We wish all our readers and their families a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. We wish good luck to the Sports Centre and damnation to any throughway proposals. We are, as ever, grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Osborne at Cadborough Stores, Hazel Hammond, John Ciccone at Spar, Mr. and Mrs. Vicarey at the Freezer Centre, Steve Denny at Penny Royal and Janet Webb at the Olde Tuck Shoppe - the proprietors of our invaluable pick-up points; to the Midland Bank, who are good to us; to Cinque Ports Stationers and especially to Bernie; and to Ralph Olesen at ESCC Highways, all the Rather Council staff in Rye, Bexhill and Battle, and everyone else who has helped us with news and information during the year. Please keep up the good work.This is the last GAZETTE of 1986. If your copy is not marked by your name, we shall need £3.60 (in cash, please, by New Year's Day) if you want to receive the paper from 7 January; receipts with that issue.
The Wild West came to Rye Bay on Sunday when the Rye Harbour lifeboat went out to round up a horse - swimming strongly towards France! The Coastguard asked the lifeboat crew to turn out in this rather unusual emergency, and by the time they reached the animal it was the best part of three-quarters of a mile out into the Bay. One of the crew went into the water to rope it; it was then drawn alongside the boat, while they motored very slowly back to shore and were nearly towed up the beach, since the horse grounded before they did.
Worried about the animal's condition after some 90 minutes in the chilly water, the Coastguard had summoned Rye vet Tim Brodrick down to Camber Beach to await the boating party's return. Tim's daughters Emily and Natalie insisted on coming too. They found the horse's owner, a girl from Frittenden near Cranbrook, worried and wet through, and as soon as the animal was out of the water Tim had her up on its back for a quick gallop along the beach to restore both their circulations. Meanwhile the other girls were collecting wisps of hay to rub the horse down; but even then Tim felt that the drive home standing in a horse-box might be too much after such an exhausting experience, so he offered the swimmer the hospitality of his own stables for the night; next morning the grateful owner came back to take it home.
What happened, it seems, was that the girl was riding along the beach to exercise the 8-year-old chestnut, Candy, when two dogs frightened the horse - which threw its rider and headed straight for France. The girl sportingly went in after it, but realised this was hopeless and phoned the Coastguard, who phoned the lifeboat... And what would have happened this time last year, we asked Lifeboat Secretary Richard Tollett, when our old lifeboat would have been laid up by now? The inshore boat from Littlestone, he told us, coming all the way round Dungeness - or possibly even the big Newhaven on which carries an inflatable; the Dungeness boat itself would have been useless in the shallow water near the shore. This was our new boat's first winter outing, and one which certainly - if unusually - proves the value of an all-year service here; this has not been available at the Harbour until now since the Mary Stanford was lost in 1928.
In his report to the RNLI, Richard Tollett has to give the value of the property salvaged. He consulted Mary Lestocq - "25p a lb, perhaps?" Mary considered the point. "Five francs a kilo, if it had got as far as France!" she said. If it had got that far, Tim Brodrick pointed out, there would have been a question of quarantine before it was allowed back - but the lifeboat crew vouched for its being quite unsullied by French sand. Tim told us, too, that it was a classy horse, but this was the second time it had been rescued; when its owner bought it, for under £200, it was to save it from the slaughter-house. Perhaps some horses, like cats, have nine lives?
2.
A meeting in the Upper Room at St. Mary's on 6 January at 2 may lead to the revival of the Mothers' Union in Rye. A diocesan representative will speak and answer questions, and everyone interested will be most welcome. The MU of today is very different from that of forty years ago: members don't have to be mothers, they don't have to be married (divorcees are eligible), but they do have to be baptised and support the aims and objects of the Society in the promotion of Christian family life.
The leading spirits behind the new group - Ruth Ingham and Chris Emson (Landgate Stores, Rye 223142) - are anxious to get away from the tea-and-jumble-sale image. Meetings, with talks and discussions on current social problems, will finish sharp at 3 to allow mothers to collect from school; later there may be evening meetings instead, or as well. It depends what the exploratory discussion on the 6th decides. If possible the villages will be drawn into the network (which is not only for C of E members).
Brede is the only parish in the deanery to have its own branch at present. How long is it, we wonder, since there was last a Mothers' Union in Rye?
Over the course of the coming year, 30,000 personal letters will go out to women in the Hastings Health Authority area whose health just might be at risk. These are the women, aged between 20 and 80, who have not had a cervical smear test in the past five years.
