It is good to see that British Rail have now done what they promised, and sorted out the car parking position at the station. Vivid yellow lines make it all quite clear. There are three spaces marked "Disabled only" and three more "Reserved" in the area to the left of the station; in front of the building, they now have two spaces left clear for cars unloading or collecting travellers, followed by five taxi spaces and one marked "Parcels". This should be much more satisfactory for everyone; thank you very much, Mr. Woodhouse. Now can we please have some litter-bins on the bus posts?
With the prospect of no electricity - and the rumour of no water - the Monday Club bravely decided to go ahead with the annual Sale of Work at the Clinic just four days after the storm. Mrs. Hacking tells us that there were, not surprisingly, fewer visitors than usual - but it didn't seem to matter, because they paid into the bank over £600! This will certainly safeguard next summer's outings programme - and is entirely due, says Mrs. Hacking, to the strenuous efforts of her helpers and elderly members, who put an enormous amount of work into the preparations throughout the year. Even the cake stall - which could well have suffered from the lack of electric ovens over the previous weekend - took £100. The raffle for the Christmas cake was won by a member from North Salts, Mrs. Butt, who generously gave her prize to Rye Hospital. The Club missed the invaluable help of Mrs. Dolan of Nutley Close, who was still in hospital after her accident at the Strand Quay roundabout some weeks ago; happily she is now home again.
At the end of August (GAZETTE no. 238), a speedboat made a nuisance of itself among the bathers on Camber beach, and had to be escorted into the Harbour by Sussex Police's new helicopter. Rye Magistrates' Court on 4 November provided the end of the story. The two men in the boat, one aged 36 from Tonbridge and the other (23) from Tunbridge Wells, pleaded guilty to offences of navigating a pleasure boat without reasonable consideration; they were fined £100 each, with £10 costs. Inspector Peters tells us that this was the maximum fine (the offence was against a bylaw) - and of course the prosecution was hanging over them for a full two months before coming to court. Other speedboat owners are warned!
The Conservative Association has assembled 22 professional antique-dealers for the Antiques Fair at the Community Centre on Saturday week (21st) - the only nonprofessionals will be Association members who have their own fund-raising stall. The event will be opened at about 10.30 by Ken Warren, MP, and runs until 4. Admission is 50p for adults, 20p for children; ploughman's lunches will be on offer for £1.50, or patrons can just have tea, coffee or apple juice. This is the first event of its kind in Rye for many years; good luck to the organisers.
Rye Bowls Club's 1987 awards: Brookie Clark Cup (men's singles), Stewart Doyle; Reg Chubb Ladies' Plate (ladies' singles), Julie Ide; George Shipton Shield (men's singles, over 65), Albert Atkinson; Yates Rose Bowl (ladies' pairs), Dorothy Nelhams and Barbara Jones; Forge Tankard (novices), Norman Oldfield; 3Ms Shield (set pairs), A. Milton and N. Oldfield; Jubilee Cup (men's pairs), Stewart Doyle and D. Stonham. Julie Ide must be one of the youngest-ever winners of a ladies' singles championship: she is 16 and, we understand, still at Thomas Peacocke School - which goes to show that bowls isn't just a game for the over-60s. Staplecross were the winners of the Mermaid League Cup, presented by Michael Gregory at a dinner for 25 League representatives at the hotel recently.
2.
Mrs. Patricia Burchell, wife of Dennis Burchell of Sea Road, Winchelsea Beach, died suddenly but peacefully in St. Helen's Hospital on 2 November. Pat came to work in Rye in 1976 for the former Rye Benefit Building Society, which subsequently transferred its engagements to the Eastbourne Mutual Building Society. During those eleven years she made many friends and was highly respected by both friends and colleagues. She will be sadly missed.
