SUBSCRIPTIONS fall due et the end of this month: 23.00 for one quarter (12 weeks), £5.75 for two (23 weeks). See p.7 lost week for details.
Two of our Rother councillors were kind enough to phone the GAZETTE after the meeting on Monday evening which was expected to decide once and for all about the Bexhill pool - Mr. Shackleton at 11.40 pm and Mrs. Tomich at 8.30 yesterday morning, both of course well after our normal deadline, so we must be forgiven for a rather confused report.
The voting seems to have been complicated - a Battle councillor put forward a five-part amendment to the official proposal, which stated, first, that the present pool plans should be abandoned, secondly that "wet and dry" sports facilities (i.e. a pool and sports halls) should be considered as a whole, and the remaining three parts were concerned with financing such projects, including a proviso that finance should not be taken out of Rother's normal commitments. The vote was a tie, with the Chairman using his casting vote; but we understand that the final decision accepted all but the first part of the Battle amendment, so the pool is still afloat - but as part of a series of sports facilities for the District, including our sports hall. The whole question now goes back yet again to the Recreation and Leisure committee, but with. a different emphasis.
It seems clear that Rother is in a good position to expect grant aid from the Sports Council for this purpose. Mrs. Tomich even bearded Under-Secretary of State for the Environment personally after a recent conference on sports facilities and received his assurance that he would send a departmental representative plus someone from the Sports Council down to see Rother's problems. With the increasing number of middle-aged and elderly people with leisure time to fill, the Government is keen on the provision of facilities for this group - of whom, goodness knows, there is a high enough percentage round here.
After a winter of rumour and counter-rumour, it is now certain that Saltcote Place is to become a residential home for active elderly people. The new owners are Residential Homes (Sussex) Ltd - which sounds a bit impersonal but is in fact the Barker family who now run Peasmarsh Place, and who will be moving their business to Saltcote early in May. Some of the Peasmarsh staff will be coming with the Barkers, but there will definitely be jobs to be filled at Saltcote. It will certainly be a great advantage to Rye to have a home of this kind in the town; we look forward to reporting in more detail nearer the time.
The Rye and District Ratepayers' and Residents' Association is much honoured to have Kenneth Warren, MP, as guest speaker at its AGM on Friday week (30 March) at the Town Hall at 7. Apart from Mr. Warren, who will address the meeting on matters concerning the constituency, there will be the usual business of any AGM - election of committee, approval of accounts, etc. But, as always at the Ratepayers' AGMs, the Annual Report is of particular interest, as it summarises a good many of the things which have been concerning Rye people during 1983. Most of them have been dealt with in the GAZETTE in the course of the year, and some have developed further since it ended - doubtless the Report will be updated at the meeting; but it is clear what a careful eye the Association's committee has kept on the town's affairs.
This is a public meeting, and anyone is welcome, member or not - but the minimum annual subscription to the Association is only £1, and since all residents are eligible to join we do hope that a lot of people will come and anyway some of them will swell the Association's numbers permanently.
2.
This has been said of many Rye people for many years - and the reaction is always "Well, you couldn't ask for better than that". The St. Leonards nursing home has been run for the past 98 years by the Augustinian Sisters of the Holy Heart of Mary; but now, because of a lack of recruits to the Order, they are returning to base in Paris. St. Augustine's might well have closed, or changed its character completely. But by a fortunate coincidence, a group of people in Hastings had for several years been looking at possible sites for a hospice for the terminally ill; and when they heard that St. Augustine's might be available, they produced a scheme which is, we are told, the first of its kind in the country.
St. Michael's Hospice (Hastings) Ltd is a registered company and also a registered charity. Its 20-strong steering committee includes, as well as private individuals, representatives of the medical and nursing professions and of the churches in the Hastings area. The plan is that the company shall buy and continue to run St. Augustine's, providing security for its present patients and also its present staff, and continuing the home's Christian tradition on a non-denominational basis. It will keep the present name, and of course the present premises in Upper Maze Hill. Incorporated in the building (the details are not yet settled) will be a separate 16-bed hospice called St. Michael's. (Readers will probably know that a hospice is a home for those who are terminally ill, with much emphasis on friendliness and cheerfulness and visiting, as well as necessary medical care.)
St. Augustine's will be run with the intention of breaking even financially, or perhaps making a small profit. Any profit it does make will go towards the expenses of the sister venture, St. Michael's, and here the hope is that no-one will ever be refused a bed because they can't pay. Clearly St. Michael's will gain financially from being able to share laundry, catering and office facilities and so forth with St. Augustine's - this will reduce the per-bed cost in the hospice compared to the usual single venture. This situation will be helped by having the same people on both management committees, though St. Michael's will have a medical sub-committee of professionals to advise on the care of patients.
