An innocent-looking document entitled "A259 Winchelsea Bypass" was unofficially available for inspection at Rye Town Council's meeting ten days ago but didn't make much impact even among those who glanced at it at all that evening. But the impact came with some force on Wednesday, when the same leaflet was put through doors in New Winchelsea Road and news began to circulate in the town.
This consultation document put out by the Department of Transport shows three alternative routes (plus a fourth minor variant) all running round the north of Winchelsea, and doubtless Winchelsea people will have strong views on them which do not concern us here in detail. However, once clear of Winchelsea the bypass must rejoin the A259, and the proposals for this do concern the whole of Rye very much indeed in the long run. We therefore make no apology for a longer-than-usual front-page story this week.
East of Winchelsea there are, in effect, two proposed routes. One joins the A259 at the dog-leg between Winchelsea and Rye, smoothing out the bend and taking the traffic into Rye via Winchelsea Road as at present.
The other route runs along the south side of the railway from Winchelsea Station until it comes level with Gateborough Farmhouse, then swings away to the farm lane and emerges onto the main road where the lane does, just before the sluice. The leaflet says airily "There would be a new roundabout junction with the A259 west of Rye", but anyone who can describe Strand Quay as "west of Rye" cannot have spent more than ten minutes in the area and probably on a wet Tuesday afternoon in February at that. Strand Quay is Rye; it also has a hairpin bend with further and almost immediate complications in both directions (the mini-roundabout and the Farnborough entrance).
By the weekend, still only New Winchelsea Road householders had received the leaflet and its questionnaire. The Post Office was apparently instructed by the Department of Transport to deliver it within a given area, and Mr. Hammond, Rye's postmaster, tells us that in such cases a delivery is usually done over several days. It seems a pity that the houses most concerned, at the farm lane end of Winchelsea Road, had to hear about the proposals from friends; it is not nice to hear in casual conversation, as the Whitings at no. 41 did, that your house is likely to be in the way of a roundabout: (Winchelsea Road householders in fact got their leaflets second post on Monday.) On Saturday, Mrs. Hacking had not heard anything about the proposal to divide the farm in two (most of the farmland between Winchelsea Station and Rye is Hacking ground), but we understand from the D o T that Udimore Road and Cadborough Cliff householders are also due to receive copies of the leaflet, and doubtless we shall. There seems to have been lack of liaison with local government, too; neither Mr. Bromley (Winchelsea's County Councillor) nor our Rother Councillors had seen the leaflet when it first appeared in the town, though our own County Councillor Mrs. Yates had one anyway as a New Winchelsea Road resident. The Town Council has heard nothing officially at all.
The leaflet refers to an exhibition at Winchelsea New Hall next week, from 4 to 9 on Friday evening (18th) and from 10 to 3 on the Saturday. This will, the D o T spokesman says, go into very considerable detail about the proposals, with D o T representatives there to answer questions. Obviously it will be worth the journey for those concerned with the present plans. Local Councillors and the press are also being invited.
(continued on page 2)
2.
Mrs. Evelyn Cooper, of Cooper Road, died in hospital on 6 November after an illness lasting more than eight years. Mrs. Cooper (nee Dive) was born in Playden, and the burial service will take place at Playden Church on Friday, 11th, at 2.
Mrs. Constance Piper died peacefully in Rye Hospital on 6 November, just before her 85th birthday. She had lived in Udimore Road for twenty years. Cremation takes place tomorrow (Thursday) at Hastings at 11.
Mr. Warren Haffenden, whose death on 25 October we reported briefly last week, was 67 and had lived in Playden all his life; he was a member of the church choir for many years. He served in the Royal Sussex Regiment and The Queen's Royal Regiment during the war, and had worked for Ellis Bros until ill-health forced him to take early retirement three years ago. His fondness for the outdoor life was reflected in many of his interests, and he loved his garden; he often attended steam engine rallies and was a keen fisherman in his younger days. He was also a great reader attracted particularly to biography and local history. Mr. Haffenden had a great many friends in the area, and much sympathy will go to his sister Mrs. Warner, also of Poppyfields.
