At last Thursday's meeting of the Health Authority, it was decided not to close either Rye or Battle Hospitals at present. Of the 8 options towards making savings which were considered, six were adopted; three represented no specific saving, but it was decided to save £100,000 by reducing additional funding for medical staffing, £15,000 by avoiding duplication of family planning services, and £50,000 by cancelling elective surgery in August and at Christmas, when regular staff are on holiday and replacements cost money. Savings from all this would therefore amount to somewhere over £150,000 (all these figures are, of course, in very round terms).
In its estimate of the £350,000 saving needed to balance the 1988/9 budget, the Authority had allowed a sum of £200,000 to fund the medical staffing pay awards due to be announced soon. The meeting decided that these awards ought to be funded by the Government, not by the individual Health Authorities, and that therefore the £150,000-worth of savings were all that needed to be made d present. (It was also agreed, however, that the casualty service at Rye should be reviewed urgently, and it seems likely that we may get it - if at all - in the summer only, when the enormous influx of caravanners without facilities for normal DIY first-aid would otherwise have to find their way over to join the queues in Hastings.)
So far, then, Rye and Battle Hospitals are both safe (they were the subject of the seventh and eighth options). But the Authority is gambling on the Government feeling obliged to fund the medical pay award. If it doesn't - and particularly if the decision is not made for several months - the HHA could find itself in a position which would lead to the closure of both hospitals. Both? Yes, because the pay award will be back-dated to the start of the financial year anyway; and if the Government decision is not announced until well into the summer, and the award is not nationally funded, then the Authority would find itself with perhaps half a year's running cost for both hospitals plus a full year's pay award to find. The only way to find the money then, if the books are to be balanced in March 1989, would be to close both hospitals as soon as possible to save the remaining half-year's running costs. ie. if the pay award costs £200,000 from April, and the Authority has spent £150,000 on Rye and £100,000 on Battle by September, then to close (say) Rye alone would not produce enough money over the remaining six months to fund the pay award in full.
During the closed session of the HHA after the public meeting, the chairman (Richard Elliott, OBE) announced his resignation. DHA chairmen are appointed by the Regional Health Authority; but at present Hastings has no vice-chairman either, and the latter appointment will be the first item on the agenda for the next meeting on 16 March.
Talking to the GAZETTE (after what we hear was a very enjoyable speech to the Conservative Association AGM on Saturday at the George), Ken Warren referred to the hospital. He had been in contact with the Chairman of the Health Authority after Thursday's meeting, and was aware of the position. The 1988 medical staff pay award, he told us, is likely to be announced before long, and the Government will decide at that point how far it can be funded from Whitehall. The problem of NHS expenditure, he said, is of course a national one, and not confined to the Hastings Health Authority, and a large number of MPs are lobbying the Government on behalf of hospitals and other services at risk. Mr. Warren is certainly among them, and he is not at all sorry to be, as he put it, "beaten about the head" by the HHA, since it is all ammunition for him in his challenge to the Health Minister. He feels that the HHA did originally need to pare down its costs, but that this has now been done and the Authority should not be called upon to make further savings at the expense of services. It seemed clear from the conversation that Mr. Warren feels all is far from lost for Rye Hospital.
2.
