In the presence of the High Sheriff of East Sussex, the Chairman of Rother District Council, the Chairman of East Sussex County Council and the Mayors of Hastings and Winchelsea, Councillor Mrs. Monica Oliver was elected Mayor of Rye on Monday. A full account of the ceremony appears on page 3. An American lady standing to watch the hot pennies fall was heard to say, in great excitement - "Oh, look, there she is, wearing the necklace and the tricolour!" (Can the French really be infiltrating Rye Town Council?)
Saturday's wedding at St. Mary's was that of Dean Tarrant of West Undercliff and Sandra Hall of Wittersham. Sandra still has a year of her student nursing course to complete, and Dean drives a lorry for a Hastings firm; the couple have bought a house in Crowborough. This was a white and yellow wedding, daffodil coloured: Sandra's crinoline dress was trimmed with lace flounces and tiny yellow flowers, and the three bridesmaids wore yellow taffeta ballet-length resses displaying white shoes and stockings. Flowers and head-dresses matched the colour-scheme. Sandra's attendants were her sister Wendy, Dean's sister Katie (7), and Sandra's cousins Robert (5) and Sabrina (3) - Sabrina very firmly anchored by competent Katie. Best man was Dean's friend Ted Hall. The Rev. Dick Dengate, of Wittersham, assisted Canon Maundrell in the service. An ele- gant Rolls took the bride and bridegroom down to Upper School, where the reception was followed by a disco. Mrs. Tarrant, who looked gorgeous in a tomato-red suit, is full of praise for Mrs. Hall, who not only did all the catering including the wedding-cake but made all three bridesmaids' dresses as well!
Thomas Peacocke School on Friday received from Rye and Rother Valley Round Table a cheque for £1,000. (The standard-size, signed version went straight up to the bank; the outsize, photogenic one waited in vain for photographer Alan Jones, who was in fact busy over Northeye Prison in a helicopter at the time.) This generous gift goes towards equipping the school's new Business and Information Technology Department, and was handed over to Ray Fooks in the presence of a dozen or so rather startled members of the school's Computer Club, who spend `heir lunch-hours and three evenings a week doing things on screens which are ,cite beyond the comprehension of your reporter.
The intention is that by the start of the new school year in September, the first floor of the ROSLA block will be given over entirely to the new department, headed by Mr. Wiseman - who is most grateful to those local firms which have responded to the letter he sent out recently, asking for help in any form. He mentioned to us particularly Ellis Bros, John Underwood of Le Fevre Wood & Royle, and Tony and Pauline Meyer of the Decorator's Warehouse who have not only promised the paint to brighten up the new "offices" but have also put him in touch with ICI as a possible provider of other benefits. Another local firm has promised its old computer as soon as its new one is installed.
Even so, the project is likely to cost £.20,000. ESCC, prodded by government policy, is contributing £8,000, and another £4,000 in cash or kind is promised. On this basis Mr. Wiseman hopes to get the new O-level courses off the ground, building them up to include evening and weekend classes as the money becomes available. Ken Warren has expressed an interest in the scheme, and Mr. Wiseman hopes he may be able to instigate help at a higher than purely local level.
The half-dozen Round Table members who escorted the cheque were shown round by Mr. Fooks and Mr. Wiseman, all looking with the eye of faith at the computer room and two very ordinary classrooms due to be transformed. We look forward to reporting again on the project when it starts in September.
2.
Mr. Oliver Lough of Iden, the Secretary of Rye Golf Club, died very suddenly at his home on Sunday. He was 65, and is survived by his widow, children and grandchildren. A Wellingtonian, Mr. Lough was at Trinity, Oxford, just after the war, where he gained a golf blue and captained the Oxford side; he was a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society. He became a prep-school master, and before his retirement was Headmaster of Temple Grove School. Mr. and Mrs. Lough came to live in Iden three years ago when he was appointed to the Secretaryship at Rye. In the words of one of the Club Trustees, "In the comparatively short time he was Secretary of the Club, he endeared himself to the members by his charm, tact and sense of humour, quite apart from his efficiency.
