SUBSCRIPTIONS are now due, and should be paid before the end of the year by those whose copies are not ticked. £3.00 for the coming quarter if your money reaches Cyprus Place by 31 December - £3.60 if it doesn't! (Full details appeared on page 7 last week.) Cheques payable to THE RYE GAZETTE, please, or cash in an envelope with your name and delivery address or pick-up point on it.
Father Christmas in all his glory made a really splendid job this year of turning on the town lights. By 4 on Saturday the Station Approach held a vibrating mass of small children firmly anchored to their mothers; the Thomas Peacocke School band was playing like mad on the back of a Jempsons lorry, and behind them 16 Majorettes paraded (with Rosemary Wilkinson temporarily back in charge). A very handsome scarlet Landrover lent by Skinners awaited the venerable gentleman, its back full of balloons and children. The moment came: Father Christmas emerged from the station, watched wide-eyed by puzzled babies and their ecstatic siblings, climbed into the Landrover, ho-ho-ho'd from the open roof, and they were off along Cinque Ports Street and under the Landgate this year, which meant a very tight turn into Lion Street for the lorry bearing the band (we would like to congratulate the driver!). Father Christmas stopped at the bottom of Lion Street and pointed his magic whatsit at the George balcony, where Miss Rye stood to wel come him; all the lights along Hilder's Cliff, the High Street and Lion Street went on dramatically, much to the relief of the devoted team from the Chamber of Trade who had put them up and then tested them on Thursday evening, teetering from ladders to replace or tighten unlit bulbs.
For five minutes the crowd of children pressed round the Landrover, reaching for balloons and handing in letters to Father Christmas. Finally he shook them off and drove on up Lion Street (with special police co-operation) to the Town Hall. When we got there he had dismounted, switched on the tree lights, and was ener getically conducting the carol-singing from the steps, backed by the St. Mary's choir, the Majorettes, the Mayor and Mayoress and some of the Town Council. The singers eventually went upstairs for well-earned refreshment, and Father Christmas with them; the Landrover departed empty, so we assume he was picked up later by sleigh from the roof, to which there is a handy door from the attics.
Chamber of Trade members may not have had the chance to see the faces of some of the very little children; those who did will know that it was all well worth while.
The Rye Hospital Action Group finished putting together its report last week, and forwarded it on Monday to the Community Health Council together with the original petition forms and letters. A copy has also gone to the Chairman of the Hastings Health Authority. In the New Year a copy will be available for public inspection in the Library, and we shall be writing about it then.
The Group would like to thank all those people who assisted in the campaign by signing the petition, by sending in supportive letters, and in other ways.
The Community Health Council will be holding its regular December meeting, as it has done for several years, in Rye Town Hall on Tuesday of next week (17th) at 10. Apart from confidential matters which are discussed last, the meeting is open to the public; as always, there is an open session when members of the audience can ask questions. Doubtless the hospital will be mentioned in the course of the meeting, but this is the moment for any health matters of public interest to be raised. (We are sorry that the GAZETTE will not be reporting the meeting, but Tuesdays mornings are extremely busy.)
2.
Mr. Bill Hill, of Wish Street and formerly of Peasmarsh, died in hospital on Sunday night. We shall have a full obituary notice next week. The funeral will take place at the Methodist Church (owing to building work at the Baptist Church) on Friday, 13th, at noon. Flowers may be sent to Ellis Bros.
Mrs. Ethel Bourn, whose death we reported briefly last week and whose funeral has taken place, will be remembered with affection by several generations of Rye firemen. Her husband Frank used to be the Station Officer at Rye, and her son Michael is now in charge there; when Michael lived at home, 25 years ago, she always saw both her men off when the siren went and was there with hot drinks and food whatever time they got home. A worker all her life, Mrs. Bourn was an invaluable prop and stay at the Fire Station - indeed, she made cakes as usual for the last Open Day, and was the regular figure behind the tea-urn for many years. In her younger days she had been a member of the WI Choir, and used to take part in the WI Bonfire Night tableaux. Mrs. Bourn was born a Wood, in Tower Street; she lived all her life in Rye except when she and her children were evacuated to Mevagissey during the war. She is survived, and mourned, by her husband, three children, nine grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and a host of friends.
Discussion about the Channel Tunnel (now known as the Fixed Link, presumably in case it turns out to be a bridge) goes on in the national papers, and we won't presume to join in. The "pros" say it will be good for trade; the "antis" look apprehensively at the prospects of unlimited access for terrorists, rabies - and the French, still regarded with suspicion in a Rye which has a long folk-memory!
