Seven hundred years ago yesterday, the town then known as Winchelsea lay at the end of a shingle spit out in Rye Bay (no-one now knows exactly where). Seven hundred years ago tomorrow, everything had changed. "The sea forced contrary to its natural courses, flowed twice without ebbing, and appeared in the dark of the night as it had been on fire and the waves to strive and fight together after a marvellous sort, so that the mariners could not devise how to save their ships when they lay at anchor, by any cunning or shift" (quoted by AG Bradley in "An Old Gate of England"). Leopold Vidler suggests that the disaster of 4 February 1287 was caused by a slight earthquake shock; John Collard's "Maritime History of Rye" goes into the background in much greater detail, and it is clear that the changes - including the loss of the original Winchelsea and the Rother shifting its course to flow into the sea here instead of at Romney - took place over a period of years. But that fearful night exactly seven hundred years ago is part of Rye's legend, and today we drop a metaphorical wreath into the Bay in commemoration of Old Winchelsea.
Rye was buzzing at the weekend about a front-page story in Thursday's News that the RDA was planning a development of 120 cheap homes in Rye. Leslie Bulman was reported as saying that he was worried lest it should be too big for the town.
Much too big, we thought - and what is all this anyway? It turns out that as far as Rye itself is concerned, it is nothing at all. One of the Rural Development Area working-party's priorities has always been housing for young couples - a natural follow-up to job creation - and there are small schemes in early stages for several villages including Icklesham. But the main point Mr. Bulman had intended to make to the reporter was that such housing could not be provided in Rye, simply because there are no suitable sites.
And the figure of 120? Merely a rough estimate of the number of first-time- buyer homes he would hope to see built in the whole area, he told us.
Readers will be aware that various possible sites for housing in Rye have been mentioned in various contexts over the past year or so - for instance, the land at Hill House when the patients are transferred to Hastings. The problem is always that any land available here sells at a price far too high for a developer aiming at the first-time-buyer market; if anyone can offer something suitable, doubtless Mr. Bulman would be delighted to know.
Lugubrious noises out to sea late on Wednesday afternoon led Camber and Winchelsea people to phone the Harbour office - was there a ship in trouble? In fact nothing was in trouble - the Harbour staff were trying out their new fog-horn, replacing the 15-year-old "sweep-tone" model which had been unreliable for some time. Mounted on the eastern arm of the Harbour - and clearly audible in Rye, even when the wind was from the north next day - the new one has cost the SWA well over £1,000, but cost is not important when safety is at stake, says Harbourmaster Carl Bagwell. The new horn will be clearly audible to shipping in the Bay - and to local residents, who will have to get used to it because it is going to be there for a long time!
Ken Warren's surgery, postponed owing to the snow, takes place at rather short notice on Friday of this week (6th) in the afternoon at the Council Offices. Appointments from Hastings 423110 between 9 and 2.
2.
Mr. Peter Batcheler of Cooper Road died at his home on 30 January after an illness lasting more than a year, which he and his family faced with great courage supported by the sympathy and sorrow of their many friends in the town. Mr. Batcheler was 55. He leaves his widow Peggy, his son Gary, daughter Zena and their children, his two sisters living in Rye and his brother Dennis. Peter was the son of that great character Charlie Batcheler, and his boyhood was spent in West Street - he had fascinating memories of wartime schooldays here, and also of the Rye Town Band into which both brothers followed their father. He was a builder for most of his working life, but became a postman three years ago. The funeral service takes place at St. Mary's at 1.0 tomorrow (Thursday) to be followed by cremation at Hastings. Donations in memory may be made to the Pain Relief Trust (a fund connected with the Macmillan Cancer Nurses), c/o Ellis Bros, Cinque Ports Street.
Miss Grace Knight, whose death we reported last week, was one of the few people in Rye who has entertained a Queen to tea - Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, whose hostess she was after the opening of Devonport House in 1982. Miss Knight had been one of the first residents of Devonport House, moving there from her home in Tower Street. She first came to Rye as housekeeper to Sir Hugh and Lady Bray at Saltcote Place - with six maids under her - and-- was later friend and companion as well as personal maid to the widowed Lady Bray. Miss Knight was a worshipper at the Methodist Church and a member of the Over-60s Club - and, a friend tells us, "a perfect lady in everything she did". Probably you need to be 95 to earn an obituary notice like that, nowadays.