His unexpected death will be a great loss to the Club." The funeral takes place at Iden Church on Friday (9th) at 3. Miss Greta Walter of Mermaid Street died on Monday after a long illness. The funeral arrangements were not available as we print, but her friends should contact Ellis Bros (Rye 222394). We shall have a fuller obituary next week.
Mr. Herbert Booth, of South Undercliff, died at his home on 30 April. Mr. Booth was 82. The funeral takes place at Hastings tomorrow (Thursday) at 2.
For the fifth year running, the Youth Adventure Fund set up in memory of Canon Willians is looking for someone from Rye, Rye Harbour, Playden, Iden, Camber or East Guldeford, aged between 16 and 24, to go on a fortnight's sail-training cruise on either "Sir Winston Churchill" or "Malcolm Miller" some time in 1987. Various local young people have been on these cruises under the auspices of several organisations, and all without exception have enjoyed themselves immensely and learned a lot from their experiences. Now there is a chance for someone else, and the committee would be particularly glad to have applications from the top end of the age-group, those who have left school for some years; Kate Dayson says they have never yet had even one application from an over-18.
Application forms are available from Mrs. Dayson at 5 Market Road, or from Upper School office, and should be returned to Mrs. Dayson by 30 June.
Ten members of Rye Young Farmers Club held an Operation Springclean in the Market car park on 19 April; from 9 to 5 they cleared rubbish, cut and burnt dead hawthorn and nettles and generally worked very hard to give the place a presentable appearance. This was part of a national Young Farmers Operation Springclean project sponsored by ICI. Their efforts were noted with approval by local people, and they are grateful to Tim Brodrick and to Martyn Channon who kept them topped up with coffee and biscuits while they worked.
A mole in the Rye CND branch leaked to Ken Warren a letter from the Branch chairman to its members, which gave two specimen paragraphs protesting about the proposed waste discharge at Dungeness Power Station for them to copy out and send to Mr. Warren as MP. He waited, he tells us, for a full postbag – and got just four letters on the subject. Surprisingly, he adds, he got no letters at all from CND protesting about the Russian nuclear accident, and he looks forward to telling Mr. Gorbachov this when he meets him later this month; Mr. Warren goes to Russia as part of a British Parliamentary delegation.
On Sunday, readers of the "Observer" may have been somewhat puzzled by an article making much of a gas leak at Dungeness several weeks ago; the line taken is that the CEGB were hushing it up. But we all knew about it here at the time, and it was, surely, on TVS, Radio Sussex and in the local papers? Mr. Warren deplores such scaremongering; as an engineer, he knows that, for instance, the British nuclear plants are designed to shut down rather than blow up if something gets too hot. "I can sleep with ours nearby" he says (he lives in Goudhurst).
3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 7 May 1986
Fourteen of our sixteen Town Councillors assembled with all due solemnity at the Town Hall on Monday morning to elect Councillor Mrs. Monica Oliver, of Lea Avenue, as Mayor of Rye. Among the guests filling the rest of the room were people prominent in the town, and Rother and East Sussex, as well as councillors' families (it was very pleasant that Jo Ciccone, on weekend leave, turned up in WRNS uniform). The Chairman of Rother, Tim Price, brought his two small sons; and ex- Town Clerk John Baker was there, in excellent form though walking with a stick after his accident a year ago.
Mrs. Oliver was proposed as Mayor by Hilda Nelson-Barrett, who spoke of the Councillor's many years of service to the town in many ways; the proposal was seconded by Bill Simpson, and the election was unanimous. The Mayor and ex-Mayor them moved briefly into the Mayor's Parlour and returned with Mrs. Oliver garbed in the scarlet robe and Mayoral chain. (In the course of this move, one of the maces was damaged - the section at the very top, which had been broken off some years ago and simply glued back on, came adrift again. It is expected that this time the repair will be rather more permanent!) The new Mayor then took the Oath, and received from Jo Kirkham the precious casket of 1951 pennies, and also the badge of Speaker of the Cinque Ports, an office which the Mayor of Rye holds ex officio until it passes to New Romney on 21 May.
