Even two months after the event, really splendid news from Rye & Rother Valley Round Table deserves the front page this week: Rye Carnival on 2 August brought in a total of £4,800! Round Tablers are most grateful to all who gave their support in time or money or other ways - including Skinners Garage, who have contributed handsomely in respect of car sales made to holders of Carnival programmes, as promised.
John Walker, in charge of the supermarket team, tells us that in fact Bardens had consulted British Rail in advance about the closure of the Ferry Road car park entrance; there had been a site meeting there a fortnight before, with BR's Area Manager Harry Holt no less, plus other BR staff of less exalted rank. It was therefore BR's fault and not Bardens that advance information didn't get through to a stunned Mr. Catt at the pay-kiosk, let alone the regular customers, in good time. Mr. Walker, however, hadn't realised how the Goods Yard was tied into Pother's colour-coded car-park signing; perhaps BR didn't realise either. Anyway, although last week coaches from Hastings were still rounding Bannister's Corner despite the arrowed sign on the lamp-post indicating Station Approach (and then backing crossly into the Mill lane in order to come back again), Mr. Walker tells us that word rapidly got round among the drivers, and there should not be a problem now.
The piling in the Goods Yard is going down about 10½ metres, at which level the drill struck the basic sandstone. The site is, of course, much further from the river than either Magdala House or the Tilling Green Estate - where problems in Cooper Road will be the subject of a report to Rother's Housing Committee next week.
The long-established Rye Playgroup will soon be faced with the expense of major repairs to the old Civil Defence hut in Ferry Road where it meets every weekday. Last week a jewellery party given by Mrs. Janet Wood in Cooper Road raised £83, and three more events are planned before Christmas. On 26 October Mrs. Holloway of Icklesham takes part in the Ore Half-Marathon, and invites sponsors for playgroup funds; she has a child there, and is a familiar figure jogging round the Estate in her pink tracksuit during playgroup hours! On 10 November there will oe a sale of children's clothing at the Clinic from 10.30 to 3.30 - the goods are all new, factory "seconds" from several major national brands, and there should be bargains worth having. Finally, 29 November sees the Playgroup Christmas Fayre, also at the Clinic, from 2 to 4; Father Christmas will be spending the afternoon in his grotto there, and there will be a grand raffle, assorted stalls and a tombola. Playgroup mums, grans, aunties and friends generally may like to make a note of these dates now.
Starting on 10 October the Health Promotion Unit free weekly Friday-afternoon course at the FE Centre from 2 to 4 called "Look After Yourself!" The publicity team whom we happened to encounter down the market last week assured us that this is not another aerobic group nor a slimmers' club, but a national programme aimed at better health for everyone, of whatever age or occupation. It combines discussion about nutrition and other health topics with safe exercise ("a personal exercise schedule that's right for you") and simple relaxation techniques for coping with stress. Students are expected to attend all ten sessions if possible.
"No leotards?" we said, "No jumping up and down in public?" Absolutely not, it seems; no making a fool of yourself at all except in the strictest privacy. And if anyone can teach the Editor a simple relaxation technique for use on Monday evenings when once again the GAZETTE material overflows the space available for it - then she'll be there on the 10th. See you too?
2.
Mrs. Ellen Frances Orford (nee Nellie Ashenden), wife of Mr. Fred Orford of Cadborough Cliff, died in hospital on 25 September after a short illness. Mrs. Orford was 83. We hope to have a fuller obituary notice next week. The funeral takes place at Playden Church tomorrow (Thursday) at 2.30, and will be followed by burial in the churchyard.
The family of the late Mr. Henry Parsons are most grateful for the letters and expressions of sympathy which they have received. Friends who were not able to go over to Hastings for the funeral last week may like to know that among the mourners were representatives of both the Rye Branch of the British Legion and also the Dunkirk Veterans Association - a tribute which Mr. Parsons would have greatly appreciated.
Reporting to the School Governors on this year'e examination results, Ray Fooks said he was very proud of both pupils and staff. About 380 students from the Fifth Year onwards entered for public examinations of one kind or another. In the Fifth Year only six pupils left school without taking any public exam; 64 took CSE only, and the remaining 163 mostly took a mixture of GCE and CSE paper Of these, 30 gained at least six GCE passes (A, B or C grades) or the equivalent. The overall pattern was slightly down on last year, which Mr. Fooks attributes to "the tremendous amount of staff illness last year and the difficulty in obtaining supply teachers ... there must be a better County policy on this matter" he says. RSA and Pitman examinations were also taken. In the Sixth Form, over 100 students took O or AO-level exams, either as one-year Sixth Form courses or to improve their fifth-year results, and here the results were better overall than last year's. For the first time, 11 sixth-formers took Certificate of Pre-Vocational Education courses "with very pleasing consequences". The school's A-level candidates achieved a 65% pass rate - slightly down on last year, but with more high-grade passes than for several years. In all, TPS students gained 79 passes at A-level, 656 at 0-level and 1036 at CSE.