At local government level, the County Council supports the idea; Rother (unless Monday's full Council meeting overturned the Chief Executive's report) is against; and the various Channel ports are justifiably nervous.
If Rye still had a Channel packet, as it once did, we might be joining in the debate. As it is, Robert Bromley (chairman of ESCC's Transport Committee) points out that the proposals include an "international" railway station at Ashford, which with luck could bring the electrification of our railway line - the only diesel track in the Region once work on the Hastings-Tonbridge stretch is finished in the spring. This in turn could mean through trains on our line as a regular thing, without the usual changing at Ashford or Hastings; it would also ensure the continuance of the line itself.
However, "improvements to the A259" have teen mentioned in the press discussions. This, of course, is what our bypass will anyway be part of, and if it is to carry more traffic than it does at present it is even more important to make sure that it is a bypass and not a through road. The French in cars are one thing; French juggernauts fuming nose-to-tail one side or other of the railway are quite a diff erent matter.
But, people are saying, haven't we heard it all before? The Channel Tunnel, the bypass, the supermarket: nothing actually happens. The position about the supermarket is that the final contracts still have to be signed, although all the planning is now through. The bypass? Mrs. Chalker said recently (GAZETTE no. 153) that the Winchelsea decision is due "by about the end of this year" and that the public consultation for Rye will not be before "the spring at the earliest". As for the Channel Tunnel, there is a hole full of machinery somewhere near Folkestone... We'll keep you posted.
The Tower Street Launderette will open over the holiday period as follows:
Tuesday, 24th 8 to 1 Friday, 27th 8 to 8 Monday, 30th 8 to 8
Christmas Day CLOSED Saturday, 28th 8 to 8 Tuesday, 31st 8 to 8
Boxing Day CLOSED Sunday, 29th CLOSED Wednesday, 1st 8 to 6.
- 3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 11 December 1985
Rye Movie Society's Guest Night on Friday was, as always, vastly enjoyed by its friends, who were welcomed by the President, Bernard Waters. Jeffery Waters and Bob de Ste Croix were behind the projector, Joan Camier was in charge of the pro ceedings, and we are not sure who provided the delicious refreshments and organised the raffle.
Familiar places and faces, some no longer with us, appeared at the start of the evening, with a film made at a barbecue held by the Society in the early 1970s; this was followed with an amusing and basically true little tale about a camping holiday, involving one of the evening's projectionists apparently hitch-hiking - in her nightie! (We doubt, however, if the original story concerned her.)
Then came the real triumph of the evening: Jeffery and Bernard Waters went to a Royal Tank Regiment reunion in West Germany earlier this summer, and Jeffery took her camera. She came home with a superb piece of filming which must have been done under great difficulty, though it didn't show. The Queen was presenting new standards to the Regiment, and the tanks "marched past", pennants fluttering from their iron sides much as they did above the ironclad knights of her predecessors' armies centuries before. There were moving moments, and humorous ones; some of the commentary is Bernards, and the official music was subtly dubbed in afterwards. The film is one of which the Society must be extremely proud; doubt- less it will be a competition entry before long.
After the interval, the audience watched the passing of the four seasons, marked by flowers and also by birds, from the first scurrying ducklings via the departing swallows to the soup-kitchen of nuts and suet hung from a snowbound washing-line. Finally there were two historic records: the Duke of Norfolk's visit in 1966 to open the new Police Station, and the Queen Mother's visit in 1980 as part of her 80th birthday tour, when she viewed the cannon in the Gun Garden - looking marvel lous under a transparent umbrella, wearing a white rain-cape, a hat heavy with pink roses, three rows of pearls - and That Smile!
Many thanks, Movie Society members, for a delightful evening.
A leaflet distributed with Fixtures lists all the services over the Christmas period in the various churches in Rye and the Rye Group of Parishes. In Rye itself, for the coming week see "The Week's Events" on the back page. The following Sunday (22nd), the Methodist Church has a carol service with a Nativity tableau at 11 am; the Baptist Church has carols by candlelight at 6.30; and there is something extra special at St. Mary's at 6.30, when the service of lessons and carols is accompanied by Christmas tableaux by the Sunday School, using the whole of the building and costumed by Rachel Sarrieddine.
