Congratulations to Mrs. Kathleen Pope, formerly of Pottingfield Road, and Mr. Desmond Wells, formerly of Wells the butchers, who were married at PeasmarshcChurch on Saturday. The bride, who wore a pale lemon outfit and carried white and yellow flowers, was attended by her daughter Mrs. Diane Fermor; the best man was the bridegroom's son-in-law. Mr. and Mrs. Wells will be living in Peasmarsh. All their friends and old customers will wish them every happiness.
An exhausted Marion Lovell staggered into the office on Sunday evening with a triumphant account of how 35 Ryesingers went to the Cheltenham Music Festivalcat the weekend. They had done well there last year, and this time had entered six classes, some for mixed voices and some for ladies only, presenting twelve items in all.
"The results were a delight for all concerned - two firsts, two seconds, two thirds and a sing-off for the Gold Cup. The marks were consistently high, 85-90, and the choir was praised for blend and tonal quality. The adjudicators were pleased with the response to the conductor, Lesley Brownbill, and the musical interpretation of the pieces. Class entries were large, and the competition fierce." We gather that the Gold Cup sing-off was a very near thing; what the choir actually brought back to Rye were the Grace Knowles Challenge Cup (folk-song class) and the Cheltenham Spa Musical Festival Challenge Trophy (mixed voice choir).
On Sunday "the world starts to run at 4 pm" says Miss Hill of Thomas Peacocke School's PE staff, organising a fun run to support the "Run the World" project (Bob Geldof's Sports Aid for Africa).
25 million people all over the world, she says, will be taking part; the hope is that a sizeable proportion of them will turn up at Upper School on Sunday afternoon, having persuaded their friends to sponsor them (forms available from Upper and Lower School offices). Total distance is six miles "around the school route" of just under one mile - which may not be scenically interesting, but will at least be clear of the Bank Holiday weekend traffic. Children and adults are all welcome (and those who prefer, can walk); fancy dress will add to the atmosphere.
The display in the Lion Street window of Freight Express (last week's GAZETTE) is a series of photographs taken for Rother Council showing Udimore School before and after its conversion into three workshops. Though the building appeared to be in quite good order outside, inside was a terrible mess, and clearly a lot of hard work and careful thought went into transforming it into the light and airy premises which were officially opened at the end of last month. The photographs were taken before the tenants moved in: Shirley Spottiswood (Mrs. Frank Page of Ponyknits), who has opened a tapestry weaving business; Amanda Carden of Northiam, who has a design studio; and a worker in ceramics from Fairlight, whose name we failed to discover. Congratulations, and good luck to the new enterprises.
2.
Miss Gladys Moon died peacefully in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 24 April. She was born in Rye in 1897, the youngest daughter of Isaac and Mary Moon and the sister of Dora and Bertha (Mrs. Longley), who for many years ran Rye Collegiate School. Gladys Moon worked at the Post Office telephone exchange until just before WW2, when she went to Maidstone to join her great friend Phyllis Buckland and eventually achieved her life's ambition to run a small-holding at Charing Heath. After retiring to Grafty Green in 1968, Miss Moon decided in 1981 to move north. She spent the last five years of her life very happily in a rest- home near her niece Mrs. Anne Thompson, Mrs. Longley's daughter - who tells us that "always a kind and cheerful person, Miss Moon was much loved by her family and friends".
About now each year we cannot resist recording the way the town bursts into flower. The white cherry in the churchyard flowered bravely despite the recent assault on it; the current attraction there is the pink blossom, and the big copper beech is an annual miracle. In Ashenden Avenue the trees were cut hard back last autumn and are not making quite their usual show this year, but those in the Lower School playground make up for it. The magnolia outside the old River Board offices and the pear arch leading to Rye Pottery were in full flok last week - in fact, the Udimore Road delivery-round was a real pleasure. Rather has been generous with its bedding-out, and the tulips are doing particularly well; there is a spectacular blue-and-yellow round bed of something beside the Bowls Pavilion. (The scrubland between the railway and the lane to the Mill may well be a car-park this time next year - if so, we shall have seen its golden pussy-willow and white blossom for the last time.) Finally, a little thank-you to the lady who has created a little garden from nothing, under the big hoarding at Banisters Corner!
