Rye Ratepayers and Residents Association was well pleased with the attendance at the meeting which it called on Friday to hear details of the proposed Crime Alert scheme for the centre of Rye, and it was agreed that such a scheme should now be set up. Details will be sent to residents in the area involved, once the final arrangements are made. Various ways of fighting crime were described at the meeting, and a full report will be found on page 4.
The Rye Branch of the National Society for Cancer Relief has raised well over £14,000 since it was founded nearly twenty years ago, and both the Secretary, Mrs. "Rusty" Ellis, and the Treasurer Mr. Swanton feel it is time for a change. At the Branch's AGM last week, Chairman Mrs. Ruth Lawson-Tait paid tribute to both officers, and to other members of the committee, through whose efforts £1,350 had been sent to Head Office during the year. Mr. Goddard, of Camber, is to be the new Secretary; a new Treasurer has yet to be appointed. Donations of £25 from Rye Artisans Golf Club and of £50 from Rye and District Flower Club were gratefully acknowledged.
The Society's area representative, Mr. Whiffen, spoke of the Society's work, particularly in the provision of Macmillan nurses who are specially trained to help cancer sufferers (there are two in Hastings, who cover our area as well); help is also given with the cost of such necessities as heating and special diets or clothing, the aim being to make life as comfortable as possible for those with the illness. Such help is immediate, practical and confidential; it can be asked for through a doctor or social worker, or a "medical social worker" (almoner) if the sufferer is receiving hospital treatment. But equally a request can go to the Society direct, from the patient or from a friend or relative; letters should give the name of the patient's doctor, and should go to the Benefits Department, National Society for Cancer Relief, 30 Dorset Square, London NW1 6QL. The phone number is 01 402 8125, and urgent requests are dealt with within 24 hours - or the local committee may be able to help direct in an emergency.
The AGM was followed by a talk on astrology by Mr. Goddard; as he said, he could only skim the surface of this complex subject in such a short time, but he did provide some perceptive character readings for members of the audience rash enough to admit to the sign under which they were born!
Ryesingers did like to be beside the seaside last weekend, Jo Kirkham tells us. Thirty singers, plus accompanist Mary Densem of Winchelsea, travelled in one of Grahams' coaches to Blackpool on Friday for the annual music festival, and on Sunday evening they came home with two silver trophies - for the Ladies Ensemble and for the Mixed Voice Ensemble - plus consistently high marks in all the classes they had entered. After the contest, some members listened to the evening concert given by the larger choirs; others went to see the lights. They found themselves in a fish-and-chip shop just after midnight, talking to a van-driver who had bitter memories of trying to get his vehicle under the Landgate arch and then down Market Road; and a few real gluttons for punishment were playing bingo at 1 am on Sunday!
Some of the Blackpool songs will be included in the Ryesingers concert on Friday, 11 November, at Lower School - when the audience can sing along with the choir.
2.
Mr. Ernie Cotterell, of Military Road, died suddenly at his home on 15 October; he was 61. He leaves a widow and one son. The funeral has taken place.
Dr. Effie Evers died on Monday, 24 October, in a Hindhead nursing home. Dr. Evers, who was in her eighties, had been ill for some years. A memorial service and interment of ashes will take place at Guestling Church, and is provisionally arranged for Thursday of next week (3rd) at 2.30 - any alteration to this will appear in next week's GAZETTE. Dr. Evers and her late husband Mervyn met in India in the Twenties when she worked at a mission hospital on the North-West Frontier, often going out at great personal risk into the remote tribal areas to help the villagers. During the war Mr. and Mrs. Evers were in Lahore, where Mr. Evers was a Canon of the Cathedral; and when they returned to England, he succeeded his brother as the incumbent of Guestling. On retirement they moved to Point Hill and had many friends in the Rye area; Mr. Evers died not very many years ago, aged 92. Dr. Evers, who was a grandmother, leaves a son and daughter.
29 October will mark the sixth anniversary of the death of Dr. Trevor Parkes, who will always be remembered with love and gratitude.
A recent article in the Sussex Express deals with the rebuilding of Brede Place after the fire which almost completely destroyed this ancient and historic house in January 1979. What the article did not say was that the entire restoration work has been under the direction of Ralph Wood of Le Fevre, Wood and Royle.