On Christmas Eve there is Midnight Eucharist at St. Mary's, and carols and Midnight Mass at St. Anthony's, both at 11.30 pm. On Christmas Day, St. Mary's has Holy Communion at 8, and St. Anthony's has Mass at 9 and 11; all churches join in the United Service at St. Mary's at 10.30 (preacher, the Rev. Ralph Essex).
On New Year's Eve there is a Watchnight Service at the Baptist Church at 11.30 pm.
Condolences to two Eagle Road people who were involved in a road accident on the A259: Richard Foster, and Mandy Knights (who was taken to hospital with eye injuries). Theirs was one of a further three accidents (we reported four last week) recorded in the press book; the second was between Rye and Winchelsea as well, when a driver failed to take the bend and overturned her car on Sunday evening, the third when a car and lorry collided at Westfield. There were no major injuries arising from the latter two. There was also, we hear, an accident involving two very damaged cars along New WinchelsEa Road early last week; the press book does not mention it, so presumably no-one was hurt.
Riverwatch (GAZETTE no. 156) has come not before time; some £3,000-worth of equip ment was stolen recently from a boat moored at the Admiralty Jetty at the Harbour.
4.
We asked all three candidates in the 19 December by-election for a short statement about themselves; here they are, in alphabetical order.
John Ciccone is best known in Rye as the very active proprietor of the Spar shop opposite the Post Office; he and Pat have lived in Love Lane since 1972, but he has known the town since his childhood. Their daughter Jo is in the Navy, and Nick is at art school. John has done a great deal in the community, on the PTA committee when his children were at Thomas Peacocke and now in the Chamber of Trade and in Rotary, whose President he has been; through Inner Wheel and the RCVS, Pat has also done her share towards the welfare of the town. John is involved at national level in the Spar Guild management. Runner-up in the June election, he is standing again on behalf of the town's commercial element and also of his fellow-residents, whether or not they make their living here.
Gerry Fortsch first stood for the Council at the June election, where only a handful of votes put him into third place. A Robertsbridge man, he has lived in Rye for ten years and has a job at Rye Bay Caravan Park; his wife Linda comes from Horns Cross and was at school in Rye (and now works at Hill House). Gerry, who is 36, plays with a local rock-and-roll band. He is standing for the Council as a Labour candidate because he feels that people should be open about their politics, and he hopes that his contacts with Labour members of other councils -- could be useful here. He feels very strongly that not enough attention is paid to the fringes of the town as far as maintenance, street cleaning, etc., are concerned, and he is also perturbed about housing.
Francis Rowe is the only one of the candidates who has lived in Rye all his life. He is 33, lives in Pottingfield Road, and is a faithful and long-standing member of the Bonfire Boys. He first stood for the Council at a by-election some years ago. Francis is aware of the difficulties which we are under due to the cut-backs in Council services. If elected, he pledges to express the views of all residents of Rye, to improve our community, and at Council meetings he will make sure that Rother and County Councillors understand the problems of Rye, especially its youth and elderly citizens; he will work tirelessly, he adds, for the interests of the young, who are the future.
The election, for a single seat, takes place on Thursday week, 19 December, when we shall all be busy; please find time to vote and make this a serious election with a good turnout, as the June one was.
• Rye Playgroup report gratefully that their Christmas Fayre on 30 November at the Clinic was extremely well-supported and raised almost £400. This was far more than they had expected, and they feel entitled to treat the children to a free Christmas party this year: Father Christmas will appear again, and there will be a magician.
• The NSPCC coffee morning at Winchelsea on 30 November raised an astonishing £875 - on the same day and in the same village as the Greyfriars Christmas Fair which brought in almost as much again (£846):
• Mike Thomas at Lower School tells us that the recent Sponsored Read – obviously popular with parents - raised £487 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. About 90 pupils took part, and Mrs. Joan Spencer organised the project within the school.
• The St. John Nursing Cadets raised £150 at their coffee morning on Saturday.
• Despite bad weather on the vital evening, the Art Auction in Hastings raised £2,500 for the Paul Colley Fund (GAZETTE no. 156).
• And finally, £130 has gone to the RNLI as a result of a "Beaujolais breakfast" at the Ypres Castle Inn recently. The new landlord at the Wipers is adopting the RNLI as the pub's regular charity, and has already done some very successful fund raising for the local branch.
5.
A letter arrived at 4 Church Square recently from the Associate Director of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. Addressed to Geoffrey Bagley, it says "We are indebted to you for this most historic collection of naval war art of the Second World War. It is most appropriate to be donated during the 75th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy..."