But a much more serious implication for Rye is not mentioned in the document at all. As readers will know, Rye's own bypass went on the active list in May, some two years behind Winchelsea's, and those who keep their GAZETTES might like to refer to no. 35. We said then that there were three main alternatives: right round to the north behind Leasam, across the marsh to the south, or alongside the railway - and since then Mrs. Yates has told us of a fourth proposal some twenty years old which would have taken a bypass along Rock Channel on the town side. But now, looking at the D o T plan, it would seem that if the railway route is adopted for Winchelsea, it would completely eliminate any possibility of a northerly or southerly route for Rye. This would leave us with just two alternatives, not so much bypasses as fast routes through the town, both involving considerable destruction of property. (It is interesting to envisage a strip, three cars wide plus verges, laid along one side or the other of the railway... and incidentally, what happens when upwards of a thousand children cross it to their homes, buses or trains twice a day?)
When we put this point to the D o T spokesman, he assured us that we were entirely wrong in assuming that the northerly or southerly routes for Rye would be in anyway jeopardised by a choice of the railway route for Winchelsea. But it seems very difficult to believe that the D o T would build a bypass into the middle of Rye, and then disregard the final third of it and take a turning off to the north or south when our own turn finally came - at about £1m a mile, for goodness' sake? The same firm has been appointed as design consultants for both projects:
Messrs. Cooper Macdonald & Partners, of Epsom. Surely there must be a case for Rye's interests to be considered when the Winchelsea route is being discussed - in effect, for the two bypasses to be treated as one?
We understand that Rother is to arrange a public meeting in Rye to clear the air about bypasses in general, within the next few weeks - we shall of course give readers notice of the date as soon as it is fixed.
It seems worth repeating that the 4.40 pm train from Charing Cross no longer has an Ashford connection for Rye, nor has it had since the new timetable came into force in May. The 4.28 is now the train to get, and even then it means a smartish trot down and up (or if you prefer, up and down) at Ashford. We mention this again because both Fixtures and the current BR timetable (section 7, London-Kent Coast, table 210) don't mention the 4.28 and give the 4.40 as connecting – though we thought Adams were aware of the change back in June. The small notice in Rye station is, of course, no help to people not starting from here.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 9.11.1983
Plenty of Red Cross members were present at the Centre's AGM at the FE Centre on Wednesday; guests from away were the Deputy President and the Vice-President of the Sussex Counties Branch, and the Society's archivist Miss M. Slade. Mr. Nick Martin, the Honorary Treasurer, presented the accounts for 1982 and said that the financial position was much better than in the previous year, with a profit rather than a deficit. He referred to the legacy of £13,000 from Mrs. Winter, and also to a legacy of £250 from Miss Margaret Middleditch together with a further total of £238 given in her memory.
Centre organiser Mrs. White said that improvements had been made to the premises during the year since the last AGM, in particular the provision of a large hanging cupboard which cut down the work of carrying Thrift Shop clothing up and down stairs, and a safe, also for the Thrift Shop. The shop had raised almost £4,000 in the year, representing a total of £11,272 handled and an enormous amount of processing work. Most of this sum came in as commission, but some was from the sale of outright gifts (though here the organisers would be grateful if donors would be mindful of their very high standards). Mrs. White thanked Mr. and Mrs. Thurston and their helpers for this most satisfactory result and gave notice that there would be no Thrift Shop in December as the date fell so near Christmas.
Mrs. White then reviewed the Centre's activities during the year. Among a long list, we noted that more people with partial hearing would be particularly welcome at Hearing Circle meetings. 186 articles, including 45 wheelchairs, had been lent out by the medical loan department, and 144 items were "out" at present, some retained for rather a long time; she appealed for the return of things no longer needed. The Red Cross is responsible for organising the blood donor sessions, and this is, Mrs. White said, Mrs. Holmes's 42nd year of helping with this work! Mrs. White also mentioned the library books delivery, home and hospital beauty care, the Over-60 clubs, and other functions of the Centre, and thanked all those involved in these many different activities.