Eleven sixth-form leavers are going on to University, six to Polytechnic, two to Colleges of Higher Education, three to Art Foundation courses, and fourteen are starting on other forms of professional training. Craig Chapman takes up his Oxford place (reading Maths) next week, and the Head hopes that five of the new Upper Sixth will be trying for Oxbridge in 1987. The school has so far heard from seven ex-pupils who gained very satisfactory degrees in the summer - one with a First and six with 2.1 Honours.
The school's PTA had a beautiful day for its big annual fund-raiser, the Michaelmas Fair. Held for the first time at Lower School, it was opened by Geoffrey Chater, who very agreeably adopted his Mr. Wyse monocle and manner at the start of his speech and then proved that he had also done his homework over the history of the school. Music throughout the afternoon was the shared responsibility of the School Band and the Jazz Taverners; refreshments were in the hands of Julia Thomas from Leasam, with Pat Baker (now no longer a TPS parent) helping out just one more time. The chief attraction was the Headcorn Parachute Club team's descent, a most alluring sight as the coloured chutes unfolded in the sunshine; the team normally has eight members, but a ninth joined them for this display - a former TPS pupil, PTA secretary Janet Sheppard was told, though she failed to discover the name. This was followed by a model aircraft flying display, very spectacular and with its own miniature parachutists! As your reporter was not there, she cannot attempt to list all the various stalls and sideshows, but we heard that the coconut-shy was a particularly welcome revival after several years.
Winners of the top prizes in the PTA draw were (£100) someone from the Ellis Bros office; (£75) Mrs. A. Cooke of Guestling; (L50) Emma Spencer, daughter of Joan and Terry, Military Road. A full list of the fifty or so winners is available at the school. The total amount of money raised by the Fair is not yet known, but the figure should be announced next week.
3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 1 October 1986
Vandals left a trail of minor damage in the town in the early hours of Sunday morning - overturned flower tubs and damage to front gardens in the Strand quay and South Undercliff area, plants pulled up in the Gun Garden and windows broken in the railway station and bus yard. Condolences to those whose property suffered. We have heard blame for this laid on those taking part in a scooter rally held at Winchelsea Beach at the weekend, but the police station on Monday had no evidence to support this. When a patrol car investigated at 3 am on Sunday the harm was done and the villains had departed, and the police don't know who they were. If anyone does know, the police station phone number is Rye 222112.
The four local entries in the press book this week represent together quite a considerable loss to those concerned. A radio valued at nearly £600 was taken from the locked wheelhouse of a boat at the Fishmarket some time between 11 and 14 September. £3,000-worth of chandlery and clothing was stolen from Togs & Tackle at Rye Harbour on 13/14 September. Between 9 and 12 September a £110 pink lustre plaque, 8" x 10" with a picture of the Royal yacht "Victoria & Albert" was taken from Ropewalk Antiques' Cinque Ports Street shop. And a new £500 Amstrad personal computer/word-processor, still in its 3'-square yellow box, was stolen from Thomas Peacocke School during the holidays; it was one of a dozen delivered (perhaps a little unwisely?) before the start of term, in preparation for the new Business Studies course at the school.
Sussex Express readers who were unnerved by the headline last week about "shock urgent repairs needed to save listed town hall" can rest easy; the prognosis for the Town Hall is not really quite that disastrous. The cupola on top of the building is in need of repair; it is a long time since anything has been done to it, and Burnhams will be putting up scaffolding at the end of this week with a view to making repairs to the joinery and the mouldings and repainting the whole structure. While they are up there, they will also be doing some odd jobs to the roof generally. The Council is very fortunate, as the Town Clerk points out, in having the experience of Councillor Eric Le Fevre at its disposal; his report details the work which Burnhams will be carrying out, and the Council hopes that nothing more sinister will be revealed when repairs start. At its meeting last week, Rother's Planning Committee decided to give the Town Council a grant of £1,000 towards the estimated cost (a little under £3,000) of the repair work to the cupola.