Saturday week (21st) carries the full surge of the Christmas Fair season: events include Fairs for Playden Church (FEC, 10), Scouts and Cubs (Scout Hut, 10.30), and Playgroup (Clinic, 2). The following Saturday (28th) Father Christmas will arrive at Rye Station at 3 to switch on the Christmas lights in the town; the Catholic Church Christmas Sale opens at the Community Centre at 11.30 and the Winchelsea Floral Group have a sale at the George Hotel all day. As far as we know, there is just the Women's British Legion Christmas Fair (Red Cross, 10) on 5 December; the following Saturday (12th) sees the St. John Nursing Cadets' Christmas Fair (Conduit Hill, 10) and Action for Epilepsy's event (Red Cross, from 1). The NSPCC's Christmas coffee morning is at the George on Wednesday, 9 December, and the Conservative Association has one there on Thursday, 17th.
Evening events are piling up too. Friday (20 November) has a Museum Association, showing of Joe Pilcher's slides (FEC, 7.30), a wine-and-cheese event at St. Mary's at 7.30 (with the Rev. Christopher Hopkins of Beckley talking about apartheid), and a folk and blues night with Martin Simpson (Stormont Studio, 8). Both the following Saturdays are blank as far as the evenings are concerned, but the first week in December is getting busy: the Museum Association has its Christmas party on the 3rd, the A259 Action Group a fund-raising wine-and-cheese at the FEC on the 4th, and on the 5th Ryesingers perform Mendelssohn's "Elijah" at St. Mary's while Greenpeace holds a supporters party with a cabaret at Upper School. The following week is even busier: three chances for parents and friends to see the Lower School Christmas entertainment (Tuesday to Thursday, 8th-10th); there is also a Confirmation in St. Mary's on the Thursday; and on the Friday, 11th, the National Trust holds a Christmas supper for members at the Community Centre, Ian Rumley-Dawson talks about "A garden for growing birds" to the National History Society, the WI Group has an evening carol service (with tableaux) at St. Mary's, and there is likely to be an entertainment (we have no details) at Upper School. Next day (12th) sees another performance of the Upper School show, and the FRAG Christmas party.
Upper School's carol concert takes place on Tuesday, 15th, and the Local History Group holds its social evening the following day; the Camera Club's guest night is on the 21st, and thereafter Christmas proper takes over and there is nothing in the way of public events until after the long break. The GAZETTE will print for the last time in 1987 on 16 December, starting again on 6 January after our usual fortnight's holiday.
We would remind organisers that we are always glad to include in the Diary public events in the town; if they want an advance paragraph as well as the diary entry, we need to know a fortnight ahead (ie. mid-day Monday for the relevant Wednesday week). The service is, of course, free.
The Ferryman tea-rooms were transformed into a magical cavern on 31 October (writes Jeanne Freeman wearing her Sunday-School-teacher hat), with hollowed-out pumpkins, creepy spiders in vast webs and subdued lighting. And then the Witches arrived... and the Demons... and the Devils! The St. Mary's Sunday School Hallowe'en Party was an event to remember. Great platters of delicious food included bats' bangers and crystalised snails washed down by witches' brew (served from a cauldron) and followed by Mr. Sinden's fantastic display of magic and spells, plus a Punch-and-Judy show. After two hours of frantic fun, some 20 children climbed tiredly onto their broomsticks and made for home murmuring "Smashing! Fantastic! Great!" Many, many thanks, adds Jeanne, to Mr. and Mrs. Penny for the lovely setting and their tremendous hard work before, during and after.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 11 November 1987
This year's Remembrance Service at St. Mary's on Sunday passed without incident - neither wind nor rain interfered with the outdoor ceremony, and absolutely nothing dropped off the church. St. Mary's was even fuller than usual, with private citizens as well as representatives of all the town's organisations. The service was taken by Canon Maundrell and the Rev. Stephen Ingham; the sermon was given by the Rt. Rev. Ross Hook, retired Bishop of Bradford now living on the Marsh. He was, he said, prompted by the community spirit generated by almost a fortnight without electricity to remember wartime days - when a similar spirit bound civilians and fighting men and women. The standards were borne down the aisle to be laid up at the altar during the service, collected afterwards and lowered during the National Anthem; they dipped again during the two minutes' silence as the crowd round the war memorial remembered friends and family.
