The result of the NSPCC house-to-house collection in Rye and district earlier this month was £1,445 - yet again, £200 up on the previous year. "Thanks to all" says Anne Wood simply.
Today sees the opening of Rye's first-ever (as far as we know) permanent charity shop: St. Michael's Hospice Appeal has found a base at last.
The new shop, as passers-by for the past week will have noticed, is in the building opposite the Old Forge Restaurant, once the monumental mason's premises. It will be open from 10 to 1 on Wednesday to Saturday inclusive, every week - staffed on a rota basis by members of Joy Mockett's team. In charge is Bob Hodgson from Hastings.
Goods sold will have been given to the Appeal outright (the shop does not sell on a commission basis) and all the profit goes to the Hospice. Everything handed in at Rye goes back to Hastings for pricing (there is no room here), and may then go into one of the other Hospice shops - just as goods handed in at Hastings may appear here. After a while, experience will show what sells best where. It should be made clear that this is not a glorified jumble sale! - only good-quality clothing is wanted (ladies', men's and children's in or out of season). Books and bric-a-brac will be gratefully received, and there is a collection service for small pieces of furniture (these should not be brought to the shop - phone Hastings k34310 (evenings) for the date of the next collecting run). Household goods in saleable condition are also welcome, except for large things like cookers and freezers which they know will be difficult to shift, in every sense.
It seems improbable that a shop of this kind could fail, whatever the cause it supported; and the Hospice, of course, is something which any of us may one day need. Bob Hodgson makes the point that the new shop is not just a branch of the Hastings one, but Rye's own contribution to the Appeal, and he hopes that Rye will take both shop and Hospice to its heart.
Ken Warren has been pressing Peter Bottomley at the D o T about the bypass as hard as reasonable, commensurate with getting sensible progress". We received from Mr. Warren yesterday a copy of the Minister's latest letter:
"...You will know from your discussions with Lynda Chalker that we are finding it very difficult to identify environmentally acceptable and economic routes to offer to the public at the forthcoming consultation. You are aware of the problems over northern and southern routes. There are now difficulties with the central routes, in relation to local planning issues, and effect on property and the railway line. As a result we shall not be able to consult the public this autumn..."
Mr. Bottomley adds that progress on the detailed design for the Winchelsea route is being maintained - which must account for all the surveyors we keep seeing and they hope to publish formal proposals next spring; a decision whether to hold a public enquiry will be taken in the light of the objections and representations received. They are, he says, taking account of "the projected impact of the Channel Tunnel on traffic flows".
We are most grateful to Mr. Warren for this extremely interesting information. It sounds as if the supermarket south of the railway, and Rother's desperate search for parking-space to the north, may yet save the town from the throughway that no-one wants. (And the D o T's approach to the new plans for the bus garage - see Planning Matters, page 4 - could be connected with the difficulties over a central route.)
2.
Mrs. Vera Funnell, of Lea Avenue, died in Rye Hospital last week after several months of illness. Mrs. Funnell, formerly Mrs. Hall, was 68, and is survived by three sons and one daughter. Surrey born, she came to live in Rye from Udimore, and leaves many friends in the town. She was a valued member of the Women's Section of the Royal British Legion, their Sports Secretary and Captain of their darts team - at a recent darts match, Ely was raised to be given to Rye Hospital in her memory. The funeral took place on Friday.
Mrs. Anne Baddeley, who has died in Rye Hospital after a long illness, was 64. Born in Rye at the Olde Tuck Shoppe, she was the youngest of three children, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard; she was a pupil at Rye Grammar School, and throughout her life kept in touch with friends made there. On leaving school in 1938 she went to work in the new Electricity Board shop at the bottom of Market Road; she was there all through the war, and in the shop when the cinema was bombed - and was once fined £2 in court for disobeying the blackout regulations! In 1940 she and Jack Baddeley of Beckley were married; they had three days together, and then didn't see each other for three years. When he came out of the Army, Mr. Baddeley - who died ten years ago - became a butcher, and worked in the shop at Bannister's Corner for Mr. Wells. The family moved out of Rye and eventually settled in Northiam, where Mrs. Baddeley was secretary at the primary school for over 20 years; it was a job which she very much enjoyed and only gave up when her health began to fail, and many people from Northiam were at her funeral in Hastings. Donations in her memory may be sent to Cancer Research or Cancer Relief, at her own request. She is survived by her three children, Jacqueline, Michael and Judy, and seven grand-children.