At the Oasis Club on Saturday night, Caroline Symonds of Northiam was chosen from 13 entrants as Miss Rye/Carnival queen for 1986. Caroline is a typist in Hastings. Her maids-of-honour are Sara Bragg of Iden, an apprentice hairdresser at Simon Harris's High Street shop, and Jill Walkden of the Mint, who works part-time at the George Hotel. Congratulations to all three girls.
Having got that out of the way, Round Table's Carnival team are turning their attention to collecting ads for the programme. This is always the most amazing and comprehensive register of local businesses (could we possibly have counted over 400 ads one year?) 1985's team sold 10,900-worth of advertising space, and of course this year's salesmen would like to do even better. Profit on the programme goes to swell the general Carnival proceeds, which in turn go back into the community (eg. the recent £1,000 cheque to Thomas Peacocke School).
The original plans for the Conduit Hill footpath only showed it running from Turkeycock Lane to the top of the Devonport House entrance. To continue it down to Cinque Ports Street will cost more - how much more, Ralph Olesen is not sure. The figure of £200 he tossed off recently horrified Ringo and his supporters, but it may turn out to be less once the quotations come in. The success of the jumble sale and a donation of £100 from RCVS has encouraged Mr. Olesen to start notifying the public utilities that work is to be done there; once the fund reaches £600, he will be inviting estimates.
As far as we know, there is no specific committee dealing with the project, though Councillor Chapman has taken it under his wing: so could the GAZETTE venture to suggest direct, to Rotary, Round Table, Lions, Inner Wheel, Ladies Circle, the Rye Group of WIs, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, East Sussex Association for the Disabled, and perhaps the Monday Club and the Over-60s Club - suggest that a donation of £25 would be welcome, and £50 would be handsome? Phone Ringo on Rye 224482 in the evening.
3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 21 May 1986
In March, senior pupils at Thomas Peacocks School put on an admirable production of "Pygmalion" as the school play, with no help at all from the staff. It was a great success dramatically; and we can now report, with much pleasure, that it was also a success financially. After everything was paid for, the school's Drama Fund benefits by a clear £300 towards the cost of future productions! Congratulations to all concerned, and particularly to the play's business manager Mark Curry, of Guestling.
In recent weeks the return to Rye/Tilling of Mapp (now Mrs. Mapp-Flint), Lucia and their social circle has given many people much pleasure; there are still two episodes left of this series (the final one, said LWT when they were making it here last summer) - Saturdays, Channel 4 at 9.
The Mapp-Flints spent their honeymoon in France, and brought back the phrases to prove it. Mapp's pregnancy turned out to be, as Lucia put it, "a wind-egg"; but then, so did Lucia's Roman villa in the Mallards garden. Lucia is back in Mallards after stock-exchange dealings went in her favour and led to retrenchment for Mapp and Benjy, now out at Grebe - handy for the golf course, but unfortunately still vulnerable to flooding in a south-west gale... Both ladies had stood as candidates in the Town Council by-election and had jointly come bottom of the poll (the robes for the declaration scene were lent by our Town Hall) - but Lucia did eventually achieve a Council seat, co-opted by its grateful members after her lavish expenditure on various local good causes. One of these was the St. Mary's church organ, and the church featured largely in the third episode; so did the GAZETTE, referred to as such but in fact the Tilling Gazette (which is not what Benson called his local paper), with titling looking flatteringly like ours and a reporter just as eager to scurry about with notebook and pencil! After a proposal scene of almost painful delicacy, Georgie and Lucia became engaged, and last Wednesday's final shot was of the wedding group outside the west door of St. Mary's.
Last week the staff of the Natwest Bank were at home to some of their customers in the rooms above the banking hall, once the manager's flat in the days before automation took up so much room. We asked manager Denis Hughes how long the bank had been in Rye; we were not the first to out this question, and no-one there seemed to know the answer. Surely, among the army of local historians, someone will be able to enlighten us and Mr. Hughes? For that matter, when were the other banks founded in Rye (not always under their present names)? Lloyds, we think, is the senior (and has the managerial blunderbuss of its very early days); but as for dates...