Frank Palmer was then nominated, seconded and elected Deputy Mayor, and he also took the Oath.
More oath-taking followed, this time by Lesley Scammell as Town Clerk and Gus Gale as Mayor's Sergeant and Mace Bearer, and Les Paine was reappointed as Second Mace Bearer.
The Mayor then announced that her Mayoress would be her daughter, Mrs. Suzanne Burgess. (Mrs. Burgess, who was at school in Rye and was a member of the St. John Ambulance Brigade here, is now a theatre nurse at RESH; her two daughters were not able to be with her on Monday, but we shall hope to see them here soon.) The Town Sergeant placed the Badge of Office around Mrs. Burgess's shoulders, and Joan Parkes presented her with a posy. Mrs. Oliver announced the appointment of Canon David Maundrell as Mayor's Chaplain.
Next the Father of the Council, Jo Kirkham, presented on behalf of the Council two Rye Pottery commemorative plates to Roger and Amy Breeds, in recognition of two years' very hard work as Mayor and Mayoress. Thanking the Councillors, Mr. Breeds recalled some of the highlights of his Mayoralty - the connection with HMS Illustrious, the slightly unexpected liaison with the Russian ambassador, the Bonfire Night party for other Mayors, and above all his trip to Rye NY. His thanks also went to his wife for her admirable support as his Mayoress.
In her inaugural address, the new Mayor referred to the Council's improved committee structure, about to come into operation. She recalled that 1987 would be election year for the Council, and, expressed the hope - hear, hears - that it would retain its present non-political status. It was, she said, a caring Council caring both for its heritage and for the people of the town - a Council with a good relationship with both Rother and ESCC, where the real power lay nowadays. "Fellow-Councillors" she declared, "whatever obstacles we have to face, we will all work together for the people and the town of Rye."
Formal business concluded, the whole company moved into St. Mary's for a brief service conducted by the Mayor's Chaplain - one of the hymns was "Jerusalem", chosen by Mrs. Oliver to mark her WI connections. Then back to the Town Hall, and the moment for which the spectators outside had been waiting in the rain: the hot pennies, thrown from the open windows and gleefully scrabbled for by the children below (special little bags went to young Mencap branch members waiting in the foyer).
At the luncheon in the Mermaid Hotel which followed, Mrs. Oliver announced that she and the Mayoress had selected St. Michael's Hospice as their charity for the year - a popular choice, and one which must be dear to the heart of a Mayor deeply concerned for the welfare of the elderly, disabled and under-privileged in Rye.
4.
The Miss Rye/Carnival Queen dance will be held at the Oasis on Saturday week, 17 May. The Round Table judges will be studying personality as well as looks when they choose the winner and her attendants, since Miss Rye will be representing the town in the Hastings and other carnivals before she leads the procession round Rye on 2 August. Apart from the honour and glory, the winner gets a cheque for £50, a free hairdo from Blacklocks, a free photographic session from Peter Greenhalf, and other unspecified goodies; cash and hairdos also go to the runners-up.
Please, local mums and boyfriends, make sure that our extremely pretty girls are there in force on the 17th. A Miss Rye who lives and/or works in the town is always an extremely popular choice. It is a help to the Round Table organisers if names can be handed in in advance (to Blacklocks, the Oasis, or any Round Table member), though entries can still be made on the night by those who have only just managed to summon their courage up in time:
• The Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve held their AGM at Winchelsea Beach Village Hall on Saturday. Pat Bonham tells us that Barry Yates showed slides of the building of the new Wader Pool near the road to the river mouth - this has already attracted many migrant and breeding shore birds. Dr. Yates also empha sised the much better strategic position of the new Warden's Cottage at Nook Beach. The regular 24-hour tern-watch rota was organised for the summer's nesting colonies, and various fundraising events were announced. In Rye, there is to be a coffee morning at the George Hotel on 26 June, when the very attractive range of souvenirs newly produced for the Friends will be on sale - if there are any left once nearly 700 members have placed their orders.
