It is just possible, says Round Table chairman Alan Deeprose, that Rye Playgroup could be installed in its new building before the end of the year: not certain, to be sure, but possible. Round Tablers have taken the Playgroup very much under their wing. Recently it was announced that they were making a grant of C7,000 to the Building Fund - and in addition to this, a Round Tabler who is also an architect is already drawing up plans for a suitable building. If the Play- group committee approves it, it will then be possible to get an idea of costs, if only informally at this stage; and planning permission will also be needed, as well as an official lease of the site from Rother (who have agreed this in principle already).
As well as Round Table's £7,000, the Appeal has also been promised about £9,600 by the Town Council (the product of a 1.5p rate). Now comes yet a third boost: £5,000 from ESCC's Social Services Committee. This string has been pulled very successfully by County Councillor Mrs. Joan Yates, who is a member of the committee and chairman of its Voluntary Organisations sub-committee. £5,000 is an unusually handsome grant from its funds - and Playgroup are most grateful to Mrs. Yates for her help.
These three grants add up to £21,600; but Playgroup supporters have been making tremendous efforts of their own, and the Building Fund now stands at a total of £27,000 in cash or firm promises. So, even if the tenders for the work are generously low, they are not there quite yet - but they certainly will be.
When Edna Bilsby, now of New Winchelsea Road but then living in St. Margaret's Terrace, left school at 14, she went into Woolworths - just to be going on with, really, because her sister Olive already worked there. Miss Bilsby started behind the counter, then went on to learn window-dressing and stock control, and after a few years went into the office; she found that working behind the desk suited her, and she stayed on... and stayed on... Last week, Miss Bilsby retired, and the staff held a party for her in the big room over the shop - the shop she had worked in ever since 1942! She was presented with a gold bracelet from the company, and the staff gave her a crystal rose-bowl - and former workmates also turned up to wish her a very happy retirement.
Most people change their job several times during their working lives, and once the school-leaving age rose to 15 and then to 16 it would not be possible anyway for someone retiring at 60 to have worked for 46 years; so Miss Bilsby has created something of a record - even by the standards of Rye Woolworths, where a 20-year stint is nothing out of the ordinary. When she first joined the staff, the manageress was Maggie Reynolds, sent over from the Folkestone store to replace a manager who had gone to the war. The customers were mainly married women, because the girls a few years older than Edna were at the war or making munitions, the young mothers had left the town with their small children, and of course many of the men were in the forces - though the town was full of other people's menfolk stationed here. "Nothing over Sixpence" had become "Nothing Over Five Bob" by then, and the stock was very sparse, with a long queue always forming on the day the biscuits came in. Young Edna's first pay-packet held 7/6d, because she hadn't worked a full week; her regular wages were 15/- (not too bad, to judge from what others earned at much the same time - one girl told us she took home 4/6d a week!) In 1942 the war was never far away, and for a time German planes used to machine-gun the High Street regularly on Friday afternoons; the girls in Woolworths kept the space under the counters clear, so that they could take cover there if necessary... Perhaps Miss Bilsby should start her retirement by writing her memoirs; they would certainly be well worth recording. She made a good start on Radio Sussex on Thursday!
2.
Mr. Sidney James Best, of Pottingfield Road, died in Rye Hospital on 6 March at the age of 84. Cremation took place at Hastings on Friday.
Mrs. Olive Attridge (nee Cheeseman), about whom we were asking recently, is no longer alive, we are sorry to say; nor is her sister Joan nor her brother Harold. A letter sent to her husband Frank by a friend who had hoped to get in touch with the family was returned recently marked "not known". Mr. and Mrs. Attridge had no children.
On Sussex Scene (Radio Sussex) on Friday morning, reporter Jon Kaye was heard talking lathe Mayor, the chairman of the A259 Action Group and your Editor, about the road; his visit, made the previous Thursday, was prompted by a letter in "Today" from Chris Arnold of Ferry Road. The recording was made on the steps of the railway station ("But I want the background noise" said Jon, when it was suggested we might find it quieter inside!) Everyone said - we hope - all the right things, or most of them. However, there was a sinister sting in the tail; Jon closed his recording by reading a verse of Dilys Mayor's "Coming Through Old Rye" - and then the presenter back at the studio said "The Department of Transport tells us that the Secretary of State will make a decision by the summer!"
