Our Mayor and Mayoress moved in very distinguished company on Monday evening lastcweek - at the Russian Embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens, no less! It will be remembered that the Ambassador brought his wife to Rye in July, and after a formal call at the Town Hall they were entertained to lunch by Mr. and Mrs. Breeds and the Town Clerk (GAZETTE no. 141).
Since then the Mayor and Mayoress have been to a full-scale reception at the Embassy; but Monday's was a more intimate affair, for about fifty people, and the guests included Edward Heath, Harold Wilson and Robert Maxwell. The only other Mayor was the representative of Kensington and Chelsea. The occasion was a recital by a distinguished Soviet pianist, and this was followed by a buffet dinner. It became clear that since that first visit, the Popovs and their staff 'cave visited Rye on other occasions to do a bit of shopping - "You have very good .;read baked opposite the Town Hall" the Mayor was told, and the Ironmongers Extraordinary was also remembered with approval. (So you never know who you may bump into in the High Street now!)
The flag at the Town Hall on Thursday was flying to welcome the Standing Committee of the Cinque Ports Confederation - 14 Mayors, 14 Town Clerks and 14 members, meeting at the home port, as it were, of their Speaker. Plans were discussed for friendly liaison with HMS Illustrious, about which we shall report in more detail nearer the time.
Arrangements are now well advanced for the Model Exhibition on Saturday – Thomas Peacocke Upper School hall from 2. Although ATC members will mostly be away on a training weekend, they are providing a display of their work, including round-the-pole planes some of which are designed by the cadets. It will be manned by civilian instructor Chris Coxon, who is himself a professional modeller and hopes to be actually working on one of his meticulously detailed military figures (on view in David Street's window in Market Road). A model engineering club has promised Real Steam, and someone is bringing a few vintage end-of-pier-type lot-machines (whether there will be an opportunity to share the butler's view-point is not yet certain). The Robertsbridge Aviation Club will also be exhi- biting.
As for the competitive classes for school pupils - aircraft (both static and powered), boats, and the dioramas (backgrounds) made to enhance a model railway or battlefield layout are all allowed for; kit-built and scratch-built models of any kind are welcome; and expert makers of (for instance) dolls' clothes or dolls-house furniture should also come along - Mrs. Le Roux is anxious that the girls shan't feel that this is a purely masculine occasion. What she is aiming for is to prove that there is something more to life than television, for all ages from little brothers and sisters at Freda Gardham to neat-fingered mums and dads, not to mention grandparents (though adults should phone first to check on the non-competitive display arrangements). Nothing, she promises, will be scorned as long as it's there by 11 am. See you down there.
- and so it was, on BBC2's Food and Drink programme last Tuesday evening. The BBC had asked the Dairy Trades Federation to produce a milkman from a family-owned business; they knew Bernard Waters, and it was Bill, the elder of his two rounds-man sons, who appeared in the programme. But there is a small mystery attached to this: TVS has a food programme on Wednesday afternoons. Two people swear they saw Bill on this, and one has the tape to prove it. Bill knows nothing of any ITV appearance. Can TVS have pirate-video'd him? He'd love to know…
2.
Mr. George Playford, of Pottingfield Road, died very suddenly on 30 January; the funeral takes place tomorrow (Thursday) at 11 at Hastings Crematorium. Family flowers only, but donations in his memory may be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, c/o 3 Market Road, Rye.
St. Michael's Hospice committee has an event on 28 February at St. Leonards which may well be of interest to Rye readers: a Sotheby's Valuation Day, 10.30 to 3.30. Sotheby's specialists are giving their services free; the entrance fee of £1.50, which includes two valuations (further items 50p each) goes to the Hospice Appeal.
The event takes place at the Concordia Hall, Church Road. We couldn't find this in either of the two local directories, the street atlas or the phone book, and Church Road is a long one, with one foot in the sea and the other on the Ridge. Would anyone be interested in going over in a coach, spending most of the day there - refreshments will be on sale - and coming home again safely, clasping auntie's clock firmly to the bosom instead of worrying about it sliding off the seat of the car or being forgotten in the train? If so, we will investigate prices and report next week; so please ring Rye 222303 by Sunday evening at the latest if you like the idea. The Hospice people are able to provide some transport in helpers' cars, but preference naturally goes to elderly people travelling alone with their goodies.