Here prayers were offered by Fr. David from St. Anthony's (the Methodist congregation came out just too late from their own service), and as usual wreaths were laid by the Mayor, the Royal British Legion, the Women's Royal British Legion, the RBL Club, the RAF Association, the Sea Cadets and the ATC, the Police and Fire Service, the Red Cross and the WRVS, Rotary, Round Table and Lions, St. John Ambulance Brigade, the Cubs and Scouts, the Guides and Thomas Peacocke School, the Chamber of Trade, the Bowls Club and the Bonfire Society - and, for the first time that we remember, by the Rye Pilots and Fishermen (inscribed "We remember those lost yesterday - and those being lost in the Gulf War today"). Private tributes were also placed, on the steps and individual poppies planted in the earth round the memorial or stuck into the big laurel wreath brought up from the High Street.
At a Town Hall reception afterwards, the Mayor proposed the Loyal Toast and that of the Royal British Legion, expressing her hope for peace not only in our time but in that of our grandchildren too. Three young strangers in uniform attracted a good many admiring eyes. P/0 Wren Barnett, who comes from the Midlands, has bought herself a house in Camber ("I just like to be near the sea" she told us) for when she is on leave from her Portsmouth posting. The tall slim girl in green (the modern WRAC uniform) turned out to be Barbara Scott, ex-TPS, ex-Rye Majorettes; she has been in the WRAC for four years, and is as good an advertisement for the Corps as Rye is ever likely to see. She and her friend Phil, Staff- Sgt. Dixon, have just bought a house in Rope Walk, and we hope to see them around the town from time to time when their military duties permit.
On Friday a perturbed George Shackleton showed us the Bexhill Observer, which carried a front-page story (abbreviated in the Sussex Express) about the Health Authority's cost-cutting plans as revealed to the paper by two named senior consultants. The Observer says that these plans were discussed by the Authority "in strict secrecy" - so strict that members had to return the papers at the end of the meeting.
These proposals were said to include the privatisation (on what basis exactly is far from clear) of both Rye and Bexhill Hospitals. Councillor Shackleton feels it is quite wrong that anything which affects a public issue like this should be discussed in private; presumably the two consultants do too, or they would not have told all to the press.
However, no-one can be in doubt that Rye Hospital's future must be one of the matters being discussed by the HHA's Strategic Review Group, and the possibility of privatisation is obviously something they are likely to consider. In our view, their task will be made much more difficult if, whenever an idea is put forward in the course of the next few months, a senior member of the staff leaks it to the newspapers and creates what may be quite unnecessary worry in the community concerned.
Whatever anyone's view may be, Alan Martindale is firmly refusing to discuss rumours; and at least Rye is in a much stronger position now, with Dr. Roger Thomas joining Mrs. Joan Yates as a member of the Health Authority.
4.
The current planning list shows an interesting group of applications which concern Rye. First is a consultation document from Shepway Council about the Lydd Airport proposals; our Planning Officer feels that it is not nearly full enough, and he is asking Shepway for more details. Like the Town Council, Rother is objecting basically to the lack of information so far, rather than to the proposals themselves - which may well turn out not to be detrimental to people this side of the county boundary at all, but Sussex would like the chance to find out. Plans for the Monastery (Cinque Ports Pottery) look intriguing but complicated; James Elliott, well known in local pottery circles for many years, is going to talk to us about his proposals before next week's issue. There is an application to add a toilet and shower room at Cap Gris Nez on Hilder's Cliff. The detailed plans (pursuant to outline permission already granted) are being submitted for the Tollgate Garage site, for 14 flats and 14 maisonettes, built in brick/tiles/boarding, with the windows painted white - rather than the depressing brown which makes so many brick buildings look like prison blocks nowadays! The terrace of three-storey houses runs in a curved L-shape round the road edge of the corner site, with car access from Harbour Road near the sluice leading to 38 parking spaces in the far corner, by the river. Screening trees are shown along the boundary with the next house in the road, and there is a garden area in the middle of the site.