The new company's spokesman, Lt Col Anthony Wade, emphasises that there will be very few noticeable changes at St. Augustine's. They are taking it over from the Sisters as a going concern, and the Order is, he says, being most helpful to the new owners, leaving them all the equipment, linen, etc., and only removing certain religious items which have a personal significance for the Sisters. The Mother General of the Order, who travelled from Paris to St. Leonards last week to attend the final stage of the negotiations, is delighted that it has been possible to preserve the existing nursing facilities for the local community and to transfer the running of the nursing home to an institution that will maintain its long-established standards.
But, of course, the new management company needs money, and help in raising it, in order to set up the hospice. They will also welcome voluntary help in running the hospice, and the contact here is Mrs. Sheila Leach, c/o 4 Sovereign Close, Hastings (Hastings 430237). Donations should go to the Treasurer, St. Michael's Hospice Project, c/o Gibbons & Mitchell, 7-9 Wellington Square, Hastings: cheques payable to "The St. Michael's Hospice", covenant forms available.
We shall certainly be reporting further on this project which, though not in Rye, nonetheless concerns a great many Rye people and their friends.
We must congratulate St. Thomas's School, Winchelsea, which won the football tournament for all the local primary schools held at Freda Gardham on 10 March - even at seven-a-side, almost all its senior boys were in the team! Guestling-Bradshaw School won the netball. The Spring Fair held by the parents at the same time raised £588 for school funds.
At a special Assembly next Monday, the police Schools Liaison Officer PC Elliott will be presenting awards to four Freda Gardham pupils whose posters were judged the best in a competition run in connection with the Rye Crime Alert Scheme. The winners are Suzanne Howard, Mark Thomas and Matthew Buss of Rye, and Andrew Joyce of Winchelsea.
3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 21.3.1984
We were talking this week to the manager of the Hastings and District Bus Company, Mr. Bailey, about the future use of the kiosk in the bus yard. He tells us that the bus company is by no means set against the kiosk being used as a tea-bar-cum-bus-shelter (see GAZETTE no 74) and he would be glad to discuss the possibilities with anyone interested in running it; but he sees a problem over security of tenure for a prospective caterer, in view, he said, of the supermarket prospects.
What with this and the public loos (see GAZETTE no 71) we thought it was time for a progress report on the supermarket, so we spoke to Mr. Beggs of Butler & Hatch Waterman's Folkestone branch - and learnt some things which surprised us.
First, the route of the bypass doesn't seem to be a problem. Secondly, they have a tenant, and have had for the last six months: a tenant eager to move in as soon as the developers are out (Mr. Beggs wasn't able to name names at this stage but promises to do so as soon as he can). Thirdly, until quite recently they had expected to start work this autumn for completion in May 1985 – and they still may. But there are so many different organisations with an interest in the site that not quite all the ends are tied up yet; and unless the plans are approved very soon there will not be time to put the work out to tender in time for an October start. In that case, the whole project would have to be put off for a year, since it would hardly be acceptable to have the Goods Yard car park out of use for the whole of the summer season.
In view of all this, we see what Mr. Bailey meant about security of tenure; it really does look as if something is happening at last in the Station Approach.
An intriguing morsel of Rye's history surfaced in a report to Rother Council recently. Under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, two owners of houses in Ferry Road are applying to buy the freehold of the land on which their houses are built. This land belonged to the Borough of Rye and is now, therefore, Rother's, and is currently let to Courage Ltd with the houses concerned on sub-leases.
The original lease to Courage's predecessors was granted not long after George III's accession, when the Town Hall was still very new, the Breeds murder fresh in the public memory, and the Lamb family running the town. Jeremiah Curteis, the Town Clerk at the time, would have made the arrangements for the lease. It is dated 16 December 1760, and the rent for the whole piece of land was 6d a year, for 940 years.
Compensation due to Rother from each householder - calculated, says the report, by reference to the investment value of the rental income - is a whole £l, plus legal costs. After all, the investment value of one old penny a year may not be very much - but the lease does have another 726 years to run!