Although British Rail's new summer timetables are still in draft form, the general layout is more or less decided. As far as Rye is concerned, there will be more commuter trains, with two morning and evening journeys between Rye and Ashford only (lessening the risk of non-arrival because of trouble at the Hastings end); the timings are much the same as now except that the 8.02 to Ashford is replaced by a 7.20 and 7.56, and in the evening the train which now arrives here at 17.08 will instead arrive at 17.33, with an extra journey arriving here at 19.10. Commuters will doubtless be making their own enquiries about the London connections.
The first cheap-day return train will leave Rye at 8.20, and after a 15-minute wait at Ashford passengers will reach Charing Cross at 10.14; the journey length is much the same as that of the present 8.45, but the whole thing rum. 25 minutes earlier - useful for those with a full day ahead. The 8.45 will disappear, and the next London train will leave Rye at 9.31, arriving in London at 11.14 (ten minutes to spare at Ashford).
During the day the cross-over at Rye will be at 28 minutes past the hour; those whose road journeys have to take account of the crossing-gates will need to plan accordingly. The Thomas Peacocke pupils who arrive by train from the Hastings end will not be well served by the new timings, which fit in very badly with the newly-revised school hours; pupils will arrive in Rye at 8.20 for a school day which starts at 8.50, and unless they are released from school before the normal 3.30 finish they will inevitably miss the 3.28 train home and have to wait around for almost an hour.
NB, however - none of this will happen until the middle of May.
British Rail's Capitalcard is a useful form of cheap day return ticket which includes unlimited free travel on bus and underground in London. It costs 09.90 instead of the normal £9.20, but the extra 70p is soon offset by London fares, and there is no hassle about queuing for tickets or finding the right change. It can be used for any journey arriving in London after 10 (the 8.45 train from here is the first via Ashford) and there are no restrictions on the timing of the return trip. There is also a version for regular travellers - the station has leaflets.
3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 4 February 1987
St. Anthony of Padua has a new priest, Father David Young. He has changed jobs with Father Maurice, who has not been well and will now be part of the four-strong Manchester team, while Father David comes here on a permanent posting. Father David was in Rye for a few weeks more than four years ago, and remembered it with great pleasure, so he was delighted to be notified of his new appointment, less than a week before he actually arrived here a late Christmas present" he told us. It is, of course, very different from Manchester, but he is used to a scattered rural parish after a period spent in Lincolnshire. We venture to welcome Father David on behalf of the town, and hope he will be very happy in Rye.
It was early July last year when the car park by the Strand sluice, owned by British Gas and operated by Rother, was closed because of a sinister blue stain appearing in places on the surface. Soil samples were sent for analysis and we waited... and waited... Rother waited too, getting increasingly worried as the parking situation degenerated with the loss of the Goods Yard park to the supermarket contractors; there is now virtually nowhere legal for residents this end of the town to keep their cars during the day. (And at the other end, resurfacing work on the Bedford car park will mean its total closure briefly while the new surface is laid, in a week or two.)
But now things are looking up. Gas Board PRO Chris Judge tells us that much of the delay over the analysis was caused by a disastrous fire at the labs, which set all testing back by several months. Although Rye's are not yet finished, it is clear that the blue stain is something common to many ex-gas works sites, called "blue billy". There are no sinister implications, but they are taking the opportunity to put down a proper surface on the car park before it reopens: 4" of concrete, the engineers told him, "a pukka job". Tenders have to be sought and dates fixed, but they hope to have the work done by "the start of the summer season". Rye calls that May, we told him; he suspects his engineers could call it July - but anyway something is going to be done within the next five months.
Until the snow, the supermarket contractors were slightly ahead of schedule; now they are a week or so behind, but hope to catch up. Nothing very sensational has happened down there since before Christmas. The bus garage walls are almost complete (the white brick will be covered with fireproofed boarding) and the loos are now above ground-level (here the white brick will be reburied once work is complete). The railway car park is doing business, but the Rope Walk end is still (Monday) blocked completely by an enormous ridge of dumped snow! The newest project is the road, which will run from Station Approach to Ferry Road with the present footpath as its pavement, leaving space for short-term car-parking immediately outside the new supermarket building (which will replace, roughly, the present bus garage). More car-parking is already laid out on the land at the back of the Ferry Road houses.