A week after the fire, Ralph was asked to prepare a report on the various possibilities open to the owners; the actual building work started two years ago, and he expects that it will be finished by Christmas. He himself was greatly helped in the early stages by Christopher McGrath (now with his own business), and throughout by John Underwood, his partner and brother-in-law; the job has, he says, been a marvellous once-in-a-lifetime experience.
All the building work has been done by Burnhams except for some sub-contracting inevitable in view of the scale of the operation. It is the biggest job ever undertaken by this long-established Rye firm, and only an extremely skilled and reliable workforce could have coped with it. The joinery work was particularly demanding in a building of this period - or rather, periods, since the fire stripped off all the surface work and revealed the house's skeleton underneath, which gave David Martin, working for the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, the chance to survey it in a way which would normally have been impossible. The naked walls gave clues to the house's history which had been concealed for centuries, such as a blocked window hidden under panelling. Brede Place's story is more fully recorded now that it could ever have been before the fire. Ralph adds that Rother's planning staff and building inspectors were tremendously helpful, and there were no problems in that direction.
The grade one listed manor house is one of only a very few houses of such historic interest still in private hands, and Mrs. Fielding is quoted as saying that it has been rebuilt more or less exactly as it originally was, with later additions removed. ( There is, however, a new wing to provide accommodation lost in the course of such restoration work - bedrooms which had been inserted later into the upper part of the Great Hall, for instance.) Years ago, part of the house used to be open to the public; we gather that it is now a very private residence, but it is nonetheless nice to know that once again all is well there.
James Menhinick of North Salts is leading the Rye Ratepayers Association, of which he is secretary, and other ratepayers' groups in Rother in strong opposition to this plan - or rather, to the amount of money which would be spent on it. Last week the Sussex Express suggested that if Rother is determined to go ahead with this, the pool should be funded either by public subscription or by a special rate on Bexhill alone. What about privatisation - or would no commercial firm be rash enough to sink its capital in such a project?
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 26.10.83
Rye ATC held a party at Thomas Peacocke School last week, partly to entertain their friends and partly as a fund-raising exercise. Their firing range at the edge of the Upper School playground, extended in 1967/8 from a former air-raid shelter, has been closed for some time because the roof needed renewing and other safety-precaution work had to be done. 2274 Squadron has raised £400 to buy materials, and a work-party - supported by members of the Sea Cadets and also by the Headmaster in person - has already done a major part of the re-roofing; a second work-party takes place next weekend. But they need a further £200 to finish the job, including wooden screening inside the range, and the 31 members of the Squadron (which now has four girls) plus five probationers will have their work cut out to raise this money so that the range can be used again.
Rye Conservation Society is unhappy about the delay in restoring the lookout platform at the end of Watchbell Street - still, as they point out, unsafe, unsightly and unusable; they are to press for the work to be put in hand.
Other matters considered at a recent committee meeting included the siting of the dredged-up anchor on the cobbles at Strand quay (we referred to this last week, and are told that the original idea came from Frank Palmer). The committee had no objection to this; they have, however, been among the objectors to the proposed cafe in the High Street (GAZETTE no. 54 and 55). If it must be allowed, they hope that there will be a ban on music and amusement machines, with opening just in normal business hours, and permission given for a trial period only. Advertising on litter bins was also discussed, and the Society hopes that if this is introduced, the present bins should be used in the Conservation Area and the new ones outside it only. Good news came in a report that a householder in the Area had had his burglar-alarm repainted and resited so as not to spoil the appearance of his house; in view of this, we wonder if more houses in fact do have burglar-alarms than would appear from a casual glance!
Rye and District Bonfire Society has just produced its very professional-looking programme for 19 November (price 10p from Landgate Freezer Centre and Squirrels as well as many of the Rye pubs). Best tableau awards include the Clark Shield (non-commercial) and the Stutely Shield (commercial); there are prizes for the best-dressed male, female, group of four or more, junior under 16, and - for the first time this year - for the best-dressed guy. The winning entry in this last class, which must have been made by a junior, will have the honour of being burnt as a substitute for Angharad Rees, this year's Rye Fawkes. Other awards go to the top male and female collectors (Rye's Own Shield and the Young Farmers Shield), to the best-dressed visiting Society, and the Clarkson Shield is given at the discretion of the Bonfire Society. The Betty Wilcox Shield goes to the best shop-window display during the week before Bonfire Night; challengers for this are asked to get in touch with Joan Parkes (Rye 222717) at the beginning of the week.