Shock horror! However, on Monday the Town Clerk rang the DoT to ask just what was meant by this - and it seems to have been a misunderstanding. What the SoS is due to decide soon (the DoT weren't saying when) is what his "preferred route" is; before deciding, he will have considered all the routes discarded by the Department, and others suggested by members of the public (and if we were really lucky he might himself "prefer" a northern route, so keep your fingers crossed - but that isn't very likely, alas). The next step is for the DoT to work out the preferred route in nitty-gritty detail, and this could be the point where the whole thing falls to pieces, if they still can't resolve the situation at the foot of Rye Hill. This is likely to take a year or 18 months, and then the Department publishes the draft compulsory purchase orders - and sits back to wait for the objections to them. This is the stage which Winchelsea has reached. Once everyone has objected all over again, the Minist r is likely to announce that there will need to be a public enquiry; then there will be a public enquiry; then those of us still living by that time will know where we are. But Radio Sussex were being a little premature in their timing or, more likely, in their interpretation of what the DoT actually said.
"Country Life" did indeed publish the Action Group's letter (a corporate composition, we are told) last week; it pointed out that not only Rye people objected to the route, but also lovers of Rye from all over America, West Germany and Japan, who had written to the DoT to complain.
SUBSCRIPTIONS for the GAZETTE's final quarter (13 April to 29 June) are now welcome - but 2lease, not by cheque unless you really can't get cash to us. We need £4.80 Tor the twelve weeks, and will gladly attach 20p change to your receipt if it is more convenient to let us have a £5 note in your envelope.
Standing-order payers: someone has suggested a much better arrangement than either of those we offered last week. You simply instruct your bank to put through a final payment of £4.80 only (not the original £9.40) on 30 March and then to cancel the order. This way, you don't have to deliver the cash to us, nor do we have to deliver a refund to you later; we wish we had thought of this ourselves!
Postal subscribers who pay by standing order can do the same, but the amount payable should be £6.96 or £6.36, depending on whether you have first- or second-class postage. Other postal subscribers should simply send us a cheque for the appropriate amount.
If your copy is ticked beside your name, we have already received your subscription. Receipts go out as usual with the first issue of the new quarter (13 April).
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 16 March 1988
The Hastings Half-Marathon on Sunday was well supported (Radio Sussex mentioned 3,000 runners - or was that entrants?). The rain held off, but the wind was very cold and very strong, and full in the faces of the runners as they covered the long final stretch along the sea-front. Rye's three entrants had nothing to be ashamed of: Derek Bayntun's time was just over two hours, the Mayoress finished just short of 24 hours, and Jennie Bayntun decided that walking was simply going to prolong the agony so she ran part of the way after all and took three hours. Monica Oliver doesn't yet know what Suzanne's sponsor forms will have reaped. But the Bayntuns, who ran their own tote on their personal times, have raised £270 for Rotary's Polio-Plus scheme - enough to vaccinate 1,620 children, 125 children per mile and (thought Jennie as she gritted her teeth for the last lap) perhaps a rather appropriate way to spend Mothers' Day!
Hearing a funny noise in the street on Wednesday evening, we looked out of the window - and there was a fire engine at the end of Cyprus Place. Arrrgggh! The second fire engine was round the corner, but we are glad to say there was nothing to worry about; this was one of Rye Firemen's regular exercises at possible trouble-spots. Last time we saw them practising on the Oasis, there was a "fire" in the entrance lobby, cutting off the staircase; this time they had invented a very topical "accident", two men falling through the roof into the disused top floor of the building and needing to be rescued by ladder. "We like to be prepared for anything" said Bill Page to your gawping reporter; and suddenly we remembered, several weeks ago when repairs were being done to the Oasis roof, seeing one of the builders walking along the ridge of the vast three-storey warehouse... (Honestly, he was!)
In real-life terms, the firemen have been dealing mainly with chimney fires in the villages lately, though they attended at a farm fire at Wittersham which is being investigated as arson.
It is now nearly 18 months since deregulation brought confusion - some say chaos - to local bus services. Now the County Council is looking thoughtfully at some of the Local Rider services - that is, the non-commercial routes operated on behalf of the Council by small firms using small buses.
One of these routes is the 301 Autopoint service - which the Council finds is poorly patronised on Saturdays. The County Engineer is therefore inviting comments on whether it would be reasonable to withdraw the 301 buses entirely on Saturdays only (the Monday to Friday service is not affected). Parish Councils in the area have been invited to comment; but the letters only went out on 7 March, and in theory comments have to be back by tomorrow.
The Town Council were discussing the proposal on Monday; but as only one Councillor (so the Town Clerk tells us) actually uses buses to any extent, they may not be very well informed at such short notice.