Until three years ago, these tests were done at the Ferry Road Clinic, with the results coming through within a couple of weeks. Then, as a temporary measure, the Clinic sessions were cancelled, and a woman whose doctor was not prepared to do the test in the surgery had to go over to the Ore Clinic in the evening - time-consuming and virtually impossible for women in the villages who had no car. As well as this, the backlog on testing built up to such an extent that some found themselves waiting months for their results - and there were newspaper stories of tragedies which earlier diagnosis might have prevented (not only, of course, in the HHA area). Then the Authority decided to act:: an extra scientist was appointed to the path. lab. at RESH, and by August the backlog was cleared, with capacity to spare. Hence the new initiative.
What is really good news for Rye is that the Rye Cytology (smear-test) Clinic is now being reinstated. A combined family planning and cervical screening session will be held on the second and fourth Thursday mornings of each month in Ferry Road. Women wishing to attend for a cervical smear should make an appointment through the Clerical Officer at the Ore Clinic (Hastings 420801, 9 to 5, Monday to Friday); at present, tests are done every five years.
The test is free, simple, quick, painless and leaves no after-effects. In 1985 the HHA lab processed 9,489 samples; out of all those, only 65 were positive. (The number of deaths from cervical cancer in the area was 12.) So the chances of your test being positive is only about one in 150 - but oh, the relief of knowing that you are one of the 149! And even if you were the one, action taken at such an early stage would mean it was very unlikely that you would end up in the final set of statistics.
A report to the HHA in September outlining the whole position recorded a very marked rise in 1984 and 1985 in the number of smears sent in for testing by GPs - 5,904, more than twice the 1982 figure - and a fall in the number received from clinics. Could this reflect the closure of the Rye clinic session, and the transfer of some of its customers to their GPs for testing?
Incidentally, the age-group is interesting - from 20 to 80. This does not mean specifically that no-one over 80 is at risk, merely that ladies of that age are not very likely to want to take the test. But the over-60s are now known to be vulnerable to cervical cancer, and ten minutes could be time well spent even for those of us long past child-bearing.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 17 December 1986
Details of the Housing Officer's report to his committee about the problems in Cooper Road were revealed in the agenda for the full Rother Council meeting on Monday night. (Tenants will be relieved to know that the suspect high-alumina cement was not used in the contruction of these houses.) The proposals are that 34 Cooper Road be demolished (cost, c. £8,000), and that the 66 other Council-owned dwellings in the road shall be put in good order at an estimated cost of £198,000. Testing will continue as necessary, and the Housing and Technical Services Officers will look into the question of "a phased scheme of redevelopment of the site" and report back to the committee. (The report - available in the agenda at the Council Offices, as usual - also gives details which will primarily interest the householders who have bought their own houses in Cooper Road.) The Council accepted the report without discussion, so matters will proceed on the basis outlined above.
Rye Young Farmers Club have found an unusual way of making money for St. Michael's Hospice. Through the generosity of a local farmer, they were allowed to pick up windfall applies, which they took to a cider-making firm and sold for 0240; the farmer then matched this t for C, and with a small top-up from Club funds they were last night able to present C500 to Hospice funds. Two senior Hospice representatives were present at the Club's regular Tuesday-evening meeting at the FE Centre to receive the cheque. The Club has 45 members on the books, of whom about half were able to spend a Sunday and a couple of Saturdays on this back-breaking job; all credit to them for a novel and lucrative idea, and thanks too to the farmer concerned.
Rye Police Station now has its full complement of Inspectors: Bev Legg has been joined by Roy Peters, who is living in Peasmarsh. Inspector Peters is the brother of Chief-Inspector Len Peters, Phil Dyson's predecessor at Rye. He is married, with daughters aged 21 and 18 and a son of 14, and joined the police in Brighton in 1962. He has since served there, at Cadet Training HQ and at Newhaven. Inspector Peters should enjoy his Rye posting, since he is a sea-fisherman; he has also been helmsman on the Brighton lifeboat for ten years, and on behalf of the RNLI has taught the D of E Award Scheme to Brighton candidates. So it is very suitable that we should welcome him to Rye in an issue which carries such a splendid RNLI story on the front page!