Two final items of information: President of the Bonfire Society is David Sharp, Chairman Robert Booth, Vice-Chairman Hugh Sutton, Hon. Secretary Joan Parkes and Hon. Treasurer Jimper Sutton. And congratulations to Brian Rhodes, who has been selling door-to-door in aid of the Society and has raised £58 for funds.
We wrote a while back about a copy of Deacon's Guide to Rye, 1912, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Even further from home will be a copy of Sir John Winnifrith's recent history of Appledore. The photograph of the church used for the cover was taken by Paddy Aiken, and this, says Dr. Daniel Woodward of the Huntingdon Library in California, justifies the book's inclusion in the extensive Conrad Aiken archive under his care. Paddy's husband John is Conrad's son, and was at Rye Grammar School when the family lived at Jeake's House between the wars; and Dr. Woodward and his wife Mary Jane have recently been visiting the Aikens in Ferry Road.
4.
As we reported on page 1, the Crime Alert meeting at the Town Hall last week was very successful. Hilda Nelson-Barrett was in the Chair, flanked by Inspector Max Judge, the Sussex Police Community Relations Officer for this area, by Inspector Mobbs of Rye Police, and by Sgt. Crouch from Hastings who is the crime prevention expert, available to advise individual householders on the security of their homes.
Inspector Judge said that schemes of the Crime Alert type had started with great success in Canada and the United States, and were just beginning to create interest in this country. Their success depended on support from the residents of the areas concerned; their aim was to prevent crime if possible, and to detect it where necessary - but there was no obligation to confront criminals. Far more useful was accurate observation, recording and immediate reporting of suspicious circumstances.
People could, said the Inspector, help themselves and their neighbours in five main ways: by photographing or marking their valuables; by increasing the security of their homes (and making sure the security devices are actually used); by keeping an eye on their own, their neighbour's and communal property; by communication with the police via a 999 call even on just a suspicion of evil-doing; and by making it clear that their area was on the alert for criminals by displaying window stickers - and, eventually, notices at the entrances to the town. He stressed that 999 calls were not just for dire emergencies, but a means of getting in touch quickly with the full range of police services in the area; he assured his listeners that there was no need to worry lest such a call should turn out to be unnecessary and quoted a couple of real-life stories in this connection. 999 calls are, of course, free both from a home phone and from a callbox.
Sgt. Crouch displayed a mini door fitted with various locks and bolts designed for different types of doors and windows. He explained the working of a deadlock, needing a key to fasten and of course open it, and recommended a peep-hole fitting for those with a solid door. He surprised some people by saying that a door-chain should not be left on as a regular thing, let alone at night (because of possible need to get out in a hurry if there was a fire) - but should only be used when inspecting strange callers. He recommended net curtains as a security device, so that a prowling thief could not see into a room from outside; for those who dislike them, he said, it is always possible to have them drawn open normally and just pulled across when the house is empty. The number one target for a burglary, he said, is the house with no lights on at night; leave at least one on if you are out, but not in the hall (he recommends the bathroom!) and also perhaps a radio, but not the television in case it overheats. But, he added, not all burglaries take place at night; and some 66% of them are via open back windows.
Valuables, antique and otherwise, can be marked nowadays by an "invisible pen". The procedure is to write your postcode followed by the first two letters of your surname, or the number of your house, in some place where it will not be polished or rubbed off; this is invisible to a thief, but as a demonstration showed it becomes clearly visible under an ultra-violet lamp if the stolen property is recovered later. The special pens cost less than £1.50 (Adams of Rye have them in stock now). This system is fine for items which are the householder's own property, but we asked Rediffusion and Curry's what hirers should do, and both said very firmly that it was quite improper for rented videos, etc., to be marked in any way (though, as someone pointed out, who's to know?). Marked items which the owner later sells should ideally have the mark obliterated first - though it could be used in some cases to trace the current owner. As for photographs, Inspector Judge himself volunteered to take photographs of valuables for people not able to do this for themselves - contact Mrs. Nelson-Barrett (Rye 223408).
Other points raised were that a neighbour should be asked to make sure that accumulated letters and circulars were not visible from outside a house during the owner's absence, and also given a key to check the house generally. Videos are a prime target for burglars, and their presence should not be advertised by having the green clock display glowing in a darkened room (cover the clock - but not the whole set - when you go to bed); and don't give your address too publicly in the shop where you buy or hire the thing. Really, the things one doesn't think of!