The road has to be tackled next because the buses will need it to get to the new garage from Station Approach (the Ferry Road access will remain closed for some time yet). Station Approach itself will not have to be dug up, merely resurfaced (with bus lay-bys on the Market side) - which is just as well, because in the Goods Yard the contractors were grieved to find a shallow layer of peat just where they didn't want it, and they are having to dig deeper for the roadway foundations than they had expected. For the loos, where the ground surface is not level, they were down to the basic peat layer anyway, and the foundation here is a concrete raft to spread the weight, with pliable jointing in the pipework to allow for any slight movement. We gather, however, that there is absolutely no question of the entire structure rising and falling with the tide!
The board for which planning permission was sought months ago is now in place; the development is called Crown Field (thanks!) and the tenant of the supermarket is definitely Gateway.
4.
A meeting in an unusual venue on 12 February will mark the launch of a new self-help organisation. Glenis Bentley of Broad Oak had to undergo extensive training with the British Epilepsy Assocktion before she was allowed to open the Rye Action for Epilepsy Group. There are similar groups all over the country, with the object of offering support and information to sufferers and their friends and families and providing an enlightened focal point for the other members of the community whose work or leisure could bring them into contact with epilepsy and its problems. One way or another, this must include most of us. As well as holding public meetings, Mrs. Bentley is trained to visit people at home to offer individual counselling.
The meeting on Thursday week will be in the flat above Freight Express-Seacon's offices (the main door opposite the Town Hall) because there will be a video about the problems of living with epilepsy, as well as a discussion and an opportunity for questions. Later meetings not needing a television set will be held in the glamorous setting of the Rye Vaults below Don Bentley's offices. Glenis hopes very much that anyone who has the slightest interest in the subject will come along at 7.30 and support this, her first public event. Epilepsy in one form or another is thought to affect one per cent of the population - you may not think you know anyone who suffers from the disease, but you probably do.
On Saturday night, in the course of Rye Firemen's annual dinner, our 17 firemen said goodbye to two of their colleagues. Leading Fireman Dennis Turner, of Lea Avenue, is retiring after 17 years, and Fireman Graham Cole (10 years) has just left Rye for the Pebsham Estate, Sidley, where he and his wife Eve are taking over the sub-Post Office. (There is never a problem with recruiting new firemen here, and the Brigade's newest member is milkman Philip Bryant.)
Presentations (miniature brass helmets, mounted and inscribed) to Mr. Turner and Mr. Cole were made by the ex-Divisional Officer Mr. Malion at the Camber Castle pub, where 95 people enjoyed a very pleasant evening. Among them were visitors from Lydd Fire Brigade and from HQ, and also John and Josie Whiddett (Burnhams) and Francis and Jenny Hadfield (Rye Model Laundry), invited by way of thanks for lending their firms' vans to Father Christmas!
The Fire Brigade were called to the Police Station a few days ago to deal with some chemical nasties picked up on the beach by the Winchelsea policeman; they were checked and stowed away safely to be collected later by experts from Lewes.
Last week we omitted to report Rother Planning Committee's decisions on the two lesser Rye applications out of the three on the list. The Monastery Hotel has permission to convert its upper stories into five self-contained flats, leaving the restaurant on the ground floor; and the new owners of the Top o' the Hill pub will get permission for their new loos subject to minor amendments to the plans. As we said last week, the outline application for the old Dairy Yard in Cinque Ports Street was deferred for more detailed consideration, though the principle of redevelopment was agreed.
This week's list contains a change-of-use application for 68/9 The Mint from restaurant (Simmons) to antique shop; for a single-storey building at Castle Joinery in Harbour Road, alongside the Chemical Works edge of the site; and another application for new houses at the Rye end of Playden. This time it comes from Dr. and Mrs. Townsend, and the outline plan shows two detached houses with garages in the field which lies between Cherries and the gardens of Saltcote Place; the sites border the tree-lined drive to the big house, on the opposite side from the newly-converted stable block.
Next week we shall report on the RDA 1987/8 Work Programme as it affects Rye.
5.