Tony Meyer, of the Decorator's Warehouse in Cinque Ports Street, wonders if any of our local schools or playgroups could use some old wallpaper books? The shop seems to have built up something of a surplus lately. This - and here it is the Editor, not Mr. Meyer, speaking - is a valuable offer. Most people assume that shops get their wallpaper books free, but not a bit of it: quite ordinary ones cost the shop keeper around £20, and some can be as much as £75! The Warehouse has about 150 books altogether, which means one of the best selections of wallpaper in the south-east; and the lines they keep in stock, says Mr. Meyer with justifiable pride, are frequently cheaper than the same thing in the Hastings multiple stores.
Mr. Ed Wiseman would be interested to see any photographs which relate to the Ashford to Hastings line, including the spur to Rye Harbour - particularly the latter with an engine on it. Phone him on Rye 223772 if you can help him.
4.
The Town Council's new and very expensive slide projector went to Sussex University on Saturday, to advertise the Rye Town Model at the Heritage Education Fair. Sponsored by the S E Tourist Board, the Fair was aimed at people planning school trips; there were over a hundred stands, and more than 1500 very interested visitors.
Rye's stand was manned by Duncan Starkey of the Town Council, Barbara Fearon (the senior Model operator) and the Town Sergeant Gus Gale in his Town Crier's uniform. it was decorated with maps and photos of the town, and the machine showed some stunning slides (says Mrs. Fearon) provided by Frank Palmer - another year there could be a commentary, but they haven't had time to set that up yet. The team felt it had been a highly successful promotion effort, increasing Model bookings. Mrs. Fearon tells us that they have already had bookings from 68 schools, four of them on the first two days of the new season (beginning on 28 March).
The Kodak projector - which comes complete with 14" screen in a pop-up case, we gather - cost £723. It shows 80 slides in a 20-minute programme, and there are facilities for up to an hour of commentary on tape. The Council has bought it out of Town Model takings, primarily for use on such occasions as last weekend's outing. But, Mr. Baker tells us, the machine will be available for use within the town as well, and he has written to a dozen organisations which might, he thinks, find it useful. Different slides and a different commentary can of course be substituted for the Council's own material. Those interested should get in touch with Mr. Baker at the Town Hall (223902, 8.30 to 11 am except Tuesdays).
We think it would be nice if Rye people could have a chance to see, not only the new machine, but also the Rye publicity slides. How would it be if the show were to be put on at the Town Hall at the Annual Town Meeting, for instance?
Rather fewer lots this year meant a more manageable sale at Thomas Peacocke School on Saturday for the PTA's 50:50 auction, but a very enjoyable afternoon nevertheless for the buyers and an exhausting but worthwhile effort for the organisers. Home entertainment comes at all prices; someone had a good buy, with a Phillips video recorder and tapes for £80 - but did the purchaser of 31 Enid Blyton paperbacks for £2 do even better? A particularly pretty oriental rug went for £36, and right at the end two cut-glass bottles with silver mounts fetched £32 (and the delighted owner said she had been thinking of putting them in the bin if the sale hadn't come along). Beth McDonald, Jamie Barbieri and Stephen Hunt were the porters - was it the influence of women's lib that meant Beth was the one to draw a businesslike sword from its scabbard?
For the third year running Mrs. Pauline Chalk of Butler & Hatch Waterman gave up her afternoon to selling the miscellaneous selection of goods with unflagging professional expertise; a grateful PTA presented her with a bouquet. She was helped by Mrs. Barbieri as her clerk, and by Mrs. Skinner and Louise as runners; Mrs. McDonald and Mr. Kind kept the books; and Mrs. Baker and Mandy Briggs sold refreshments. Mrs. Schwalbert, responsible for the original idea of such a sale three years ago, was also among the helpers. PTA funds are likely to benefit by some £390 as a result of the auction.
Rye Majorettes - all twenty of them - are hoping to twirl their batons continuously for three hours upstairs in the Community Centre on Saturday. The idea is that, sponsored by friends and relatives, the girls shall earn the money needed to buy a set of track suits for the group - and at an average price of £11.50 each, this works out at well over £200. The money which the Majorettes are paid for their appearances goes to charity, usually buying specific things for local organisations; so new uniforms have to be paid for in some other way, and this is what they are now attempting. Sponsorship is per quarter-of-an-hour, but the girls are determined to do the whole three hours if they possibly can - good luck to them! Mrs. Rosemary Wilkinson tells us that the group are now taking bookings for the coming season (phone her on Rye 225105); their good cause this year is the Rye Harbour lifeboat shed, and they hope to raise enough money to buy something needed for it by the end of the season.
5.
Rumour - all too true, for once - led us to visit Miss B's playgroup in The Mint on Monday, and we are sorry to say that it will be closing in July this year.