Individual objections can be sent to County direct (County Engineer, Phoenix Causeway, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 NE) as soon as possible; if they don't arrive by tomorrow, they will still be considered, though possibly not incorporated in the written report to the Highways Committee. If the withdrawal of the service on a Saturday would put you in a difficulty, but you don't feel like writing a letter direct, County Councillor Mrs. Joan Yates is the person to talk to about it.
However, Ed Bassford at County Hall tells us that the information reaching him from the bus drivers on the Saturday service is that, on an average Saturday, there are only between 8 and 12 bottoms on seats during the whole day (not just per bus). If local people feel that this is not a fair assessment, he says, he hopes they will say so. But presumably the drivers should know?
(Occasional bus users can get information about services from the Council Offices; or Fixtures has all the timetables conveniently assembled.)
4.
Dr. Graham Mayhew, from Lewes, is well known to Rye from the adult education classes which he has held in the town for some years. In the course of his job at the County Records Office he realised what an extraordinarily full set of records had been preserved about Rye in Tudor times. He started to write an "occasional paper" on the subject, but this has now grown into a full-scale and very scholarly book - which is not without its lighter moments, as those who attended Dr. Mayhew's recent lecture will be aware.
"Tudor Rye," is published by the University of Sussex (£19.95 in hardback, £9.95 as a stout glossy-covered paper-back, obtainable from local bookshops or via the Museum Association). There are virtually no illustrations (two spidery documents and a standard print), but the front cover shows a delightful 1572 map of the Harbour, in colour, with a fine fleet of ships all depicted sideways in the water and a disconcerting upside-down view of Camber Castle during its brief period of glory. Because this is a book for scholars - and likely to be the only one on the subject, since Dr. Mayhew has obviously covered all the source documents very comprehensively - it is packed with tables and appendices relating to almost every aspect of life in the town during the period 1485 to 1603. (We suspect it would be far more difficult to assemble the source material for a similar study three hundred years later; nineteenth-century records must be tucked away all over the place, instead of sitting obligingly in the County Records Office waiting for Dr. Mayhew!)
In the past couple of centuries, Rye's total population has changed comparatively little - somewhere between 3,500 and the present 4,500 seems to have been the usual figure. But Dr. Mayhew reveals a dramatic fall in less, that a decade at the end of the sixteenth century. In 1523 Rye was one of the top twenty English towns after London, a wealthy and flourishing fishing port trading with the Continent. By the middle of the century the population was perhaps 4,000 (a local estimate in 1573 put it at 5,000 "excluding strangers"). Then, quite suddenly, it dropped to little more than 2,000; imagine the effect of that on our present-day community! Even when there were no major plague epidemics, the registers showed far more deaths than births, the silting-up of the Harbour meant that cross-Channel trade declined, and the lack of jobs led the young people to move away from the town and look for work elsewhere. (Where have we heard that before?)
Dr. Mayhew goes into great detail about the fortunes of the fishing trade and other mainly maritime-based businesses; the loss of Calais in 1558, for instance-cut the number of ships entering and leaving Rye by almost two-thirds, he found. Almost unbelievably, though, fish landed here early in the morning was delivered to London later the same day, taken up by pack-horses to Leadenhall Market if it was not sold to a wholesaler locally. Other people came to Rye to sell in the twice-weekly market at the top of the town; in 1582 stallholders included a trugger, butcher, glover, coverlet-maker, shoes-seller, scavelman (?), cutler, edge-tool-maker, and sellers of sickles, seeds, laces and glasses - earlier in the century, a seller of printed books is recorded. There is a section on refuse collection which Peter Bridges at Rother would doubtless appreciate, but we will spare our readers the horrid details - "refuse" included a lot of other things in those days... No wonder they had trouble with bubonic plague, which led to 90 burials in one week in September 1563.
In 1581, the church bell used to be rung regularly for half-an-hour starting at 4 am - in the winter months, at that. Working hours were long, but there was still time to go to the pub, one for every 15-20 houses. However, in 1572 two future mayors, the town clerk, the town preacher and a wine merchant were reported to the Sussex Assizes for having "assembled riotously and illicitly" at Playden - to play bowls!
There is an'excellent chapter on "The Making of a Protestant Town" which includes the cydle of events in the town's year - mainly religious in character, but beginning in August when the commons met in the churchyard after morning service on the Sunday after the Feast of St. Bartholomeweto choose the new Mayor.
(continued...)
5.