A leaflet available from Rye Police Station gives details of the new fixed penalty system of "tickets" for traffic offences which starts today. This is an elaboration of the fixed parking fine, and (like it) can be argued in court if the driver pleads not guilty. Offences which carry licence endorsement points at present will still carry them, plus a fixed-penalty ticket of £24; for non-endorsable offences the ticket will be £12. If you take the case to court and lose it, the fine is likely to be higher; if you simply ignore the ticket for more than 28 days, the penalty is increased by 50% and treated as a court fine, so you find yourself paying £36 (or £18) in the end. The tickets themselves carry details of all this, including where to pay.
If a ticket is not stuck on a parked car but given to the driver, the policeman may want to see the driver's licence, either then or later; it will save time, says the leaflet, to have your licence with you. (Now that driving licences run for such long periods, we wonder how many are fossilised into the very bottom stratum of a family's filing system!)
Various other changes in Court procedures operate from today, including the earlier starting time of 10 am (not 10.30). The police are no longer responsible for prosecutions, which are now in the hands of the Crown Prosecution Service (locally, based in Eastbourne - so they must regret the earlier start!). Police will only be present if they are called as witnesses, or are escorting a prisoner.
4.
Almost a hundred years ago Lord Monk Bretton, the first chairman of East Sussex County Council, came to Rye to open a new bridge across the Rother. On Saturday his grandson's wife, the present Lady Monk Bretton, was at the Harbour to perform another pleasant ceremony. Her husband is the President of the Lewes Branch of the RNLI, and she was unveiling the plaque recording the Branch as donors of the new Rye Harbour lifeboat.
The big C-class inflatable cost Lewes RNLI £15,000, raised over five years. It has twin engines and a range of 80 miles, day or night, summer or winter, which can be invaluable in a search-pattern type of operation. The boat comes complete with a drive-on-drive-off launching trolley which has an arresting-net to stop it dead at half-speed. The present Unimog launching vehicle has also been completely refurbished, and will relieve the crew of the job of pushing the boat into the water and later dragging it back over two shingle banks.
The afternoon's programme included speeches by Dusty Miller of Rye Harbour, Dr. Geoffrey Hale of Iden, Lifeboat Secretary Richard Tollett, Dennis Walker (chairman of the Lewes Branch) and Lt. John Caldwell from the RNLI. The Rev. Edwin Wilkinson conducted the Service of Dedication, and the Salvation Army band provided the music. (And many thanks to Mary Lestocq for giving us all the information.)
• On Sunday a coach full of British Legion members from Rye and Burma Star members from Hastings went to church - rather special church, as it turned out! They had been invited to attend the Harvest Festival Service at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. Its Chapel serves, of course, the Chelsea Pensioners and staff, and also the people who live nearby; the choir is particularly gifted, and the Chapel looked beautiful. The band of the Irish Guards played before the service. But the real surprise was the preacher: Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury's "special envoy" and go-between. Joan Gamier tells us that Mr. Waite's charisma, not always obvious on the television screen, comes over very strongly face to face, and they could see why he is so effective in negotiations over hostages with Middle Eastern politicians and potentates.
This was the Legion's fourth visit to Chelsea, where they are always made to feel very welcome. Their regular guide from the Pensioners, Harry, may be 86, says Joan Gamier, but he has them all gasping along behind him as he marches them round the grounds at a very brisk pace indeed!
• Museum Association members who went to Lewes on Saturday were interested to visit our county town's Town Model, new this season in a small building neatly tucked away beside the Barbican. Unlike the island-site Rye Town Model, the Lewes version is laid out to face the seating and is backed with a painted landscape; on this, in the course of the show, slides are projected to illustrate the commentary or amplify the background noises. We felt this was of debatable value; the pictures (taken mainly from documents or books of the period) certainly relate to Lewes's bloody and inflammable story, but of course they utterly destroy the scale, and there is no illusory feeling of peeping at one small town through a gap in the mists of time, as at Rye. It is, however, a professionally presented show, most helpful for visitors and well worth a visit. (Maurice Ellwood, on behalf of the Rye Model team, was seen peering with professional interest into the control box at the back!)Splinter groups from the main party's tour of the town did their own thing, and we can thoroughly recommend the long trek to the very top of the castle, with a fantastic view all round rewarding the exhausted but triumphant climber. Celebrating its first birthday that week was a crafts centre converted from a range of warehouses and factories in the middle of the town, the Old Needlemakers - twenty or so small attractive shops, backed up by a pleasant and inexpensive cafe, provided an excellent example of what can be done with old industrial buildings treated with optimism and imagination. This is, after all, a problem which will eventually have to come Rye's way... We also found a blacksmith, Ben Autie, whose town-centre smithy dated back to Georgian times.