Mrs. Beatrice Colcomb, of Badger Gate, died in St. Helen's Hospital after a seven-week illness. Mrs. Colcomb, who was 87, had been at Badger Gate for two years; she used to live in Pottingfield Road, and was the widow of Mr. Thomas Colcomb, who died in 1977. There are no children of the marriage. The funeral is on Thursday at 10.30 at Hastings Crematorium.
Mr. Ted Pope, of Wish Street, died in hospital in London on 26 October; he had been taken up to Guy's for tests after three weeks in St. Helen's. Mr. Pope, who was 78, was born in Rye; his wife Grace, who died ten years ago, came from Bexhill. Except for service with the Eighth Army during the war, all Mr. Pope's working life was spent with Webbs Bakery, first in Rye, working for Alan Webb's father at the Mill and then, after the war, in Lydd where the firm had a second bakery for some time. He could, of course, recall the lifeboat disaster, and the night when the Mill burnt down; in his youth he played football for Rye - and also took part in goal-running (even his son isn't quite sure who this was - can anyone tell us?). Mr. Pope was a quiet and very independent man, always ready with help for his neighbours when it was needed. He will be much missed by his friends here, and of course by his son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons in Lydd. The funeral, which will be followed by burial beside his wife, is likely to take place at Lydd on Monday; mourners should check with Ellis Bros (Rye 222394) for confirmation.
Today is the ninth anniversary of the death of Dr. Trevor Parkes, always remembered in Rye with love and gratitude.
Poems written by the late Mrs. Phoebe derricks, many during the war, have been published by her family in a little memorial book with a preface and cover by Michael Renton. Michael chose the title, "A Receptive Heart", from one of the poems, as a perfect summing-up of one vital aspect of her personality.
Someone whose own garden is always a picture was lamenting the sad fate of the flower-baskets in Rye Station - hung, earlier in the year, so high that they grilled miserably under the plastic canopy and were apparently inaccessible for watering. If they can't be looked after better, she says, wouldn't it be preferable to have none at all next year?
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 29 October 1986
On Friday, Miss Joan Hall of Hastings retires from her job as secretary at the Postern Gate Surgery after 35 years spent working for the practice. In 1951 she began work in the High Street surgery (now the Mariners Hotel), taking over from Joan Burke (now Joan Parkes). The partners were then Doctors Hartley, Palmer and Townsend, while Miss Creagh (who still lives in the High Street) was the dispenser. "It is hard to imagine" writes someone from the practice, "how much service behind the scenes Miss Hall has given to individuals and families in and around Rye during that time." It is indeed, and all her friends and patients will wish her every happiness in her retirement.
More than 22 years ago Mrs. Kay Smith, then Kay Glenn, became the secretary at Bryans Garage (now Skinners). Mrs. Smith, wife of Tom "Smudge" Smith, retired on Friday; on Saturday night she was the guest of honour at a dinner arranged at the Queen's Head by twenty of her friends, colleagues and ex-colleagues. One of them told us that the place was positively awash with flowers, chocolates and pink champagne! Mrs. Smith was presented with a carriage clock for her home at Winchelsea Beach - where she is likely to remain extremely busy, with plenty of family commitments.
• If you are a woman over 60, a man over 65, a full-time student aged between 16 and 18, blind or partially-sighted, physically or mentally handicapped, or not allowed to drive on medical grounds - if any of these apply to you, you should call at the Council offices any time after 10 November to collect details of the Countycards concessionary bus pass scheme. (We outlined this back in July, in GAZETTE no. 186.) Rother is joining the scheme, run by ESCC, from Monday, 8 December - and applicants are forewarned that they will need two copies of a booth-type photograph to attach to the form.
• There has hardly been time for shock-horror stories about the new bus timetables to reach the GAZETTE yet, but one problem is quite clear already: the loss of the last bus from Rye to Hastings via Icklesham. This is generally regarded as Rye's main bus route, yet the last bus now leaves at 17.05, giving it a much worse service than the other routes out of the town (the last bus to Camber leaves at 18.42!). A bus still arrives here from Camber at 18.20 - but it no longer goes on to Hastings. We don't know how many people who work in Rye are affected by having to pack up at 5pm sharp, but the loss of the service will certainly interfere with after-school activities (rehearsals, matches, etc.) at Thomas Peacocke, where many pupils live along the route now known as no.11.
