Rye Bonfire Society meets for its AGM at the Queen's Head at 8 on Mondev, 18 March. Unless help is near, this will also be its winding-up meeting.
Jimper Sutton, who ran last year's Bonfire Night, tells us that he himself cannot find the time to do it again. There is a great deal of work involved, both in forward planning and immediately before, during and after the event; Joan Parkes, who took on the 1933 organisation, found that once was enough! If anyone else is willing to take over Bonfire Night, they should get in touch at once with Jimper, or even just turn up at the meeting as a last resort. But if the Bonfire Boys have no offers, the Society will be in effect wound up (with perhaps a fiver left in the bank account to retain its charitable status for a future resurrection), and the money in hand distributed, and the thirty-year-old Chair offered to the Museum. (As for the street collection licence - see page 6 Rother has offered to leave the matter open as a special dispensation until after the meeting, just in case a rescuer does appear.)
Development Commissioner Mrs. Batty Shaw and a large entourage duly visited Rye on Thursday, and were shown the site for the Sports Centre and the Rye Harbour Road area, as well as other projects in the RDA being considered for grants. Reasonably, the Development Commission's reactions to the various proposals are not likely to be known until later this month; it was therefore rather startling to get a press release from ESCC: dated Friday announcing that Project No. 2 in the RDA's works programme, improvements to the Harbour Road junction, had already been agreed!
Robert Bromley, who has been ccecerned for some years with the problems of access to the Harbour Road industrial area, tells us that this had, of course, been decided before Mrs. Batty Shaw's visit; she was merely locking at the junction as a preliminary to the drive along Harbour Road itself. The improvements to the junction are to be funded jointly by ESCG (who have some money unexpectedly available), the Development Commission, and "a local developer" said the press release. -'his turns out to be Hatley Estates Ltd., the Peacehaven firm whose Rye Rural sidustrial Park we mentioned in GAZETTE no. 119. The Department of Transport, which is also contributing to minor improvements, had until now been insisting on traffic lights at the junction, which of course come very expensive - though, we were told, cheaper than a land-consuming mini-roundabout. However, the D o T has now withdrawn this insistence (could there be a connection here with the bypass?). Both Councillor Bromley and the Town Council are pleased about this, since it was felt locally that traffic lights would not have been the answer anyway.
Once this junction is improved, it opens the way to various proposed industrial developments along Harbour Road which have hitherto been hampered by an obligation to contribute to the road scheme - and ESCC talks about 500 new jobs as a result. The improvements consist of a better visibility span, and a footbridge and proper footpath from the river to the main road (on the garage side) - though not a path out to the village, which many people would like to see in view of the peculiar construction of the existing grass verges!
The other projects, both "hard" in the sense of actual building developments and "soft" in the sense of information and advice services, are not being made public until after the Commission announces its decisions; but there is no secret that among them is the Sports Centre. This of course is a cause very dear to the heart of County Councillor Joan Yates, and it was as a result of her visit to an RLA seminar in London in December that Mrs. Batty Shaw came to see for herself last week.
2.
A charming local wedding graced the Eaptiet Church on Saturday afteraoon, when Julie Wood and Derek Stonham were married. Bridesmaids were Ann Stonham, Hayley Goodlet, Stephanie Williams and Sarah Webb; Daniel Britton, 16 months, acted part-time as a page; and best man was Michael Webb, the bridegroom's brother-in-law. Julie is the daughter of Janet and Ray Wood of Cooper Road, and her mother made the cream lace wedding-dress and the apricot-pink dresses worn by the bridesmaids (she also, we are told, made and lined all the curtains for the couple's new flat2). Julie, who has a catering training, made her own wedding-cake - not in the traditional white, but iced delicately in apricot and cream and topped with real freesias to match; this was much admired (and later enjoyed) by more than a hundred guests at the reception at. the Community Centre, which finished with an evening disco. (Another worker at the flat, this time with a paint-brush, was the bride's aunt Mrs. Pat Williams, the delighted recipient of the bridal. bouquet.)
Mr. and Mrs. Stonham will be living at Oro, a convenient base for both their jobs; Derek, whose parents live in Lea Avenue, works in the printing department at Adams, while Julie is manageress of Wards' restaurant in Hastings.