We have passed on to Leslie Pembery at Hastings Head Post Office several ideas which reached us recently for improving the Rye office. First the clock: there was one, briefly, in the new office, and there will be again; it went wrong, and it is not something which the engineers keep in stock, but it will definitely come back. Secondly, an umbrella-bin: this was suggested by a wet-day shopper who felt very guilty about letting her umbrella drip all over their nice new carpet, and Mr. Pembery was touched by such concern and said he would see what he could do. Thirdly, a sign indicating just where customers are supposed to enter the barrier complex: it is not clear, and we were told of some quite inadvertent queue-jumping which led to mutterings from the main body. He has promised to look into this.
A customer complaint, that the office opening hours set out at the foot of the exchange-rates notice in the window is misleading; on Mondays the Post Office does not open until 9.30, and the notice saying so is not very obvious and at the other end of the window. Shouldn't the correct time appear on the main notice-board, he says?
And finally - you can't win with some dog-owners! There is a good stout dog-anchoring ring beside the door. But even so, the other day the entrance was cluttered up with a small unremarkable dog, attached by a slack lead to the big brass door-knob; we do hope nobody fell over it.
As promised, leaflets went out on Monday setting out the arrangements for the work in the High Street and ultimately Lion Street, and apologising in advance for any temporary inconvenience. Work starts this week, and Chris Judge of Segas tells us that they hope to run the new pipes inside the old ones, which will only mean digging at intervals instead of a continuous trench. If all goes well - and provided they don't encounter such hazards as concrete tank-traps used as infill, which has been known! - they expect to finish by 22 March; if not, they will stop work, fill in the holes, and take it all away until after the holiday is over - which is very satisfactory to the Chamber of Trade. And he does know about the Pancake Race on 11 February, which of course takes place in the High Street unless the weather is really awful.
The Eastbourne-based engineer in charge of the work is a Mr. Gasson - which must surely be a good omen for Rye:
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 5 February 1986
The general improvement in public relations continues. First the Health Authority, then the Gas Board (see page 2), and now we are very glad to offer a belated welcome to the first issue of Housing News, published by Rother Council to keep both tenants and ratepayers generally in touch with what is going on in the Housing Department. For instance, the start of 1986 also saw the start of a new system for requesting repairs - prepaid postcards are supplied, as a cheaper way of doing this than trying, sometimes fruitlessly, to get through on the phone (emergencies, of course, should still be phoned through). The Council Office has the cards, and they will be acknowledged by return from Battle with details of the action to be taken.
There is also an outline of the complaints procedure to be followed. If you don't get satisfaction after two weeks, a senior member of the Housing staff will investigate, or Mr. Catt himself after three weeks. But please, they say, complain first to the Housing Department and only use your local Councillor as a last resort!
There are photographs of the Housing Management Assistants for each of the four Rother areas - ours is Helen Lindop; and a list of new members of the Housing staff, which has been 25% below strength until recently. Mr. Catt thanks tenants for their patience over delays caused by this, and expects things to be better from now on. The magazine's odd corners are filled up with useful articles and hints to householders about maintenance, fuel, insurance, etc., and information on various housing entitlements and other benefits.
This is a most readable publication, very professionally produced and lightened by amusing (but unattributed) cartoons; the next issue appears in April.
Rother gave Dick Pearce back his kitchen on Monday afternoon. Tests show that there has been no further movement of the cliff, and the bar kitchen of the pub is now declared safe for use, so the full-scale menu is back on offer. The outside gents' toilet is also no longer off-limits. Because legal action is being taken, we are not pursuing this story further unless - and we all hope not - something dramatic happens.
Two thefts in Rye last week, both on 25 January; we hope they are not connected, because a black Renault 5TS (VYU 169S) was stolen from the Goods Yard car park, and from the Dairy Market a 14" carving knife, part of a set with both handle and blade ornamented with designs of stags; and a chap with a big knife and a stolen car...