5.
At last Thursday's planning meeting, Rother refused permission for 14 new houses at the end of Tram Road, Rye Harbour; and also at the Harbour, permission was given for a vehicle maintenance building for Alsfords. In Rye, the Gatehouse Restaurant cannot put up an advertising board on the wall beside the Landgate; a refusal has gone to the proposal to erect three bungalows in Dead Man's Lane, and another to the plans for a new entrance to the Swiss Patisserie. The application for Michael Sanders' radio transmitter in Ferry Road has been deferred. R & E Engineering now have permanent permission to use their block of garages in Rock Channel for light engineering purposes. A new vehicular access for 45 New Road has permission subject to no objections within the statutory period. Approval is given for french doors, etc., for 6 Meryon Court, and for a double garage at 4 Love Lane. (All this information is still in draft form, and no-one should actually start work until they get it in writing.) There are no Rye applications in the current list.
You are in the grocer's. You want baked beans - easy, there's the tin with a picture of baked beans on it. But you also want custard powder, and there are three different tins, all with just writing on them; so you guess - and what you've got is cocoa.
Not many people round here, thanks to our local schools, have quite that sort of problem. But some who were never long at the same school, or had poor health as children, or whose parents couldn't see the use of school anyway, sometimes wish - when they are well into adult life - that they were better at reading and writing, if only to fill in a driving licence application or even to look up a telephone number.
It is these people for whom the Adult Literacy Scheme is run by the County Council Education Department, and a speaker to the Community Lunch Group's last meeting explained how the system works. There is, she says, only minimal paid staffing and no money at all for books; the scheme works on a one-to-one teacher-pupil relationship, with the sessions taking place in either the pupil's home or the teacher's (or, in larger towns, in the normal evening-class set-up) and all the teaching is voluntary.
The two part-time ex-teachers who work from Hastings are in charge of a pool of volunteers of all ages and both sexes. They don't have to be trained teachers - training, in the form of four Saturday sessions at Hastings, is given. But they do need to be sympathetic and able not only to visualise the pupil's difficulty but also to seek out the best way to solve it for that particular person.
The staff need a large pool of "teachers" so that they can match a pupil to someone specially suited to him or her - maybe someone equally mad about motorbikes or pop music, maybe with more domestic interests (imagine not being able to read a knitting pattern...) Sometimes pupils are happy just to get to the stage where they can cope with a shopping-list and the more sensational paragraphs of the Sun; sometimes they are inspired to go on to 0-levels via the ordinary evening classes. Because the relationship is one-to-one (and can become a lasting friendship) there is no question of getting left behind, or holding others back; the pupil can work at the pace he or she finds best. What the teacher gets from the deal is the satisfaction of making a great deal of difference to someone’s life.
One problem is books. There are only a very few Westerns, thrillers, romances written in primary-school language (Mills and Boon in terms of Jane and John!) You can see why: "Peter kisses Jane. Jane kicks Peter. Peter shoots Pat the dog." Teachers are encouraged to find their own teaching material, be it a car service manual or a cookbook, to suit the pupil.
The first stage, for people with hours a week to spare for teaching or those who would like to be taught, is to ring Hastings 435619; there is a real live person there in the morning, an answerphone in the afternoon, but either will do for starters. Good luck!
6.
When Rother Council's Recreation & Tourism Committee meets on 7 October it is likely to be considering two documents from Rye - replies to David Blake's 12-page May report on "Tourism in Rother".
On behalf of the Rye Promotion Group, Robert Bromley has submitted a very elaborate point-by-point commentary on Mr. Blake's report. We cannot attempt to summarise it, but it is clear that the Group is not entirely in sympathy with what Mr. Blake says, both as regards Rye and in his approach to tourism in the Rother District generally.
A very much simpler commentary comes from Rye Town Council. At the last meeting of its Leisure & Tourism Committee, the Council discussed an informal document presented by Councillor Wiseman, and with some amendments used it as the basis of the Council's reply to Mr. Blake.