Musical director Lesley Brownbill and five of the eight founder members of Ryesingers (Jo Kirkham, who was in hospital, would have been another) were among the guests at the choir's 15th birthday party at the Community Centre on 18 October. Great efforts were made to track down members who had moved away, and 120 people, including five regular accompanists, were present. The food, says Marian Lovell, "as befits singers, was beautiful, colourful and delightfully blended"; it was a combined affair, with the 48-egg cake baked and decorated by Doris Caree and her family. Entertainment took the form of a cabaret by choir members. Those who couldn't come sent lots of good wishes; those who could, met lots of old friends, and toasted the choir's next fifteen years.
Work in progress in the churchyard is an attempt to tidy up the erratic and sometimes disastrous parking arrangements for those who have business at St. Mary's. Rother is being most helpful, Canon Maundrell tells us, and the Conservation Society is in favour of the new plan. The area of tarmac outside the choir door is being expanded with a small wedge running to the far edge of the flying buttress; on this will be several marked spaces indicating that they are for church use. Once this is established, the intention is to deter anyone from parking in front of the war memorial, but still to allow access by car to the south door for wet-day weddings; experience will show what else is necessary, but Canon Maundrell hopes that a couple of strategically-placed bollards will do.
4.
For once Rye got no refusals at the planning meeting on Thursday. Subject, as always, to various conditions (don't do anything till you get it in writing!), the following applications were granted: the new building at the Hatleys development in Harbour Road; the board in Station Approach with details of the supermarket project; a two-storey granny extension to 80 King's Avenue; and a replacement garage for 18 Love Lane. The rest were deferred. There is to be a site inspection for Michael Saunders' radio transmitter mast in Ferry Road; a decision on the bathroom extension at the back of 42 Church Square was deferred for consultations on amended plans, with an inspection at the discretion of the Planning Officer; and the plans for redevelopment of the old bus garage site in South Undercliff were deferred to await clarification from the D o T, and the views of the Town Council and the County Engineer on the amended layout.
(The clarification sought from the D o T refers to the possible bypass option which they mentioned when the earlier plan was considered; this time, the writer stated "We do not intend to issue any advice on the proposed development", and then went on to comment only on the question of visibility from the proposed road access. Hmmmmm...)
The proprietors of Frenchman's Beach caravan park are appealing against Rother's refusal to allow thirty extra touring van pitches at the site, near the Martello tower at Rye Harbour.
This, week's list has just one Rye application, yet another attempt to obtain permission to add an extension to 25 Udimore Road, one of the pair of cottages on the bend at the foot of the hill.
There was standing-room only on 18 October, when Canon David Maundrell welcomed anyway some of the 16 Subscribers to the Rye Art Gallery, as well as a large number of Friends, at the Subscribers' Annual Meeting with the Trustees.
Under the Trust Deed, drawn up in 1957, Subscribers pay one guinea a year, and have the right to elect a Trustee; but as there has to be a quorum of 20, and there are currently only 16 altogether who are eligible to vote, there was a certain amount of discussion about the desirability of altering the rules! The Trustees are going to think about it, anyway.
Canon Maundrell reported on various Gallery matters, including "the great Lenin mystery" (what had happened to the bust of Lenin by Clare Sheridan which used to be in the Gallery?). The answer to this is that the bust had been only on loan from the Frewen family and is now in America; the Gandhi bust is also on loan from the Frewens. It is agreed - said Canon Maundrell, who was speaking as Chairman of the Trustees - that they should take financial responsibility for the Easton Rooms, accepting what is in fact already established practice. Confusion about terminology is to be resolved by renaming the Ockman Lane gallery Stormont Studio (commemorating the original benefactress), with both that and the Easton Rooms regarded as the offspring of the mother organisation, the Rye Art Gallery. The finances were satisfactory, showing a surplus of £5,500 last year with an income of 1.5,600; an announcement about the appeal will be made before long (we seem to have been saying this for some time now!).
After the evening's business, TVS producer Stuart Nimmo introduced the two films he had made about Rye artists for the "Putting on the South" series. He recalled how LWT were filming "Mapp and Lucia" at the same time, and the confusion this caused for a replacement cameraman who wasn't sure who he was supposed to be working for. Mr. Nimmo added that Rye was one of the few places he had filmed in where he had made real and lasting friendships - even though last time he was here he had been given a parking ticket at 1.30 am! The films were a pleasure to see again, particularly with the artists hiding in the back row...