• The St. Mary's PCC and Rother are getting together to see what can be done about unauthorised parking in the churchyard, around the War Memorial and even on the grass. Canon Maundrell tells us that there are to be half-a-dozen spaces marked out round the east door, for the use of people with official business in the church, and a barrier, bollards, etc., devised by Rother to keep cars out of the rest of the area. This announcement is by way of an early warning to those who regularly park there at present, he says...
• Rye Museum marks its new season with an addition to the postcards on sale there. This is one taken from a model on view in the Museum, of a Liverpool-class life-boat, the design to which the "Mary Stanford" was built at Cowes in 1916. The new card joins those of the Ypres Tower, the Rye Seal, the fire engine, the Victorian doll, the Rye Pottery pigs and the old door, and is on sale at 10p 60p for the set of 7.
• The Museum Association announces its forthcoming programme in the current newsletter. As well as the autumn lectures which we listed some weeks ago, and the cheese-and-wine party on 4 December, there is to be a Connoisseurs' Evening at the Museum on Friday, 29 August (a fringe event to Rye Festival), and two outings. The first, an evening tour of Hastings Old Town with David Martin as guide, unfortunately coincides with the Conservation Society AGM (but it was the only evening Mr. Martin could offer); the second, restricted to the first 25 members to book, is an all-day trip to Lewes on Saturday, 27 September.
• Crime: another office break-in, this time at Corralls who lost £3; the same weekend £20 was taken from the laundry next door. The theft of jewellery from a Military Road house, when the thieves walked in through an unlocked door, is shown in the press book as a haul worth some £3,800; and an even more valuable haul, including jewellery and a £2,500 ranch mink coat, was stolen recently in Winchelsea. There is also the usual summer record of thefts from empty cars. Moral: bank your cash, lock your doors, and don't leave things in the car. (Even the car is at risk; a red Ford Escort van, KWF 146P, was stolen from Cooper Road on the night of 30 April.)
• The Whist Drive in aid of the Poppy Appeal, which was to be held on 15 May, has been cancelled owing to unforeseen circumstances.
5.
• Reporting to Pother Council as to whether there should be a formal shopping policy for Rye Town Centre (GAZETTE no. 175), the Planning Officer points out that in planning terms a shop is a shop is a shop, and there are only five exceptions: those selling hot food, tripe, pet animals or birds, cats-meat, or motor vehicles. Proprietors of such shops can change to selling other goods without planning permission; it is only required for changes in the reverse direction (so any gift shop now wishing to sell, say, tripe has been warned!). The term "shop" includes, for instance, hairdressers, undertakers, travel agencies and cleaners; indeed,there is a threat that the classification should even be widened to include some types of office.
• Surveys carried out between 1974 and 1984 show that the changes in Rye's shops only reflect the national trend for the loss of grocery and food shops; the total number of shops has remained steady at around 130. Antique and gift shops and restaurants have increased; but he feels this is only to be expected in a town as attractive to visitors as Rye is (and the position is anyway outside the control of the planning authority, see above). Part of Rye's attraction lies in the mix of shops and non-shops in the centre of the town, and he believes that Rye's special status justifies a generally: worded policy which makes it quite clear to prospective applicants that the Council shares the concern expressed by the local community and will resist changes of use from retailing to non-retailing uses which are considered to have an adverse effect on the existing commercial centre. The topic may need to be looked at again, he says, once the supermarket is trading.