At Easter, there was a traditional Rye play - in 1523 a new coat for Almighty God cost 12d, and during the Reformation the equipment was stored away in the pageant house at Landgate. But there were also visiting players of every description, from the King's Bearward to "Walter the stammerying mynstrell" who came here twice in 1514. (And what did "the bann criers of Appledore" actually do, we wonder?)
Dr. Mayhew goes on to discuss "Town Government and the Political Elite". The mayor-and-jurat system, which prevailed during most of this period, was closely-knit, since many of the town's leading business families were inter-related. But in his lecture, he made the point that it was quite usual for one or both parents to die before their children were of age - and the documents include various wardship arrangements and plans for the education of the next generation, set out in the father's will.
There is an intriguing section on "social geography". The town was divided into six wards. Then as now, the posh houses were at the top of the town, round the church, and most of the jurats lived in that area (Market Ward and Middlestreet Ward). But just next door, across the churchyard, was Badding ward, which included Watchbell Street, and that was definitely the poor part of the town - though no poorer than the area known as "the Wishe" which spread out round the foot of the Town Wall and was part of Watchbell Ward. Strandgate and Landgate Wards, which included the High Street and The Mint, were some-and-some. There is an enormous amount of information about the occupations of the menfolk - mainly but by no means all maritime-based. Then Dr. Mayhew goes on to deal with housing and living conditions, crime and social order, and finally trade - and decline. There is a very full bibliography with all his sources, both manuscript and printed.
This is not a browsing book. It can be read a chapter at a time, rather than straight through; but it needs serious concentration. However, as an overall picture of what life in the town was like four hundred years ago, it is magnificent, unrivalled.
The Reginald Blomfield cottages at the foot of Cadborough Hill are a generation older than we thought - and several readers (who do not wish to be identified by name) have put us right on different aspects of the story. The cottages were built not by the Skinners, but by that generous lady, Miss Curteis. Her sister was Mrs. Burra of Springfield, and some time in the 1880s the Burras' head gardener had died of TB, leaving a widow and five small children. Miss Curteis had the cottages and laundry built, and installed the family in one, so that the widow should be able to make a living. This she did most successfully, taking on women to work for her; every Monday baskets came down by train from London and every Friday they went back again, packed with delicate or difficult garments and linen which needed skilled laundering. After some 20 years, the gardener's widow grew ill and the business was taken over by her youngest son and his bride, a Peasmarsh girl. They had one son - and then tragedy struck again: the husband was killed in WWl. His widow continued with the laundry for a time (she later remarried), but eventually the business closed down; her daughter-in-law still lives in Rye.
The second cottage was indeed occupied by a gamekeeper, and one of our correspondents recalled how he used to walk with his gun over the land at the foot of Leasam Hill. But he would have been the Burras' gamekeeper, not the Skinners' - and since the Burra estate included a great deal of farmland, doubtless he was kept busy: His son and daughter still live round here, too.
It now becomes clear why someone of Sir Reginald's eminence was spending his time designing a pair of staff cottages. They were built for Miss Curteis, remember; and in the 1880s her Burra sister-in-law was (or was shortly to become) the wife of a certain rising young architect called Reginald - who would doubtless have been very happy to undertake the commission while he was still fairly near the bottom of the professional ladder which he was about to climb so successfully.
6.
This year's Thomas Peacocke School play, "Murder at the Vicarage" from the thriller by Agatha Christie, was a most enjoyable occasion. The thirteen members of the cast were mainly sixth-formers, but included three from the fourth year. One of these was the Inspector (Glen Mallen) whose young voice was oddly at variance with his moustache, but who was thoroughly in command of a long part. His police constable (Kevin Pawsey) stood about impressively but perhaps performed best in a part for which the programme gave him no credit; he sat slumped in a chair for the whole of one scene as the murdered Major, and never stirred once (we watched closely and came to the conclusion that the body was surely a dummy!) Everyone enjoyed Angela Robus playing Mary, the Vicarage maid-of-all-work, as a girl obviously set on a career as a Rank starlet; and Duncan Fryer's neurotic curate on the very edge of a breakdown was also much appreciated. We felt there was something horribly sinister about Dr. Haydock (perhaps it was just Matthew Heskett's grey hair!), but he wasn't in fact the villain; Lawrence Redding, who was, was played extremely well as a self-confident cad by Simon Collins. Mark Curry made an impressive vicar, and his considerable stage experience showed particularly when he spoke; Matthew Godbold, as the resident nephew, played a small part with conviction. The women were nicely contrasted - Katie Williams as the vicar's young bride with just the suspicion of a Past, Wendy Havell as the Major's widow led astra,_ by her lover, Rebekah Smith as Mrs. Price Ridley, Memsahib of this parish, and Sahra Grove as the man-eating stepdaughter Lettice - all contributed their share and more. Tamsin Gilbert's Miss Marple was just right, sedate but not sanctimonious.