• Ken Warren recently asked a question in Parliament about the traffic flow on the A259. The reply was that this has been continuously sampled during 1986 at four sites, only two of which really concern us. West of Icklesham, the annual average 24-hour daily flow was 6,700 vehicles; east of Rye, it was 6,600. The second figure breaks down to 275 an hour, 4.5 a minute; but that, remember, is a day-and-night average taken over the whole year. Assuming that not much traffic goes along South Undercliff between 2 and 3 am in January, how much goes through between 9 am and 6 pm in July? Because that (leaving the Channel Tunnel out of it) is what would be cutting off one half of the town from the other if what we eventually got landed with were to be a railway-route throughway!
• We said last week that British Telecom had no plans for digging up our streets in the course of the ESCC three-year programme of refurbishing the top of the town. In fact, pressure from the Conservation Society has persuaded BT that the complex of wires running from poles outside Lamb House and in Pump Street would be better taken underground, and BT are going to do this before long; but Highways have been consulted, and no-one will be digging up the cobbles twice over.
• The Gas Board has started work in Traders Passage, and will move into the bottom of The Mint on 9 March; householders along the street should be getting leaflets before work starts. If they haven't finished by Easter, the engineers will cover up all the holes so that traffic can flow unimpeded throughout the holiday weekend - as they did last year in the High Street.
• Reluctant to take a nasty snuffle out after dark, we haven't yet seen for ourselves whether the new street-lighting alternatives are in fact installed in the Gun Garden yet. If they are, then the lamp on the corner by Church House should be the modified amber light which is proposed for the High Street and Mint and probably also Market Road. The one at the entrance to the car park is the white mercury light which the Town Council disliked, but which ESCC favours for the cobbled streets (except Church Square which would have tungsten lights as at present, but more of them). The third lamp, beside the arch, is an alternative to mercury for the cobbled streets, and was not on view at the recent Town Hall presentation; it is a good deal cheaper than the mercury lamp, and only just over half the price overall of tungsten - which we are in fact unlikely to get except in Church Square, despite the Planning Committee's vote. Town Councillors are being asked to study it seriously, and others may wish to do so too.
The Lochin-built 33' Brede-class lifeboat based at Poole, "Inner Wheel", was launched several years ago in the presence of some of our Inner Wheel members - who will be interested to know that she has been extremely busy. In June and July last year (the latest figures given in "The Lifeboat") she went out 19 times, four of them on the same day, and the magazine gives a full account of a very tricky rescue she and the Poole inflatable carried out jointly, saving two teenagers stuck on a mudbank and unable to be left to the helicopter li hours away in South Wales. A letter to The Lifeboat records another Brede success, this time the Alderney lifeboat whose August rescue of a yacht in trouble off the harbour there in dreadful weather was witnessed by an admiring ex-Naval captain. The Oban Brede also had a busy couple of months, going out ten times, but life was less hectic for those at Caishot, Exmouth, Fowey, Girvan and Invergordon, who provided 13 services between them. Rye Harbour's old D-class inflatable was called out for the last time on 15 June (twice) while the first call for the C-class which replaced it was on 21 June.
This same issue of The Lifeboat recalls, with a picture, the 1936 Daunt Rock rescue carried out by the Ballycotton lifeboat - which was the third "Mary Stanford", successor to our lost Rye Harbour boat, and whose background Sheila Draffin researched in Ireland for GAZETTE no. 107.
6.
On 14 January we reported Mrs. Barbara Broadhurst's search for a sewing-machine for the Ethiopian orphanage in which she is interested. She now has five - which means two for "her" orphanage and one each for the three others in that country - and all will be out there within the next couple of months. The response from the local schools to which she spoke has also been magnificent, Mrs. Broadhurst tells us; clothes arrived in such quantity that she has had to give one room over entirely to sorting and packing - and there have been volunteers to help with that, too. A local man has offered his van to take the boxes up to the airport, because there is far too much for her car; she reckons she has been given around a ton of clothing.
Mrs. Broadhurst now has enough clothing for her good cause, and (for the present anyway) enough sewing-machines; but if anyone has a knitting-machine...?
Family historians from now on will have cause to be grateful to Mrs. June Barnes of Hastings. She has just published a little book which is a most useful tool for any genealogist working round here - an alphabetical index of the 1851 Census returns for Rye, East Guldeford, Iden, Playden and Camber (then called Broomhill). Details given include surname and Christian name(s), position in household, marital status, age, occupation, place of birth, and a number which denotes (by using a list which comes with the book) the street though not the actual house where the person lived. (The exact address can be found via the number on the full returns available on microfilm in Hastings Library.) Since each household has a different number, it is possible to identify, for instance, six families of Harveys living in Rye in 1851 because six numbers are used, though the individual family members are all mixed up owing to the alphabetical arrangement; the agea give the make-up of each family.