5.
The tangle of cables running along pavements on the western side of the town have created a flurry of speculation in the past week. They are being laid by Rees Geophysical, the exploration company commissioned by Amoco to do a seismic survey of this area in connection with the perpetual search for oil and/or gas. Rees Geophysical's Mr. Symonds tells us that the geophones will eventually take readings over some 110 kms in the area, and the project is expected to take about eight weeks.
The sensitive geophones can pick up readings up to a mile away from the heavy vehicles (looking like something from "Thunderbirds") which are their base, so it will not be necessary to use the vehicles in the middle of the town; indeed, Rees much prefer unfrequented areas to work in, and we do wonder how they are going to get their machines along some of the lanes marked on their map! The exploration covers the area the far side of Camber, and from Rye to Winchelsea, down to Pett, up again to Udimore and a whole criss-cross of lines from there to the eastern edge of Hastings.
The readings are fed regularly back to Amoco, and as far as Rees Geophysical is concerned that is the end of it; what Amoco decides to do in view of those readings is another matter, and doubtless we may not have heard the last of that!
Rother's Chief Technical and Environmental Services Officer, Mr. Robert Clarke, reported to his committee last week on the survey: he quotes a Rees Geophysical technical paper on how the system works. "The sound waves transmitted into the earth by the vibrators" (on the vehicles) "travel outwards, part of the waves are reflected back to the surface from discontinuities caused by rock formations changing from one type to another. This can happen many times as the sound travels through the earth. The reflected energy is detected at the surface by the geo-phones (acting like very sensitive microphones) and is converted to electrical impulses, which are recorded on magnetic tape for subsequent processing by computer to produce a pictorial representation of a slice through the earth." People living along the route tells us that though the vehicles are noisy they do not judder all the ornaments off the mantlepiece in the process of cutting electronic slices through the earth, and for a short time anyway life is perfectly bearable despite their activities.
Last week's Sussex Express included a four-page supplement in which Rother Council offers ratepayers its annual report in an easily read form. For those who don't take the Express but would still like to know how ratepayers' money is being spent, extra copies of the report are available at the Council Offices, free. Inevitably the document contains a lot of facts and figures, but diagrams help and so do photographs - except perhaps the rather odd one in the middle of the back page, which doesn't convey anything at all about the De La Warr Pavilion except how to spell it!
The report includes a message from Rother's Chairman Councillor Bill Jones, who has been in Rye several times lately opening the new Council Offices and taking the salute at the big Legion parade last month, and a personal review of the year by Sandy Harding, the Chief Executive and Clerk. The Planning Department, the staff situation, housing management and the Treasurer's Department are all reported on, and a surprisingly short piece refers to the somewhat intimidatingly named Technical and Environmental Services Department, based at Battle. The back page is devoted to a report on tourism and leisure, including a report from the Parks Department which is in charge of most of our open spaces. This helpful and comprehensive report has, it says, been produced at no extra cost to the public; any questions arising from it should be addressed to Mr. Harding at the Town Hall, Bexhill.
Joan Parkes was extremely surprised to find, in her garden beside the cricket salts in broad daylight recently, a wild mink. To save it from her dog - or possibly vice versa - she shut it in her garden shed, from which it very shortly escaped having enlarged with its teeth a tiny hole in the door! It was, she says, the size of a very large ferret, with of course the most beautiful sleek and shiny coat.
Has anyone else with a garden on the edge of the town encountered one?
6.
A loft-insulation salesman drumming up business in the town recently gave some residents the impression that he was from Rother Council - who do in fact give a grant for insulating lofts in certain cases. Rother's Technical Services Department tells us that none of its staff would be calling on householders in this connection unless an application had actually been made for the grant. All Rother staff carry identification cards; these bear the holder's photograph and other details and are signed by the personnel manager. If someone appears to be from the Council and is not willing to let you take a careful look at such a card, don't let them in and do let the police know at once, because the implications are quite obvious. (Incidentally, we were told at the Town Hall crime alert meeting that 84% of people in this country are said to be on the phone!)