The press book shows the loss of 6 lorry wheels and tyres, worth £720, taken off one of Jempsons' lorries parked at Aslfords Wharf on the night of 8/9 December (not just off the trailer, but off the axles!). An assistant in a shop on Strand Quay had her handbag stolen on the afternoon of 9 December. Not in the press book are two Awful Warnings told us by people in the town. The cash box stolen in Wish Ward recently is not, apparently, the only one to vanish in this way - another went last week, and possible others for all we know; and two elderly ladies in Ferry Road were taken for an expensive ride several weeks ago by itinerant roof repairers who charged them £200 in cash for putting back a few tiles. Extra vigilance, and a keen sense of scepticism, are clearly necessary - and older people visited by builders they haven't ordered should consult a n6ighbour or relative before having and work done, let alone paying for it.
A reader coming from Ashford by train recently tells us that just outside that station one of the windows in a long compartment suddenly smashed; two railwaymen sitting behind her reckoned that "it must have been the bridge". The train was not stopped until it reached a crossing, when the driver phoned to report; the glass (windscreen-type, she noted) was swept up at Rye. No one was hurt, but they could have been. Our reader is inclined to take a shield of some kind with her next time she goes to London! We have not heard of this happening on our line before; has it happened to anyone else?
4.
• The highlight of the Friends of Rye Art Gallery party on Friday evening was undoubtedly the parade of period dresses, modelled by a number of attractive ladies of all ages escorted by two brave men (we shall not easily forget the sight of the St. Mary's organist, Charles Proctor, attired in nightwear of a period flavour to match the ravishing flowing pink negligee worn by Janet Thorndike!) The show, the bright idea of Barbara Fearon, was staged by Nina Thorndike, with press-type photographic coverage by Anthony James; it was so popular that it is likely to be put on again, perhaps in an expanded version, for some good cause next year. If so, don't miss it!
• Mencap Branch members and their guests greatly enjoyed a disco party at the Oasis Club; Vickie Piper tells us that the kindness of the staff there was something she will not forget in a hurry.
• The Rye Racers entertained 182 senior citizens at Upper School on Sunday afternoon (they had catered for 150, but it s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d...) The Ashford Accordion Band did its stuff with enthusiasm, some of the guests danced in the big school hall, and everyone had a lovely time. Gus Gale, Dennis Leeds-George and Dick Pearce were in charge, and a welcome number of young people turned up to help.
• Last Wednesday the Over-Sixties Club sat down 48 to a festive lunch at the gaily-decorated Red Cross Centre in the High Street.
• The Day Centre had to have two parties at the Baptist Hall - one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday, because the two groups were too large to amalgamate into a single jollification. They are most grateful to the Town Council Bequests Committee for a generous donation of £50 towards the expenses.
• Finally, an interim report that the Monday Club, Badger Gate and Devonport House all had parties too; brief reports of these and any others will be welcome for our 7 January issue.
We reported some time ago that the SWA was getting really fed up with the amount of dogs' mess on Strand Quay. Harbourmaster Carl Bagwell is really very disappointed at the response - or lack of it - by local dog-owners to the notices displayed on the Quay; and it is local dog-owners now, since the problem piles appear each morning, the result of late-night or pre-breakfast walkies. Since the softly-softly approach hasn't worked, the SWA is now sending in the heavies; photographic evidence will be the first step towards court proceedings - which will, we need hardly say, be reported with joyful alacrity by all the local papers, and could even sneak into the nationals: Dog-owners on Strand Quay must therefore not be surprised if SWA staff stand around on the grass thoughtfully fingering their cameras: "We have got a good idea of whom the culprits are", says the Harbourmaster.
A year after the Meryon family pilgrimage to Rye, in October 1985, we heard from a Meryon descendant - who had not been present then, because the organisers hadn't known of his existence. A fascinating story is now unrolling, and we shall print it in due course. In the meantime, we need help from readers. Can anyone tell us what happened to Charles Lawrence, who changed his name to Charles Pix when he inherited Woodside in Peasmarsh early this century? The estate was sold in 1919, and the story is that Charles ended his days as a Rye fisherman - though under which surname is not clear. (The family only knows that he had a daughter Marie, born in 1915, who married and now lives in South Africa.) And if anyone is likely to be in Bordighera, in Italy, could they please try and get a picture of a house in Strada Romano which was once called Casa Meryon - or better still, see if the Tourist Information Office there knows anything about its history? Any information on either point will be passed on to our grateful correspondent in Cornwall.
5.
