning meeting so that it could be advertised, is now available for inspection in the Council Offices. It is dated 11 October, and plaintively labelled "Final Development Plan".
The main alteration from the August plan which we described in GAZETTE no. 146 seems to lie in the access to the cattle market. The August plan showed both entrance and exit for market traffic as being immediately beside the entrance to the new car park beside the railway; the present entrance was to be taken up by a strip of ground on which the new loos would stand. The October plan shows the loos much nearer the station, and the entrance to the cattle market almost exactly where it is now, with an exit (as at present) into Rope Walk. Colin Stutely tells us that lorries would leave via the lane beside the Agricultural Hall, leaving the main market car park entrance for cars only. He is very much happier about these revised plans, which also make life easier for the owners of properties which front on to Cinque Ports Street and have back entrances into the market (eg. the pub, the vet, the Baptist Church), and various businesses which open up in the wooden huts on Wednesday market-day. He had been worried that the very congested entrance proposed in the August plan would mean that these properties could no longer have access across market land. As far as the Cattle Market Company is concerned, therefore, the new plans are fine.
Rope Walk people will be sorry to find that there is still a proposal for coacheL to leave the car park beside the railway via the narrow street; at present, of course, coaches use Rope Walk on their way to Thomas Peacocke School - but not turning half-way along, and not coaches on the scale of some of the monsters which now appear in the Goods Yard in August: However, presumably the Highways people have considered this point.
The plan lists the parking-spaces: in the new railway park, 16 coaches and 64 cars; in the immediate station area, 15 cars; and 41 and 38 cars respectively in the two parks adjoining the supermarket. But beware of looking at the total, which says 29 coaches; of these, 13 are listed for the bus garage and forecourt and are not, we understand, for coaches arriving full of sightseers but just for the normal bus traffic of the town.
The position about crossings may well lead to difficulty for pedestrians. Three crossings are shown on the plan: one at the top of Station Approach, one from the new railway car park to the supermarket corner, and one from the other side of the station building to the supermarket. There is nothing at the junction with Ferry Road (the present Goods Yard car park entrance).
The Highways Department tells us that the legal planning requirement for these crossings is simply lowered curbs on each pavement - no studs on the road, no signs, no beacons, and no pedestrian right-of-way. It is felt that the sharp right-angle in the new two-way through road will slow traffic down sufficiently that pedestrians will be able to cross without danger. If, once the system was working, it looked as if a proper pedestrian crossing were needed, then it-could be considered; but not at the moment. People shopping at the supermarket will have to look out for themselves, therefore; but so will people just walking from, say, the Council Offices to the Post Office. Those who walk into the town from the Estate along Ferry Road can, of course, use the Oasis side of the road until they get to Banis ters Corner, avoiding the new junction entirely; but then they will have to cross, and going from the Gluepot to the Crown is a hazardous run, not to be undertaken lightly except by the young and unencumbered (the other way isn't so bad, you can see what's coming before you start).
Do two cul-de-sacs really equal one through road? We await developments.
The current list shows an application from Long Products for renewal of temporary Permission for a timber store in Harbour Road; for the thinning of a chestnut tree at the back of Swan House in Watchbell Street; for the installation of a window in the end wall of Wish House, off Wish Ward; and for the erection of a house and garage on land in the Old Brickyard next to Pot Kiln Cottage.
5.
The Cinque Ports no longer supply men and ships to the Royal Navy; so what about jigsaws instead, says Ian Thomson of Pottingfield Road? Ian's son Glenn is now on his second tour of duty in the South Atlantic as an able-seaman (radar) on HMS Penelope. His parents send him the local papers (including the GAZETTE) since life can get very boring on the mess-deck of a frigate which only calls occasionally at Port Stanley or South Georgia. Recently they sent him a jigsaw puzzle, and he reports back that he has done it several times and so have most of the ship's company. This set his father thinking. What about some "Cinque Ports Parcels", as an update of the old "comforts for the troops", and a companion project for the WRVS books parcels for Northern Ireland? We thought this was a very good idea and might lend itself to expansion. But in the meantime, if any- one has any jigsaws they don't want, Mr. Thomson would be glad to have them for forwarding to HMS Penelope; ring him at Rye or deliver to Pottingfield Road - or collection could be arranged.