The only controversial application (although Planning has marked it as suitable for delegation) is likely to be the one from McCarthy & Stone. This lists several things to do with the construction work on Strand Quay. They need to erect a hoarding all round, for safety and security; but the main entrance is shown as being in Wish Ward, and the prospect of this little street having to cope with the sort of traffic which has been serving the Magdala House and supermarket sites was so appalling that we rang the firm's architects. They assured us that the big stuff would not come onto the site at all, apart from a tower crane; once this was in place, it would unload the lorries direct from The Deals. This all seems fair enough, but then we come to the advertising aspect. The written application refers to six 6' x 4' sign-boards, set in pairs - one pair at each end of the site and a further pair in the middle (and it is not exactly an enormous site). But in addition to this, the firm is expecting to erect six flagpoles, two flanking each pair of boards, flying flags with the company name. These don't seem to be mentioned in the written application, but do appear on the plan - and in the accompanying photographs of another site, which show the full splendour...
People who share our view that it is all wrong for Strand Quay to be cluttered up with so much junk, quite probably for a year, should write to the Planning Office promptly and say so (quoting application RR87 52D).
Demolition work on the site has now opened up an unusual view of the back of the Old Brewery, and has also cleared away the whole of the Wish Ward frontage - until the hoarding goes up. Stout props now shore up the Heritage Centre building - though it may look a little uneasy once the big shed beside it comes down.
ESCC's Development Control Sub-Committee last week accepted a recommendation from its Planning Officer, Malcolm Reece, not to support the new Montrose Properties plans for their Harbour Road site (this is the one just upstream from Alsfords). Despite Rother's sterling work in getting the number of dwellings for this revised scheme down from the original 124 to 97, Mr. Reece felt that "until it can be clearly demonstrated that the housing and marina functions represent an inter-related and comprehensive development, the scheme should not receive the support of the county planning authority". Puzzled by this, we consulted Mr. Robinson at Rother - who explained that County felt the houses were not blended closely enough into the marina aspects to justify such a development on the site; in the original scheme, which already has planning permission, the housing and marina were much more tightly linked together. So it is presumably back to the drawing board again, for Montrose's architect.
5.
Baring its teeth to show it means business, the DoT last Friday published a draft Compulsory Purchase Order for the land it would require for the Winchelsea bypass. There is an outline in the Sussex Express; the full document can be studied at the Post Office or the Library. Rye can disregard three sheets of paper and one map, which relate to a farm entrance at the Icklesham end - but the rest is serious.
The numerous parcels of land are listed as so many square metres, and our translation into acres is only approximate; but the three farmers most affected are the Horniblows at White Fox Farm (16 acres), the Mairs in Udimore (12 acres) and the Hackings at Cadborough, who farm 17 acres of the land required - though some of it actually belongs to the Prudential. Others from whom lesser amounts of land are being taken are C.E. Alford, F.A. Baker & Sons, and British Rail (who only lose a little over an acre, but it is in 11 separate parcels!).
At the Rye end, where the route swerves away from the railway towards Strand quay, the map is much larger in scale to allow for a number of complications in Farm Lane. This is an unadopted road, and ownership is held to go with the land each side. The DoT needs the town end of it, and is therefore taking half-widths from Segas (the substation or whatever), Jempsons (the Farnborough back entrance), British Rail (part of the old railway line), the owner of Rosemary (which could have the road within five yards of the house wall), Alsfords (whose display site would go), and Ian Davie, owner of the land occupied by Harbour Body Panels (43 Winchelsea Road, plus no. 45, the bungalow at the back of it). The other bungalow, no. 41, is already owned by the Department, who bought it in 1984.
(The whole Farm Lane question is complicated by the fact that both Southern Water and ESCC object to the diversion away from the railway, though neither objects to the through route in general - so in the end, none of the previous paragraph may apply at all!)