• The Barritt family have now completed the new layout at what is still often referred to as the Gluepot, opposite the Fire Station in Ferry Road, with the opening of "Shoes & Boots". This speaks for itself; it is a shoe-shop, a spin-off from Mr. Barritt's long family connection with the shoe trade (before coming to Rye, he had a similar but larger shop near Bromley for ten years). He is selling quality leather shoes at competitive prices, taking advantage of English manufacturers' discounts; many are made by Loake, a very long-established firm of shoemakers in Kettering. The shop will be a godsend to men with big feet, since Mr. Barritt has 50 pairs of size 12s (and also a number of men's size 5s, and of course everything in between); fittings run from narrow to very wide, and there is a good range of styles. Ladied fittings run from C to EEE, and from size 1 to 9; present stock is mainly classic styles, in a good selection of designs and colours, but the spring ranges will have a much wider choice for the 18-30 age-group. There are also fashion boots and moonboots (we particularly liked the traffic-stopping ones in white or vivid yellow). The shop is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 to 5. At the back, a door leads into the new extension, where Bill carries on the Gluepot repairs and upholstery business. In front, Mrs. Barritt and their daughter have Dress Sense, where ladies' good-quality second-hand garments are sold on commission - and whose changing window-displays are always a delight (open same days until 4.30). Phone for all three businesses, Rye 223298.
• We don't normally write about houses for sale, as such, but it really is worth recording what a good job Tony and Pauline Meyer have made of the studio flat incorporated into the roofspace of the Decorator's Warehouse - in particular, what spectacular views are revealed through the new skylights on the Cadborough side (three windmills are visible all at once, and a good sunset must be quite amazing!). The front (original) window looks towards Leasam, well clear of the supermarket roof; the little round (original) window at the back overlooks a sadly neglected garden, part of the Dairy site for which planning permission is currently being sought. Tony says they are so proud of the flat that they are happy to show anyone round, prospective purchaser or not!
• Rosemary Griffiths at Rose-Anne is now the Rye agent for the Hastings-based Dawn & Dorset dry-cleaners and laundry. The firm, which used to have an agency at the Stocking Parlour many years ago, offers a 48-hour service, and work can be left during usual shop hours (including Tuesday afternoons if Rosemary is in, when the shop may well be open).
• The Mermaiden, at the top of Mermaid Street, is due to open any day, and will continue to sell wines; we hope to have more details in our next issue.
• The Easton Rooms Christmas show now includes beadwork jewellery and statuettes made by a tribal group of South African women, and sold for their benefit.
• Finally, the station car-park, with its £l entrance fee for non-railway-passengers, is said to be opening tomorrow.
The current exhibition at the Stormont Studio in Ockman's Lane displays the work of the couple who painted there for many years - Mary Elizabeth Stormont (nee Sapsworth) and her husband Howard Gull Stormont. Howard (1859-1935) was perhaps the better painter, and his work includes local views of great interest: sheep grazing on the Salts, with only one house the far side of the river; sailing fishing boats going out on a high tide, or tied up at the Fishmarket; harvesters loading corn into a cart at Cadborough... Mary's work is represented by a whole wall of flower paintings, and some charming water-colours; she outlived her husband by more than ten years, and it is of course to her legacy that the town owe its art gallery. The exhibition is open until 28 December (closed Mondays) and includes some fascinating photographs of models posing for one or other artist, in various stages of undress! The path from the Studio to the Easton Rooms crosses the terrace from which both the Stormonts frequently painted - indeed, one picture by Howard shows Mary on the terrace, romantically posed in the late evening light.
6.
• The production of a musical version of Oscar Wilde's story "The Selfish Giant" gave great pleasure to two packed houses last week. Lower School tradition demanded that there should be dancing, and the choir supported dancers and actors from the side of the stage (which now has a smart new back-drop, as well as delightful scenery). Much of the dialogue was written by the children, and "foreman" Katy Luck got a special round of applause for her slick catalogue of different types of wall; the Giant was splendidly played, inside an enormous paper-mache head and a fur coat, by Maurice Goodwin; Dominique Ivil was his Slave, and Caroline Wright the mystic Boy. Musical director was Mrs. Bush, Miss Marshall and Miss Linford arranged the choreography, and many other staff members were involved in different aspects of the production, the first Christmas play performed at Lower School for many years. The new arrangement was generally felt to be a success, and certainly the more intimate atmosphere of the smaller hall contributed to the touching way in which the actors handled the end of the story. After the play, choir, instrumentalists and audience joined in a programme of Christmas music.
