"I, Roger Kenneth Breeds, shall bear faith unto our Sovereign Lady, the Queen of England, and to the commonalty of this Ancient Town of Rye; and the franchises and usages of the same town righteously shall maintain, the common profit of the same shall keep, and righteousness as well to the poor as to the rich administer to my power, so help me God."
This splendid oath was taken by Councillor Breeds in front of a packed Town Hall on Monday morning, much the same wording being used in due course by his Deputy and by the Town Sergeant. Guests included the Chairmen of Rother and East Sussex Councils, and the Mayors of Hastings, Winchelsea and Bexhill. Gus Gale and Les Paine carried the large maces, and Jane Bowler and Abigail Simpson the small ones.
Robed, hatted and with white gloves, the full Council - with the exception of councillor Wiseman - processed into the Council Chamber, and after prayers there were presents: the outgoing Mayor and Mayoress gave the Council (via its "father" Councillor Mrs. Kirkham) a handsome new case for the Mayoral chain, and later they each received a replica of the Town Badge with the thanks of the Councillors.
In his annual report as Mayor, Councillor Simpson said that the General Purposes and Finance Committee had dealt with 103 different items in the course of the year, Leisure and Tourism with 84, and Planning with 75 applications (only six of its recommendations being rejected by Rother). The Bequests Committee had distributed £800 at Christmas as well as arranging the February pensioners' party and making regular quarterly payments to a number of beneficiaries in the town. The Mayor spoke in appreciation of the late Mr. Maurice Beevers, Freeman of the Town (see page 2). He then referred to various matters which had come up during the year and which the GAZETTE has already reported on; and ended by reiterating the determination of the Council to fight a bypass route going through the town.
In a lively speech, Councillor Starkey, seconded by Councillor Evans, nominated Councillor Breeds as the new Mayor; there were no other nominations, the vote was declared carried, and old and new Mayors retired briefly to switch robes. After taking the oath and receiving formally the town's collection of 1951 pennies (a long story which we won't go into here), Councillor Breeds asked for nominations for Deputy Mayor, and Councillor Simpson was elected on the proposal of Councillors Le Fevre and Palmer. He and Mr. Gale took the appropriate oaths, and Mr. Paine was reappointed as second mace-bearer. Finally, the new Mayoress, Mrs. Amy Breeds, was officially adorned with her chain of office and presented with a posy; and Canon Maundrell was reappointed as Mayor's Chaplain.
Addressing the assembly, the new Mayor said he was very aware of the differing interests of local residents and the tourist industry as far as Rye's future was concerned. He spoke of the dwindling number of service shops, the habit some local people have got into of shopping regularly outside the town, and the problems of parking. He mentioned particularly the needs of the younger generation and hoped very much to see the Sports Hall built; it was a wonderful opportunity to obtain such a facility for the town, and he would give it every support.
The whole company then processed to the church for a short service, encountering some rather startled Bank Holiday tourists en route; then back to the Town Hall for sherry and £10-worth of hot and shiny pennies thrown to the cheerful crowd of children below, followed by lunch at the George Hotel.
(A short profile of the new Mayor will be found on page 5.)
2.
Mr. Maurice Beevers, Freeman of Rye, died suddenly just before Easter, despite an apparently good recovery from a serious operation some weeks previously; Mr. Beevers would have been 79 this month. The funeral took place quietly at Westfield where he was a churchwarden, on Easter Tuesday.
Mr. Beevers, a Yorkshireman from Barnsley, came to Rye in 1945 as Headmaster of Rye Primary School - then in Ferry Road. At that time there were some 600 pupils, and the present Lower School premises were crammed to capacity, with classes tucked into every spare foot of floor-space. Mr. Beevers saw the school through the move to New Road, and into its new name of Freda Gardham (commemorating the wife of the Chairman of the Governors, Brigadier Gardham). He retired from the Headship in 1972, after 27 years, was elected a School Governor and eventually succeeded Brigadier Gardham as Chairman. He was also a Governor of other schools in the area.
While still Headmaster, Mr. Beevers was elected to the old Rye Borough Council; he became Mayor from 1954 to 1956 and was then elected an Alderman. He continued as a member of the Rye Town Council and was one of the original members of Rother Council at the local government reorganisation in 1974. Two years earlier he had been elected as Rye's representative on East Sussex County Council, and served as a very active member of the Education Committee where his experience - was much appreciated.