Mr. Wyon James Stansfeld, of Playden, died suddenly but peacefully at his home on 14 February, in his 80th year. He is survived by his widow, son and daughter and six grandchildren. He was the son of James and Dorothy Stansfeld; many local people will remember with affection his mother, who spent her last years in Lion Street after being very much a pillar of Iden society. The family connection with the area started with a farm in Wittersham, and Wyon went to Lancing College before going to London to train as an accountant. He soon realised that this was not the life for him, and went out to South India as an employee of the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation; there, just before the war, he met and married Lorna Fraser, the daughter of a fellow tea-planter. Both their children were born in India (and, of course, subsequently sent home for schooling for three-year periods without seeing their parents). During the war, Mr. Stansfeld left his tea plantation and joined up with the Guides, serving with the frontier force in the Indian Army; he spent much of his time in Persia not engaged in fighting to speak of, but seeing some very interesting country. On his return to civilian life he soon became Group General Manager of all the company estates, before transferring to Tanganyika to open up new tea plantations there. Retiring in 1963, he and his wife came to Field House in Playden and always fond of growing things, though now on a rather smaller scale - he set up first a strawberry business and later a vineyard, though after the first year the grapes went to Merrydown rather than into his own bottles. Later still, they turned to shepherding, with a small flock of sheep on the land around the house. Wyon Stansfeld will be best remembered in Rye for his tireless work for the RNLI; he took Commander Howard's place on the local committee, served as both secretary and treasurer over the years, and helped build up the Branch from small beginnings to the successful fund-raising organisation it is today. He was also a prominent local Freemason - and a regular worshipper at Playden Church, where his funeral took place on Monday. Donations in his memory may be sent to the RNLI.
Mr. Ted Magrath died peacefully at his home in Pottingfield Road on 17 February. He was 68, and had been in poor health in recent years. He leaves a widow, Phyl, daughters Pat and Elaine and three grandchildren. Mr. Magrath was born just over the Rye border, in Playden, and spent all his life here except for the war years - which were not happy ones for him; as a member of the local Territorials, he was among the first to go overseas (with the Cinque Ports Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment), was taken prisoner, and after a terrible 600-mile march across Europe to Poland spent the rest of the war in a POW camp there. It is not surprising that he didn't speak much about his wartime experiences. After the war, Mr. Magrath returned to Rye and resumed his normal working life, first with Mears Bros and then with Long Products in Harbour Road, and finally with Upfields, the heating engineers. He was a member of the British Legion. The funeral took place yesterday and was followed by burial in Playden churchyard.
Mrs. Barbara Hamer, who died on 4 February in St. Helen's Hospital at the age of 85, was the only daughter of Rye historian Leopold Vidler and the sister of Dr. Alec Vidler. She was born in the town and went to the Collegiate School, and was one of the first four patrol-leaders in Lady Maud Warrender's Own Girl Guide company. Mrs.Hamer left Rye when she married, but returned here for a few years in the 1960s; she came back again more recently to live at Sharvels in Peasmarsh, where some of her own charming watercolours hung in her room.
On information from a normally impeccable source, we printed last week a brief obituary notice for Mrs. Helen Hedgler of Rye Harbour. However, far from being the proper subject of an obituary notice, Mrs. Hedgler had been at the Day Centre as usual on Tuesday - and it was one of the helpers there who pointed out our dreadful error. We are relieved to hear that Mrs. Hedgler has generously accepted our apology, and is more amused than annoyed; but we, and our informant, are horribly embarrassed by the whole episode, and intend to make doubly sure that such a thing won't happen again:
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 24 February 1988
Paying his first-ever visit to the town on Friday morning, Minister for the Arts Richard Luce came to look at the Rye Arts complex - the Stormont Studio, the Easton Rooms and the courtyard between them where it is hoped a gallery extension and Arts Centre will be built. In brilliant sunshine, the Minister was able to admire both the view across the Marsh from the terrace, and the pictures and crafts on show in the current exhibitions (GAZETTE no. 260). The two galleries, Mr. Luce said, were unique both in their setting and atmosphere and in what they had to offer; the opportunity for local artists and craftsmen to sell their work was something he felt sure should interest the Development Commission through the RDA.
Eric Le Fevre was on hand to explain his design for the Arts Centre, and the Minister wished Rye Arts every success in raising the £100,000 needed to make it a reality. Trustees, committee members and staff much appreciated the Minister's comments, and hope he will come back to see the Centre when it opens.
Hosting Mr. Luce's visit to the Gallery was our MP, Ken Warren, who later escorted the Ministerial party to Hastings to see the Shipwreck Museum and the Stables Theatre.