The production was directed by Claire Willett, who deserves to be congratulated on doing a really excellent job at her first attempt. Katherine Hunt was responsible for the Fifties dresses (mostly bought from jumble sales, Claire told us); Sarah Talbot was in charge of props (and Hampdens of Eastbourne were kind enough to lend the big chintzy sofa which was an essential part of the set). Simon Collins, as well as playing the villain, was stage manager, and he and his crew constructed the sturdy and quite complicated set (though we do wish he had put a handle on both sides of the door!); Kerry Mans-Morris painted it with great flair, and the programme thanks Bournes of Rye and Bardens of Pett for donations.
The business manager was Vicci Godbold, and we are delighted to say that the three performances grossed some £900, of which around £500 is expected to be profit - this goes back into the Drama Fund as a basis for future productions. The play was put on with no official help from staff, and reflects great credit on all concerned with the production.
When Southern Water steepened the sea defences last year, things became very difficult for the Rye Harbour lifeboat; the wheels of the launching tractor kept sinking into the shingle when low water meant a launch from the beach rather than the slipway. Much wider wheels and tyres were needed.
Then a generous gift was offered. The late John Green of Udimore Road ("airman and seaman", as the brass plaque will say) used to sail in Rye Bay as a boy, and his sisters wished to make a donation to lifeboat funds in his memory. At much the same time, a second gift also arrived, this time from two members of the Claygate RNLI Branch in Surrey. They had done a sponsored walk last autumn, from Dungeness to Newhaven taking in all the RNLI stations on the way and, in due course, making a donation to each.
The lifeboatmen were lucky enough to find second-hand wheels and tyres in excellent condition, and there was therefore enough money left over to provide a new electric winch on the tractor, making both launch and recovery of the boat very much easier for its crew and helpers. Mary Lestocq, on their behalf and her own, is most grateful to Pat Green, Rosalie Eldrid, and John Cook and his friend for their generosity.
7.
When Greenpeace's head office came to check all the figures for 1987 fund-raising, it turned out that the little Rye Branch was not only the second largest moneymaker in the south-east but in the whole of Great Britain - beaten at the top of the table only by Guildford! Another £500-plus is now on its way to HQ. The recent house-to-house collection raised £250, and the jumble sale £295.
But Greenpeace supporters also practise what they preach. On Sunday, fifteen of them mounted a beach clearance operation between the Nature Reserve and Winchelsea Beach, and collected 60 bags of rubbish for Rother to take away. There were, we were told, fewer disposable nappies than last time, which was something; most of the junk was plastic in one form or another.
There were no Rye applications in the current list; but at least the mystery of Voltrans Limited and its application for a goods vehicle operating licence (GAZETTE no. 263) is a mystery no longer. As we said, 18 Tower Street has until now been the base for Antiques of Tomorrow; and it will continue to be, and nothing will be different, says Mrs. Nabarro, except for the name of the associated company which deals with the furniture firm's trans-Europe haulage business. The proprietors want to change the name of this from the original Downingdale to Voltrans ("volume transport") - and therefore they have to make an operating licence application in the name of the new company. But Downingdale already has a licence for four goods vehicles and four trailers, granted some time ago; they haven't got this much transport, nor - Mrs. Nabarro tells us - are they likely to, so there is really nothing to worry about.
However, the episode has alerted everyone to the fact that public notices may now be published in Friday Ad instead of the normal newspapers. We shall certainly be keeping an eye on it for the GAZETTE'S remaining months; other people will be wise to do so thereafter.
We are sorry to say that our hopes of setting up a successor to the GAZETTE have been dashed; unexpected business commitments outside Rye have meant that the prospective editor just couldn't cope with the paper as well.
But there is one solution to the problem of local-paper coverage which might work well. The Rye (Sussex) Express has nowadays five pages or so of news about Rye and the villages; but the rest is almost entirely about Lewes and its hinterland, and of no interest at all to people at this end of the county. What we would like to know is what's going on in Hastings; we shop there, our young study and work and often live there, we go there to hospital, to the cinema, to the play... None of this appears in the Express, because it is covered by its sister paper the Hastings Observer.