Objections have to reach the Secretary of State for Transport, SE Regional Office, Federated House, London Road, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1SZ (quoting reference RSE/A259/14B/12/8/1) by 27 November - just over a fortnight from today. If the weight of objection is felt to justify a public enquiry, objectors will receive six weeks' notice and the enquiry will be advertised in the local press - and, of course, if matters get to this stage objections cannot be treated in confidence, warns the notice. The Rother Planning Officer tells us that if there is 2sy reasonably valid objection, there will have to be a public enquiry; and of course Rother is objecting (in support of its Rye objection), and so is the SWA, and ESCC.
....There will certainly be local objectors, too. Sidney Horniblow tells us that the "brown route" (also favoured by ESCC) would not have presented him with any major farming problems, but this one slices his farm diagonally in two and will make sheep farming on his land "extremely difficult", to put it politely. Clive Hacking and Robert Mair were still pondering the implications of their letters (which only arrived on Friday - landowners got no advance notice) when we asked for their views; but the route splits their sheep farms too... At the Rye end, David Jeal, who has been running Harbour Body Panels on the corner of Farm Lane for ten years or so, will certainly be objecting - on the very simple grounds that to lose his place of work could put him out of business; you can't have a much more serious objection than that, these days. And since both Rosemary and 49 Winchelsea Road will be within a few yards of the route, it seems probable that their owners/tenants will certainly object - as may the occupants of other houses in that corner, on grounds of noise and fumes and general disturbance. SE Gas told us that they had already objected to the at route, because of upsetting their plant on the old gas-works site; but the property department seemed very vague about this one, and we left them hastily looking up maps! And at Winchel- sea Station, potter Ernest Collyer will be objecting - primarily because the route will devastate his secluded retreat, but also because the map has the nerve to mark his drive as "unknown ownership" when (if they had taken the trouble to ask him) he could have shown them thepapers which prove it belongs to him. Perhaps he should get together with the households in the Station Cottages, who share the same drive - since all of them appear to be losing their access entirely?
(To be continued...)
6
Once again one of Rye's St. John Nursing Cadets has brought credit to the Division. Kirsty Piggott, 14i, represented Rye at Eastbourne on 31 October, in the East Sussex Cadet Individual First Aid Competition. She won it against competitors from seven other towns, and brought home the Peter Stuttaford Trophy - a large bronze St. John knight! Her "accident" was a cyclist who had fallen off and damaged her hands and head, sustaining concussion. No sooner had Kirsty dealt with this than she was confronted - in the All-Sussex competition which followed - with a boy who had an arrow through his leg and was suffering from severe shock; to complicate the affair, she also had to cope with his brother having an epileptic fit half-way through the test. (This improbable combination had been a genuine situation dealt with by the doctor who set the questions!) In this competition Kirsty came third - and she still has two years left in which she can compete as a cadet, so doubtless this won't be the last time we shall be reporting on her success at county level.
The Nursing Cadets are now including little sisters in their activities. The St. John Badgers are 6-to-10-year olds (at 10 they can become proper cadets). The Rye Badgers (at present, eight of them) are all girls, and Divisional Superintendent Marilyn Mitchell hopes to keep it that way; the Badger Sett Leader is Marilyn's daughter Sally (who becomes a Sergeant later this week, and who was carrying the St. John's standard at St. Mary's on Sunday). The little girls meet at the same time as the Cadets (so convenient for the mums) - Fridays, 7 to 8.15 at the Conduit Hill HQ, and they work for a series of simple badges of their own; those who in due course gain the lot qualify for an extra one to go on their sleeve when they become full Cadets.
(And oh, the problems of modern living: no longer, says Mrs. Mitchell, can her girls studying home nursing be told to make a bed "just like you do at home". At home, of course, most of them nowadays just shake out a duvet!)
Well before the storm (when the power cut, of course, interfered with most of the timing mechanisms) the Ratepayers Association had been passing on to County Hall complaints about irregular or non-existent street lighting; Military Road and the Estate, Ratepayers secretary James Menhinick tells us, were regular subjects of correspondence.