PS (for Falklanders at Leasam House): The snow is nice and firm, says Glenn, and the breeding season is doing well, with lots and lots of brown fluffy baby penguins keeping cameras busy!
The new owners of Jeake's House are Francis and Jenny Hadfield, due to move in yesterday with their three children. Francis, of course, manages his family's Rye Model Laundry, and both he and Jenny have taken part in the affairs of the town almost all their lives; he is now a member of Round Table and Jenny, nee Burke, is well known to Rye Players' and Ryesingers' audiences. Samuel Jeake would undoubtedly be pleased to have a local business family living in his store house. Talking of which, Alan Dickinson has been looking at the house from the point of view of the archaeologist, as part of the Rape of Hastings survey, and he confirms that the floor levels were altered at some time. This tallies with a story passed on to Janet Guest when she and Denis moved into Jeake's House a good many years ago - that the ghost of Samuel Jeake had been seen walking on the top floor from the waist up, the floor level having been altered since his day; she was not able to discover whether anyone ever saw his bottom half from the room below. Her family never encountered either half; and anyway Alan does not think this constitutes the sort of evidence that the Survey can properly include!
A lady from Carshalton who was at Rye bus station on 2 October was so horrified at the behaviour of some of the children waiting for buses that she wrote to the see. Education Officer at Lewes. She said that both their behaviour and their language reflected no credit either on their homes, their parents or their school, nor indeed on the education system as a whole. She also complained about the graffiti in the public loos. She added, rightly in our view, that such behaviour sets a bad example to younger children and shows a lack of responsibility on the part of the older ones. She sent a copy of the letter to her own MP, and also to Ken Warren, who sent it on to us.
We wrote to her asking whether she wished her letter to be given wider circulation, and she said yes: "Public appeal is possibly the only way one can communicate the strength of feeling on this matter, since the outcome rests with those parents who fail to instil respect and standards. Both parents and students are brought into disrepute by such behaviour."
We had explained about the supervision problems, but she says that older students should not require supervision outside school, and anyway the Education Authority should involve itself. She also suggests that the hours of leaving school should be staggered - which is an interesting idea: for instance, all children going to Icklesham should leave ten minutes before those going to Brede and ten minutes after the Peasmarsh contingent! We pass this on for consideration; it would certainly help with the bus yard problem, Out from the school timetable viewpoint the complications would be appalling.
6.Peter Ewart has always felt that local history is written too much from the point of view of the rich and powerful, with nothing said about the people at the other end of the social scale. In his compilation of his uncle Cecil Rhodes's reminis cences, "Let's be Men, Let's be Ryers", published two years ago he laid the groundwork for the new book; but now he deals in much greater detail with "the daily life of a local labouring family" from 1847 to 1930. The dates are chosen to cover the lifespan of Edwin Rhodes - born in Fishgut Alley in the year when William Holloway published his history of Rye, dying at 83 in Landgate Square when the lifeboat disaster was fresh in the hearts of the local community. But Edwin is the central figure of a much wider canvas, and what Peter says about the enormous interwoven Rhodes family applies equally to their contemporaries and relatives.
Edwin was the fifth generation of Rhodes to be born in Rye; one of 11 children, he eventually had 35 cousins surnamed Rhodes living in the town, plus at least as many again born to mothers who had given up the name on their marriage. Fishgut Alley once housed almost 20 families, and was one of the last areas in Rye to be "restored"; it now has perhaps ten residents in all and is less colourfully known as Hucksteps Row. The "labyrinthine network of alleys" off King Street, where the family moved soon after Edwin's birth, was largely destroyed by bombing; but-, the whole of the King Street and Landgate Square area was the territory of the fishing families and farm workers.
There is a superb chapter about elections in Rye, from which we look forward to quoting when the time comes round again; the much-vaunted reform of the 1820s had led to a different but almost equally autocratic regime by the middle of the century. Young Edwin was sent to jail one Christmas for breaking his contract of employment; he learnt his lesson, and for the rest of his life remained his own man. The families among whom he and his wife Sally reared their eight chil- dren bear names familiar to us still: Igglesden, Pope,- Sellman, Bourne, Tiltman, Robus, Pulford, Almond, Batchelor, Breeds, Clark, Parsons, Bumstead...