Miss B's took over the playgroup from Miss Rosling of New Road in April 1975, and it continued in the original premises for two years before moving to The Mint in 1977. Its closure is bad news indeed for parents. The beautiful room which houses the busy and happy little group (only ten children at each session) is ideal for its purpose, well away from the street entrance and with a secure and sheltered garden full of play equipment at the back. Knowing that closure was likely, Miss B's has been refusing new pupils for some time, and all the current crop will be starting school anyway in April or September. But the dear little crocodile of tinies which we sometimes see around the town will disappear for good at the end of next term.
And why is Miss B's giving up? Simply because it is just not possible for Mrs. Jack Taylor to run a playgroup in Rye and join her husband (ex-Union Inn, of course) in his retirement on the delectable Greek island of Poros. If Greece should not prove to be entirely a success, they can always come back and start up again, since the house belongs to Mrs. Taylor's family; if, however, they like it there - and they certainly expect to - there is always the possibility of starting an English-speaking playgroup on Poros, for Greek as well as expatriate children.
Anyway, we wish Mr. and Mrs. Taylor a very happy time on their island.
We heard a very interesting suggestion put forward the other day. A lady who lives on her own on the outskirts of the town said how much Rye needed a club - not a club with specific interests, or one full of snooker tables and video games, but where the members could go for coffee, a drink, a snack, perhaps a meal, and be fairly sure of meeting friends there doing the same thing. There could be somewhere to leave shopping or parcels to be collected; perhaps a ladies' rest room (where one could take off one's shoes!), and of course cloakroom and changing facilities. There was no suggestion that this should be run as a free service; there would of course be a membership fee, and other charges as appropriate.
The originator of the idea compared it to "the Club" as in India in the days of the Raj. We hope that this idea may appeal to one of the hotels or guesthouses near the middle of the town? Agreed, all our hotels are very busy in July and August; but what about a club open from September to June? It would be a lot better than nothing - and many people are away or busy with visitors in July and August anyway. The GAZETTE will be more than pleased to publicise any ideas along these lines, and the Editor will certainly be among the very first members.
A new 14-acre lake full of brown and rainbow trout is hardly something one is likely to come across in Rye itself - so we make no apology for including an Iden story here. W. Ashdown & Son, of Peasmarsh, are just about to open this unusual facility to the public and hope to provide good sport for fly-fishermen in the area. Only six rods will be allowed at a time, so it will be necessary to book (Peasmarsh 241); charges are £10 for a full day (with up to four fish taken home) or £6 for an evening's fishing (two fish only for supper). There is ample off-the road car parking.
The lake - in Iden Wood, on the left of the lane leading from Iden Church to Peasmarsh - was filled by damming the course of a tiny stream, twice the width of a road ditch, which flows through the wood; it took two months to fill. Ranging in depth from 14' to 6', it holds 4 million gallons of water, kept in by a very large dam and by compaction of the clay subsoil. Contractors were Messrs. Brown of Biddenden.
The lake will be open for business from Good Friday. Once the replanting is established, it will have one of the prettiest settings imaginable; and Mr. Ashdown tells us that there are plenty of bluebells left!
6.
Laurie Band delighted Rye Museum Association members on Friday evening at the FEC with a selection of 200 slides relating to Rye's maritime past - some of them new to the collection and others not shown since the retirement party for Mr. Jack Doust as Harbour Master in 1972 - four years after Mr. Band began to form his now historic collection.
Mr. Band's tour started at the beginning of the harbour road and led us towards the village and on to the mouth of the river, throwing in a quick glance at some Rye Bay marine disasters; on the way back, he recalled the wreck of the Mary Stanford with pictures of the upturned boat and of the great throng of people who stood to see the funeral procession pass. A few years earlier, in 1926, there had been a time of storms which meant there was much flooding between the village and Rye, and the shifting beach had completely blocked the mouth of the river; aerial photographs of this were particularly interesting. Many boats of different vintages appeared on the screen, notably the Dayspring, built in Rye in 1908 - "and still afloat as a yacht in the west Country" added a voice from the darkness. Some readers will certainly remember the paddle steamer which worked the south coast in pre-war summers and was laid up at Rye during the winter; and an earlier steamer was the Margaret Colebrooke (RX 220) sunk in WW1. There are plenty of boats moored nowadays at the Harbour, and so there were at the end of the last century - but they were such enormous boats!