The Gallery's next social event will be on Saturday, 15 November, a musical evening with George Veness and friends. Barbara Fearon would be very glad to hear from any FRAG member - or, indeed, from anyone - who would lend period costumes for a fashion parade at the Christmas party on 12 December.
5.
People who regularly use the Mill footpath have been watching gratefully as a clearance team works its way along the bank of the Tillingham, demolishing the thicket of undergrowth which has been peacefully rotting away and regrowing over the years. Wondering who this splendid group was, we pursued our enquiries via Rother to the Community Programme office in Hastings, where Mr. Sell explained. Hastings Borough Council has a Community Programme agency (whose workforce was a big help in setting up the Shipwreck Museum there, as Eric Le Fevre told the RCVS meeting). The Manpower Services Commission asked if they would extend the Programme to Rye, with a Rye base and workforce from the town and around. They did; the base is now in the old Farnborough building in Winchelsea Road, and the men clearing the river-bank are the Environmental team from our group. They are doing a lovely job along the Tillingham, as well as alongside the Cricket Salts and below Bankside, and we hope we shall be able to thank them again for further work later. (But until the vegetation starts to grow again in the spring, the Mill path gives rise to a certain unease - suddenly the river seems unnervingly close...!)
There is money to extend the Rye programme into "non-environmental" work, with another ten or so places on top of the present eleven. But here Mr. Sell has a problem; he doesn't know (and apparently the Jobcentre can't tell him!) what skills are available in the pool of long-term unemployed people in the area. He can't recruit direct; but if you have been out of work for some time and would be interested in working for the Community Programme here, it is important that you tell the Jobcentre so, and tell them, too, what you can do. Then Mr. Sell can perhaps extract from them whether there are enough experienced tradesmen (and women, of course) available for him to set up (say) a decorating team to help out elderly people - or maybe something quite different.
He would also like to hear from organisations which have projects that such a team could help with. Anything involving builder-type work has to be cleared not only with the trade unions but also with the employers' federation, so there is no guarantee that a project will be accepted; but it would be worth asking. Ring Mr. Sell, or Val Simpson, about this.
The Community Programme is also looking for two (possibly three) "family supporters" in the Rye area. Each job is 22- hours a week, Monday to Friday, with pay in the region of C60; it involves sitting with senile dementia sufferers in their homes to give the chance of time off (usually two hours morning or afternoon) to those who normally look after them. "Senile dementia" is not as scary as it sounds; the sufferers are ordinary elderly people, not "demented" in the normal non-medical sense but merely so confused that they can't be left alone in the house. Mr. Sell has a list of twenty households in desperate need of this sort of support and, at present, no local help to offer them. He tells us that if he is pushed it might be possible to combine two jobs into a full-time one, but in this case the holder would certainly need a car; part-timers could probably manage with a bike or the bus, and travel expenses are paid. For someone only wanting part-time work, and able to cope with muddled old people, this would surely be a really worthwhile job?
Believe it or not, that old chestnut of a chain letter about which we wrote in some amusement a couple of years ago is still going the rounds! This is the one which was "started by a missionary in South America"; recipients are not asked for money (which is illegal), but to send on twenty copies to their friends in order to ensure "good luck". Since this would cost £2.60 in stamps plus at least another £l for photocopying, we doubt if many do. But the letter also implies that if you don't send it on within four days you may be unlucky - which is, of course, ridiculous, but someone who has just cheerfully binned their copy wonders if elderly people might be worried by not doing anything about it. So if anyone wants to pass on such a letter, by all means pass it on to the GAZETTE - or to the police station, where Inspector Dyson told us last time that they would be happy to dispose of such junk along with their other rubbish!
6.
We can't offer readers a detailed report on the Thomas Peacocke School Open Evening, because Tuesday evening is not a convenient time for the GAZETTE to report on anything. But it was obvious that the weather didn't deter parents and younger brothers and sisters from looking at the work on display throughout Upper and Lower School - though when the water got into the floodlights, the dark journey between the two became somewhat hazardous! Senior staff reckoned that the attendance was every bit as good as it has been on the normal summer date for this event - maybe even better.
The evening saw the formal opening of the new Business and Information Technology Centre on the first floor of the ROSLA block. ESCC has come across handsomely over this project, and the classrooms have even been redecorated by Lewes (though Ed Wiseman ended up making the benches himself, recycling some discarded school cupboards). The computers and screens and processors wink mysteriously round the sides of the three rooms - while the security alarms keep a wary red eye on things from a corner. Looking thoughtfully at the new fitted carpet (!), Ray Fooks said that this was only a small part of the school - "but we're working on the rest...".