When Geoff Bagley decided to find a permanent home for the remaining work which he had done as a civilian seconded to the Royal Canadian Navy from 1943 to 1945, he had no idea it was the RCN's 75th anniversary. He had written to the Museum asking if they would like it, and got an immediate and enthusiastic response; someone came down to see what he was offering, and arrangements were made for it to be collected by Securicor and sent on a Canadian Air Force plane to the Museum. The list which was returned to him contains 94 items, but some of these are papers relating to the drawings and paintings, which filled two large boxes.
A Yorkshireman, Geoff had gone to Canada in 1929 "because I was offered a good job there"; wartime saw him working for the equivalent of the Ministry of Information, and later for the Canadian film board. He was first invited to do some drawings in Halifax dockyard, and then sent on a short convoy; then, in September 1944, he went on a convoy from Newfoundland to Britain escorting Liberty ships- all disconcertingly identical. All the time he was sketching, and it is the sketchbooks as well as the finished pictures which have provided such valuable material for the national museum. (He returned to Canada on the frigate "Wentworth", encountering a force 10 gale for several days - "when it cleared we had lost the convoy!")
After the war, Geoff decided to stay in England; he and his wife looked for a house somewhere between Sandwich and Newhaven, and his present home was the only possible one vacant - and only then because of a problem over a right-of-way. Breeds House was originally part of the Flushing Inn, and the bedroom doors still had numbers on them when the Bagleys moved in; it had been the naval officers' IN during the war, and the Navy built the flight of steps down the steep garden to Fishmarket Road. Geoffrey went on to found the Rye Museum, of which he is still of course the Curator, in 1954; he was Mayor in 1957, and was made a Freeman of the Borough of Rye in 1973. In 1974 his museum won a Heritage Award. 1982 saw the publication of his "Book of Rye" and a retrospective exhibition of his paintings and drawings at the Rye Art Gallery - some of the pictures shown there are now in Canada, and are likely to be part of a special exhibition there next year. He and Rosemary have kept just two: one of them is the delightful picture of the perky WREN escorted by two sturdy sailors which attracted so much admiration in the Rye Society of Artists' show this summer.
Alan Dickinson's booklet, "The Church of St. Michael, Playden" has now been re issued in an enlarged edition; new material includes the survey of the roof and spire, and the window given in memory of William Brodrick who was drowned in action during WW2. The booklet was launched at Playden Church recently, and is on sale in Rye at 50p. Alan has been interested in the history of Playden Church ever since the early 1970s, when as a lad he found a quantity of documents in the church chest in the shed, took them home to iron on his mother's ironing-board - and never looked back! Now on the staff of Le Fevre Wood & Royle, he is much involved in helping David Martin in surveys of our old houses for the Rape of Hastings Survey; he is chairman of the Local History Group, and his Playden and Iden slide show was an evening to remember.
Peter Ewart's book "A Poor Man's Rye" (GAZETTE no. 153) is selling steadily, probably to people with an eye for an easily postable as well as welcome Christmas present. He asks us to say, apologetically, that he is aware that some of the people who have written him such interesting letters about it are still awaiting answers; everything that needs an answer will get one, but please make allowances for a chap whose bank job only gives him two days off at Christmas!
6.
Five people from Lewes came over to Rye on Monday afternoon to hold a press con ference about the buses (apologies to anyone who found the GAZETTE office empty in consequences). It seems quite clear that the County Council, and its indepen dent section responsible for the ESCORT services, Transport Design and Development, are really trying to do their best for ratepayers. The idea, as we said in March (GAZETTE no. 124), is to co-ordinate the various forms of public and semi-public transport to the best advantage. Round Lewes, where the ESCORT service now covers five different areas and runs very smoothly, there used to be cases where a school bus followed a service bus along the road, with a social services minibus behind, none of them full; this was absurd, and no longer happens.
Round here we have trains; we have H & D buses; and ESCC spends money on bus passes for around 650 children at school in Rye, as well as on contract hirings. (The Rye Patch Office couldn't think of any specifically social-services transport in Rye - the Day Centre at present works with volunteer drivers, and day care patients go up to the hospital by ambulance.) Under the new system, there will be fewer H & D buses on some routes (notably out of Rye via Udimore) but these will be supplemented by ESCORT's County Rider minibus, used between service runs for school and social-services transport (eg. the Wednesday, or possibly the Tuesday, Day Centre). This will give better value for the County's money, and particularly when the timetable has been finally adapted to fit in with as many - local requirements as possible - better service to the public, and a more secure one in view of the new Transport Act.