Used in conjunction with material available from Rye Library collection (eg. the photocopied directory entries and the comprehensive 1859 land survey), this book makes possible some very detailed research into the Rye of the period. It is available from the author for £3.55 including postage..
Mr. and Mrs. Robins, at Huffs in the Landgate, have been having a clear-out in the uphill half of their large shop with a view to selling it. In the downhill half, however, they will continue selling reproduction furniture (mainly desks), luggage, bellows, walking sticks and one or two selected lines of country clothing including their popular Irish tweed hats. If you think this is an unusual assortment, consider what a range of things Mr. and Mrs. Robins have sold since they first came to Rye in 1957: They first had the Rye Model Shop, at 14 Cinque Ports Street - whose dark blue paint was commended by Sir Hugh Casson of the Civic Trust, no less. There they sold models, kits and fishing tackle; but the shop was not really large enough, and they were glad when the chance came to take over Bryans toy shop in the Landgate - taking over the toys as well. When Williams in the High Street closed, Robins took on saddlery and leather goods: Toys became uneconomic once national television advertising led the big stores to offer enormous discounts on the most popular lines, and kits lost their appeal as boys turned their attention to computer and video games (though kits are now beginning to find favour again). Keith Lovejoy's leather repair service, done at the back of the shop, was much appreciated locally (but he is the second local craftsmen we have heard of recently who has had to give up his craft in favour of something boring but better-paid). Keith does still produce the leatherwork for the bellows, while Mr. Robins makes the wooden part - excellent bellows they are, and it was because of them that the shop's name became Huffs. Finally, we can't resist mentioning Mr. Robins' own collection of model soldiers, ships, on display on one wall of the shop - a real pleasure for enthusiasts.
• Local History Group members last week enjoyed a most scholarly talk by Ken Clark about the Cinque Ports Confederation. A more immediate topic under discussion was the redevelopment of the old dairy yard, and London University's field archaeology group are interested in digging there before rebuilding starts. Photographs taken inside the old air-raid shelter at the back of the terrace opposite the Post Office show, remarkably, that the stone on the town side of the Town Wall is neatly squared up instead of being left rough - the implication being that it was originally intended to be seen from both sides, and the soil level must have risen by some 2m since the wall was built. (All that good stuff going on the rhubarb, presumably!) The work at Tower Forge was also mentioned, and there is an enquiry for a photograph, known to have existed, of the blacksmith and his staff standing outside it; Keith Winton, whose family had the forge, has lost his copy and would be glad of the chance to see one. (Messages via Jean Greenhalf at the Library.)
• In three weeks' time, on 25 February, Rye Lions will be proudly handing over a cheque to cover the cost of training two guide dogs for the blind. The ceremony will take place at the George Hotel (7 for 7.30), and although some invitations are being sent they will be delighted to welcome anyone who would like to come - but let a Lion know, because they need some idea of numbers for catering. It seems likely that whoever comes to receive the cheque will be accompanied by a guide dog.
• New sponsors for last year's Pancake Race were the Gas Board, who heard about it when they were working in the town; it is good news that they intend to provide prizes again for the Community Centre's fund-raising race on 3 March. Gas Board PRO Chris Judge tells us that there will not only be prizes for the six winners, but also "goodie-bags" for the six runners in each of the six races - an extra inducement to hotels and pubs to enter sponsored contestants.
• People seeking winter tights (page 3 last week) should try shopping around: Concoction, for instance, in Market Road has them in a size which could well fit an 11/13-year-old, and Young Ideas has plenty for children a little smaller. The trouble with big stores is that all their stock is centrally controlled, and they have to have what Head Office thinks they need - not necessarily what their customers are actually asking for.
• Addicts of "Minder" might like to look out for the name of Barry Ewart in the cast list; actor Barry was at Rye Grammar School, and is a Rhodes on his mother's side - old Cecil, with his own flair for the dramatic, would have been proud of him! Barry's younger brother Peter, of the Local History Group, is about to move to Hawkhurst from just outside Canterbury, and will no longer be working at the Deal branch of the Midland Bank - the move saves him a three-hour round trip to Group meetings, as well as being more convenient for his wife Lynne's new job in London.