• Last Tuesday's planning list includes a proposal for a first-floor extension to Swan's Studio in Watchbell Street, with conversion of the garage into an artist's studio; another for change of use for the ground-floor flat at 15 Market Street into an antiquarian bookshop; and on a very different scale, for outline permission to put up 18 2-bedroomed flats, with parking spaces served by a new access, on the site of the old bus garage in South Undercliff, directly below the Gun Garden. If permission is given at all for a development of this density on an accident-prone bend in what is still the A259, there will be an opportunity later for the design to be discussed in detail; but it seems probable that there could be local opposition to the building at present shown on the plan.
• STOP PRESS - yesterday's list includes Rother's application for the Magdala House site. Details next week, but the plans are now available at the Council Offices - ask for RR86 0919.
• Quenchers, the new restaurant which Tony Wills has opened above Serendipity and ex-Anglia, is now serving coffee, mid-day meals and teas; Mr. Wills does not expect to open in the evening since it would mean staffing the entire shop as well. He is applying for a drinks licence to enable patrons to have a glass of wine or lager with their meal. At the top of the stairs, pictures and pottery are on display in the foyer to the servery; the two rooms, one for smokers and one for the rest of us, have old pews for seating and a very pleasant decor.
Downstairs, many people will have been delighted to find some of the goods which used to be stocked by Millers; Mr. Wills tells us that Phil Simpson was most generous with his time and advice over what was needed on the shelves, and the contents are practical as well as pretty. Arches give access to the main Serendipity shop; we tried hard to persuade Mr. Wills to use the space at the back of ex-Anglia as the delicatessen for which half the town now seems to be asking, but he was adamant that he has not got suitable facilities, alas.
• As well as the delicatessen, we still need a heel-bar in the town. But there should be good news next week for dressmakers, another neglected breed lately. Woolworths now have their garden centre open again for the summer, with access either through the shop or from Market Road. And at Frank Golden's, there is a new lingerie department discreetly tucked away in a newly-opened-up area at the back of the shop, with a particularly good range of pure cotton vests, etc., which will be very welcome.
6.
Last week's reference to 1636 as the year when the Grammar School was born has produced some interesting feedback. This date was perhaps suggested by the caption in Vidler's History of Rye, beneath the picture of "Peacocke's School, Rye, circa 1636". However, for the 1940 issue of the Grammar School magazine Vidler wrote an invaluable history of the school setting out the chronology in detail.
Thomas Peacocke was a distinguished citizen of the town, childless and a widower. In 1636 he erected the High Street building specifically for the school which the town needed; two years later in his will he endowed the foundation with various properties in and around Rye. He died in October 1638, and the will was proved in December of that year. The first headmaster, Thomas Watson, took office "about Easter 1638/9", says Vidler; but dates at this period are horribly complicated for non-historians by calendar changes which affected the first three months of each year, and it seems clear that the appointment was made after Peacocke's death and was therefore in what we now think of as 1639. Although the endowment property was not transferred to the Trustees by the executors of the will until 1644, this was a purely financial transaction, and the Grammar School was undoubtedly founded in 1638 by Thomas Peacocke's will.
In 1908, the school moved down from the High Street to St. Mary's Marsh. The new building, the nucleus of the present complex, must have cost £3,000 to build, since the County Council paid half, and the rest consisted of £1,000 from the sale of the old school building - bought by another distinguished and childless citizen, Mary Brocket, and lent back to the school for free until her death and £500 from a Dr. Trollope of Hastings, about whom we would very much like to know more. The County Council took over the administration of the school on condition that girls should be admitted; this was the first time in Rye, the first time in the county and (so we are told) the first time in southern England that a Grammar School was to turn co-ed. 12,y 1914 there were 50 boys and 26 girls at the school.
Sixty years later, the Grammar and Secondary Modern schools in the town were united into Thomas Peacocke Comprehensive School. Parents of the period will remember the long-drawn-out changeover, but we have been given 1968 as the official date of amalgamation.