• Lower School unexpectedly scooped the pool - all four prizes - in a poster competition for first-years run in connection with the Smokestop campaign by the Health Promotion Unit at Hastings. Matthew Tollett in 1.S and Alison Bailey and Michael White in 1.0, won gift tokens given by the Unit; John Tranter, Manager of the Hastings Branch of the Woolwich Building Society, presented a special prize of a savings account book (with, we gather, something in it) plus a pen to Sarah Bull, also of 1.0. A number of other schools in the Hastings area had entered, some with more entrants than from Thomas Peacocke, and it was a surprise to everyone when all the winners were found to come from Rye! Lower School Library also benefits by the gift of a handsome "Photograph- ers Dictionary" from Mr. Ramsbottom and Mrs. Coleman, representing the Unit at the presentation during Thursday's assembly.
• School House were the winners of the Lower School quiz, sponsored once again by Rotary, beating Sanders by 69 points to 66. The School House team were Paul Harmer and Rachel Thomas (1st year) and Neil Heffernan and Clare Roberts (2nd year).
• A generous gift has come to Lower School from a parent of one of the pupils. Mr. Padgett, of Croft Residential Homes at Hastings, has given the School a new Amstrad word-processor. At present all Lower School pupils go across to Upper for a six-weeks introductory course in Information Technology as part of their Maths lessons, and the hope is that if other local firms - as indeed, individuals - could be equally generous with gifts of hardware, it would be possible to establish a computer room in Lower School and save a lot of commuting time. Mike Thomas, Head of Lower School, will of course be delighted to hear from anyone who might be able to help.
On Thursday Rother's planning committee OK'd all the Rye applications except one - the extension at 25 Udimore Road was turned down on the grounds of over-development. Approved were the extension at the Old Customs House, the con- version of one of the Rock Channel Quay houses into two flats, the change of use from parking to garden for Bide Cottage's land at Rock Channel (subject to satisfactory alternative parking being provided), the greenhouse at Lamb House (if there were no cbjections within the statutory period), a new vehicular access at 44 New Winchelsea Road (subject to Highways conditions), change of use for the Amoco workshop for Leo Bonassera's furniture business (also subject to conditions), and permission to station a caravan/site office for six months on a factory site next to the Chemical Works in Harbour Road. The application for change of use from house to shop for 3 Cinque Ports Street was withdrawn.
This week's list has an application from Jempsons for renewal of parking permission for cars and lorries for ex-Farnborough; and from the owners of the Top o' the Hill for new loos (and the demolition of the old ones) at the currently closed pub - doubtless a good sign for its future reopening.
7.
• The Directors of St. Michael's Hospice want to thank everyone who has played a part in establishing the Hospice Shop in Rye (opposite the Old Forge in Wish Street). The shop is doing very well indeed, considering its slightly out-of- town situation and the time of year (and the Gas Works car-park being closed); an unexpected bonus has been the amount of goods being handed in at Rye - Bob Hodgson takes a load back to Hastings for pricing every week. Many thanks, he says, to the donors, to the customers - and of course to Joy Mockett's team of helpers, without whom it would never have opened at all.
• A generous donation has come to the Rye RNLI Branch in memory of Mr. Frederick John Roberts of Icklesham, who died in September this year. Mrs. Roberts recalls that as a young man her husband, a GPO engineer, was in lodgings at Rye Harbour; he lost a very good friend in the lifeboat disaster, whose name she never knew except that he was known as "Sunny" (or would it be "Sonny"?). If anyone knows who this was we would be glad to say.
• Nicola Katrak, the lovely young dancer about whom we wrote in GAZETTE no. 194, appears in a very special Playschool production at Christmas - she is the guest on BBCI at 8.35 on Boxing Day morning (we heard a rumour that Margot Fonteyn is also to be in the programme, but nothing about that appears in Radio Times).
• It is a long time till May, but readers may be interested to know that the press release about next summer's British Rail timetable says that the service from Ashford to Hastings will be "completely revised to improve connections at Hastings during the day and to increase the service between Rye and Ashford during peak periods". (Could this mean we get the 9.15 back? Details nearer the time.)
• A Winchelsea reader is very impressed with the litter-clearance which has been going on in New Winchelsea Road beyond the houses; whom should we be thanking for this public-spirited operation?