Sussex Police are trying a new approach to road safety this autumn; they are carrying out spot checks on brakes, lights, etc., but are saying so beforehand in the hope that owners will get these things attended to before they are in trouble. On-the-spot warning will be given by notices proclaiming, "Sussex Police vehicle safety check point ahead" - and drivers not stopped will still be nudged by a second notice saying "Would your vehicle have passed?". There will be check-points in the Rye area today and on Friday (26th and 28th), next Monday in Rye, and on Thursday (3rd) in the Broad Oak region.
A pile-up outside Bryans Garage at midday last Wednesday was caused by a trailer laden with concrete blocks becoming detached from the tractor towing it – and ending up on the cricket salts. No-one was seriously hurt, though Mr. Charles Farley of Peasmarsh suffered minor injuries when his Austin Princess was not able to dodge the trailer. A police car did manage to get out of the way in time.
Criminal damage was caused to a light aircraft parked in the yard at Weslakes between 14 and 17 October. A push-bike was stolen from Military Road on 20 October. And on 18 October, two elderly ladies were sitting in their parked car beside the road out towards Brede when a man came up and asked if they were all right - and then made off with a handbag snatched from the back seat of the car, containing both money and all the usual papers which it is so awkward to be without. The thief is described as about 5’9” in height, and well-spoken.
A fortnight ago we wrote of the forthcoming opening (on 2 November) of the first stage of Rye's day care scheme; preparations are already beginning for the next stage. This is to provide something for physically handicapped people in the Rye area (including the villages); what, when and where will depend on the response to a questionnaire to be sent out by the organisers. But before this can be done, it will be necessary for the group to put together as complete a list as possible of people who normally have difficulty in getting about and joining in ordinary social activities; remarkably enough, there is at present no such list.
Approaches are being made to various organisations who are likely to be able to help in putting the list together, but it would still be possible for people to be missed out. Readers can help, either by sending in their own name and address if appropriate, or (with permission) that of a neighbour, relative or friend, to be added to the list so that they will in due course receive a copy of the questionnaire. There is, of course, the chance of names being sent in twice, but this doesn't matter - much better that, than someone getting left out. Mrs. Gill Wood, of Tower Forge House, Hilder’s Cliff (Rye 225130) and Mr. Alex Buchan of 89 Udimore Road (Rye 222256) are acting as letterboxes for the list; or any of the organising group will be glad to take names.
The organisers do stress that when the list is as complete as they can make it, it will be regarded as strictly confidential and will be used only in connection with the scheme except with permission from those whose names are on it.
7.
This week's list contains two applications for parking-space, plus an application from the Gatehouse Restaurant in Tower Street to put up lettered canopy blinds.
Rother Council is applying to itself for permission to tidy up the corner of land between the Bedford Arms car park and the mini roundabout. The proposal is to demolish the elderly sheds, and tarmac the surface to match the car park; to fence off the area on the roadside with a rail fence matching the one along the Cricket Salts, and to plant two trees; and to put a gate in the fence between this land and the Rother-owned car park. The idea is that the parking inside the fence shall be for the exclusive use of Skinners Garage, but with an entrance from the car park instead of from the busy road junction.
John Jempson & Son are applying for permission to provide hard standing on the land behind the Farnborough Engineering building. This ground (about 22 acres) is part of the former Farnborough property, and had outline planning permission for development, Jonathan Jempson tells us that one of their consultants misunderstood the position about this and assured the company that the work could go ahead without any further permission. Not until it was well under way (about half the area is now dug up) did a second opinion send them to seek detailed planning permission for the whole job. Mr. Jempson tells us that the intention at present is provide parking for transport belonging to tenants of the various units making the premises. He intends to leave, and perhaps add to, the screen of trees planted some years ago between the Farnborough land and Gateborough Farm, and also to leave a willow tree sited in the existing yard; but the large willow tree which blocks the entrance from the yard to a small corner of land running out behind Western House will, he says, go if the application is granted. (As a separate project, the firm is proposing to renovate the cottage just inside the yard entrance - which was, we hear, once a dairy, with the cows pastured on the farmland at the back.)
Some residents in the area are uneasy about the Jempsons proposal; there is a feeling that the planners are not taking into account the interests of the people who live in this part of the town which, despite its industrial character, has quite a few houses tucked away in it. Mr. Dellar of Western House is very sad about the big willow tree and would be interested in the piece of land behind it; and those living near the entrance worry about the increased lorry traffic implied by the new parking space, as well as the encroachment of the industrial zone on the residential and tourist part of the town. There is to be a meeting later this week for Winchelsea Road householders to discuss the proposal.