We had to leave the meeting before the end, but were allowed to put our questions first. What happens if the single County Rider bus breaks down? - the operator contracts to provide another bus, though it may not have wheelchair facilities.
What about fares? - they will be much the same as those charged by H & D. Will the new school buses (discussed later in the meeting) be able to collect their passengers direct from the TPS playground? - no, but the operator will be required to have the buses waiting ready to load at 3.50, so that the children will not have to mill around in the bus yard waiting for the buses to arrive any time between 4 and 4.15 as at present.
Finally, we asked, why the rush? The ESCC staff were reluctant to admit that there had been a rush; discussions with parish councils had been proceeding since September, and there had been preliminary meetings in Rye and the villages much earlier in the year. But, they agreed, "the end has happened rather quickly" - primarily, we gathered, because of the need to start the new school services (to which the public journeys are tied) at the start of the new term. The fact that Christmas intervenes has been rather unfortunate; but we are assured that the --, new timetables are due out on 21 December, and we shall know next week where the,, can be picked up in the town over the holiday period (the new service starts on 6 January). Problems and suggestions about the timetable should go to Kim Clark, Transport Design and Development, 57a High Street, Lewes.
Details about the Udimore service which emerged from the meeting included the intention for the bus getting into Rye just after 10 to connect with the trains which also arrive just after 10; the Friday-only timings are linked to the trip to Jempsons from Iden, also on Fridays only; the Wednesday-only service is linked to the transport required by the Day Centre, and could be Tuesday-only if this works better; the 11.47 from Rye goes straight through to Hastings; the 15.00 will be Cadborough Cliff only unless it actually has Udimore or Broad Oak passengers on board. The 17.10 bus home will be very much welcomed.
As for the service via Playden and the Hospital, the changes are less dramatic. Yost are still run by H & D, leaving Rye at 7.37, 8.43 (Friday only), 9.47, 11.47, 13.47, 15.47 (or 16.05 on schooldays) and 17.10; in addition there is a 9.05 County Rider bus (leaving Camber at 8.50) which on Fridays only goes via Iden on its daily way to Peasmarsh. Coming back into Rye, the buses arrive at 8.37 (or 8.55 on non-schooldays), 10.00, 11.15 (Thursday only), 11.21 (Friday only, via Iden) or 11.48 (not Fridays), 13.15, 15.15, 15.33 (Wednesday only), 16.07 (Friday only) and 18.22; of these, all except the 8.37, 11.21, 11.48 and 15.33 are H & D services.
7
• Rye was represented at the World Travel Fair at Olympia recently! Rother and ESCC jointly rented a 2'x2' section of the SE England Tourist Board stand, which cost them £1,600, and Rye appeared under the 1066 banner (25 miles round Battle). Robert Bromley, chairman of the 1066 group, tells us that it was well worth doing; staffing it with him were Derek and Jenny Bayntun, Rod Jenkins and Ernest Thompson, all members of the Hotel and Catering Association.
• The Samuel Jeake piece went out on Timewatch (BBC2) on Thursday as promised; it was interesting enough, and linked into the rest of the programme by its astronomical connection with Halley's Comet. We saw again the horseman "borrowed" by the TVS team also filming in the town in the spring, and lots of Rye scenes - including what purported to be Fenchurch Street in London, bearing a striking resemblance to the back of the Mermaid, and some steps also in London which looked remarkably like those to the Old Store House cellar... (Sorry about the TVS Country Ways programme next day, which was not "The Valley of the Brede"; presumably they changed the schedule since the one we were shown some time ago.)
• We had another date wrong too, as readers wondering what happened to the celebra tory peal of bells last Tuesday will have noticed: the proper date was yesterday, Nigel Spooner tells us. The ringers included two from Rye, but the others came from various places in the Eastern Division of the Sussex Association of Change Ringers, who were aiming to ring in as many of their towers as possible before the end of the year to celebrate the Association's centenary. They were due to be ringing 5,040 changes of Grandsire Triples at Rye. (Unbelievably, Canon Maundrell tells us that in a tower with 12 bells - Rye has 8 - to ring all the possible changes would take 37 years!)
• Ken Warren recently wrote to the General Manager of British Rail about a trip from Ashford to Hastings. "The guard was most courteous and helpful, but the outside of his train was so filthy it was almost impossible to discern the colour. I know how keen you are to stimulate demand on this line, and I really would hope that we could have a chance to travel without having to wear overalls to protect our clothes!" he said.