The pub - there were 23, plus 8 beershops, in the town in the 1860s played an enormous part in the life of these families. Edwin kept out of trouble, unlike many of the working men; but one of his grandsons regularly had the job of meeting his father from work on pay-night, to stop him drinking the money on the way home. Fights - and subsequent fines - were common, and the lock-up in the 3un Garden was in regular use.
This is a lovely book, bringing alive a Rye which has really only just become history. The photographs show faces and places long gone; there is an index of names, and another of places, and a long bibliography which shows just how much research Peter Ewart put into his story - not only in published books but using all kinds of records and the files of eight local papers. It is already selling well (at Z4.50), so make sure of your copy - and perhaps another one or two as postable Christmas presents for exiles?
Peter will be talking about "A Poor Man's Rye" on Lunchdate on Radio Sussex (258m) tomorrow, Thursday, between 1.10 and 1.40.
- from Professor Powers (GAZETTE no. 151), who has received a most encouraging response from various local people offering information about the Henry James contacts he was seeking to identify. Much more is known about the men than the women (Dacre Vincent was secretary of the Golf Club for 25 years, Jacomb-Hood was a well-known artist, Lawrence Perugini - almost certainly the son of Kate, daughter of Charles Dickens - was art master at the Grammar School among other activities). Professor Powers goes back to the States at the end of this month; he would still be glad to hear about Mrs. Dacre Vincent, and the Perugini family, and also the Wittersham contingent and the Allington Castle people. Ring him on Rye 225874, or write to him at The Mint House Cottage, Rye.
It is pleasant to record that Professor Powers' baby grand-daughter Kaitlyn, over here on a visit with her parents, was christened at St. Mary's on 20 October. Perhaps a new generation of Henry James enthusiasts?
7.
The RNLI coffee morning on Saturday at the FEC took £250 in all - just over £100 of this at the souvenir stall, which is not of course all profit. Joan Parkes is so grateful to those wbo have already given so much time and money over the past 18 months to the Lifeboat House Appeal and still came on Saturday to support the RNLI. Branch treasurer Nick Martin tells us that in the year ended 30.9.85, not taking into account special fund-raising for the lifeboat house but just the regular sources of income that come round every year, £5,352 was raised for the RNLI locally, more than £600 up on last year's figure of £4,712.
The Mayor had a ride in a helicopter on Wednesday afternoon last week; as this year's Speaker of the Cinque Ports, he led a group of Cinque Ports on a visit to HMS Illustrious as she passed through the Straits of Dover en route for Rosyth. (Mayoresses, Amy Breeds told us sadly, were not invited - not even the wife of the Speaker - though there was one lady Mayor, who had been instructed to turn up in trousers so that she could wear one of the orange flying suits provided.) Both the ride and the actual visit were most interested, said Roger Breeds; he found himself "saying a few words" for Coast to Coast when they got back - while all the others left him to it and hurried off home to their tea!
The Jim Ensom Show duly came to Rye on Saturday, and a Radio Sussex car prowled round the town and went out to Camber, chatting to people (local and visiting) or Mr. Ensom encountered, and playing pop songs and mentioning various events going on elsewhere in the area.
An invitation wine-and-cheese party at the Town Hall on Wednesday raised £285 for the Church of England Children's Society. The speaker, the Lay Diocesan Secretary Geoffrey Barlow, told his listeners that last year £136,000 had been raised in Sussex, and much of this had gone towards a new home for disabled children near Maidstone. (Afterwards our Branch treasurer, Mr. James Bateman, told us that £1,600 had been raised in Rye.) On sale were some of the 5,700 cards which Mrs Viola Bayley has recycled in the past year for the Society; there are not many left now, and the special Thursday stall in the church has closed for the winter. But Mrs. Bayley still sells them from her house. The new Branch secretary, succeeding the late Mrs. Maundrell, is Mrs. Bazalgette.