Mr. Menhinick has now heard from the County Engineer that complaints/reminders should go direct to the chap in charge of street lighting at ESCC, Ken Shaw. Dialling 0273 475400 and asking for extension 12/236 will get through to the right office at County Hall. But if you don't think the problem rates the cost of a long-distance phone call (phoning Lewes from here costs the same as phoning John o' Groats!), you can write to Mr. Shaw at the Street Lighting Section, County Engineer's Department, County Hall, Lewes. Doubtless it would be really helpful to his staff to know, for instance, which lights are still going on and off at unusual times?
Last week's little tailpiece about the National Trust trees whose departure created a view for a neighbour was, apparently, taken by some people to refer to Lamb House. We don't know why, since we made it clear that it was not a local story; anyway, to make it even clearer, it did not refer to Lamb House! But it is, alas, all too true that Lamb House's beautiful garden did suffer in the storm. A month ago it had ten trees; now it has four. One of the victims fell on the toolshed, another on the greenhouse. Everyone knows how devoted Sir Brian and Lady Batsford are to their garden, and it is a real grief to the town that this should have happened.
Another place which has lost trees - quite young ones, too - is Mason Field, at the entrance to Tilling Green. Here the casualties are mostly the twisty willows, which were beginning to grow into good-sized trees after rather a slow start. Some are left, but the little plantation which was establishing itself nicely has been sadly bereft.
7.
• Red Cross members on Thursday enjoyed a lively speech from Miss Lyn Covey, from Brighton - billed to talk about Activenture, she decided instead to be far more topical and gave her enthralled audience an account of what the Brighton team had to cope with - and was still coping with - as a result of the storm. Earlier, the officers' reports were received with approval and applause; Hilary Bolton reported on the Centre's year, Sue Thomas spoke about medical loans, while Nick Martin's accounts showed a healthy excess of income over expenditure - which would have been even larger than last year's but for a hefty repair bill. As Mrs. Bolton said, without the Thrift Shop's contribution of close on C4,000 the position would have been very different, and she expressed the Centre's thanks to Maria Judge and her team - also to Jo Gammon, the Centre's deputy organiser, and to Mrs. Payton who has retired after ten years' running the Over-60s Club.
• The Rye Old Scholars London Reunion on 2 November at the Albert pub in Victoria Street was well attended; among the company were three of the school governors, three senior staff and some 45 former pupils of TPS and RGS - with the best part of fifty years separating the oldest from the youngest.
• On Saturday, when the town was full of devoted British Legion members selling the traditional scarlet poppies, much offence was caused by two funereally-dressed women walking Rye's streets offering for sale white poppies from a tray marked (as we heard it) "For Peace". We don't know how much trade they did or where they came from, but one irate Legion member reported them to the police for illegal street trading, and it seems that the police - shall we say? - encouraged them to go home. They departed in a car with a Kent registration number, so we like to think that it was no-one from Rye who was insensitive enough to pick this particular day to do such a thing.
• For the first time for some years, Rye Scouts took part in the Gang Show at the White Rock. Nick Robus, Michael Hinds and Jonathan Empson were all in the cast and will get their Entertainer's badge (not easily won) as a result; Venture Scout Michelle Robus was also involved.
• It is excellent news that Upper School hall's roof, still not mended, has been patched up so that the hall can now be used again without those inside getting wet. At Lower, the Library and needlework, room are still out of action; a limited library service is being carried on in the Drama Hall, and needlework fits in where it can. But, as if to boost morale, Lower School is being painted outside, for the first time for years, and Mike Thomas even dares to hope that a little redecoration Ell get done inside as well:
• Many people from Rye, we hear, attended the Peasmarsh PTA bonfire party on Saturday. They included Inspector Peters, who was there in his private capacity with his family; he told us it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, timed to suit young children (all over by 8.30), and with a superb firework display; no-one at all did anything silly, which proves that it is perfectly possible to have a really good bonfire party without any upsets! Claude Auberson says that the event is not intended as a fund-raiser, though the PTA does make a modest profit on the refreshments; they are all very grateful to the Glebe Field's neighbour, Joe Cavilla, who regularly helps out with lighting, etc., and this year let everyone come through his garden to avoid the mud at the entrance to the field.