Mrs. White is retiring as Centre Organiser at the end of the year and will be replaced by Mrs. Hilary Bolton, though she remains as one of the centre officers. Lady Joy is also retiring as Secretary, and her replacement will be Mrs. Diana James of Iden.
Miss Slade then gave an interesting talk on some aspects of the Red Cross archives and museum. The Mayor, Mr. Simpson, concluded the proceedings when he rose to thank both the speaker and, on behalf of the town, the Centre for all its work which had so greatly benefited the community over the past year. Tea afterwards was arranged by the Iden members and was much enjoyed.
On Thursday, 17 November, and the Friday and Saturday following (yes, they do know it is Bonfire Night), Thomas Peacocke School Players present an evening's entertainment for the whole family - the tragi-comedy of The Murder of Maria Martin. The villain is played by Mike Surman, the heroine by Fay Wright, and other members of the school staff portray gypsies, villagers and idiots (says Chris Rose – we refrain from comment). Audience participation through cheers and sneers will discourage the nasty villain and support the beautiful heroine, he adds - "See you there! Three hisses for villainy!" Tickets for what promises to be a lively evening, beginning at 7.30, are available from the school, the Martello Bookshop, and the Olio Bookshop in Hastings - £1.50 for adults and 75p for children.
Something special for younger children (adults welcome too, of course) happens at the Community Centre on 25 and 26 November. ABC Productions (in fact Nick Hirst of Peasmarsh and Graham Lee, now of Manchester) present a puppet show The Tale of the Magic Snowman - a sequel to their last year's production, The Sheep Show, and a story of rural villainy at Christmas, also with plenty of opportunity for audience participation at 2.30. Aimed at 3-to-11-year-olds, Friday afternoon's performance is intended for parties from school, though individuals can of course come too; Saturday's show at 3 is for everyone whose school couldn't be persuaded to take them on Friday! Admission 50p.
4.
The British Shoe Corporation has now submitted revised plans for making-over the Freeman Hardy Willis shop at 23 High Street. Hardwood replaces the bronze anodised aluminium framing shown on the original plans, and the depth of the part under the windows has been increased and the tiling altered from off-white to dark brown. The appearance of the shopfront is altered quite considerably in other ways from its present look; the single door will be replaced by double ones, off-centre, and the entrance will be set flush with the windows. Efforts are made to incorporate some of the present trim in the way of mouldings, etc., round the windows, and the side door will remain the same as it is now. A fascia with gold letters on brown laminate is proposed. The inside is to be scooped out and refitted, which will sadden many people; a new staircase is to be accommodated in a lean-to extension at the back. Plans are now on view at the Council Offices in Ferry Road.
Footnote: the 1898 directory contains an advertisement for "Bartholomew & Son, Merchant Tailors, Hatters, Hosiers and Outfitters. Don't waste money! Buy your suits, coat and vest, trousers, etc., from the manufacturers. 52 years reputation for up-to-date tailoring. Clerical liveries and athletic outfitting a speciality. Factory, 23 High Street, Rye"!
An interesting application comes from Mr. and Mrs. Bromley in West Street. Anxious to restore to usable condition the tower in their garden, they started making enquiries more than a year ago to find out what it had originally looked like. The Museum produced a photograph of it with a handsome tiled roof with gazebo windows, which was removed as dangerous in 1937. During the war, a flat roof housed an ack-ack gun; but latterly the building has become so decayed that it is not really safe to get to the top at all. Robert Bromley reckons he would not be popular with the neighbours if he restored the roof exactly as it was, complete with windows, since people who had not been overlooked since the early Thirties would not consider it an improvement to their amenities. So the proposal is to put on a tiled roof without windows, topping three stories only, and then use the restored building for summer letting. The application also includes an extra bedroom at ground floor level.