The Town Council sees four main challenges to tourism in Rye: lack of maintenance to buildings and streets and car-parks; lack of market research as to the type of person drawn to Rye; lack of investment ("not a single major investment in tourism" over the past 20 years) - the Tourist Office is much too small, and "toilet facilities will still be needed in 300 years as they are today and those in Rye are the largest single cause of complaint by visitors and residents." Finally, "there is little energy and drive put into the pro. motion of tourism - the importance of Rye does not seem to be recognised by the amount of effort which goes into promoting it". There is a reference to inadequate footpath markings and upkeep, and a suggestion for the Tillingham area by Gibbet Marsh: "this should be an attractive riverside area with walks, car parking facilities, picnic areas, etc. Instead we have a totally unattractive under-utilised car park and a river bank, the management of which can only be described as a total aesthetic disaster." (Here the GAZETTE disagrees: the Tillingham banks are one of the few areas left wild in the town, and not a total aesthetic disaster by many people's standards.)
The Council document concludes: "Superficially tourism is an expanding business with a profitable future, but the existing situation holds within it the seeds of future decay. For how much longer will people be attracted to a small overcrowded dirty town where there is nothing to do other than stare at old buildings. Prosperity is not permanent; one hundred years ago Hastings was a highly fashionable resort. There are other small towns which are as old as Rye and are perhaps being managed in ways which are more attractive to the kind of tourists we would like to attract - eg. Tenterden and Rochester. There have been some excellent schemes drawn up for Rye and it is felt to be a great shag and a loss of the District as a whole that none of these have come to fruition. It must be recognised that there are costs to residents as well as benefits and the benefits must outweigh the costs."
This report has not yet been considered by the full Town Council, but it is the view of those committee members who put it together. It seems very possible that it may not always also be the view of every Rye resident? If you don't agree with the report, don't complain to the GAZETTE; instead, make sure that you are free on the evening of 17 November. This is when the Town Council next meets, and under the new public participation arrangements (amended after last month's trial run) any member of the public can raise any matter at the start of every Town Council meeting. In order to give the Town Clerk time to do her homework, questions should normally be sent in a week beforehand, and the questioner must be present to speak for him or herself at the meeting; last-minute no-notice questions may be considered at the discretion of the Council, but written ones take priority. This gives an excellent opportunity to everyone who is not happy with the report, for whatever reason: go along and say so - or how is the Council to know?
STOP PRESS - apology for a mis-typing in The Week's Events: Saturday's Autumn Fair is being held by the CONSERVATIVE (not Conservation) ASSOCIATION.
7.
• A meeting of the Rye Sports Centre Committee was called at TPS last week by Rother's Chief Executive David Powell, with other members of Rother staff also present. Councillor Pauline Tomich was elected to the chair, with County Councillor Joan Yates as vice-chairman. The other committee members are Frank Palmer (Rye Town Council), Rother Councillors John Cawdron and Pat Guilmant, Margaret Marshall of the TPS PE staff, and Bob Vincent of Udimore Road. Mr. Vincent is the chairman of the Friends of Rye Sports Centre, the supporting group which, as Mrs. Tomich points out, will be a valuable link between community and management, and which replaces the original steering committee so ably chaired by Rowena Varley.
• Miss Goldie-Smith is once again looking for donkey-lovers. She writes: " 'I want another go!' was the plaintive cry of one tiny person during our usual Tuesday donkey-cart session with the Hill House Special School children last week. How they love it! Those who can, come running up the path for their ride, all too short, it seems. So it is sad that we once more lack enough helpers, four each week, to be able to arrange a fortnightly rota for this delightful little bit of social service that seems more like fun than work. We collect the donkeys from their field at 9.50 am to harness up, and usually have them back there again by 11.20. We continue well into November, weather permitting, and hope to resume before Easter. Any offers?"
• A little late, we have a report of a very successful summer camp at RAF Lynham which was attended by ten members of the TPS 2274 ATC Squadron. This was the week of Hurricane Charlie (remember Bank Holiday Monday?) which washed the cadets out of their tents on the first night. But once that was behind them, they enjoyed shooting, swimming, orienteering and other sport, races over the RAF police-dog training course, and of course the high spot - two hours' flying in a Hercules aircraft. Although the Squadron was the smallest in the camp, it came second in the Best Squadron competition, and F/Sgt Simon Hunt (from Northiam) was judged the week's best NCO, with his brother Cpl. A Hunt close behind.
• A fortnight ago a group from the Society for Spritsail Barge Research came to Rye, inspired by a letter from maritime enthusiast Richard Horner of Military Road. They told him that the "Convoy", 73 tons and built at Rye by G & T Smith in 1900, is moored outside "The Ship" at Wandsworth, resting after an accident off Dover last year. She was originally built to carry Portland stone for the construction of the Dover breakwater, was rebuilt in 1944 and rescued again in 1968 after a collision had almost written her off. Since then she has been engaged in holiday cruises, and was the first British barge to cruise around Britain via the Caledonian Canal. She is believed to be the last Rye-built barge still afloat. Anyone who happens to be near Wandsworth might like to go and have a look?