• Another bonfire party, actually on the 5th, was organised for the Scouts and Cubs, Guides and Brownies and their friends from all round the Rye area. It was held up at Iden, by kind invitation of Peter Spencer. Frank Dowdeswell was astonished by the support - "the cars just kept on coming" he told us - but it is clear that everyone had a very good time.
• Long notice, for those who like to get ahead with their Christmas preparations, that once again the Rye Firemen will be helping Father Christmas deliver parcels on Christmas morning in Rye, Winchelsea, the Beach, the Harbour, Playden and Iden (the Broad Oak Firemen help him in Udimore). We will give details nearer the time - but labels cost 50p, in aid of the Firemen's National Benevolent Fund. There will also be a raffle for a teddy-bear who talks - and who could also be delivered to the winner on Christmas mornings
Thursday, 12th Town Council A259 Sub-Committee, TH, 7 Coin Club, "Tokens" (J. Winch), FEC, 7.30
Friday, 13th CSRF coffee morning (with Mr. Spiers's slides of Russia), FEC,11 Nat.His.Soc., "The Beauty and Diversity of Moths" (Michael Tweedie), FEC, 7.30
National Trust Centre AGM (talk by J. Pritchard), CC, 7.30
Saturday, 14th Mencap Autumn Fair, FEC, 10 to 12
TPS PTA jumble sale, Upper School, 10.30
A259 Action Group jumble sale, FEC, 2 (jumble can be brought to the hall from 11)
New Sussex Opera Group, "Sister Angelica" (Puccini), St. Mary's, 7.30 (GAZETTE no. 247)
Semi-Quavers Jazz Band (for Community Centre roof appeal), CC, 7.30 (GAZETTE no. 247)
Sunday, 15th Lifeboat Memorial Service, Rye Harbour Church, 3
Monday, 16th 5th Year parents evening, TPS
Camera Club, "Close-up photography" (Ian Rumley-Dawson), FEC, 7.30
Wednesday, 18th Thrift Shop (handing-in only), Red Cross, 10 to 12
Community Lunch Group (Jill Stevens on the support group for cancer sufferers), Clinic, 12.30 for 1
Local History Group, "Old Farm Buildings in East Sussex" (David Martin), Library, 7.30.
• Cancer Relief will benefit by C158 as a result of last Wednesday's Christmas coffee morning and sale at the FE Centre - and, almost more useful, the group has acquired four new committee members, says Rusty Ellis happily.
• The Sea Cadets jumble sale at the Community Centre on Saturday raised 0116.
• This Friday's WI Market (CC at 10, as usual) is the time to place orders for goods required for Christmas - the pre-Christmas Market. The actual Christ- mas Market takes place on Friday, 11 December, when ordered goods can be collected for the festive season. That will be the final Market for the 1987 season, so we shall all have to cook for ourselves until they reopen in the spring.
• On Thursday next week (19th) Dick Pearce at the Wipers is holding a Beaujolais Nouveau Breakfast in aid of the RNLI. Tickets cost £3.50 from the Ypres Inn or from Joan Parkes; they include one glass of wine and the buffet, from 9.30 onwards - and there is excellent coffee for those who can't really face red wine before mid-morning.
• Rozelle Poole is glad to report that the film "Jesus", shown twice in the town on Saturday, drew a total audience of over 250 people - which almost exactly paid the cost of hiring the film.
• Father Christmas is so fond of Rye Playgroup that even though their Christmas Fair is a week earlier than usual this year, he will still be found in his usual grotto at the Clinic on Saturday week (21st) from 2. He will be surrounded by stalls, refreshments will be available - and the committee hope to display some proposed plans for the new playgroup building, since all the money raised during the afternoon will go into their Building Fund.
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 through Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. Deadline is Monday afternoon for Wednesday's delivery; subscribers pay in advance on the basis of 40p a copy, and spares are available from Young Ideas, 7 Cinque Ports Street, Rye, at 45p. (Copyright Mary Owen 1987)