• Playden Church Restoration Fund has had an unexpected boost, thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Sylvia Arnold, of Alberta in Canada. The widow of a banker, Mrs. Arnold at one time lived at Cranfield in New England Lane; she still has local correspondents, and was sent a cutting from Sussex Life referring to Eric Wetherill's booklet about Playden in 1086, which he published at the beginning of September. He was pleased to receive a letter from Mrs. Arnold asking him to send her a copy - and astonished when a £50 note fell out of the envelope, with instructions to send the change to the church's Restoration Funds
• 1986/7 Officers at Rye WI are Mrs. T. Hodgson (president), Mrs. W. James (secretary) and Mrs. J. Page (treasurer). We are glad to know that Jeanne Freeman continues as the lively and capable press secretary! Names were taken at the December meeting for the January lunch, the annual report commented on a busy and successful year, and Playden WI Drama Group entertained.
• The second-hand children's clothes "party" about which we wrote in GAZETTE no. 204 is changing its time and venue for the January session. This will be on Thursday, 8 January, from 9.30 to about 3, at 67 Udimore Road uphill from the Cadborough Stores, on the same side of the road.
• We were sorry to have to miss the production of "Amahl and the Night Visitors" at St. Mary's on Wednesday, but are glad to report that it was extremely impressive, the young soloist was superb, and there was a very adequate audience. The latter is particularly good news in view of other commitments that night, and we hope the New Sussex Opera felt their long journey was worth while, and will perhaps come again.
• ES CC has issued a pretty pink-and-while leaflet (the Library has copies) warning about risks over Christmas - dangerous toys, unwisely placed decorations, and unsafe electrical goods. The Council is particularly worried about fire risks and lists a last-minute safety check for home and workplace: heaters turned off, cigarettes extinguished, electrical appliances unplugged and internal doors closed. (And, of course, doors and windows locked against burglars).
(no GAZETTE on 24 or 31 December)
Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10 to 4 (and Friday and Saturday)
Upper School Carol Concert, r2he Grove, 7.30
Local History Group informal meeting, George, 7.30
Last day of term
Carol service, with lessons and carols and a tableau by Junior Chair members, Methodist Church, 11
Carols with Ryesingers, East Guldeford Church, 2.30
Carol service, St. Mary's, 6.30 (... and see below)
TPS recent leavers' get-together, Queen's Head, evening
Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale, 10 (viewing as usual on the Thursday afternoon, Bank Holiday)
Camera Club, improvers' competition, "Water", FEC, 7.30
Exploratory meeting for Mothers' Union branch, St. Mary's, 2 (see page 2)
FRAG talk, "Grey Owl" (Colin Taylor), Stormont Studio, 8
First day of term
Crime Prevention Panel, Police Station, 7.30
• All the churches in the area have carol services, and of course services on Christmas Day - they are listed in Fixtures, to which we refer readers.
• The Salvation Army band will be back for their third Saturday morning in Rye at the end of this week, giving a really Christmassy old-time feel to High Street shopping; we hope they do well, and will come back next year.
• The Library will be open on Monday of next week (22nd), and closed for the rest of the week; the following week it will be open Monday (29th), Wednesday and Friday onwards as usual.
• Our dustmen will be making their rounds as usual up to and including Christmas Eve; they then take a week off, and resume work as usual on 1 January. All accumulated refuse will be cleared by 8 January.
• The Thursday market in Rye will be held on Christmas Eve (Wednesday) nextweek, since there is no sheep market that day. The following week it will take place on Thursday as usual (New Year's Day).
• The Scouts Christmas Fair on 29 November raised £210 from stalls plus a further £200 from the raffle.
• The Sea Cadets coffee morning on Thursday raised £75.
• School House's "lunatic fringe" made a very lucrative foray into the market last Thursday lunch-time, collecting £80 for the Buchanan Hospital Baby Unit.
• Freda Gardham School's Christmas Fair on Saturday brought in around £300, which will go towards the cost of a second computer for the school (ESCC provides one but the PTA think this is not enough, and have nearly collected the £400 for another ).
• Would anyone with time on their hands over Christmas like to add up the amount of money raised in the town for charity during the year? We will gladly lend our back-numbers file - and of course be very pleased to publish the result.
• With many people likely to be away over Christmas, we ask those delivering free newspapers, leaflets, etc., to push the literature right through the letter-box - or maybe neighbours will do the job, so as not to attract burglars to a house obviously left empty?
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. Deadline Monday afternoon for Wednesday delivery (normally weekly) to subscribers and pick-up points; subscriptions are on the basis of 30p a week. (Copyright Mary Owen 1986)