Now, suppose the Express were to abandon us entirely - and instead, the Observer were to produce a country edition? This would mean, as with the Express, only the first few pages being Rye and district news - but all the rest would relate to Hastings, and therefore have some relevance to people this end. Local shops might find it worth-while to advertise, too, since Hastings people do come over here to shop. (Let's not pretend that Lewes and Newhaven people do!)
Anyway, it's a thought…
Rye Art Gallery's next Folk and Blues night, on Friday 22 April, will feature Ali Farka Toure, from Mali - "a remarkable singer and guitarist - although he performs exclusively local traditional music, his style of playing shows surprising similarities with some of the great American blues men". He first visited Britain in 1987 and is now spending several months here - and we are very fortunate to have him visiting Rye, says Eric Money. Tickets are available in advance (E4) from the Easton Rooms, and early booking is advised; if there are any seats left they will cost £5 at the door - the door of the Community Centre on this occasion, not the Stormont Studio.
Thursday, 17th Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10 to 4 (and Friday and Saturday)
Friday, 18th Ken Warren, MP - surgery at Council Offices, afternoon; appointments from Hastings 423110
Museum Association, "The Glory that was Greece" (Rev. Brian Soper), FEC, 7.30 - all welcome
RNLI Dinner, George Hotel, 7 for 7.30
Saturday, 19th Coffee morning for FE Centre funds, FEC, 10
Coffee morning for Playgroup Building Fund, Ferry Road, 10 TPS PTA jumble sale, Lower School, 10.30 (we haven't green any posters for this, but it is definitely on)
Sussex Trust for Nature Conservation, "A Year with Nature on a Sussex reservoir" (Robin Harris), CC, 2.30
Monday, 21st Thrift Shop half-price sale, Red Cross, 10 to 3,30
Camera Club, "Wedding Photography" (Peter Chillingworth), FEC, 7.30
Tuesday, 22nd ARC Ploughman's Lunch (home-made soup!), CC, 12 to 2
Rye Players Promotion Evening, Stormont Studio, 7.30 to 9
• A hundred TPS pupils, of all ages, took part in a 24-hour sponsored starve on Friday - and raised around £1,600 for Christian Aid. They spent Friday night sleeping on the floor of the house-rooms, having spent the evening in the audience of "Murder at the Vicarage". Perhaps it was fortunate that the only food consumed in the course of the play was dismissed as being uneatable!
• We are so sorry about a slip of the typewriter in the Vidlers' sale report last week; apologies to Brian Morris, who does supervise the Rye and Hythe sale-rooms, and to Brian Masters, who doesn't!
• Rye Brownies raised 03 from their sponsored teddy-drop, to be shared between St. Helen's and Great Ormond Street Hospitals.
• The coffee morning at the Mariners Hotel on Thursday raised £137 - a welcome contribution towards the cost of a holiday-cum-educational trip for children from Glyne Gap School, some of whose parents were organising the event. They are most grateful to Mrs. Stegeman for her hospitality.
• Congratulations to Claire Bayntun, of Point Hill, who has won the top scholarship to Bedgebury School, near Hawkhurst; Claire is now at Claremont School.
• Woolworths' "Mum in a Million" turned out to be Mrs. Valerie Smith, of Lea Avenue; she was presented with a magnum of champagne (Mumm, naturally!), chocolates and a Certificate of Merit. Mrs. Smith was nominated in the competition by her 12-year-old son Christopher.
• Condolences to the Dormy Club, who lost silver and an-oil painting to a thief during the afternoon or early evening of last Thursday. Also taken was a 12" bronze figurine. The 24" x 14" painting, in a gilt frame, showed a harvest scene, and the silver is thought to have been marked "Col. Dixon". There was also a burglary at Thomas Peacocke Upper School, this time at the weekend.
• At Rye WI's March meeting, members were treated to a lengthy and somewhat baffling tour (with colour slides) round the Mediterranean, France, Scotland and North America, courtesy of Mrs. Doughty on her Widow's Wanderings (writes Jeanne Freeman). Over £20 was raised through a bring-and-buy stall in aid of Pennies for Friendship, to better the lives of women in the Third World. The Institute's Craft Show was won by Mrs. Phyllis Smith, with full marks. (The WI Group Craft Show takes place at the FEC on Saturday afternoon, 26 March.)
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 second post for Wednesday's delivery to subscribers and pick-up points; spare copies (45p) are available from Young Ideas, 7 Cinque Ports Street.(Copyright Mary Owen 1988)