We wondered what the history of the 12' x 12' tower was? Mr. Bromley says it was erected by Thomas Proctor in 1768 - the house dates from 1740 - probably as a convenient beacon and store for one of the Marsh smuggling enterprises; why else would someone build a five-storey garden shed approached by a tunnel, he asks? The Bromleys very much doubt the story about the jealous husband and the wife with a lover in Winchelsea; but it does seem probable that a party of Rye ladies watched the opening of the railway from it, when the Lord Mayor of London came down by train in 1850. As for Tower House itself, Lloyd George slept there; he came down to Rye to speak on behalf of George Ellis when this noted local Liberal was making an attempt to enter Parliament - unsuccessfully, as it turned out.
There is also a planning application from Mr. Easter at the corner of Market Road and Cinque Ports Street, for change of use from shop and cafe to shop only.
Vidler & Co have already received a good selection of entries for their next special evening sale, on Friday 9 December at 6; however, there is still room for a few more items in the way of antiques and fine arts, and prospective sellers should contact them as soon as possible. About 750 catalogues go out for these sales, which can only take place when there are five Fridays in the month for administrative reasons - a normal four-Friday month sees the sale-room busy with
the complex arrangements for the regular first-Friday sale. Catalogues go to buyers all over the country, and to dealers in Europe and America; they are available from the Rye office about a week before the sale and will certainly contain details of long-case clocks, sets of dining chairs, silver and paintings, oriental carpets and rugs, bureau-bookcases and other desirable offers.
5.
An addition to the GAZETTE's collection of Rye literature is a Bonfire Night programme for 5 November 1949. Costing 1/-, sealed to prevent free peeking, and carrying a lucky number for a two-guinea prize, the 32-page booklet is handsomely produced by Adams, with historical allusions filling odd spaces between the text and the ads. There are photographs, too; one - "by courtesy of The Times" - shows the Bonfire Boys' "Ye Olde Dutch Mill" tableau which won first prize in the Hastings Carnival the same year. Also shown are the 1948 prizewinners, Rye WI's
"The Grecian Frieze" and Rye County Primary School's "When did you last see your father?". The officials of the Society were W. Clark of the Queen's Head Hotel (President), J. Maynard of Camber (Vice-President), J. Winter, Cinque Ports Street (Chairman), M.W. Beevers of The Loke (Vice-Chairman), E.F. Odell of Market Road (Hon. Treasurer), while the joint Hon. Secretaries were Mrs. Jean Strachan of the Queen's Head and C.G. Bloomfield of New Road.
In those days the procession (marshal, Frank Taylor) started in King's Avenue and went under the Landgate, along the High Street to The Deals and back to the Salts along Cinque Ports Street. It was led by the Rye Town Band (bandmaster, A. Igglesden), followed by "The Guy of Guys" (constructed by S.N. Martin). Fourteen tableaux were then listed, plus the bloaters, Peasmarsh Brass Band, and the Fire Brigade under F. Bourne. Judges were the Mayor and Mayoress of Rye (Alderman Schofield and Miss Mary Warren), the Mayor and Mayoress of Winchelsea, (Mr. and Mrs. Knox), Mrs. Mackechnie, Wally Cole, H. Bailey and J.H. Coates; the prizes were presented later in the year, at the Bonfire Society's Annual Dinner.
The fireworks at 8.45 were staged by Brocks, and the programme lists the displays with such enchanting names as "The Mystic Trellis of Pearls", "Flight of Red Admirals", "Tesseraic Jugglery", "The Pyramid of Revolving Fountains", "numerous other spectacular devices", and finally "The Burning Boat". An hour later, "a salute of four maroons, in recognition of the years of the Society, heralds the entrance of Rye Fawkes", in this case Alderman Schofield again - followed by the Guy; then "the Boat is laid to rest upon the funeral pyre, the Guy is hoisted upon the gibbet", Rye Fawkes lit the bonfire (composed of over one thousand faggots), and the proceedings wound up with community singing and a feast of bloaters. For the really determined reveller, 1/6d bought admission to a dance at the Monastery until midnight.
As usual, in anything more than quarter of a century old, the ads are of interest. Frank Golden offers, among other things, new naval gaiters at 2/6d a pair (what for?). Odells sell cycles, of course; but what about Small Bros, plumbers of Wish Street, and Tiltman Bros, grocers and greengrocers at 12 Cinque Ports Street? Colebrooke's advertise their mineral waters ("at the Strand for over 50 years"); but what happened to Rye Engineering & Trawler Co Ltd, automobile, marine and general engineers at Monkbretton Bridge - "anything repaired!"?