The book also contains a four-page press release about road accident figures for Sussex in 1985. We can't attempt to summarise it, but the number of fatal accidents (113) is down by almost 17% on 1984 and is the lowest for five years. Elderly pedestrians are among the most vulnerable (24 killed, and 116 seriously and 198 slightly injured). The breakdown into District Council areas reveals that the western end of the county has on the whole done better than the eastern end. In Rother there was a great improvement in the fatal-accident figure, with 7 deaths against 19 in 1984, but the figure was up for non-fatal accidents. 83 of those killed or hurt throughout the county were not wearing seat-belts this is now compulsory on a permanent basis, after the earlier trial period. The number of casualties from drink-related accidents over the Christmas period was noticeably down - but, say the police, there is no room for complacency.
As well as raising £250-odd on the night - and the appeal remains open for a week - the Folk and Blues Evening at the George for the Rye Famine Appeal was very much enjoyed, both as a social occasion and as a musical event: Mike Prince met people with no links in the town who just came because they wanted to hear the music. Individuals and businesses were, as always, generous with raffle prizes. We will be giving the final result of the appeal later.
Twice lately we have heard from people to whom the GAZETTE is passed on in batches (and therefore late) asking whether they can still get hold of "A Poor Man's Rye" (GAZETTE no. 153). Peter Ewart tells us that it is available, price £4.30, from the Rye bookshops - or post free from him direct at Canterbury, Kent. He adds that stocks of the final printing of his earlier, smaller book "Let's be Men, Let's be Ryers" - also about the early days of the century in Rye, based on the recollections of his uncle Cecil Rhodes - are almost exhausted. If you want to be sure of one of the remaining half-dozen copies (£2.95 post free) you should contact him very soon.
Peter tells us that to his astonishment he found he had covered his costs on "A Poor Man's Rye" (which he published himself) before Christmas; his January correspondence makes it clear that a lot of copies must have been posted away from Rye, presumably as presents. He has now sold about 75% of the first edition of 1,000, which only came out at the end of October, and is most grateful for all the support, moral as well as commercial, which has come his way.
In the period with which Peter's books deal, the Church Square area was the roughest part of the town. Even so, Canon Maundrell was a little surprised to receive a letter the other day from the Inland Revenue addressed to him at the Rectory, Gin Garden, Rye!
Pat Cole, East Sussex News reporter for Rye and Battle, is leaving the paper at the end of this week. We are very sad about this, since News and GAZETTE have worked well together; Pat has been a very "caring" reporter and has made a great many friends in Rye who will be sorry to see her go. However, what was originally a reluctant decision to sell the family bungalow in Cooden set in motion a happy and unexpectedly swift chain of events, which has led to Pat and her husband (and the cat!) returning to her native Channel Islands, to a flat in a historic house in Alderney and with the prospect of not just one but two part-time jobs for both of which she is well qualified! Pat writes:
"Thanks to your Editor, I have an opportunity to say 'thank you' to all my many associates and friends in Rye, who have made reporting for the East Sussex News such a great pleasure. My move to Alderney has come about more speedily than expected, thus leaving me no time for the personal visits I would have liked to make. However, Alderney has the same wealth of historic tradition and maritime heritage, ensuring that I shall not forget Rye ... as if I could!"
A Tilling Green resident tells us how much people from that end of the town appreciate the increasing range of goods which are now on sale at the two shops on the Estate. Not just a paper shop, not just a grocer's, we are told - not any more; between them the shops offer a whole range of useful household goods. People :aught unawares by early closing in the centre of the town will be glad to know :hat both shops stay open on Tuesdays and shut on Wednesday afternoon instead. The VG Dairy Shop in Cinque Ports Street is also open all day Tuesday (they close on Monday afternoons).
A rather special visitor came up-river to Alsfords' wharf early on Saturday morning and was due to leave again, for Richborough, on Monday afternoon: the Waterdale, skipper and owner Richard Waters, and the only remaining coaster with a Rye registration - or so the Harbourmaster told Richard's parents, Bernard and Jeffery of New Winchelsea Road. More than ten years ago, with a different name and a German registration, she had come to grief at Newhaven; Richard salvaged her, changed her name and registered her locally, and she has been part of his small fleet of coasters ever since (he is due to be appearing in; a BBC Forty Minutes programme next month in this connection). She is now up for sale, so this visit to her "home town" may well be her last - a small historical footnote to the history of the Harbour.
5.