As well as his work for local government, and of course his headmastership, Mr. Beavers found time for other public duties in the town. A freemason, he was at one time Master of the Rye Lodge; he was Chairman of the Rye Building Society; and he took a keen interest in the work of the Young Farmers' Club.
In 1979 the Town of Rye bestowed on him its greatest honour, making him a Freeman. He was the only person to hold this exact distinction (Mr. Geoffrey Bagley is of course a Freeman of the Borough of Rye, having been thus honoured in the days of the old Council).
Mr. Beevers lived for many years at the top of Udimore Road, moving to Westfield only quite recently. His first wife Anne died in office as his Mayoress; he leaves as his widow his second wife Joyce. He also leaves a son and daughter, and a grandchild in Australia.
Since, at the wish of his family, there is to be no memorial service in Rye, it seems fitting to put on record how much sadness has been caused in the town by Mr. Beevers' death. Throughout his years in Rye he was a never-failing source of help to all those who needed it; he gave unstintingly of his time both in public work and in private kindness. Speaking at the funeral service, the Mayor (Councillor Simpson) quoted Kipling: Mr. Beevers, he said, never failed to "fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run". As a Freeman, his name will go down to posterity; as a man, he will long be remembered with affection and respect by all who knew him.
(The Editor is most grateful to Mr. Beevers' friends who have helped her with this obituary notice.)
Mr. Ronald Stoodley, by a sad coincidence, died only a few days after Mr. Beavers; Mr. Stoodley had been caretaker at Rye Primary School for many years during Mr. Beevers' headship. Mr. Stoodley, who was 69, died in St. Helen's on 24 April after a short illness, though his health had been less than good for some time. In recent years he acted as the Landgate lollipop-man and was an unmistakable figure in the town on his moped; at his home in Udimore Road, and more recently in South Undercliff, he indulged his skill as a gardener. His Welsh blood gave him a love of music, but a new interest came with the arrival of CB radio - he was well-known to local "breakers" as Snowy, his white beard justifying the title, and many of his CB friends were present at the funeral on 2 May. Mr. Stoodley was married twice and is survived by ten of his eleven children.
(continued on p.3...)
3.
THE RYE GAZETTE, 9.5.1984
Mr. Donald Boreham of Pottingfield Road, whose sudden death at 54 after a short illness we reported briefly last week, had lived in Rye all his life; in his youth he played cricket for the town. Mr. Boreham left no immediate family, but his uncle and aunt and many cousins on both sides are grateful to all who sent flowers, and also to more than thirty of his colleagues from Chandlers, the Bexhill printing firm where Mr. Boreham had worked since 1949, who attended the burial service at Udimore Church on 2 May.
Miss Bessie Wright, formerly of Sea View Terrace, died peacefully in St. Leonards recently at the age of 88. The funeral has taken place. Miss Wright retired to Rye from her job as a ward-maid at St. Thomas's Hospital, where she had worked throughout the war, blitz and doodlebugs notwithstanding. She soon made her mark in Rye, modelling for the FEC art classes at which she was also a student, and collecting on flag-days with outstanding success, a small but pertinacious figure at her regular pitch outside the Post Office. A fire in her home, from which she had to be rescued, meant a move to Greyfriars and Badger Gate; she spent her final years in the home at St. Leonards where she died.
Ralph Olesen tells us that the width restriction will now begin on Wednesday next, 6 May; the contractors intend to have it clear again by the Bank Holiday weekend. The work is probably going to be done in two sections instead of three, and we are told by someone living nearby that they are getting on impressively fast. The police have had no particular problems with the single-lane working so far. The new ambulance is now in service and is 7' wide; it will be let through, with considerable difficulty, for real emergencies, but will have to go round for non-urgent trips. As in 1972, the buses will unload outside Freda Gardham, passengers will have to walk across the bridge and be picked up again at Bryans Corner (the first and last services of the day will have to go round at an altered timing); timetable leaflets will be available from the Council Offices in Cinque Ports Street.
Mr. Bert Blackhall of Winchelsea Road was ESCC's Clerk of Works during the 1972 repairs, which were slightly less fundamental - the roadway was resurfaced, and the ironwork was shot-blasted before repainting which meant erecting protective screens. There was the same problem with the resurfacing machine being too wide to do half the road at a time, so the bridge was closed entirely for just four hours one night; Mr. Blackball recalls painting on white lines at 1.40 am, and sure enough there was a cattle lorry waiting to go across the moment the deadline ended 20 minutes later. Mr. Blackhall tells us that he is the third generation of his family to work on the bridge: his father drove the steam crane when it was strengthened in 1914 or 1915, and his grandfather was one of the team who first built it.