• We do wish Radio Sussex Et Brighton would make up its mind about the trailers for "The 258 Alternative", the afternoon medium-wave magazine programme (2.30 Monday to Friday) of particular interest to people at this end of the county. (If you hear that a friend "was on Radio Sussex", it was very likely to have been on this programme.) The trailer used to come after the Diary spot at 8.25 - and doubtless 7.25 too, for those alert that early. Then they dropped it entirely, revived it gain spasmodically at the end of the sports round-up at 8.20 before the diary spot, dropped it again, and on Monday it was run just before the 7.55 local news and again at 8.40! Doubtless "spot-the-trailer" makes a good game for full-time Radio Sussex listeners, but it is not much fun for those whose first priority is the morning paper and who would prefer to switch on at regular time for what we want from Brighton.
• A local young family got a real surprise at Woolworths recently when they found their new Tefal toaster was costing them just 1p! This was part of a promotion exercise and 19 other items in the store were similarly priced recently; another day it was teddies and microwave sets at 3p and 6p - and there may be more to come. What an enterprising piece of marketing to cheer up a dreary season!
Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale, 10
Ken Warren, MP, surgery at the Council Offices (see front pace)
Movie Society, guest speaker George Delemare, FEC, 7.30
Opening lecture in First-Aid series, St. J. HQ 7.30
TT'S Parents Evening, first-years
Rye WI, "A Family Album" (Rachel Sarrieddine), FEC, 7
• After a period of hibernation, the St. Mary's Sunday School reopens on Sunday (8th). It caters for children from 4/5 upwards, and is held from 10.30 to 11.30 at the FE Centre - the side entrance just uphill from Apps. The teacher is Rachel Sarrieddine, with experienced gran Jeanne Freeman as her helper. New members will be very welcome at any time.
• Enrolment for the new course of first-aid lectures to be run by the St. John Ambulance at the Conduit Hill HQ is on the first night, Monday (9th); the fee for the course is £10.
• The meeting on Friday (13th) of the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship is its AGM. This will be conducted by Bob Swann, chairman of the Fellowship's SE Sussex Branch, since Bill Webb is away from Rye recuperating after his recent illness.
• The Benefit Gig arranged by Greenpeace, on St. Valentine's Day at Ma Beetons in Cinque Ports Street, features at least two bands, Pass the Cat and the Louis Turpin Band (those who know how hard Louis is working at his easel at present will not want to miss the rare chance of hearing him while they can). There are also, says the poster, guest artists and sounds. Tickets, in advance only, are available from Rye Wholefoods in Cinque Ports Street (Z2, U1340s 01.50); the evening starts at 8, until 1 am.
• A welcome diversion on 7 March will be the Earn Dance at Upper School, organised by the PTA and once again with music by the Catsfield Steamers. Tickets are now on sale at the school office and at Penny Royal in the High Street (,3, £2 for under-18s), and the price includes refreshments. This is always a popular night out, and it would be as well to make sure of your tickets early.
• Saturday's jumble sale at the FE Centre made a profit of 5;170 for the NSPCC.
• Rye Police had a quiet week. A Winchelsea Beach man was taken to RESH after a road accident near Rye Hospital early on Wednesday morning last week; his Fiat was the only vehicle involved. A £7,000 Landrover, JHC 51Y, was stoles, from the Mermaid car park on 17/18 January.
• Rye Players were delighted to welcome four new members at the AGM last week, including a prospective producer and a stage manager. There is a play in sight - details later.
• Long-term planners may like to note the following summer dates: Rye WI Group Summer Fair, Saturday 6 June; NSPCC Summer Fair, Saturday 13 June; Rye Hospital League of Friends Summer Fair, Saturday 20 June; exhibition of the work of Rye Adult Education Classes, Saturday 11 July - all four events at the FE Centre. Rye Carnival is on Saturday 1 August, and the Country Fair on Sunday 9 August.
• Maintenance work between Tonbridge and Sevenoaks means that trains to London will be diverted on Saturday and Sunday, with delays of up to 30 minutes. There will be track work between Ore and Rye on the night of Tuesday (10th).
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Nary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7DR (0797 222303), and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. Deadline is Monday afternoon for Wednesday's delivery to subscribers/pick-up points; the paper costs 30p, and spare copies may be available from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1987)