The Old Hope Anchor provides yet another variant of the hotel's name. Mr. Pay was the grocer in Landgate, Mr. Schofield at 97 High Street, and Homers in both Landgate and at Horner's Corner (Cyprus Place/Wish Street?). Goulden's ran a lending library of modern fiction. Gilbert Fabes's bookshop has an ad, and so does Ellis Bros, General and Furnishing Ironmongers, at 1 High Street. Ellwoods was then Healeys, but familiar names, like Adams, Worths, Winters Dairies, Long Bros and Banister & Sons and Camiers also appear all those years ago; so do
Vidlers, Geering & Colyer, Bryans and the Central Garage. George's Fish Shop (6 and 7 Tower Street as well as 37 and 38 The Mint) advertised bed and breakfast and a positively Edwardian sounding "supper saloon"!
Previous years' collections were £51 in 1946, £116 in 1947 and £150 in 1948 – they went, as now, to various charities. But perhaps the really nostalgic touch is in the advertised timing of buses home: the bus ran both ways to Hastings, to Brenzett, Brookland, Camber, Rye Harbour and Winchelsea Beach, to Hawkhurst via Beckley, Northiam and Sandhurst, and to Tenterden - all leaving Rye at 10.30 pm:
Those were the days... (But, to be fair, the last train to Ashford now leaves 20 minutes later than it did then, and the last to Hastings almost an hour later.)
-6 –
Rye and District WI Marketeers spent a very enjoyable evening at Mary Mason's restaurant recently, when a dinner was held to celebrate 11 years of successful trading; 35 members and friends were present. It was organised by the Market's chairman, Miss Molly Dean of Beckley, who felt that a social get-together would be appreciated by people who normally meet only on business. Among those present was Miss Hilda Thomas of Robertsbridge, the County WI Market organiser, and also Mrs. Joan Yates. Mrs. Yates was the WI Group Chairman when the market was first suggested, and she remembers making tactful approaches to the Chamber of Trade to see if they would have any objection; in fact, of course, the Market brings people into the town on a Friday who might otherwise shop elsewhere. Mrs. Yates recalls that Dr. Vidler's first official duty as Mayor of Rye was to declare the Market open, and she tells us that he still shows great interest in it.
The present Controller, Mrs. Betty Cramp, says that while the Christmas Market will be on Friday, 16 December, this week's Market will have a special "bookings" stall taking orders for Christmas goods (Friday, CC, 10).
When Miss May Hinde sent us her account of the Grammar School as she knew it from 1916 to 1922, she included some notes relating less to the school than to the town in wartime. Perhaps the week of Remembrance Sunday is the time to remember - the Heaseman family at Cadborough Villas, with whom May and her brother lodged. She writes "Mr. Heaseman used to make him laugh when he described what he would do to Kaiser Bill if he could get hold of him. He would duck him in a pond, and every time he bobbed up, he would push him down under the water again with a long pole! The laughter in that household turned to great sorrow when they heard that their youngest son had been killed in France. The family were heartbroken. Miss Hinde's own younger brother Harold was drowned when his ship was torpedoed in WW2 (he was in the Fleet Air Arm).
People with spare rooms were required to billet soldiers on their way to France; May's first landlady, Mrs. Southerden, had two soldiers billeted on the household. Billets did not have to provide food, which was as well when this grew scarce; as a farmer's wife, Mrs. Hinde used to send butter and cheese to her children's landlady, particularly welcome when this was eventually rationed.
On Armistice Day the Grammar School pupils assembled in the Hall to hear that the war was over, and they were then given the rest of the day as a holiday.