"As a result of the action to be taken by a number of teachers" says the Head's letter to parents, Thomas Peacocke School is closed today (only), though arrangements are as normal for pupils taking CSE examinations. Recently fifth and sixth year pupils were sent home on a Wednesday afternoon for the same reason; and, as we reported briefly last week, Thursday's open evening at the school was cancelled. Dinner arrangements seem to be unaffected. At Freda Gardham, just two classes are being asked to stay at home today - 60 out of 320 pupils; and at Tilling Green everything is normal.
Thomas Peacocke teachers were very much involved in school trips during the Easter holidays; a party of over 30 children went from Lower School to Aviemore to ski, and the Headmaster led a small group of senior geography students on a return visit to Arran. This meant a 4.30 am start on the Wednesday before Easter; two members of the party overslept and missed the minibus, and with great aplomb one of them took the family's second car and drove herself and her friend up the motorway to catch up with the main party in the Lake District!
4.
Hearing with horror that BR were putting up their Goods Yard car park charges for coaches from £2 for four hours to £5 for the whole day, Chamber of Trade chairman Roy Barnes made a tactful approach to British Rail management at Ashford. We are very pleased to say that he persuaded someone at a senior level that Rye's trade might well suffer if coaches were to be deterred by this sudden rise in parking costs (there is no other coach park in the town). It has now been agreed to alter the charge to £3.50, and BR are even prepared to repay the extra £1.50 to any coach firm charged at the higher rate during the first two days. (Ordinary car parking in the Goods Yard has gone up to the usual summer rate of 50p, but this was expected anyway.)
After reading last week's article about train times, John Smith (who uses the railway a lot) very properly points out that people do go from Rye to places other than London: We quote: "The new timetable shows that the Rye/Hastings trains will connect at Hastings with the Hastings/ Victoria trains so there is a much speedier service to Eastbourne, although for Brighton travellers a change at Lewes will be necessary. An important connection is that the Victoria trains call at Gatwick Airport. Return journeys from the west of Hastings need to be made on the Brighton trains." "The sinister rippling line", he adds, merely means that the train in question does not run for the full period of the timetable, like our alternate Sunday trains in winter.
Rye Station on Friday had a limited number of the small, printed Rye/London leaflets, but no timetables for those going out the other way. Fixtures, however, shows that passengers leaving Rye at three minutes past each hour will arrive at Hastings at 26 minutes past, Eastbourne at 58 minutes past, and Brighton just over a further hour later.
British Rail say that engineering work is planned for our line this weekend. On Saturday (12th) buses will replace trains between Ashford and Appledore; on Sunday they will run between Rye and Hastings, with delays of up to 30 minutes. Trains will also act peculiar throughout the weekend owing to work on the line between Ashford and Paddock Wood; there will be diversions between Ashford and London, journey times will be extended by up to an hour, and anyone going to intermediate stations on the main line should make careful enquiries in advance.
Sally Osborne of Love Lane, nearing the end of her term as President of Inner Wheel, is very pleased to have achieved a special ambition during her year of office. Inner Wheel makes regular donations to charity, but this year it has contributed an extra £85 to the Red Cross to pay for a local handicapped child to have a week's holiday. The Red Cross runs these Activenture holidays at Hindleap Warren, and the cost is relatively high because of the number of adult helpers needed. Inner Wheel, Mrs. Osborne says, are not being told the name of the child who is to benefit from their help, but they know for certain that someone will very much enjoy a week of the summer holidays.
The Chamber of Trade crime alert network (GAZETTE no. 80) was intended to start after Easter, and with a dummy run first at that. But it went into action early after the passing of a false £20 on the Thursday of Holy Week, and again with a spate of false £50s at the weekend. The first time, the network went "live" within 20 minutes, the second time it only took ten minutes before the end-of-the-line checking calls came back. Perhaps this was why, of the 10 forged £50's handed in from the Rye subdivision, only four came from the town itself - we gather that Pontins were among the other sufferers. Police are still warning of the false notes, which are without the thin metal thread set in the thickness of the paper.
We are sorry that lack of space has prevented us from reporting on the useful talk by a speaker from the Sussex Police Fraud Squad to the Chamber of Trade a fortnight ago; but the information he gave won't date, so perhaps later on...