The river seemed wider, too, because much of the embanking and piling was still to do; we saw a team of half-a-dozen men engaged in pile-driving by hand, all hauling up an enormously heavy weight to be dropped again on the pile. Mr. Saunders and his carrier's cart came down the road - some years later than the "Mr. Saunders and his donkey and barrow" recalled recently by centenarian Mrs. Edith Peek from her girlhood. There were pictures of the boulder boats, and of the back-breaking barrowing of the stones from beach to boat to store and back to the larger vessel which was to take them away to the Potteries. There were pictures of the railway line which not only ran out to the Harbour (as many of us remember) but right out along a jetty, now gone, to roughly where the present lifeboat house stands. We saw how Tram Road got its name, when it housed an enormous gantry for moving concrete blocks, which were made at the Harbour, transported down to the water's edge, and loaded where Mary Stanford Green now lies for taking to Dover to build the new harbour there in the 1850s.
A completely fascinating evening, as Mr. Band's entertainments always are - we were told that it had taken him over nine hours to select and assemble the slides. Perhaps one day he will consider giving a marathon showing of his entire collection - rather like a complete performance of Wagner's "Ring"! - so that we can all drench ourselves in nostalgia to our hearts' content...
As well as the two Conservation Area applications we mentioned last week, the current planning list has an application for a first-floor extension to provide a new bedroom for a house in Winchelsea Road; and from ESCC for shared messroom and storage facilities for the Highways and Education departments at its depot, also in Winchelsea Road.
Mr. Olasen's cobble-layers moved in and replaced the cobbles round the Conduit Hill bollards very nicely last week - and then went away. But he assures us that they will return to deal with the tarmac snake, either at the end of this month or early in April.
Just before Christmas we mentioned the work which was having to be done to the frontage of the George Hotel. Scaffolding went up last week, and. there is now a very interesting opportunity for passers-by to study the system of mathematical tiles - hung like tiles but looking just like bricks. See for yourself!
The re-roofing of the Magdala Terrace houses is nearly finished, but we note with regret that where two of the dormer windows have had to be replaced, Rother has not attempted to reproduce the scalloped bargeboards which are so distinctive a feature of the rest of the terrace.
7.
• Rye WI welcomed back one of their "old girls" last week, when Mrs. Jo Kirkham spoke about "The Lighter Side of being a Mayor" - the trials and tribulations as well as the fun and glamour. £15 was raised at the stall for the WI Third World charity, and plans were made for various summer treats. "A profound silence" concludes our correspondent Mrs. Jean Freeman, greeted the suggestion that members should write a one-act play with a cast of six for the Denman Cup!
• A correction to last week's report of the Rye Art Gallery meeting: it was not the Friends but the Trustees who put on the three exhibitions we mentioned - Mr. Sandeman was congratulating the Trustees on behalf of the Friends (who had, however, helped with one of the catalogues). Sorry. We understand that the catalogue of the Gallery's permanent collection is being financed not by the Trustees' own funds but by South East Arts and by a generous supporter of the Gallery, who are each paying half the cost.
• Ann Hamilton is keeping open house at 2 Eagle Road from 12.15 to 2.15 on three more Fridays in Lent (30 March, 13 April and 20 April - Good Friday) when she is serving Hunger Lunches; and, she says, you will go away hungry, particularly on Good Friday when the menu consists simply of a small bowl of rice. There is a minimum charge of 50p, and the proceeds will go to Third World charities, among them Bishop Peter's Caring and Sharing and the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development.
• We are delighted to hear that Miss Edith Turner is now back home in New Road after a fall which had her out of action for several weeks. She was particularly interested to read last week about the Toronto Scottish soldiers who were stationed in Rye during WW2; she was at Bedford with the Grammar School, and went to the cinema there just once and then by chance - and what should happen to be on the newsreel? Canadian soldiers in kilts marching down Mermaid Street.
Now, forty years later, she knows who they were.
• The Hamilton Galleries in Cinque Ports Street have now reopened after Mrs. Caroline Glibbery's recent illness. There will be a constantly changing show of original paintings and artist's prints - some by Caroline Rose, the name under which Mrs. Glibbery paints and draws; and the gallery will also have one-man shows, the first being in fact a one-woman show in the first two weeks of April with work by Elaine Epps.
• Rye Women's British Legion made £150 for the Poppy Appeal at their coffee morning on Saturday (£48 from the cake stall alone, presided over by Mrs. Winnie Brett taring her "Rye WBL Grannie" sash, an innovation intended to tie in with her granddaughter Barbara Tollett's appointment as Miss WBL - but, alas, Barbara had flu). The next WBL event is on Easter Saturday when they will again be selling roses for St. George's Day in the Town Hall foyer, also in aid of the Poppy Appeal.