Work is due to start - really start! - on the new Sports Centre before Easter, and with luck it could be finished before next winter. Rother is paying for the building; ESCC has given the site, on the playing-field to the south of the Upper School hall and gim, and will be helping with the running costs in respect of school-time use. During the evenings, at weekends and in the school holidays it will be available for public use, and the hope is that it will draw in people from the villages as well as those living in Rye - even some from as far away as Lydd have expressed interest.
The local community is being asked to raise around £20,000 to provide the equipment for the Centre. It seems reasonable that afficionados of a particular sport may be expected to contribute largely to the equipment they themselves will need - the Bowls Club, for instance, might think about a suitable mat for indoor bowls; the Cricket Club knows what is needed for indoor cricket; badminton and squash (there will be one squash court) both have their following locally; and a project about which we wrote some time ago, for weight-training facilities in Rye, might well be revived in the other small area described as a multi-gym. Ball-games of various normally muddy varieties can also be played indoors, and will presumably require goalposts or whatever. The Steering Committee would very much like to make contact with local organisations helping younger disabled people, who will be most welcome at the Centre. And as for those sluggards whose idea of ,ercise is occasionally raising a glass with their right arm while watching other people get all hot and sweaty - they are also catered for, with a bar upstairs overlooking the main hall.
The Steering Committee has put a great deal of time into getting the project to its present stage (and here we should thank particularly Mrs. Hilary McDonald of Brede, who has just retired as its secretary owing to pressure of other work). Members are now arranging an Easter Fair in the Upper School Hall at 10 am on Saturday, 22 March (whether it will run on into the afternoon depends very much on the amount of support they are promised in the course of the next few weeks). Rotary are manning a Car Boot Fair in the car park by the main entrance - timing ditto - and those interested in booking a pitch (and it is some time since we have had a boot fair in the town) should contact Mrs. Rowena Varley as soon as possible.
The school's PTA is dealing with refreshments, and is also running a stall and a raffle in aid of the Equipment Fund; gifts for either should be sent to Mrs. Varley or to the school nearer the time, and will be much appreciated. Other stalls, sideshows, etc., will be in the ends of the various local organisations hose members may be expected to use the Centre; those who have not already been . touch with Mrs. Varley are asked to contact her as soon as possible to say what they are able to do. Rotary, obviously, is already doing its share. Who still needs to volunteer? At this stage the school's contribution is a sponsored 24- hour basket-ball marathon, which will be going on in the gym under Barry Fuller's direction. It seems likely that TPS pupils will also be interested in the pro- posed roller-disco sessions, for which a special hard floor is being provided.
Anglia has kindly given space in one of its High Street windows to a display calling attention to the Equipment Fund generally and to the event on 22 March in particular; there are leaflets inside on which offers of help can be made, and a "thermometer" shows how the money is coming in. Donations can also be handed in to the Anglia's Rye office.
The account of the Action Group's report on Rye Hospital has been held over until next week, owing to unexpected calls on this week's space (all this planning...) But we were surprised and sorry to be told by a reader who has recently been a patient in Rye Hospital that nurses there were upset by part of the report in GAZETTE no. 161 on Miss Pembleton's appointment. Mutual co-operation between the local community and the hospital has been lacking; but we certainly did not mean that the devoted care which the Rye nurses as individuals give to the patients has left anything to be desired.
6.
The current planning list forecasts a sudden hum of activity in the town in the next few months - no fewer than eight Rye applications in one week! Two of them are for Harbour Road, where there is a proposal for a two-storey extension at a house once part of the Rye Harbour school, and for change of use for both floors of the sailing-school building at Castle Water. Here Mr. Norman Jones is applying to replace the ground-floor equipment store with a rest room, and to use the sailing-school room on the first floor as a craft workshop.
In the town, there is a request for renewal of permission for use of six of the railway arches (nos. 9 to 14) as workshops and stores; for repainting the front of the Mariners Hotel - black with gold touches downstairs, black and white for the first-floor windows; for an outer street door and frame for the Rye Tandoori, which at present has an open arched entrance; for an extension at the Kettle o' Fish to provide a store-room and customers' toilets and to convert a first-floor bedroom into a kitchen. In addition there are three applications which are stories in their own right.
A request to turn the disused tennis court at Hill House Hospital into a horticultural unit, with a polythene growing tunnel, a shed and a caravan for use as an office and store, comes from the Rye & District Branch of Mencap, and is the start of the Branch's project to provide local training for mentally handicapped adults, on which we reported in GAZETTE no. 135.