5.
Councillor Roger Breeds, Rye's new Mayor, is the first Ryer to wear the Mayoral chain for some years. His mother Betty lives in New Winchelsea Road, and his late father was employed in Rye Post Office; his grandfather's firm, W.E. Breeds and Sons, built the Rye Memorial Hospital. Mr. Breeds himself is Clerk of Works to a firm of self-build consultants at Hurst Green, which means that his hours are fairly flexible and can be arranged to fit in with his mayoral duties - usually something of a problem to a younger Mayor. The family live in St. Margaret's Terrace; Joanne is still at Thomas Peacocke School, and Mrs. Amy Breeds, the new Mayoress, is familiar with the town's affairs since she is Secretary of the Chamber of Trade and was herself Mayoress to her mother Mrs. Joan Yates some years ago.
Mr. Breeds has been a member of the Town Council since 1976 and has been the Chairman of the Planning Committee for the past four years. He has always been interested in local affairs, and at 16 was the youngest representative on the Rye Trades Council; he has been Chairman of Rye Youth Club and is Vice-Chairman of the Harbour of Rye Advisory Committee, a member of the Boat Owners Association and of the Sailing Club. He also, somehow, finds time to be a special constable. A member of the Sports Hall steering committee, he expressed at the Mayoring his keenness to see this project through. However, the Mayor's Charity this year will be the new lifeboat shed at Rye Harbour, a popular local cause which reflects his own nautical interests; the Mayoress's Charity is to be the Eye Laser Appeal (see GAZETTE no. 78), for which there will be a coffee morning in the Town Hall on 30 June.
Before the Mayoring, Councillors had robed in the Town Hall attic, and we all know what's up there; and when nominating Councillor Breeds for the Mayoralty, Councillor Starkey raised a laugh when he said that to be connected to "him upstairs" was about as local a connection as one could ask for.
Members who attended the Association's AGM on Friday were glad to hear that the Museum is in a healthy position financially, having had a good season in 1983 with 500 more visitors than in the previous year. Security precautions made necessary by recent attempts to break into the building have, however, cost a good deal of money. In his report, the Curator (Mr. Geoffrey Bagley) spoke of the trouble caused by water seeping through the walls into the museum, and the time and money which needed to be spent to safeguard the exhibits in consequence - time spent ungrudgingly by the handful of helpers who were responsible for the pristine condition of the displays when the museum opened at Easter. After the formal business of the meeting, Mr. Bagley delighted members with a series of slides relating to the museum's history and contents over the last 30 years.
Alan Dickinson, a member of the committee and well-known local archaeologist, produced a map which he had been sent by the D o T in connection with the bypass. He had been asked to mark on it any sites of archaeological interest. Mad with curiosity to find out just what areas they were interested in, we studied it: they are certainly playing safe: The boundary circle runs from just the Rye side of Winchelsea, crossing the Rye Harbour road about half-way down, takes a great loop out into East Guldeford, then round behind Spring Farm, Boonshill (Iden), along Randolphs Lane, round by Lea Farm, Fagg Farm and back to the level by Winchelsea. Anyone with knowledge of sites within this circle should contact Alan (evenings) as soon as possible, please.
We do apologise to Mr. Ted Swaine of South Undercliff for our muddle last week when we gave the wrong name in our report on the opening of the Museum; it is in fact Mr. Swaine who has generously given his family medals to help the Museum replace its recent losses. We understand that they are a very interesting group and look forward to reporting on them when they are on display, together with those given by Mrs. Phyllis Smith, which belonged to her father.
The clock left to the Museum last year has now arrived; it turns out to be a modern realisation of an old principle but is a very pretty clock which will be interesting technically when it is set working.
6.
Towards the end of WW2, Mrs. Wilson brought her young daughters Pamela and Barbara to live on Rye Hill, where she was starting a job as housekeeper to a Mr. and Mrs. Monsell at Fircrest. The family was there for a year, and then moved to Winchelsea Beach; but it is interesting to speculate how much influence that year had on Pamela, since she is now a writer of historical novels - and Mrs. Monsen was the novelist Margaret Irwin, whose accurate but romantic stories of the Tudors and Stuarts were immensely popular reading at the time.