Downstairs in the big bay window the staff had arranged a display of some of the smaller items made in Rye by Natwest customers. Would it not be interesting to hold a much larger exhibition next year in the town, with all Rye's Producers (at whatever level, from the GAZETTE to the big exporters) showing off their wares? Perhaps it would be unreasonable to ask Lochin Marine to lend a lifeboat, but Derek Phillips might be able to find something on the lines of his Bodiam Castle punt. Long Products possess display sections of their insulation products; there would presumably be no problems over the potteries, and the two art groups could perhaps combine to show what our painters produce; Bateman & Maxfield might be persuaded into lending some of their furniture which is so very popular among Top People, not only in this country - and what about all the small businesses now established in the Agricultural Hall, Farnborough and Hatleys? For that matter, farmland is well within the town's boundaries (though Natwest did resist the temptation, this time, to have a pair of piglets in their display!). Perhaps this might be something the RDA could consider? It would have to be in the Upper School Hall, because of the space there and the easy parking - and almost certainly during the school holidays. The Rye Can Make It Expo, 1987?
4.
Bernard Kemp of Beckley, chairman of Thomas Peacocke School PTA, writes to us bitterly about the waste of time, money and energy expended by his committee on the organisation of the Car Boot Sale which should have taken place on Sunday. It was cancelled after one phone call to Rother from an unnamed objector, and another one from the Council to the school, on Friday morning. Mr. Kemp apologises to all those who missed the various cancellation announcements and turned up only to find an empty, sunlit car park.
What happened was this. First thing on Friday, someone telephoned Rother's Environmental Health Department and lodged a formal complaint about the event, saying that if it went ahead he would be prepared to take the matter to courts (Departmental Head Robert Clarke was not willing to tell us the caller's name though we later heard an interesting speculation that under the new Freedom of Information Act he might eventually have to - but he did say that it was not one of the Rye traders. Whether, therefore, the objection was religious or simply vindictive remains open to question.)
Apparently feeling, on this rather flimsy evidence, that the school should be warned, a member of Mr. Clarke's staff rang the Head "for a quiet word", Mr. Clarke told us. There was no instruction that the event should be cancelled, he added. But Mr. Fooks is always most meticulous where his pupils are concerned, and once he realised that the event was even technically illegal he felt obliged to cancel it rather than involve them in any degree of law-breaking.
In his letter informing parents of the cancellation, Mr. Fooks points out that the PTA were simply attempting to raise funds for equipment, new courses and general support of the children of Rye and district. "I wish that those who make the laws had been willing to take note much earlier of the crying needs in the educational system and act as effectively to support state education as they have to support the Sunday trading laws", he says. He suggests that those who wish to express their opinion should get in touch with their MP, County or District Councillors to let them know their feelings.
Rye's Rother Councillors are extremely annoyed. John Cawdron, who is leading a campaign against the commercial Boot Fairs which so often disfigure the Salts on a Saturday (paying Rother £80 a time), says that charitable sales are an entirely different matter, on the Salts or elsewhere, and he had intended to be down in the Market helping on Sunday. Pauline Tomich, who happened to be in school when the decision was taken, was horrified. George Shackleton considers that action of this kind was never the intention of the Shops Act, whether or not Rother ought to be enforcing the Act against shops trading regularly on Sundays.
Mr. Clarke confirms Mr. Shackleton's view, and tells us that Rother's policy is only to take action against persistent offenders. The procedure is a lengthy one, and court action only follows formal warnings and test purchases over a Period of months - as in the case of Webbs at Battle (GAZETTE no. 172). But since this is (very reasonably) the Council's policy, it seems pretty pointless to have made the second Friday morning phone call at all - a letter would have done just as well and arrived too late to interfere with Sunday's event, though doubtless it would have prevented further Sunday sales arranged by the PTA.
Other local charities which plan Sunday events must have been wondering about their position. (The Camber Memorial Hall boot sale, the first of a regular monthly summer series on land beside the Hall, will go ahead - in deference to Camber shopkeepers, entrance is restricted to private cars; it is the hall's main fund-raising effort and has to take place on Sunday because Saturday misses the Pontins customers.) But it seems clear that Rother has better things to do than harrass occasional Sunday charity events, and perhaps the PTA were just unlucky. We hope whoever made the original phone call slept uneasily on Sunday!
The proposed Shops Bill, which would have given the Government scope to tidy up the Sunday trading law, failed because some Conservative back-benchers were frightened into voting against it by the strong religious and trade-union lobbies (Ken Warren was not among them.) Even if Rother is not in general prepared to chivvy charities, other Councils may be. What, we wonder, are the godly going to do about this ridiculous situation?