Alterations are proposed for Tower Forge where, as the plans show, cracks have been appearing in the corner nearest the Salts. The plan is to demolish the existing rather makeshift storeroom behind the shop, and to replace it with a two-storey extension (black boarding at shop level, brick below); this, with internal alternations, would create a single large shop-floor, with a store-room and staff toilet facilities underneath at Fishmarket Road level. A new window is proposed in place of a former door in the end wall, and two more at the back, to match the existing ones (with smaller windows at Salts level), and the door would be moved to the other side of the shop-window in order to make a shorter approach across the cobbles.
Finally, the plan for the old Anglia office. When we pointed out, a couple of eeks ago, that it would be suitable for a delicatessen with a tea-room at the back, we were nearer the truth than we knew! Tony Wills of Serendipity tells us that although contracts have not actually been exchanged, it is he who is negotiating the purchase of the property. If he is successful, he plans to link the first floor of the shop with the flat over Serendipity, and - using the Anglia staircase with the Serendipity staircase as an emergency exit - open a tea-room upstairs. Here he will be selling morning coffee and cakes, lunches and afternoon cream teas (or non-cream teas for those with guilty consciences); it will be self-service, but even so the whole project will mean four or five new jobs from 1 May onwards. (The work has to be finished by then, because his carpenter goes on holiday!) He hopes to keep the tea-room open in the winter, even if on a less ambitious scale and depending on the demand; the shop, of course, is open anyway all the year round. Downstairs at ex-Anglia, Mr. Wills plans to sell pictures at the back - reproductions, but of a quality likely to appeal to the Serendipity customer. And in the front there will once again be the chance to buy the type of speciality foods which used to be obtainable at Millers - not perishable food, but delicacies such as jams, biscuits, tea and coffee, sweets and spices... Mr. Wills says he has no intention of becoming a grocer, and sees this primarily as an extension of Serendipity's gift trade (he hopes to open up a way between the two shops at ground level); but we think it will also be very welcome to local shoppers looking for something different for a treat.
Anyone who keeps an eye on planning generally will be aware that applications, appeals and enforcement notices fly round like herring-gulls over the Castle Water Estate; Rother is now proposing to serve an enforcement notice for the removal of one of the three caravans at present stationed there. The other two are already the subject of enforcement procedures, in abeyance to await the result of another appeal connected with the site!
7.
Lynda Chalker's successor, whose job includes deferring the Rye bypass public consultation from time to time as well as announcing "shortly" the preferred route for Winchelsea, is Peter Bottomley. Does Rye know anything about him? Does he know anything about Rye (does he, perhaps, play golf here)? In short, can we twist his arm to get a move on?
The Library recently acquired two programmes for the Rye Regatta of 1874 and 1876. There were rowing races, swimming races, sailing races for boats of various kinds - and at the end, both years, something called a Duck Hunt. In view of the crowds on the bank at the Salts, it seems unlikely that any duck was fool enough to come within five miles of the town; does anyone happen to know what a Duck Hunt, in this context, was?
Frank Palmer has a photograph of EF Benson, as Mayor, giving out to the school-children mugs to commemorate the 1937 Coronation (George VI). This was taken outside the Town Hall, and the photographer was looking towards the Library (still, then, the primary school?). His camera inadvertently provided two historic records: Benson himself, and - looming large behind the Victorian school building - the Tower, still with its impressive dormered roof, its extra floor making a quite startling difference to the skyline. Mr. Palmer has an unrivalled collection of Rye material of all kinds, but it does not include a Rye 1937 Coronation mug (and his 1935 Jubilee one is a poor specimen). If anyone has a Rye mug, of either year, which they would like to sell, Mr. Palmer would very much like to hear from them.
Some years ago, a considerable quantity of Rye documentation, mostly legal material, was given to the County Record Office and taken over to Lewes. It is still in the original boxes, and there is no list of what is there. The CRO is willing for Local History Group members to sort it out and list it; but this is expensive in petrol, and very time-consuming in view of the 80-mile round trip. There are 100 boxes to be sorted; in one day, the helpers did just three. The moral of this story is addressed to anyone else who is thinking of handing over Rye papers to the CRO; if they are not catalogued already, please could the Group have the opportunity to look at and list them before they go, rather than after?