Pamela went to Rye Grammar School, as did her sister; she then trained as a teacher, and started writing children's books. Stories of "The Gumby Gang" and the Willoughbys flowed from her pen; meantime she married and had two children. About seven years ago she was asked to write for adults, and has now published two groups of novels, one set in the Devon tin-mining country of the seventeenth century, and the current trilogy against a background of hop-picking in Kent at the turn of the century ("Summer Song", the second book in this series, is just published and on view in Martello's window).
Pamela Oldfield is now embarking on a new venture, again a novel but this time set in the Rye Bay area and dealing with the fishing industry between about 1910 and 1930. Although the characters will be fictitious, she is very anxious to get the background right. There is not a great deal written on the subject, but many local people have already been kind enough, she says, to share their reminiscences with her, and she would be very glad indeed to hear from anyone else who can themselves remember the life of the fishing families of the period, or who might have documents or pictures which she could look at. As she only lives in Appledore, she can easily come to Rye at a time convenient to her interviewees, and she would be really grateful to anyone who can help her. She wants to start writing within the next few weeks, so if you can help or if you know someone else who might, please phone her at Appledore 587, or write to her at Holstead, Appledore Heath, Ashford, Kent, as soon as possible.
Reporting at the AGM of St. John Ambulance (Rye Combined Division), Alan Webb referred to the wide range of public duties carried out by the Division "in an efficient and enthusiastic manner which has earned them personal praise and raised the standing of St. John Ambulance in the public eye". Events attended included all the outside ones recorded in the GAZETTE and a good many more - sometimes several simultaneously - and a record total of 951 hours of public duty was carried out by the Division in 1983. All requests for first-aid covers, were met.
The Monday training sessions have included first-aid, home nursing, use of the ambulance equipment, map reading, casualty make-up and radio procedure. A course of first aid lectures open to the public was held in the autumn. Mr. Webb spoke of the close co-operation which he received from the Officers of the Cadet Divisions, so vital a part of St. John; he valued very highly the close working relationship.
Financially, the Division is in good health - major expenditure has been a replacement for the ageing caravan, and new equipment for the nursing training room.
Rotary generously gave £750 towards the £1,280 cost of the caravan. The Division's own ambulance has been off the road for some months after a crash while it was in the hands of garage staff, and they are somewhat reluctantly managing with a borrowed one until it is returned.
Mrs. Marilyn Mitchell reported to the meeting on the work of the Nursing Cadet Division; the girls have done well in county and other outside competitions, but it has not been all work - there was an open evening for parents, a weekend course last autumn, and other events. The 35 Cadets carried out more than 350 hours of duty and took lectures and exams in a wide variety of subjects; and Mrs. Mitchell singled out particularly her two Senior Cadets, Karen Pope and Paula Sams, for their help throughout 1983.
7.
The Fire Brigade had a busy weekend. On Saturday afternoon a disused office at the Rye Foundry in Fishmarket Road caught fire from an electrical fault; it was quite spectacular, with flames coming through the roof, but a good water supply nearby meant that the twelve firemen could get it under control in a satisfyingly short time. On Sunday there was a chimney fire in a thatched house in Iden (Partridge), and any fire in a thatched house automatically means that two fire engines must attend. Another lively incident was a Camber fire at three in the morning, when a chalet being demolished caught light probably from a nearby bonfire. And on Monday the Brigade was called out to deal with a canister on the beach at Pett; it was unmarked, but they finally concluded it was a fire extinguisher from a ship, and had it removed to a safe place to be dealt with.
Despite an offshore wind, the lifeboat had a quiet weekend - probably because it was so cold that no-one felt like embarking on a lilo, the usual cause of trouble at Bank Holidays. The crew did, however, have quite a busy start to the season at Easter, rescuing a surfboarder and two dinghy sailors - it was noteworthy, says Mary Lestocq, that the one wearing a wetsuit was in very much better shape than the other when they reached the shore.
• The exhibition of photographs of the inside of Camber Castle at the end of last summer's excavation opens at the Library today and continues there for three weeks. Paddy Aiken ARPS went out to the Castle on the very last day of the dig and photographed what she saw, not knowing much about archaeology; Anthony Streeten of the (then) Department of the Environment, in charge of the dig, captioned them for her so that they could be helpfully shown to the public.
We shall be writing about the exhibition in more detail next week. In the meantime, see it if you can; you will be amazed.