Mrs. Bodilly tells us that her father, Mr. Sprigg Walker, used to take a party of carol singers round the town and some of the country districts, raising £400 or more for the Soldiers and Sailors Funds. "He himself always went to the Rye railway station to see the Rye boys off to the Front. Collections of hundreds of eggs for the soldiers were collected at the school, and also other things that were needed for the making of munitions" (how reminiscent this is of the collection of saucepans for conversion into Spitfires in WW2!). The school in this case was the one in Mermaid Street, of which Mr. Sprigg Walker was the much-respected headmaster.
It appears from Leopold Vidler's history of Rye that there were two Mayors during the four-year period of the Great War, George Burnham and George Ellis (Lloyd George's host, see "Planning Matters"). The Council members remained in office until the end of the war, and their names will be familiar to older readers. The aldermen were H J Gasson, F Jarrett, W Neeves and J N Masters, and the councillors included J Cooper, J L Deacon, T S Golden, R D McKenzie, W B Hacking, C Sherwood, F J Thompson, A Truelove, W E Colebrooke and Capt. R Dacre Vincent. There were two hospitals for wounded soldiers in the town, one on the upper floor of the Monastery and one at the Convent in East Street - which was, we now understand, at Chequers; a very small child next door just remembers the blue uniforms.
The Rye war memorial bears 156 names of men who were killed in the 1914-18 war. They, as well as those who died in WW2, will be remembered when the Women's British Legion lays a wreath there on Friday - 65 years exactly from that first Armistice Day on 11 November 1918.
7.
A report in the autumn edition of the RNLI magazine Lifeboat describes the naming ceremony of the Brede lifeboat no. 4, stationed at Girvan and the second to go from Rye to Scotland (no. 2, "Ann Ritchie", is at Oban). "Philip Vaux" was largely funded by a bequest from the widow of Cdr. Philip Vaux, OBE, DSC, RN, and also commemorates their son, Lt.Cdr. M P Vaux, DSC, RN. Cdr. Philip Vaux had been an inspector and chief inspector of lifeboats since long before the war, retiring in 1951, and past and present RNLI lifeboat inspectors and other staff members clubbed together to provide the compass for the boat. This was one of the very few occasions when a lifeboat has been named after a member of the RNLI's permanent staff, and it was Girvan's first new boat for more than 30 years.
Inner Wheel's guests on Friday filled the Community Centre for an enjoyable social occasion combined with a highly entertaining talk on wine. The speaker was Alan Cheeseman, who described himself irreverently as the director of booze buying for Sainsburys - though we suspect his proper title is rather more sedate. Our notes are less lucid than usual, but we think he said that nowadays some 70% of wine is bought for consumption at home, and half of this comes from supermarkets - a trend which started in 1961 when a change in the licensing laws allowed alcohol to be sold at off-licences outside pub hours. Sainsburys sell 600,000 bottles a week, 80% of this to women, and 60% of it white (the French, on the other hand, display an enormous preference for red).
Mr. Cheeseman then described the typical evolution of the wine-drinker, and also dealt with some common worries about wine. Tiny crystals mean tartrates (quite harmless) not broken glass; a cork with a mouldy top merely means that the cap was put on over a drop or two of spilt wine; a fragment of cork in your glass just calls for a quick dip with a finger - genuine "corked" wine is quite unmistakably nasty and also rare, though not as rare nowadays as secondary fermentation which gives the wine a cloudy look (they see about three bottles a year like this). Sainsburys expect to receive perhaps 19 justified complaints per million bottles of wine sold! We also heard about the mystique of wine "with" particular foods - by all means have red wine with fish, said Mr. Cheeseman generously, if you like the taste of rusty nails...
Then came the tasting. The tables were supplied with tubs of sawdust, and Mr. Cheeseman demonstrated with professional skill the proper way to look, sniff, taste and spit, and also explained what one should look, sniff and taste for - the spitting, he said, was essential for someone who tasted up to 4000 wines a year. Guests had been greeted with complimentary glasses of a delightful white wine, and in addition to this Sainsburys had provided bottles of six of their cellar wines, four white and two red. These were passed around; some spat, some swallowed, and occasionally the remainder of a glass went into the sawdust. As the bottles circulated, Mr. Cheeseman described the different wines and left his audience to make their own decisions about them.