In view of the report on page 4, it seems suitable to remind readers that at least Rye is marginally better off than most places in relation to Sunday trading. Under a June 1939 bylaw, shops in the former Borough can open on 17 Sundays during the season (and on Easter Day) for the sale of "any article required for the purpose of bathing or fishing; photographic requisites; toys, souvenirs and fancy goods; books, stationery, photographs, reproductions and postcards." Not food; not clothes - except those worn for bathing or fishing, of course! "Fancy goods" cover a multitude of sins, and when we were writing about the situation in 1983 Mr. Clarke told us that he felt the term could be held to cover non-new bric-a-brac - but whether this would include, say, a large piece of second-hand furniture we are not so sure.
"Souvenirs" on our 18 Sundays, are legal. Perhaps one solution, anyway in the summer, - and we suggest this quite seriously - would be for the Chamber of Trade or individual shops to order a quantity of those little printed labels, reading "A Souvenir from Rye", which could then be attached to anything at all before it was actually sold on a Sunday. (Souvenir sweaters, souvenir baked beans?)
A request to us to seek homes for seven puppies at Iden Kennels was overtaken by a flood of phone calls after a report on Coast to Coast. All are now spoken for, and Mrs. Fiddimore is most grateful to the smaller of the Peasmarsh grocers and the Beckley butchers who sent tins of dogfood and a big bag of bones for the orphans. The Fiddimores are always glad to hear from people wanting dogs, and are sometimes able to put them in touch direct with an owner who can no longer keep a pet, even if the kennels have nothing suitable.
People wanting a cat can call at Rye Library and talk to Brenda Marshall (needless to say, she doesn't actually have basketfuls of kittens under her desks); a member of the Cat Protection League, she is often seeking homes particularly for adult cats - passed on to her by people going abroad or moving to flats.
Rye Scouts, offered tickets for the Air Show in return, were recently delivering leaflets round the town for the Woolwich. Skipper Frank Dowdeswell was with the group who covered the Estate, and he was horrified to see how many houses had their keys left in the locks (though not, he noted, the ones which displayed Neighbourhood Watch stickers). "A burglar" he told us, "could have had a field day!" Apparently no burglar did, but we are glad to pass on his warning.
The new manager of Hastings Jobcentre, who lives in Icklesham, can appreciate the way Rye people feel cut off from mainstream Jobcentre opportunities, and he is going to do something about it. Once a quarter, someone already comes over from Hastings to the Community Centre so that people living here can sign on for unemployment benefit without a 15-mile trek. The next occasion will be on Thursday and Friday, 19 and 20 June, and the Jobcentre is to be represented at the same time. It will only be a very mini-Jobcentre - one desk, but manned (womanised, actually) by an experienced staff member able to advise and answer questions, and possibly with some local jobs specifically on offer. She will hope to see not only people who are registered as unemployed, but also those who are not registered but are looking for work - to say nothing of people already in work who would like a change of job. Perhaps prospective employers might also like to drop in and talk about their requirements! (In fact the manager spends a good deal of his time calling on employers at their own premises, but can't possibly visit everyone.)
If this new plan proves successful, and worth the staff time, the visit could become a monthly one, but it will anyway be quarterly to coincide with the quarterly signings. Readers are particularly asked to mention the date to neighbours and relatives who would be interested; we shall give details of hours, etc., nearer the time.
6.
Last week there were eight fund-raising events in the town. At the George on Tuesday, the Arthritis & Rheumatism coffee morning brought in Z143. The Red Cross Plant and Pantry Sale on Thursday made a net profit of £154, plus £62 from the Easter coffee morning, both going to the BRCS Activenture Scheme; the helpers were particularly pleased that a local child, Samantha (Sammy") Sheppard of Kings Avenue and a pupil at Glynde Gap School, will be able to go on one of these adventure holidays for handicapped children in July.
On Saturday, the Christian Aid event at the Town Hall raised around £100; the Women's British Legion coffee morning, £30; and Mrs. Playford's MSS coffee morning in Pottingfield Road, a very gratifying £111 (with a little more to come). There were also some generous unloadings by various people onto the Rye Society of Artists' jumble sale at the FE Centre, which led to a most impressive result of around £400(almost £100 from the outside plants-stall). At Thomas Peacocke the ATC jumble sale raised £137, and at the Community Centre the Sea Cadets event made L148 (sorry we left this out of the diary, no-one told us).