• Mrs. Yates tells us that a Sports Hall Venture Fund is to be set up, with the Mayor and Mayoress as ex-officio Presidents. If the Sports Hall is to be built, money for the gear and equipment will have to be raised locally, and the sooner this is achieved the greater will be the evidence of local support for the project. She would, we feel sure, like to hear from anyone who has suggestions for fund-raising for this purpose. Perhaps, after so long, a Rye Marathon?
• When the 1st Rye Brownies asked the Mayor to tea at the top of the church tower just before Easter, they were astonished and delighted when he presented them with a cheque - for £42.70, the balance left in the Mayor's Fund. It was, he said, in gratitude for their work in the town during the past year, including their sponsored rubbish-collection last summer and their efforts in the garden of Devonport House.
Wondering why, when Rother had made such a handsome job of the entrance to the Gibbet Marsh car park, they hadn't yet put up a ticket machine there to catch the tourists' ten pences, we approached their Mr. Bridges. He is a grieved man. The machine should have been delivered at the end of March (and paid for out of the 1983/4 allocation) so that it could be set up in good time for Easter; but when the time came, the suppliers just said sorry, mid-May now! These things have to be made to order, not bought off the shelf, so it is too late to go elsewhere; Rother just hope, that the machine will be up and taking money before the next Bank Holiday.
Condolences to Andrew Wilkinson, now of Appledore, whose E-registration Cortina was stolen from outside his home recently and recovered 12 hours later by Kent police abandoned in a field without its wheels and seats and generally vandalised; it is thought that it may have been deliberately stolen for the same of the missing parts, and Andrew's mother Rosemary points out that other owners of elderly cars - not normally expected to attract thieves - might usefully be warned by Andrew's misfortune.
8.
Friday, 11th Civil Service Retirement Fellowship coffee morning, FEC, 11
Saturday, 12th Methodist Church jumble sale, Methodist Hall, 2
ATC jumble sale, Thomas Peacocke Upper School, 2.15
Tuesday, 15th ARC Ploughman's Lunch, CC, 12 to 2 (see below)
Talk, "Homoeopathy for First Aid", Thomas Peacocks Lower School, 8 (see GAZETTE no. 81)
Wednesday, 16th Thrift Shop, Red Cross (handing-in only), 10.30 to 12.30
• Congratulations to Caroline and David Dickinson on the arrival of their daughter Sarah Lucy Dunbar on 27 April - a first grandchild for Sheila and Patric Dickinson of Church Square.
• In last week's issue, we misled readers about Woolworths' 50p voucher scheme; although they can be cashed until 28 July, Mr. Wren tells us that the offer itself finishes on Saturday, 2 June.
• The Ploughman's Lunch in aid of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council, at the Community Centre on Tuesday, will offer a choice of home-made pate or cheese, plus cider and coffee, for £1.40; there will also be stalls, etc. Lunch is served from noon to 2. The group are looking for helpers for their house-to-house and street collections during National Arthritis Week from 3 to 9 June - offers to Rye branch secretary Francis Barrett, Rye 223762.
• Planning: the current list contains two Rye applications, both for garage extensions, one in Cadborough Cliff and one in King's Avenue.
• Crime: a radio and personal documents were stolen on 24 April from a lorry in Bournes' yard, the cab opened with a duplicate key.
• Mrs. Yates has sent us a very accurate and well-written article about a visit to Rye by a James Holloway, sent back to a lady in Hastings by her daughter who was thrilled to find it when she opened her paper one morning recently - in Brisbane, Australia!
• Rye Movie Society's meeting on 4 May saw the annual tussle between Rye and Hastings film clubs for the RX Trophy. The title of the Rye entry, "Bewl Bridge Reservoir", speaks for itself; Hastings entered "Club Sport" dealing with sport in the town over the years. Bob de Ste Croix and a fellow professional from Hastings each reviewed both films, and finally declared Hastings the winner by a narrow margin.
• Bowls last week: Old Hastings beat Rye, 84-60.
• On 17 May Freda Gardham School will be host to a "Book Bonanza" arranged by the County Library Schools Service. There will be displays of books which will interest children and teachers alike, and we even hear talk of visiting authors. All the local primary schools will be invited to come and see what is on offer, although the Bonanza is not open to the public in general.
• The Editor finds herself with a backlog of fascinating information for the GAZETTE's occasional "Rye as it was" series which has been pushed out by the pressure of current events. An extra page would help, but would make the delivery round literally crippling! It will appear eventually, we promise.
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 spares are available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, Rye. (Copyright Mary Owen 1984)