The police station press book this week contains a statement from the Divisional Commander, East Division, about the report in the News to which we referred on 16 October. Speaking of the importance of crime prevention, Chief Superintendent Hutchison says: "The training and the whole professional ethic of the Force and the Police Service in general is that the prevention of crime is a high priority, second only to the protection of life." (Like we said at the time...)
Members of Rye Labour Party lent a hand, with the Hospital campaign when they brought the Party ambulance to Rye Market last Thursday; a genuine ambulance, this is normally used for protests against NHS cuts in general, but it provided a showy base for the group handing out leaflets and offering the petition to shoppers. The Liberal Party is also helping; its local newsletter asks for complaints and suggestions to be sent to Derek Goggin in Pottingfield Road. And the Action Group, which has now had over 100 letters of support, will still be glad of more, in paz-ticular from those with special experience in dealing with this kind of situation. Letters for the Group can be left c/o Rye Post Office.
A reminder that Geoffrey Bagley's "Book of Rye" is now almost sold out; those wanting copies should not delay. But Alan Dickinson's booklet about Playden Church is about to appear in a new edition after being out of print for some time.
FINALLY, we apologise in advance if this issue of the GAZETTE is late coming out. A vital piece of the photocopier has died on us, and at the time of writing we don't even know whether Geerings has another in stock, let alone when they can fit it. There may be no problem (apart from an all-night session for the Editor); if there isv we are very sorry. Hard-working photocopiers, like people, do eventually grow old!
National Trust sales table (coffee available), George Hotel, 9.30 to 12
BRCS Annual Meeting, FEC, 3 (see below)
Civil Service Retirement Fellowship coffee morning, FEC, 11 Nat.His.Soc."Wildlife Around Us" (Ian Rumley-Dawson), FEC, 7.30
Playden Church Autumn Fair, FEC, 10 to 12
Ryesingers "Listen and Sing" concert for Action Research for the Crippled Child/Community Centre funds, CC, 7.30
Remembrance Sunday - parade leaves Hilder's Cliff 10.35; St. Mary's service, 11; War Memorial Act of Remembrance, c.12.
Rye Town Council meeting, followed by Planning and Leisure & Tourism committee meetings (for time see TH notice board)
ARC Ploughman's Lunch, CC, 12 to 2 (see below)
St. Mary's Tuesday Club (Jane Blackman on her sail-training cruise), 2 East Street, 7.30 - all welcome.
Rye Conservation Society informal gathering, TH, 6.30 to 8 Rye WI: "Worms and Epitaphs" (Stella Pigrome), FEC, 7
• There is to be no official speaker at this year's Red Cross annual meeting tomorrow, but there will be a bring-and-buy stall and a raffle, proceeds from which will go towards the Red Cross national appeal for funds to train people for work overseas in relief and disaster areas. Cards and diaries will also be on sale.
• The ploughman's lunch offered by the Arthritis & Rheumatism Council at the Community Centre on Tuesday gives really splendid value for £1.50n a liberal "ploughman" plus home-made soup, cider or a soft drink, and coffee - and all in a very good cause too.
• Welcome home to two of our citizens: Sheila Draffin of West Street, who has been in hospital for some weeks, and George Shipton of the Bowls Club, not only back in Devonport House but walking round the town with two brand-new knees!
• The "new" red light at the end of the Harbour noticed recently by one of our readers is in fact the replacement for the one dismantled rather suddenly by a coaster some weeks ago.
• Local shops, etc., with RNIB boxes will be glad to know that the Institute has now appointed an official box-opener: Mrs. Alford, of Meadowside, Station Road, Winchelsea, will soon be calling with her receipt-book at the ready.
• Mrs. "Rusty" Ellis tells us that the result of the Cancer Relief Christmas Sale last Wednesday was just over £200; the box collection in Rye shops raised £228.
• The Inner Wheel jumble sale on Saturday raised £167 for the group's charities.
• Two weeks ago we reported that the King's Avenue children had had their bonfire spoiled when vandals set it alight prematurely. On Tuesday night last week, after they had worked really hard to collect more wood and build another fire, it was burnt down again. Would you believe any local person could be so mean?
• Finally, Frank Palmer reminds us that it was in November just 20 years ago that the first issue of "Rye's Own" appeared, continuing - mostly monthly - until December 1973.
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)