• On Saturday Rye Chamber of Trade will be acting as hosts to a coachload of delegates and their families from the annual conference at Eastbourne of the National Federation of the Self-Employed. The group will have a special showing of the Rye Model, followed by lunch at the Mermaid and a guided tour of the town. The Chamber's new Chairman is Mr. Roy Barnes of the Merrythought, who was handed the chain of office by Mr. Maurice Blackman at the AGM last month. Vice-Chairman is Mr. Clifford Wall, and Mrs. Amy Breeds continues as Secretary.
• As a footnote to our recent piece about the finances of St. Mary's and the contribution made to them by those who climb the tower, Mrs. Margaret Jacobs of Udimore Road tells us that it was her late husband - who was, of course, the Headmaster of the Grammar School before taking Holy Orders on his retirement - who originally suggested that money might be made in this way. The then Vicar, Mr. Brooks, was not very keen on the idea - until he found what the first season's takings were! Mr. Jacobs spent many Saturday mornings at the top of the tower, pointing out landmarks to visitors. Incidentally, Mr. Jacobs's influence on his pupils was recalled with great affection by former Grammar School boy Richard Dengate, now himself training for the Ministry, when he preached in St. Mary's last Sunday.
8.
Thursday, 22nd Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10.30 to 4 (also Friday and Saturday)
RNLI wine and cheese evening, plus film, CC, 7 - all welcome
Friday, 23rd Conservative Association AGM (with Ken Warren, MP), TH, 7.30
Natural History Society AGM, FEC, 7.30
Police Ball, Pontins, 8 to 1
Saturday, 24th Catholic Church jumble sale, FEC, 2
Monday, 26th WRVS Luncheon Club (first meeting), CC, 12.30
British Legion Women's Section meeting, Red Cross, 7.30
Wednesday, 28th Over-Sixties Club, Red Cross, 1.45
• Congratulations to Mrs. Hilda Baker, of East Guldeford, who had her 90th birthday yesterday (20th). As well as her three sons, Mrs. Baker has 8 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren to help her celebrate.
• Congratulations, too, to Pauline and Mick Moore, of West Undercliff, on the arrival on 14 March of their son Lee (8 lbs 3 ozs) in the Buchanan Hospital - a fourth grandchild for Mr. and Mrs. Carree of East Guldeford.
• Mrs. Kath Elworthy would like to thank all those who have sent donations to the Multiple Sclerosis Society in memory of the late Peter Cooke; over £230 has been collected.
• There are still some tickets available for the TPS production of "Guys and Dolls" on 29-31 March; balcony seats are more or less sold out for all three performances, but downstairs there is a better choice of seats for Friday than for the other two nights. Tickets, £1.30, are on sale inside the main entrance in The Grove from 12.45 to 1.10, Mondays to Fridays.
• Rye Playgroup urgently needs a duplicator for newsletters, etc; they wonder if a firm buying a larger model might have a hand-turned duplicator or Banda for disposal? They can afford to pay something, though of course a gift would be welcome! Call at the playgroup beside the Clinic, or ring 222551.
•The SDP coffee morning last week raised £55 towards party expenses for the forthcoming European Parliamentary elections; and the present Euro-MP, Sir Jack Stewart Clark, will be guest of honour at the Conservative Association coffee morning at the George Hotel on Friday, 30 March. We shall be reporting on all the candidates for our vote in these elections much nearer the time (June).
• Another plus for Crime Alert? The press book this week records a sudden rash of burglaries in Westfield, Beckley, Winchelsea Beach, Rye Harbour, Northiam, Fairlight and Brede - but none at all in Rye's Crime Alert areas!
• The Bonfire Boys took £42 at their jumble sale on Saturday.
• Louise Skinner and Penny Spence of TPS walked more than 12 miles from the school to Wittersham and back on Sunday, sponsored in aid of the School House charity, Sail Training Association for the Disabled.
• British Rail warn that they will be carrying out track maintenance with heavy machinery between Rye and Appledore on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week between 10 pm and 7 am; they apologise for the noise. And we hear that last Saturday's trains from Charing Cross were chaotic - a shuttle service to Cannon Street, and then no proper notices, just distorted loudspeaker announcements quite unintelligible to bewildered foreign tourists en route for Folkestone.
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 Monday afternoon, Tuesday 9 am 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 spare copies are available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, Rye. (Copyright Mary Owen 1954)