The final total raised for multiple sclerosis sufferers locally by George Cumming in the London Marathon amounts, near enough, to £500. On 8 June Mr. Cumming is running again, this time in the Maidstone Marathon in aid of the St. Michael's Hospice Appeal; sponsor forms are available at Blackman's, Salon 54, Frank Golden and 3 Market Road.
A rather worried reader has mentioned to us "several groups of children going round the town with scruffy bits of paper, asking for sponsors for an unspecified 'Help the Children' cause". Presumably this is for the fun-run at Upper School on Sunday (front page); but if children are seeking sponsorship from strangers, should they not at least carry some sort of official identification for the
charity? Particularly when it comes to collecting the cash after the event...
The owner of a bunch of four keys, lost between Conduit Hill and East Street on 15 May, would be most grateful if the finder could hand them in to the Police Station - if anyone has found them, of course.
Linsey Hatter's blue coat has turned up, we are glad to say - as has Joan Carrier's mac, returned by a very embarrassed fellow-WBL member who only discovered at the weekend that her wardrobe contained twos But the police would be very grateful if the owner of the child's red woollen coat left in a local surgery several weeks ago would please collect it as soon as possible.
Finally, if anyone has got a cream synthetic cable-stitch cardigan with blazer-type "silver" buttons which is not theirs, it could be Sheila Bowler's.
Several Rye businesses have suffered from thieves recently. £10,000-worth of frozen fish was taken from Duncan Grant's cold-store on 12-13 May, as well as (presumably, in) the firm's blue Bedford lorry, KJG 711U. The driver of a red Volvo estate departed suddenly from Skinners Garage without paying for £5 worth of petrol on 10 May. £17 in cash was taken from the office at Alsfords Wharf during the same weekend, and a wallet with various credit cards from the Corner Shop in Cinque Ports Street.
There was an accident at Banisters Corner on Friday when Mark Obbard of Rye Harbour skidded his motorbike on a patch of diesel oil and collided with a car; no-one was injured, but the bike was extensively damaged. This was one of a series of accidents through Rye at about the same time; police have been unable to trace the vehicle which apparently leaked a trail of diesel along the road from South Undercliff right round Banisters Corner (doubtless they'd be glad to hear from anyone who noticed it).
Paul Bishop of Camber was riding his bike along the Camber road a mile from the East Guldeford corner at midnight on Friday when he was involved in a collision with a car. Mr. Bishop was taken to hospital with head, leg and spinal injuries; police are asking for any witnesses of the accident (Rye 222112).
7.
After a period of somnolence, the Friends of Rya Art Gallery bounce back this summer. Their first outing for some time, a trip to Charleston and other Bloomsbury Group places, was booked solid with a waiting-list within a week of being announced. It was only available to members anyway, and the same restriction will apply to the Midsummer Party held on the Gallery terrace on the evening of 12 July. All are welcome, however, to view the Church Square gardens which will be open on 26 July in aid of FRAG funds.
FRAG membership costs £5, and forms are available at the Easton Rooms; members receive advance information of social events organised by the group, and also invitations to private views at both galleries. There are interesting hints of a full programme of events in the autumn.
Mike Thomas tells us that Rye Colts U.13 have started their Newbury Friendly League matches in convincing style (we are, of course talking about cricket) with a very easy win over the Grove School and a comfortable win v. Westerleigh School. In both practice and matches so far, the enthusiasm and fielding of the boys has been outstanding.
Rye 1st XI beat the strong Folkestone XI in the first round of the William Younger Cup, but lost to Sevenoaks Vine in the second round - this game was interesting historically as it was contested between two of the oldest clubs in the country (Sevenoaks Vine 1734, Rye 1754). Obviously seniority paid off!
Jeanne Freeman writes: "Rye WI at their May meeting sat stoically through as dreary a set of AGM resolutions as have ever been offered. They instructed their delegate to agree to more information about Aids, better teaching for dyslexic children, stiffer penalties for child abuse, and an amendment to the WI Constitution to allow WIs to be formed in cities. After a more than usually welcome cup of tea, members of the Drama Group performed their individual 'party pieces' to gales of laughter."
Our recent enquiry for information about the Dr. Trollope who gave £500 to the new Grammar School building in 1907 produced an anonymous but very welcome note from (we suspect) one of our older readers, who quotes from Mr. Deacon's book "Ancient Rye". "The late Dr. Trollope, MD, of St. Leonards, for many years an eminent physician at Hastings and who died in 1907, left the sum of £500 for the Rye Grammar School, and this has been added to the school endowments and devoted to help defray the cost of the new school in The Grove - a moiety of the expense being borne by the County Council and the site presented by the Rye Corporation." Many thanks to our unknown correspondent.