Among the most generous of the donors listed in the foyer are the PTA - "Can it please be said that we have a magnificent PTA here?" asked Mr. Fooks - and Rye and Rother Valley Round Table; both groups had handed over cheques for £1,000 earlier in the year. It was Round Table chairman Frank May who formally pronounced the Centre open, with a word of thanks to all the people who had supported Round Table events and made their donation possible. The Head added that he hoped it would be possible for the Centre to be used by MSC trainees out of school hours; there is also a possibility that the Further Education classes run by Hastings College will find it useful.
Your mature reporter is quite unable to say anything helpful about the magical pieces of equipment which 13-year-olds were manipulating with no trouble at all. Mr. Wiseman very much hopes, however, that people who would like to see for themselves what is now available for the pupils will come into the Centre and have a look. On Tuesdays from 11 to 12 and on Thursdays from 3 to 4 he will normally be delighted to show visitors round; phone the school office (Rye 222545) the previous day to say you will be coming, and he will ring you back if for any reason it is not convenient.
In one room in the Centre, Clive King is in charge (as before) of computer studies for all ages; in another, Sue Galvin teaches "keyboarding skills" (this is not the use of the electronic organ, but what used to be called typing!). In the middle room, Ed Wiseman has 18 fourth-year pupils starting on a course which will lead to two linked GCSEs and on which they are spending some 20% of their school time. In two years they can move on to A-levels at TPS, or to the courses already on offer at Hastings College for those leaving at 16; or, of course, straight into jobs.
Mr. Wiseman now hopes for two things. One is a further £3,500 falling magically from the skies to provide another half-dozen computers, so that next year the ground floor could also be used and the group of pupils enlarged. Less ambitiously, and more immediately, ke needs feedback from local employers about the sort of information technology skills which they hope to find in their new young staff. Obviously the courses will cover more than simply the basic requirements of employers, but these are a factor which he really does want to take into account. He has no idea which local firms use computers appreciably in their operations: the banks and building societies do, of course - but who else?
Some time next term Mr. Wiseman would like to set aside a couple of hours in the early evening, in the Centre, for a two-way discussion between teachers and employers - and he emphasises the word "discussion". If your business uses any of these electronic marvels and you would be prepared to contribute your point of view at an informal meeting of this kind, please let him know now (while you remember!) so that he can get in touch with you when a date is fixed.
7.
"What are you doing here?" we said in some surprise on Friday, finding Roy Edmunds of Ferry Road Galleries (and formerly of the Standard Inn) in charge at A Pocketful of Rye on Strand Quay. It turned out to be Mr. Edmunds' first day in his new shop; he is now the owner of the big warehouse beside the small car park. With part-time help from his son - who has a furniture shop in Lymington - he will be running both the Galleries and the new acquisition. He intends to leave the ground floor of Pocketful much as it is now, but after a certain amount of reorganisation he hopes to use the upper floor as a show- room for new furniture. Some things at present on sale in Ferry Road will move along to Pocketful, leaving room in the Galleries for a bigger selection of high-quality reproduction furniture; the roomy Pocketful will allow for a much larger display of the popular bamboo and wicker pieces at present squeezed into Ferry Road. Mr. Edmunds, who does his own deliveries, is very much surprised at the distances from which people come to shop with him (and, indeed, in Rye generally); he often goes well into Kent, and one day recently he delivered three identical corner units to three different addresses in Caterham!
• The Bone Marrow Donor Appeal leaflet we enclose this week is self-explanatory. But we hadn't, last week, fully grasped the arrangements for taking blood samples locally. Round Table need to know by Saturday week, 8 November, exactly how many volunteers aged 18-50 they have for an evening session in Rye on Wednesday, 26 November. They have to end up with a total of 160 - no more, no less - and if they can't get this number here they will have to look further afield, which all takes time. So please, if you are able to volunteer (the samples, incidentally, will be taken by a medical team and not by miscellaneous Round Tablers brandishing darning needles.') fill in the form and drop it into the box at Woolworths by the end of next week, or your offer may be wasted. Cash donations to pay for the testing will of course be welcome at any time and from anyone, c/o Woolworths or any Round Tabler.