This means that in the autumn of 1988 there will be cause for a triple commemoration: of the foundation of the Grammar School 350 years ago, of the admission of girls to the school on its new site 80 years ago, and of the arrival of comprehensive education in Rye 20 years ago. There is lots of time to plan a celebration of some kind; what about a pageant?
In 1938 the Grammar School opened a Tercentenary Appeal. One suggestion for the money was the provision of wrought-iron gates for the main entrance, and designs were drawn up - but the idea got lost in the outbreak of war and the school's departure for Bedford. Some of the money was spent in 1958 on the purchase of the Wurlitzer organ, now enjoying a new lease of life; but was this the total amount raised, and if not how was the rest spent? Does anyone now remember?
On Thursday week, 15th, there will be a "Plant and Pantry" sale at the Red Cross Centre from 10 to 1. It will include a wide and ready-to-plant selection of cuttings and plants, priced from 5p each; and on the Pantry shelves there will be home-made and bought goods - bread, quiches, meat and fruit pies, cakes and various other sweet and savoury delicacies. Also a bring-and-buy table, coffee and a raffle. Admission will be by 10p raffle ticket, and the money raised will go to sponsor a young person on a BRCS Activenture holiday.
Gifts for the bring-and-buy table, or the plant or pantry stalls, will be most gratefully received at the Red Cross Centre from 9 am on the 15th, or by arrangement beforehand.
7.
Radio Sussex's East Sussex producer, David Arscott, was surprised by the "rush of blood to the head" in the GAZETTE last week about coverage of the Far East of his area. He assures us that Radio Sussex is every bit as interested in Rye as they have always been. They don't put up cash for festivals anywhere (including Brighton) but they do cover them "and I see no reason why we shouldn't offer unique coverage of Rye's. Has anyone asked us?" The two issues, he adds, are quite separate. Over to you, Festival Committee.
(That particular story was picked up by Radio Sovereign, an unlicensed station of somewhat mysterious antecedents which broadcasts very clearly on FM 105 on Sunday afternoons. It has a Newhaven address, but a transmitter rather nearer home than that. The presenter rashly continued by saying that even Sovereign could have run to £50; so perhaps the Festival Committee might like to follow up that one as well?)
The 258 Alternative, David Arscott continues, is an identical programme to Lunch-date, just at a different time - "which suits some and not others, but now that we are producing the Sussex Standard consumer programme from our Eastbourne studio it is impossible to keep things as they were."
As for the Rye studio, he points out that it is available every day "but there is a limit to dreaming stories up out of our own heads. We need to be told what's going on in the town. Any volunteers?"
That, basically, is the problem, as all local journalists find. People don't always make the effort to tell them what is going on; and if they don't know, they can't report the stories. Journalists, newspaper or radio, are not magic and although they can write up the story they do need an initial tip-off to tell them where to look. When your Editor was appointed Rye correspondent for the News, years ago, they told her "It's very easy, once people know you are doing the job, they will ring you up with the stories". They didn't, of course. But the stories were still there, and well worth looking for - which is not too difficult if you live in the place, but tricky if you don't.
As far as we know, neither the News nor the Express now has a Rye correspondent, but Radio Sussex's voice from Rye is that of James Menhinick, who was appointed some time ago by his fellow Town Councillors. He takes the same line as the News and expects people to tell him what they want to go out CL the air. He spoke on the mid-morning Sussex Scene programme soon after he came out of hospital, praising the excellence of the Health Service and also mentioning the then newly-announced bypass route - but that was before Easter, and he told us last week that he only had two items on his list for next time.