And finally, an appeal from the Library. Does anyone, by any chance, have a surplus cupboard, chest, etc., suitable for storing maps flat? The Library has a fair number of maps already, which have to be stored rolled at present. They have now received a very handsome gift from Vic James, about to leave the staff of Le Fevre Wood & Royle for a new job in the Midlands: a set of 0/S maps, 2-i-" or 1:25,000 scale, of the whole of the south coast from Kent to Dorset, annotated with data about archaeological digs and other such material. If you should have a suitable piece of furniture going to waste, which would house "The James Bequest" (his phrase!) and the Library's other maps, please contact Jean Greenhalf at the Library. We are not clear what the financial arrangements would be, but what is certain is that they can't possibly afford to buy a new one.
An alteration in the Chairman's day-release arrangements means that Thursday will not be possible for the Group's meetings after March. From April, they will take place on the last Tuesday in every month until the September AGM; from October (when the Library is not heated on Tuesdays) the meetings will be on the last Wednesday. New members are still joining this small and informal group; latest recruit is a young windmill enthusiast from Peasmarsh.
One of our readers went into a Rye shop last week in search of some shoe-trees. The young assistant looked blank: "I'll go and ask" she said - and returned to say that they didn't stock them. Completely straight-faced and obviously wanting to be helpful, she added "Why not try the Garden Shop?"
Christian Lunch Club: a miscellany from the committee, CC, 12
Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale, 10
Model Exhibition, TPS PTA, The Grove, 2 to 4 (see front page)
Pancake Race, High Street, 3.30, followed by refreshments and prizegiving at the Community Centre at about 4.30.
St. Mary's Tuesday Club: Barbara Fearon takes the Golden Road to Samarkand, Rectory, 7.30
Muscular Dystrophy Association AGM, Tower Forge House, 12 Rye WI, party night, FEC, 7
• Congratulations to PC Alan Ridley - Beckley-based and one of Rye Sub-Division police officers - who has been awarded an Open University BA in History.
• Mrs. Sue Thomas has taken over the job of Red Cross Medical Loan Officer from Mrs. Molly Howlett, and at a recent meeting at the Red Cross Centre the Branch Medical Loan Officer came over from Brighton to meet Mrs. Thomas and to make a presentation to Mrs. Howlett, praising her for her eleven years of efficient service. Thanks will also be due from all the people in and around the town whom Mrs. Howlett has been able to help in those eleven years.
• A magnolia tree for Rye churchyard is among gifts reported recently by Colin Hudson to Rother's Recreation Committee; the donor is Mr. Ken Gasson.
• Elections for the Community Health Council are due in May. We reported in 1984 (GAZETTE no. 70) on the very complicated procedure for this; voting (every two years) is for the organisation rather than the candidate, though it is the candidates put forward by the various organisations who are invited to address the voters assembled at Hastings Town Hall in May. Groups eligible to take part appear on a list composed by the Regional Health Authority (Thrift House, Collington Avenue, Bexhill, TN39 3Ng - Hastings 222555); those already on the list will receive details of the election, those who are not but would like to be should contact the RHA at once.
• Travellers this coming Sunday should be sure to check their journey times (Hastings 429325), since there are engineering works both on the Tonbridge line and between Ashford and Charing Gross which may well alter the regular Rye timings, official or unofficial.
• David Cranston at the Council Offices now has available the 1986 edition of his list of contacts for the various organisations operating in and around the town (he has found 90 of them!). As of now, it is up-to-date; please will people tell him of changes as they occur?
• If anyone has an old office typewriter (manual) which they could bear to part with, the Women's Section of the British Legion would be very pleased to give it a kind home and put it to good use. Collection can be arranged. Contact Joan Carder at Camier's Cycles in Wish Ward.
• Rye Lions tell us about a good night out planned for 22 February; details next week, but meantime keep the date.
• And finally, apologies to the Scarab street-cleaner (last week's paper): it seems that chundering into tight corners is just what it would not be doing! Juddering along thunderously was what we intended to convey, but mocking readers tell us that "chunder" doesn't mean what we had always thought it did...
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, Rye. News items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline Monday afternoon (or Tuesday 9 am at latest and only for real emergencies). The GAZETTE costs 30p 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 1986)