• It was ticket no. 697 which the Mayor pulled out on Saturday morning in the draw for the Multiple Sclerosis Society colour television set, and the fortunate winner is Ken Jenner of Marden, Kent. Mr. Jenner is a relative by marriage of Mrs. Phyllis Eldridge of Rye, and he had sponsored George Cumming on her sponsor sheet. The amount raised by Mr. Cumming's marathon - boosted, doubtless, by sponsors simply lured by the prospect of winning the television - was an astonishing £782, and the Rye & District Branch of MSS is extremely grateful to everyone who helped, including Marjorie Twine and Barry Rivers.
• Not Band Aid, not Sport Aid, but Sheep Aid came to Rye last week. This is an appeal for money to provide better breeding-stock for farmers in Southern Sudan, a cause dear to David and Caroline Dickinson who farm in Wittersham. Vidlers and the Cattle Market Company generously waived all their sale charges for the 27 cull ewes given by a number of local farmers to be sold for the appeal, and Caroline and her friends made 30 soft-toy lambs, while a friend contributed the stick he had whittled for himself to her stall! The local branch of the NFU and Martyn Channon helped with publicity. The weather, however, didn't help in the least, and Caroline - with two babies under three in tow - was glad to get home; but everything was sold, generous prices were paid, and £621 was raised for Sheep Aid.
• Day Centre funds benefitted by £84 after the coffee morning at the Red Cross on Thursday; Barbara Wild is most grateful to Barbara Lloyd, who was kind enough to give the Centre the money left over after the winding-up of the St. Mary's Tuesday Club. Helpers are still needed for Tuesdays and Wednesdays - if they could get enough, says Mrs. Wild wistfully, they could even have a rota; but she does ask those who are thinking of helping to come along once a week for a month anyway, rather than making a decision after just one session. The Day Centre is open at the Baptist Hall on both days, from 10 to 2 or thereabouts.
RNLI coffee morning, FEC, 10.30
Nat.Trust talk, "Martello towers" (Barry Funnell), CC, 2.30
Camera Club competition with Romney Marsh CC, FEC, 7.30
Community Health Council monthly meeting, TH, 2.30
Save the Children Fund meeting, Social Services office, 8 FRAG talk, "East Sussex 200 years ago" (Barry Funnell), Stormont Studio, 8
Muscular Dystrophy coffee morning, George Hotel, 10 Hearing Circle coffee morning, Red Cross, 10.30
• Ex-TPS pupils now living in London might appreciate a reminder that the London Reunion is at the Albert pub in Victoria Street on Monday evening, 3rd.
• For the second year running, the Peasmarsh PTA family bonfire party was rained off; it has been postponed for a fortnight, and will be held on Saturday, 8 November instead (as before, from 5.30 in the Glebe Field, entrance 70p).
• Kitty French of Hucksteps Row is among artists whose work is on show at the Winchelsea Gallery until 21 November (closed on Mondays).
• There will be a blood donor session at the Baptist Hall on Thursday, 6th, from 2 to 4 and 5 to 7.45.
• Two annual meetings, also on Thursday, 6th: the Red Cross at the FE Centre at 2.30 and the Rye Hospital League of Friends at the Town Hall at 7.30.
• The Old Scholars Association's annual dinner at the Hope Anchor was much enjoyed by the 40 or so guests - slightly fewer than last year, but including some faces not seen at this event before. With chairman Geoff Wickenden of Pembury presiding, the Association expressed its thanks - first to Will Dunlop with a second token of appreciation given by members to mark his 50 years of work for the Association, and then to several ladies who had helped the group in various ways.
• The organisers of the vigil at St. Anthony's for the Week of Prayer for World Peace were very content with the response: sixty people took part during the 12-hour period on Sunday, and they represented all the local denominations with some people coming from villages round Rye.
• Nora McCaughey tells us with some amusement that the little recipe book "A Feast of St. Michael's", which she produced several years ago for Playden Church funds, has found its way into a very high-class kitchen. Her grand- daughter Ginny Fox, whose own copy had entertained her friends, took half-a-dozen up to London to sell; Ginny's boss bought one, gave it to his girl-friend - and she works in the Buckingham Palace kitchen! Copies are still available at Martello, price 22.50 - a welcome and postable Christmas present.
• Trains between Ashford and Charing Cross will be peculiar late on Saturday night and on Sunday; check before you travel.
• Condolences to Iden parishioners, whose church sustained E400-worth of damage to its windows on 16 or 17 October; the vandal apparently used a catapult. Other local windows falling prey to vandalism were those of two buses in Station Approach on the night of 21/22 October, and here the weapon was a metal bolt taken from railway premises.
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 few spares and back numbers my be available from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1986)