The programme for the coming year at Rye Arts promises some varied and interesting shows. Fixed points at the Easton Rooms are the Spring and Christmas mixed exhibitions, and Graham Clarek's annual return to the gallery which helped him in his early days. Ken Townsend and David Crew are also among those due to exhibit there, and work by Edward Bawden will be on show in November. At the Stormont Studio, Captain Pugwash (or more probably his creator John Ryan - unless of course the piratical sea-captain himself has unsuspected artistic talent?) follows Ray Ching and is in turn succeeded by photographer Douglas Glass. The second half of the year sees Studio shows by Linda McCartney and Bernard Sindall, Carel Weight's 80th birthday exhibition, the South East Arts Craft Collection, and a (to us) unknown quantity called "The Day Book Pictures".
The third and final section of the TPS Rye Memories book on "Leisure Activities" is now available at the usual outlets: D & P Street in Market Road, Tony Neville in Market Street, Salon 54 in Cinque Ports Street, and the school office (or Jo Kirkham personally) - would anyone else care to stock it, commission-free? Those who are collecting these booklets - and there are unlikely to be reprints, with so much material waiting for initial publication - might like to be reminded that they should have one blue and three yellow books by now (including the new one). The next will be pink (the nearest Jean Kemp in the school office could get to pillar-box red) and will tell "The Postal History of Rye"; and there are three more ready to print. Each costs L1.95, and is well worth the money.
Part III of "Leisure Activities" goes into detail about sporting and military groups, educational organisations, gardening and farming clubs, public service, trade organisations, the Museum, national charities and other national groups. Some, of course, are covered very much more fully than others, depending on the amount of information received from the questionnaires; and in this volume the group dips a first cautious toe into the more distant waters of the villages. There is also a bibliography, and an appendix giving the gist of a large number of souvenir programmes which came the way of the young compilers, thanks to Douglas Smith of Ashenden Avenue. All honour to the TPS pupils who are currently working on this project: Michelle Robus, Kay Beeching, Stephen Tollett, Keith Williams, Samantha Jones, Zena Piggott, Julie Hutchings, Mark Newham, James Rosewall, Joseph Taylor, Simon Scott, Elizabeth Cox and Joanna Pettifer.
Next week we expect to write about Graham Mayhew's scholarly but quite unexpectedly entertaining book on "Tudor Rye", to be published on 1 March; Dr. Mayhew will be launching it with an illustrated lecture that evening at the FEC at 7.30, taking the place of his usual Adult Education class at that time and open to all (admission 50p).
4.
British Gas really excelled themselves this time, the third year they have sponsored the Community Centre's Pancake Race - and at present they are not even working in the town! They have donated a huge silver cup as the prize for the Champion of Champions Race, something they only do for very special institutions (said their PR-person Liz Mortlock, who had come with a photographer to see fair play). Every entrant also got a pair of oven-gloves or two Gas Board mugs, the heats winners got sports bags, shopping bags and T-shirts, the Champion had a huge Gas Board umbrella to keep (as well as the Cup for a year) - and the Centre itself contributed £5 vouchers, and a mini-frying-pan for the fastest lady. The Sussex Express gave a high-quality cast-iron pan which was auctioned for £16; and Jif lemons, to moisten the pancakes after the races, came with the compliments of the makers.
After such generosity, what about the actual races? The weather was good, the audience large and enthusiastic (it was the Tuesday of half-term week), and the competitors ran and tossed and tossed and ran in the approved manner. Winners were Carmel Doughty from Monrow's; John Jorsta from the George; Dale Skinner of Monrow's; Lucy Terry of the Standard (who took the trouble to dress up, and looked extremely pretty); and Simon Spencer of the Globe. The Champion's Cup went to Dale Skinner - won for what must surely be the town's smallest restaurant!
After the races, everyone adjourned to the Centre for cups of tea and pancakes - Margaret Owen made 70, and she and her helpers dispensed them from the kitchen hatch - for the prizegiving, and for photographs. One sporting but unlucky entrant, rather more senior than most, fell during his race but without undue damage; and it was being suggested afterwards that there might be a Veterans Race next year - to be replaced by a Children's Race next time the event fell in half-term week?