• Ann Lingard has a comprehensive, not to say mouth-watering, article in the current issue of The Antique Collector - about pine furniture, full of ideas and with lots of unusual information. Rope Walk Antiques also has several pieces of furniture on show in Harrods!
• The new issue of Sussex Scene, Radio Sussex's quarterly newspaper, is now avail able free at the Eastbourne Mutual Building Society office in the High Street. The window of Freight Express in Lion Street currently houses Radio Sussex display boards with pictures of the various presenters and some of the station's events.
• Congratulations. to Mrs. Phyllis Sieth, who has won the WI's Design Award, the top national accolade, for the patchwork jacket which was first on view in Rye in the Craft Show in March and then went to London for assessment at a higher level. The actual presentation won't be until March, but the award was announced in the WI newsletter recently.
• Rye Scouts are most grateful to the unknown lady who handed in to the Wool Shop a most interesting photograph, taken (to judge from the uniforms) before WWI. It shows 18 Scouts, with an imposing middle-aged man in uniform (not Captain Cory) and a central figure wearing a dark suit with a parson's dog-collar and a military style cap (Frank Dowdeswell wonders if he was in the Salvation Army). The church in the background is not in Rye. Of course the Scouts would love to have some more information; if you might be able to help, the photograph is at the Wool Shop in Cinque Ports Street.
A recent report to Rother made public the amount of money to be allocated for the Rye and Battle sports halls: £700,000 between them. If this was passed by the full Council on Monday, we may expect to see bulldozers actually emerging through the mists of time before too long!
Rye Festival Council Annual Meeting (refreshments), TN, 8 Rye Coin Club: C.W. Banks on recent newspaper reports of interest to collectors, FEC, 7.30
Last WI Market of the year, CC, 10
Civil Service Retirement Fellowship coffee morning, FEC, 11
Natural History Society, "Wildlife of the Canadian Backwoods" (Ian Rumley-Dawson), FEC, 7.30
Local History Group social evening, Queen's Head, 7.30
Ryesingers Christmas Carol Concert, St. Mary's, 7.30
Community Health Council meeting, TH, 10 (see front page)
Rye Methodist Church - carols with the choir, 7.30 (plus coffee and mincepies)
Thrift Shop (receiving only), Red Cross, 10.30 to 12.30 Landgate WI meeting, CC, 10.30
• Congratulations and many happy returns to Barbara Tollett of Cyprus Place, who celebrated her 18th birthday on 6 December.
• Thank you, Ralph Olesen, for the immense improvement to the bad bit of footpath from the Ferry Road crossing to the Goods Yard footpath. Thank you, too, what will eventually be an elegant cast-iron lamp-standard replacing the concrete stump in East Street.
• Mrs. Cope of Ferry Road has written to the County Engineer (Phoenix Causeway, Lewes, BN7 lUE) about the inadequacy of the proposed pedestrian crossings in the supermarket complex (GAZETTE no. 153). Maybe other people from that end of the town, equally worried, have written • too - maybe yet others might like to?
On Sunday our trains will be retimed and extended to run to and from Battle, owing to work on the line between Battle and Wadhurst; delays of up to 40 minutes can be expected. John Vallender at Hastings Post Office tells us that the special sorting arrangements for Christmas mail started on Monday; the work builds up to a Peak next Monday (16th). People who can get their cards in the post this week rather than leaving them until the weekend will be doing the Post Office a big favour - and after all, the second-class rate has been cut to 12p!
• One of Rye's best-known characters, Mr. Henry Parsons of Cyprus Place, has now left the town to live at Danecourt HouE,e, 32/4 Chapel Park Road, St. Leonard,-, where he will be pleased to see or hear from his friends.
• Rye Town Council's Bequests Committee is inviting applications from people who would like invitations for its party on 15 February at the Community Centre. People living in the town who are over 70, or couples where one member is over 70, should return to the Town Hall by 31 January the form in the December Fixtures. If you have an elderly neighbour who. may not have noticed the advertisement, perhaps you could mention it?
• An Advent Carol written by Patric Dickinson and set to music by Alan Ridout was sung in Canterbury Cathedral recently.
• A.H. Joyce, of Lyminge, Folkestone, would be very glad of the loan of any photograph of the SS Willesden, beached at Jury's Gap on 3 May 1937.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye (Rye 222303) and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers, Cinque Ports Street, Rye. 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)