• The TPS local history group which we mentioned recently has now produced a very comprehensive questionnaire, and will be most grateful to people who were living in Rye before 1945 and who will fill it in for them. It will not be just a ten- minute job, and some older people might like to enlist the help of family or neighbours. "We are particularly interested in everyday things, at home, at school, at work and how you remember Rye in the old days" says Jo Kirkham's introductory letter. Copies of the questionnaire can be .obtained from Mrs. Kirkham at the school, and the eventual aim is to produce a booklet based on the information gained. The pupils engaged in this project are Sharon Vidler, Marie Pawson, Michelle Robus, Dean Blanchard, Tracy Champion and John Green, and they will gladly come and talk to anyone who would rather talk than fill in the questionnaire.
• The other day Jim Pilcher came across a souvenir of his youth, and wonders how many others are still cherished. Miss Martin, who kept a sweet-shop at the bottom of the Landgate, took a great interest in her young customers and, when they grew up and married, in their children; and she had the delightful habit of presenting a crown piece to the first-born baby. Jim doesn't know how long she kept up this benefaction, nor when she started, but he still has his crown piece. Can anyone give us more information?
Landgate WI coffee morning, Red Cross, 10.30
Blood donor session, Baptist Hall, 2 to 4 and 5 to 7.45 Ken Warren MP, surgery at Council Offices, afternoon, by appointment only (Hastings 423110)
Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale, 10 St. Mary's Harvest Supper, CC, 6.45 for 7
Saturday, 4th Conservation Association Autumn Fair, FEC, 10 to 1
Monday, 6th Camera Club: "Photographing Aircraft" (Keith Donald), FEC, 7.30
Tuesday, 7th FRAG: "Louis Francois Roubiliac, 1702-62" (Tessa Murdoch), Art Gallery, 8
Wednesday, 8th Rye WI: "Mountains and flowers" (Frank Palmer), followed by members' slides, FEC, 7
Crime Prevention Panel, Police Station, 7.30
• We are so sorry to hear that Laurie Band is in hospital, in Ward 7A at St. Helen's; he would be very pleased to see friends from home.
• The coffee morning for ARC at the Red Cross last Friday raised C155 for the Council's research work.
• Bernard Fiddimore at Iden Kennels is looking for homes for two strays, both bitches - one lurcher and one Yorkshire terrier.
• Rye Firemen have a jumble sale at the Fire Station on Saturday week, 11th, at 1.30. They will be glad of jumble, bric-a-brac or small pieces of furniture - but no electrical goods, please, for safety reasons. Collection can be arranged.
• Elizabeth Hemmings has just come back to live in Rye. She offers tuition in Italian, or translation work. Miss Hemmings, who speaks fluent Italian, has been teaching English at the University of Venice.
• Sir Brian Batsford (Brian Cook) has designed a Christmas card to be sold for St. Mary's Church funds (20p with envelope). We haven't yet seen it, but Edwin Gibson tells us there are some on sale in the church by the entrance to the Clare Chapel, and a sample on view in the window of the bookstall (now closed for the winter). People wanting to order in quantity should contact Mr. Gibson direct.
• The coffee morning held by Mrs. Playford at Pottingfield Road on Saturday raised £103, which the proud hostess was delighted to present to Mrs. Barton for the WRVS. Mrs. Playford had not expected to make so much, but she was the lucky winner of the doll (named "Trudy") which she promptly sold to a customer for the £10 which brought the amount over the magic C100 mark. She is most grateful to helpers, customers - and the weather!
• The date of Thomas Peacocke School's Open Evening has been altered from 23 October, since ESCC is closing the school for 23 and 24 October for GCSE staff training. The new date will be Tuesday, 21 October, from 6.30 to 9.
• Mermaid Street's outbreak of tarmac blotches is apparently not permanent; it awaits the cosmetic attention of the cobble experts. But Ralph Olesen at Bexhill is on leave, and no-one else there is allowed to talk to the press so we can't discover for how much longer this unsightly rash is likely to spoil the street's photogenic charm.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7DR (0797 222303), and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. News items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline Monday afternoon. The GAZETTE costs 30p weekly and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday. A very few spare copies and back numbers may be available from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1986)