For years, on and off, there has been talk in the town of setting up an emergency committee. Always until now, however, the potential emergency has been regarded solely as a nuclear one, whether by accident or act of war, and there has been a feeling that in that case there would be very little anyone at local level could do.
October's storm changed all that; suddenly, people realised that there were other types of emergency which could dislocate essential services, cut the flow of supplies and put at risk elderly or handicapped people. As a result, the Town Council thought again about an emergency committee, and after a meeting with Rother and ESCC staff last month, the first preliminary move was made at the fi Council meeting last week.
Rother has also realised the need for such committees, and is to appoint a part-time (Home Office funded) Civil Defence Officer for its District. There will also be training sessions and radio links. So, to start with, Rye Town Council has appointed the Town Clerk as team leader and co-ordinator (she lives at the Beach, but could get here on foot or bike or even up river in her dinghy!), with the Mayor and Councillors Starkey, Champion, Ciccone and Fortsch. This team will attend the training sessions and then decide how best to liaise with the welfare and emergency services in the town. The members may well wish to build a back-up corps of non-Councillors with special knowledge or contacts. Of course the Council will not have any extra authority in time of emergency - this will still be in the hands of the police, fire service, etc.
The Town Hall will be a suitable and central point to co-ordinate these efforts, and arrangements are being made for emergency lighting and heating for the office there, as well as the radio link. Then we shall have a single manned base for next time - next time there is rather more wind than we would like, or the tide comes up further than it should, or fire presents a serious problem - or, of course, if Dungeness gets unduly uppity, which Heaven forbid!
5.
• One of the Rye applications considered by Rother's planning committee on Thursday has caused a certain unease among those concerned with the stability of the cliff: the proposal to build three bedrooms, a bathroom and an extension to the dining-room at the back of Durrant House Hotel in Market Street. There is a fine line between what Planning can and cannot refuse, and there is, it seems, no planning reason why the extension should not be built (the present application seeks to renew an earlier permission). But (the people living underneath will be glad to know) planning permission has been granted on the understanding that Rother "does not accept responsibility for, or make any representations as to, the stability of the land, on which matter professional advice should be taken". It is up to anyone wishing to build this extension to convince Rother's building regulations engineers that they can do so safely; the rider to the planning perm-mission is a clear indication that this might not be easy!
For once, all the Rye applications were more or less successful last week. The owners of Saltcote Place have permission to add a single-storey extension, subject to agreement about car parking layout and other conditions. Permission was granted for a workshop in Paygate Yard, for a single-storey extension in King's Avenue, and for alterations at Black Lantern Cottage. The plans for the Heritage Centre are also approved, with conditions and "subject to no contrary representations within the specified time". Permission has also been given recently, under the delegated system, to a double garage and covered linkway at 122 Udimore Road, to a replacement chimney-stack at Holloway House and to the reinstatement of tiles at Jeake's House - both the latter after storm damage.
• Another matter dismissed at the planning meeting was the provision of car parking in private sheltered-housing accommodation. Housing for the elderly is normally held to need less parking space than similar all-age developments; and the Planning Officer feels that therefore developers may be encouraged to seek higher densities of development, leaving no space on the site for additional parking to be provided if circumstances change later - for instance, if the premises should be used for normal residential accommodation instead. The committee adopted his recommendation that in future the Council should expect developers to demonstrate that the full normal car-parking requirements can be met on the site, though it need not be met at the time of development if the housing is for old people only. If, later, the owners wish to have this restriction lifted, they would then be expected to provide an appropriate amount of additional car parking as a condition of approval. (This would certainly have presented a problem to McCarthy & Stone on Strand Quay, where there are only 13 parking spaces for the 50 flats, and precious little room for the further 37 or more which could later be needed; it could, however, mean a pleasant green belt in future sheltered-accomodation developments!)