When the speaker was finally allowed to sit down, amid much applause, the remaining bottles were gradually emptied, and no-one seemed in any hurry to go home. Thanking Mr. Cheeseman (her cousin, as it happens, and booked for the occasion almost a year ago), Mrs. Sally Osborne said that the proceeds of the evening would go to Inner Wheel's charity funds; the Committee were most grateful to Mr. Cheeseman, and to Sainsburys who had generously given all the wine consumed during the evening.
Cadborough Jubilee Social Club will not be holding its firework evening this year, as a mark of respect to the passing of its President Mr. John Hacking. A donation of £50 goes to the Friends of Rye Memorial Hospital in his memory.
The Club is also sending donations to the Community Centre's wheelchair toilet appeal (£50) and to Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre, which serves Rye patients (£20 for a special piece of equipment for the treatment of tumours).
8.
Friday, 11th CSRF coffee morning, FEC (room 2a), 10.30
Women's British Legion wreath-laying at War Memorial, 11 (service beforehand, see GAZETTE no. 57)
Duplicate Bridge Club inaugural meeting, FEC, 7
Natural History Society, "Wildlife in the West Indies" by Ian Rumley-Dawson, FEC, 7.30
Ryesingers (with audience participation!), Lower School, 7.30
Rye Festival's evening of folk music (The Telham Tinkers) at the Mermaid, 8.30 (tickets £2 at door or from Easton Rooms)
Saturday, 12th Hill House League of Friends Christmas Bazaar, TH, 10
Sale of work and coffee morning for welfare of blind, FEC, 10
National Trust, "Iden and Playden" by Alan Dickinson, CC, 2.30 TPS PTA Ballroom Dance (to Brian Pollard's Band), The Grove, 8
Sunday, 13th Remembrance Sunday Parade and Service, St. Mary's, 11
Tuesday, 15th Talk, "War Games the Superpowers Play" by Brigadier Harbottle, OBE, followed by questions and discussion, CC, 7.30
Wednesday, 16th Cancer Relief Christmas Fair, FEC, 10 to 12
Thrift Shop handing-in, Red Cross Centre, 10.30 to 12.30
• The Community Centre Association announces that their wheelchair toilet appeal has benefited by over £160 from last Friday's slide show and raffle. The Committee is most grateful to Mr. Laurie Band for putting it on - and we hear on all sides how much it was enjoyed, especially by older Ryers in the audience. The National Trust slide show on Saturday will doubtless give similar pleasure.
• David Arscott of Radio Sussex at Eastbourne now has a phone number; ring him at Eastbourne 639359.
• Playden Church is better off by some £250 as a result of the Autumn Fair at the FEC on Saturday.
• We have had one or two enquiries for a dressmaker recently, and we now hear that Kitty Verhagen of Udimore is offering this service. She will design and make garments from customers' own ideas, and she undertakes most types of needlework. She will collect and deliver in Rye. Ring her on Rye 225140.
• The Mayor, Mr. W.H. Simpson, recently held an exploratory meeting to discuss setting up a Civil Defence organisation for the town, and he would now be glad to hear from those who would like to take part. Ring either Mr. Simpson at Rye 223146 or the Town Hall (223902); a meeting will be arranged for those interested.
• Crime: two break-ins on Tuesday or early Wednesday morning. At the Rye Model Laundry's shop in Market Road, £3 in cash was taken; at Dawes Son & Prentice in the High Street it appears that nothing was missing.
• Jumble required:
(a) by Rye Lions for a sale at Westfield on 26 November; ring Trevor Humphreys at Rye 223285 or Kelvin Care at Rye 223999 for collection.
(b) by the Pipemakers Football Club for their Fair (and jumble sale) on 19 November at the Community Centre - ring Mrs. Clark at Rye 225839.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, and published by
Mrs. Mary Owen, 94 Udimore Road, Rye (Rye 222303). News items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline is Monday afternoon, or 9 am Tuesday for emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday; extra copies and back numbers can be ordered from 94 Udimore Road, while a few spares are available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street.
(Copyright Mary Owen 1983)