It would still be interesting to know why a St. Leonards man who had a Hastings practice left this (then) very considerable sum to Rye Grammar School. Could he have been a former pupil? Hastings historians, over to you.
The exhibition which opened on Saturday at the Easton Rooms combines recent paintings (some with an unexpectedly oriental tinge) by Mick Rooney with glass by Charlie Meaker. Mr. Rooney's work is well known locally, and one of his pictures is in the FRAG collection; he has been represented in exhibitions all over the world, and has won various sponsorships and prizes, as one-and-a-half pages of biography on the wall make clear. This year he has had work on show in Holland and America as well as in this country. Mick Rooney's admirers will need no urging from us to go to the exhibition, but they will need to have quite deep pockets if they are to do more than just look.
Charlie Meaker's glass comes in stark shapes recalling laboratory equipment, but it is decorated unusually in geometric shapes and spirals. Several pieces have the decoration added after the glass is first blown - one bowl with "tadpoles" is a real tour-de-force! Other pieces come in strong colours, and there are tumblers and bottles with surprises in the base. An interesting selection of work from an obviously skilled artist.
The exhibition runs until 17 June.
Thrift Shop, Red Cross, /0.30 to 4 (and Friday and Saturday)
Methodist Church Gift Day, 10 to 1
Blood Transfusion Service, Baptist Hall, 2 to 4, 5 to 7.45
Playden WI Fair, FEC, 10
Morris dancers in St. Mary's, 2.45 to 3.15 (and elsewhere)
United Service, Baptist Church, 6.30
Fun Run for Sport Aid Appeal, The Grove, from 4 (see front page)
Bank Holiday - half-term week begins
Local History Group (business meeting), Library, 7.30
WI County Camera Group exhibition, Methodist Hall, 10 to 3 Coffee morning for Muscular Dystrophy, Red Cross, 9.30 to 12
• Many happy returns to Sir Francis Drake of Rye Goldsmiths, one year old today (or as near as makes no difference, says Sally Todd). Rumours of a celebratory sex-change are quite false, and were triggered by evil-minded friends who deposited a foreign egg in the knightly nest-box!
• The Pentecost Party on Sunday entertained 120 guests in St. Mary's churchyard in lovely weather; once again the birthday cake just didn't catch fire; and Canon Yarker gave "one of the best talks for children I have ever heard" says Rachel Sarrieddine.
• Devonport House residents are sorry to say goodbye to Miss Hilda Field, who has been in hospital for some time and is now living at the Melrose nursing-home in Hastings.
• Joan Camier will be on Radio Sussex's eastern-end programme tomorrow at 2.30 (258m, medium-wave), talking about the Royal British Legion in connection with the Women's Section 50th birthday celebration here on 8 June.
• This week's planning applications include use of the ground floor at 55 The Mint (David Sharp's premises) as a tea-room and coffee-bar with light refreshments; and conversion of 105 Winchelsea Road into two self-contained dwellings.
• The WI coach trip to London on Saturday, 7 June, still has some empty seats. Anyone (WI member or not) who would like to go on this £3.50 outing should phone Rye 222907 as soon as possible for details - a good cheap day out:
• Those who intended to give money to the Old Scholars Association fund in memory of Miss Turner but never got around to it are reminded that the fund is still open; cheques made out to "Miss Turner Memorial Fund" can be sent via Thomas Peacocke School. The fund will be administered by the Foundation Governors, and in due course John Smith will let us know how the interest is to be spent.
• The Mallydams Field Centre at Fairlight offers various holiday activities for children aged 8 to 11, from 27 to 30 May. The press release reached us late but there may still be vacancies: phone Hastings 812055, office hours.
• Joan Parkes has moved house; her new address is Ockman Cottage, just off East Street, her phone number remains Rye 222717. RNLI supporters, NB.
Apologies to those whose copies of last week's GAZETTE were rather faint, or delivered later than usual; all photocopiers have bad days, and last week's paper was eventually printed on three different machines. Many thanks to Bernie at Rye and John at New Romney for their capable help in emergency!
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 PortsStreet, and back numbers from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1986)