• The proposal to house eight not-very-mentally-handicapped people in the Mariners in the High Street (GAZETTE no. 259) was approved by the Town Council's planning committee last week. However, it has been received without enthusiasm elsewhere in the town. The chairman of the Hotel & Caterers Association, Ron Dellar, deplores the loss of the hotel's 22 beds, while an un-named spokesman for the Chamber of Trade told the Express that the Chamber would prefer the Mariners to continue as "a much-needed hotel in the High Street, where there is only one other". Although the application is not strictly a conservation matter, the Conservation Society will be considering it at its next committee meeting.
The main objection (anyway, as expressed publicly) seems to be the loss of the hotel's beds. It has 11 rooms, presumably all doubles in view of Mr. Dellar's statement; and it is at the upper end of the town's price-range. Holloway House is about to open next door, but will only have room for six visitors - so if all the Mariners rooms are normally full during the season, its 22 beds would indeed be missed. But whether Rother would be justified in refusing permission on strictly planning terms seems very doubtful - whether or not members wished to do so. We wonder if there would be the same local objections if the permanent residents were to be part of (say) a language school, or a convent? Either would still mean the loss of beds for tourists, of course - but...
6.
Austin Blomfield, FRIBA (1892 - 1968) was a distinguished architect; although his family home was on Point Hill, he did most of his work away from Rye, and is commemorated here only by the three houses he designed for the Gun Garden after the wartime bombing. The present Rectory was commissioned by his cousins, the Henry Burras, parents of the painter Edward Burra; he also designed the two houses next door to it, which are now occupied by his son and daughter. He was the son of Sir Reginald Blomfield - whose work is seen in almost every country churchyard in Britain, since he designed the standard WW1 War Memorial with the bronze sword. Sir Reginald, too, worked mainly away from Rye, but was responsible for the development of Point Hill (where he built a house for himself), and also for Rye Hospital, built in 1920 as a war memorial for the town and surrounding district. (He is said to have done the plans for free on condition he was allowed to have a bell on top!)
In 1957 Austin Blomfield brought out a portfolio of drawings and water-colours (reproduced in black-and-white) of aspects of Rye "equally attractive though less well known than Watchbell Street and Mermaid Street" as his introductory note puts it. The book was published by Adams, and has for years been a collector's piece. Now his children, who still have the original photographic blocks, feel that the time has come for a new edition; and with a new cover designed by John Ryan, "Rye - fifteen drawings by Austin Blomfield, FRIBA" is in Rye bookshops this week, price £3.95 (and again printed by Adams).
Like many architects, Austin Blomfield was a very talented artist, and all lovers of Rye will insist on having a copy of this book simply because of the charm and expertise of the pictures. But it also repays close study from the historical viewpoint. The earliest drawings (Vennall's Passage, 1927, and Warehouses, The Strand, 1929) make it clear that the past sixty years have not treated Needles Passage or the Great Warehouse kindly. Twenty years later, the 1946 interior view of the Town Hall shows it with the original railings - now back in place but a boarded floor instead of the present rather horrible green lino; an undated exterior view reveals the artist's Achilles heel - as John Ryan says, the one thing his father-in-law could not draw was a car! Also in 1946, Austin Blomfield drew the town from Point Hill; this is a tour-de-force indeed, showing the whole north-eastern face of the town with the sea in the far distance, and of course open ground running up to the back gardens of the single row of houses fringing Military Road - since in those days North Salts was simply saltings. The same thing is clear in the view of Rye from the tennis club drawn ten years later. Seen from the pump, Landgate was much the same in 1949 (though the railed fence was missing) - but were there really those two ironmongers' shops at the bottom one each side of the road and both festooned with buckets and tin baths? The Pump House in Church Square looks oddly different - unexpected for such a historic structure until one realised that there were no trees near it in 1951 (or if there were, the artist decided to leave them out!).