Congratulations to the Monday Club, whose sale at the Clinic ten days ago produced around £420, with only minor expenses to come out of that sum before it goes into the bank to wait for the Club's programme of outings next summer. Raffle prizes included a Christmas cake, and a beautifully dressed doll, and there was a good selection of handmade goods and edibles as well as a very successful white elephant stall. But, even so, it does seem a quite remarkable total, and Mrs. Hacking and all the members are very pleased indeed, and grateful to those who supported them.
The RAF Association raised £395 from their recent house-to-house collection for Wings Week, in addition to the £155 already reported from the street collection in Rye. The Association's jumble sale (the one with the photocopier - though someone pinched the paper in the course of the sale - and the moped) took around £150. They still have for sale a folding wheelchair and a good-quality commode (contact Gordon Stanbridge, Brede 882589); but the rest of the jumble left over was sorted through, the useful clothes passed on to an organisation concerned with relief supplies for Poland and the remainder destroyed, rather than being stirred back into the stock-pot of jumble that is reputed to be dipped into more or less weekly in the area! Would it, we wonder, be a crowd-puller or just hopelessly illogical for a sale starting from (as it were) cold to advertise that it had "All New Jumble"?
Thursday, 27th Coffee morning, Rye Hospital League of Friends, Red Cross, 10
Friday, 28th Ken Warren, MP, holds a "surgery" by appointment, Council offices
Laurie Band shows slides of "Rye in the Past", CC, 7.30 (tickets, £1, available from North Kent Building Society or from CC) Natural History Society talk "An Excursion to British Columbia, Part I" (Joan Medlock, Ernie and Breda Burt), FEC, 7.30
Craft Market, FEC, 10 to 4
WRVS Lunch Club, CC, 12.30
Rye Town Council meeting
Thomas Peacocke School PTA. AGM, The Grove, 7.30 (GAZETTE no.52)
FRAG talk "Religion in Communist Russia" (Sir John Lawrence, Chairman of Keston College), Town Hall, 7.45 for 8
Red Cross AGM, FEC, 2.30
New parents evening, Thomas Peacocke Lower School
• Congratulations to Richard and Barbara Giles of Cadborough Cliff on the birth of Caroline Linda (9 lbs 8 ozs) on 21 October - a sister for Laura, and a grand-daughter for Reg and Iris Giles of Pottingfield Road, and for Betty Pennington of Lea Avenue.
• £3,950 was raised during 1982/3 by the Rye, Winchelsea and District Branch of the RNLI. This represents nearly £500 more than last year, and the Branch is most grateful to all who helped.
• Rye Museum has now closed for the season - the traditional reopening on the Thursday before Good Friday will be later than usual in 1984, since Easter falls on 22 April.
• The first meeting of Rye's new Duplicate Bridge Club will take place at the FE Centre on Friday, 11 November at 7. Bridge will be played, but there will also be a business meeting to form a committee and decide how often the Club shall meet. The FE Centre has been booked for Fridays, but whether weekly or fortnightly will depend on how much support there is.
• Anyone interested, whether or not they can come to this initial meeting, should please contact Mrs. Jenkinson at Graham's in the High Street or ring 222357.
• People who want to celebrate Bonfire Night on the proper day have an opportunity this year (Rye's own night has to depend on its place in the rota of the Bonfire Societies). There will be a bonfire and fireworks in the Glebe Field at Peasmarsh on Saturday, 5 November, starting at 6.45, to which everyone is most welcome; a very modest admission fee of 50p is payable at the gate in aid of Peasmarsh School funds, and refreshments will be available.
• Rye Camera Club meets twice a month at the FE Centre (see "Fixtures" for dates) and visitors or those who are thinking about joining are very welcome to come along. At the meeting on 17 October, there were two subjects for the slide competition, judged by Mr. P. Bashford of Hastings: winner of the Groups class was Mr. G. Delamare of Newenden with his shot of a song thrush and young; Mr. M. Earl of Battle won the Power class with his "Spitfire Mk 9”.
• The Rye Harbour Boys Football Club are very pleased to report that their recent jumble sale raised £81.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office. It is published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 94 Udimore Road, Rye (Rye 222303), and news items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline is Monday afternoon, 9 am Tuesday for emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly, and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday; a few spares may be available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, or can be ordered from 94 Udimore Road. (Copyright Mary Owen 1983)