The moral of all this is that it is no good complaining about not getting media coverage if no-one can be bothered to contact the media. Radio Sussex takes the GAZETTE, but they (like us) prefer their news new rather than second-hand. E if you have a news story or an idea for an interesting feature, ring Radio Sussex on Eastbourne (0323) 639359 and tell them about it. Phoning from Rye to Eastbourne costs, says British Telecom, 5p for 30 seconds in the morning (ie. 10p for one minute) and 40 seconds in the afternoon. The Radio Sussex office is closed in the evening (5p for 2 minutes), but they have an answerphone and will call you back next morning. And if you phone them during the day and the call looks like being a long one, they are always willing to ring you back so that the bulk of it goes on their bill, not yours.
For the News - Eddie Thompson now covers Rye - ring Hastings 52811. For the Express - Nick Larkin is about to go to another paper in the Senews group, but we hope to be told who is replacing him in Rye - ring Hastings 51351, where the local reporter has a corner in the Hastings Observer office.
Radio Sussex also offers the East Sussex Diary service (7.25 and 8.25, Monday to Friday mornings, medium wave 258). Sending in one of their blue forms in good time will get your event mentioned on the day, and may also lead to fuller advance coverage for something particularly interesting - and apart from the cost of the stamp, the service is completely free.
Christian Lunch Club coffee morning (bring-and-buy, bookstall) Red Cross, 10.30
Rye Coin Club, FEC, 7.30
Civil Service Retirement Fellowship (WO Craies shows slides of general interest), FEC, 11
Coffee morning for FEC funds, FEC, 10
Rev. Brian Soper gives British Legion members and their guests an illustrated talk on his recent tour of the Far East and Australia, FEC, 8.15
Tuesday, 13th Arthritis & Rheumatism Council coffee morning, George Hotel, 10.30
Landgate WI coffee morning, Saltcote Orchard, Playden, 10.30 St. Mary's Tuesday Club (Mrs. Lloyd on her recent holiday in Kenya), 2 East Street, 7.30 - all welcome
Wednesday, 14th Rye WI, resolutions for AGM, followed by Drama Group, FEC, 7
• Congratulations to Sharon Oliver of Cyprus Place, for whom tomorrow will be a very special day; not only is it her 18th birthday but it will see her engagement to Chris Fitzsimmons, of Deal.
• The Rye Branch of the RNLI are very pleased to say that Roger Breeds has agreed to become their new Chairman, in succession to Colin Marsh. Mr. Breeds will be formally appointed at the next meeting of the committee.
• The Arthritis & Rheumatism Council is seeking helpers for its house-to-house collection in Rye, Rye Harbour and Playden, between 1 and 7 June. Contact Francis Barrett, Rye 223762 - or come to the coffee morning on Tuesday.
• Left over from Ringo's footpath jumble sale is a Baby Belling cooker, just the right size for a flatlet (or a caravan on a site with electricity), in excellent condition, white, with its own stand. Anyone with £5 for it should contact Ringo, Rye 224482; it can be seen by arrangement at the Community Centre.
• An ex-Naval reader tells us that we referred incorrectly to RAF Culdrose last week; James Nunn is doing his Fleet Air Arm training at the Royal Naval Air Station there. Apologies to the Senior Service!
• Conductor Errol Girdlestone, of Pottingfield Road, has been offered a job in Norway, and he and his wife Sue have decided to accept; they leave in August In the meantime, they think it would be useful to learn Norwegian, probably from a cassette course; but if anyone speaking this rather unusual language could offer them personal coaching or simply conversation, they would be most grateful.
• Mr. and Mrs. Graham Ingham have moved from Leasam Lane to Faraday House in The Mint. This is the flat above the garages.
• The new Hastings railway system has brought one immediate benefit to Rye travellers. It is still quicker for us to go to London via Ashford; but for those getting on or off at Hastings, the up-and-over steps are now a thing of the past, since a new level passageway leads from the end of Platform 1 to the booking-hall.
• Congratulations to Ellis Bros, and Rother, on the refurbishment of the Ladies on Strand Quay - now with a wheelchair-access loo.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, TN31 7DR (0797 222303), and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. News items for inclusion are always welcome – deadline Monday afternoon (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)