In traffic terms, the A259 route alongside Strand Quay must have made a vast difference; but it certainly wrecked the view of the town from the river. A beautifully detailed drawing of 1948 shows the warehouses as they were before the main road and the car park arrived to mar them (the traffic then ran past the Borough Arms and the Ship Inn to South Undercliff). And well into the 1950s Stonhams were milling local grain in their brick warehouse on the Quay (now Iden Pottery); a 1954 interior view shows it with sacks of corn and much of the machinery still in place. Two drawings of the High Street, looking from the George to Adams in 1950 and vice versa in 1953, make it clear when the railings of 11 High Street were replaced! There are also a delightful pair of pictures of the river - Rye from the Channel in 1954 and The Channel from Rye a year later, both long before Alsfords' wharf was built.
Finally, there is an exemplary record of the Garden Room at Lamb House, as seen from West Street - with a cellar door below the dramatic bay window and a tiny railed-off shrubbery between it and the house - drawn with an architect's knowledge and an artist's inspiration, in an unspecified year before it fell victim to a wartime bomb. Austin Blomfield's "Fifteen Drawings" really are something to cherish.
7.
At St. Mary's on Friday evening, Anne Whiteman will be conducting the Junior Ryesingers and Lois Benton the TPS Band and soloists. Tickets, from the Black Sheep in The Mint and Rye Wholefoods in Cinque Ports Street, cost £1.50 for adults, 75p for children, OAPs and UB40s. This is in aid of the local Cancer Help Group, which from April will meet regularly on the first Tuesday of each month at the St. John HQ on Conduit Hill from 7.30 to 9.30, and also on the third Tuesday from 2 to 3.30. Meetings are usually informal, but there is sometimes an outside speaker - details in Fixtures. The group exists to help and support those who are close to cancer victims, as well as the sufferers themselves. It has a selection of books, cassettes and videos which can be borrowed, on topics such as self-help therapies, special diets and alternative medicines; and anyone is welcome to come to the meetings, for advice or just an informal chat. Sandra Sarkies at the Black Sheep and Jill Stevens at Rye Wholefoods will be glad to give further information.
• Bob Clarke, Rother's Technical Services Officer, was able to tell us on Monday to everyone's relief - that there is nothing further to report about the state of the cliff; the dry weather, present and forecast, is the best thing that could happen. Rother staff are, of course, still keeping in touch with the situation, and are still anxious to hear from anyone further along the cliff who might see cause for alarm. The Council has instructed engineers Kenneth Severn & Partners, who regularly deal with building regulations matters for Rother and therefore already know Rye, to look into the situation generally. But apart from this, there is nothing much Rother can do for the individual private householders concerned apart from trying to ensure their personal safety.
• Condolences to Tony Isted of New Road, whose fishing-boat was cut adrift on Saturday night after he had been working late on it at the Harbour jetty. At the top of a very high tide, it swung round on the remaining mooring warp and grounded slap across the lifeboat slipway. Fortunately, with the help of a friend's boat, Mr. Isted was able to pull his own clear next day, and neither boat nor slipway suffered damage.
• The Thomas Peacocke School play, "Murder at the Vicarage" by Agatha Christie, has been put forward by a week because the original dates clashed with a concert given by East Sussex schools at the Albert Hall. It will now take place at Upper School on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, 10-12 March. Tickets will be on sale at Upper School by the end of this week (main entrance, 11.55 to 12.45 daily - or orders can be sent by post or via pupils) - £2 for adults, £1.50 for children and OAPs. We hope to have a preview in next week's issue; there will be a cast of 12, but no staff involvement at all once again, since they are all desperately busy with the GCSE arrangements this year and simply can't spare time.
• The cycle-stamping session at Rye Police Station on Saturday was not over-busy, but a useful number of cycles were marked with their owners' postcode by members of Rye's special constabulary. While we were there, a car came in specially from one of the villages, bearing a brand-new Christmas bike belonging to Joanna Dixon - who was that keen to make sure it stayed hers!
• The Health Authority meeting (front page) last week was at St. Anne's House on The Ridge at 10 am. To get there in time (and there was in fact standing-room only by 9.40) we needed to leave Rye at 7.25 or 8.00, to catch a bus along The Ridge at 8.18 or 9.52 - if we were aiming to get there by public transport! In fact, we went by the 7755 train and were glad to share a £3 taxi from the station - and deeply grateful for a lift back into the town afterwards, to save another £3. As Joan Yates said in the course of the meeting, the situation will have to improve very considerably, if the new hospital is to be any use to people coming from the Rye area - or even from Ore. But as another member said, there are now no public transport authorities who can be asked to improve it, merely a large number of small private ones. Gloomy prospect for those with no car - particularly if by then there is no outpatient provision at Rye at all!
Friday, 26th Concert for Cancer Help Group, St. Mary's, 7.30 (see page 7) RAFA presents vintage film, "Now it can be told", CC, 7.30 (GAZETTE no. 260, tickets from EMBS)
Nat.His.Soc., "Botanising in Western Australia" (Ernie and Breda Burt), FEC, 7.30
FRAG Folk and Blues Night (Jo-Anne Kelly and Pete Emery), £2.50 at door, Stormont Studio, 8
Saturday, 27th Greenpeace jumble sale, FEC, 2
Town Council Bequests Committee Over-70s Party, CC
Monday, 29th WRVS Lunch Club, CC, 12.30
Town Council meeting (6.0), Planning Committee (7.30), TR
Tuesday, let Illustrated lecture by Graham Mayhew on "Tudor Rye", FEC, 7.30 (admission 50p)
Wednesday, 2nd Coffee morning for BRCS Hurricane Appeal (incorporating regular Hearing Circle meeting), Red Cross, 10.30
Ecumenical worship, followed by group discussions with church leaders, St. Mary's, 6.30 (GAZETTE no. 257)
• Congratulations to Mary Lestocq, of Market Road, who has won yet again the Sussex Regional award of the British Institute of Professional Photography for a portrait; she also won this in 1985 and 1986. Winning study was of the two young violinists, which has already been seen in her window; it will join the other Regional winners in the Institute's National competition.
• Congratulations, too, to Sylvia Fiddimore of Iden, whose Yorkshire terrier (a relative of Pat Ciccone's Millie) has won a reserve place at Crufts - and will be trying again next year, on the judge's recommendation. Formally registered as Iden Only Love, Mrs. Fiddimore's little bitch is usually addressed as Miss Bustle!
• Derek and Jenny Bayntun are both taking part in the Hastings Half-Marathon on 13 March, on behalf of the Rotary Polio-Plus Appeal (for which Rye Rotary has already raised £3,700, with its four-year target almost reached in 12 months). Rather than seek outright sponsorship, they are running two totes (open at the Old Forge during restaurant hours); each carries a prize of a half-price meal for four at the restaurant. Punters may like to know that Derek's longest run so far was some 9 miles, in two hours; Jenny says firmly that she intends to walk it anyway...
• Long notice to Thrift Shop sellers that on the Monday after the next sale (21 March), the shop is holding a half-price sale. Goods to be sold at bar- gain prices include both those given to the Red Cross in the first place, and those which are still unsold in the Thrift Shop after being there for three months. If you want back a garment in this latter category, make sure you collect it when the shop is open for normal business the previous week; it may not be still there later.
• We reported last week that British Rail were about to start using wheel-clamps for errant motorists on their land; now the same thing is likely to happen to those parking (despite double yellow lines) in the approach road to the Accident and Emergency department at RESH or in other unauthorised places. Parking on the footpath won't go unnoticed either, says the HHA.
• An early sign of the Pru's local presence is the inclusion of one of Vidlers' properties in a Prudential property auction sale at West Mailing on 14 March: one of the 70 lots is the Rye Harbour Mission Hall, with planning permission for conversion to a dwelling. More engineering work on the London line this weekend - but nothing in the press release, this time, about buses at Rye Station.
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. Spare copies are available from Young Ideas, 7 Cinque Ports Street, price 45p. (Copyright Mary Owen 1988)