The repainting of Monkbretton Bridge, put off from the original date last autumn is due to start on Monday. The work will be in two stages, the first involving trials of various types of paint on different areas of the bridge, and this will mean that the footbridge has to be closed for part of the time; pedestrians will have to use a marked-off strip of the carriageway, which will mean single-line working and hence traffic lights again. This stage is expected to last for three to four weeks.
When the results of the paint trials have been assessed, the contractors will move in to do the main job, and traffic lights will reappear, probably in June. But we are assured that this time there is no question of a width restriction, which caused such problems briefly last year.
1985 sees the 80th birthday of the Rotary movement, which is being celebrated by Rotarians all over the world - including Rye, where on Monday of last week nearly sixty people sat down to a rather special lunch at the George Hotel. The Rotary Club of Rye and Winchelsea was formed in 1948, and two founder members were guests of honour - Wally Cole and Dr. Hugh Mannington. 31 former Rotarians, including many past Presidents of the Club, were among the company. Proposing the toast" Vice-President Bernard Bowsher referred to the group of inspired young men who formed the Rye Club in 1948 and to the immense debt of gratitude owed to them by the present members "who today enjoy the fellowship and opportunity to help in the community". We think that the community in its turn would like to congratulate Rotary on its birthday, and to thank past and present members for all that they have done for our town in the past 37 years.
Rye Library opened its doors on Saturday after its reorganisation, and the most immediate difference is in the layout. Fiction is mostly clustered in the middle of the room, with non-fiction ranged round the edge. More space has been found for children's books in a private corral at one end, and the large-print books for adults are in a more prominent position. The reading-room is, of course, still the reading-room. The large letters on the spines of all the books are certainly much easier to read than the old Dewey typed numbers, once readers get used to remembering which letter applies to what category of book. But on Wednesday morning (13th) Pam Haynes and Jill Barrow of the Hastings Library staff will be in Rye to deal with just this problem, taking guided tours of the new layout at 10, 11 and 11.30; so if you have had difficulty, here is your chance to learn.
There are also better arrangements for the local history collection - more about this at a suitable opportunity.
3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 6 March 1985
The Mayoress, whose charity for the year has been the Eye Laser Appeal, tells us that the machine has been ordered and delivery to RESH is expected at the end of this month.
Last week Round Table presented the Appeal, via the Rye Committee, with a cheque for £1,500, the proceeds of last year's Carnival. We have already recorded other large donations, and there have of course been smaller ventures too; so that the people of Rye, Winchelsea and district have, Mrs. Breeds tells us, raised in all more than £5,380 for the Appeal.
As a matter of interest, the Mayoress adds that the foreign coins collected in the Anglia Building Society's box over the past six months were the theoretical equivalen of 2263 (FT £ rates on 19 February), and they included coins from 50 different countries - which shows, as she says, how far afield people travel today!
Now that the appeals for the Eye Laser and the Lifeboat House are coming towards their conclusion (though we hasten to add that more money is still needed for the latter), the St. Michael's Hospice Appeal looks like being the next big local cause They reckon to need aim to have it fully operationalo and aim to open within the next two years…
Rye and District Movie Society had two good evenings running last week. On Friday they joined in annual friendly competition with the Hestings society for the RX: Trophy (RX being the registration for fishing-boats from both Rye and Hastings). Rye won with one of its classic films "The Trojan Case", so the trophy was proudly displayed the following evening when the Society held its annual dinner at the Hope Anchor. Some ko diners heard chairman Joan Camier thank members for their efforts during the year, and indeed over the 23 years since the Society's formation - particularly in the fund-raising department which finances the purchase of film for group projects. New members, we are told, are always welcome, whether their interest lies in film or video work; meetings are listed in Fixtures, just come along.
Now that Rye's planning staff have moved from Battle to Bexhill, it is increasingly difficult to get hold of them on a Monday afternoon since Town Hall is slow to answer the phone anyway, to say nothing of the problem of getting through to the right Planning extension. So we must apologise for having to leave until next week the results of the planning applications which were considered by last week's comittee and which include the Weslake airstrip, the old phone exchange plans, aid British Rail's proposed housing estate; but we gather unofficially that the decisions on these three were no, no and no.
The current planning list has Rye Golf Club applying for the erection of one detached house and garage on the site of Squatters' Right, the house at the Rye end of the golf course which was pulled down some time ago. The Saltings Hotel would like to put canopy awnings over the four windows of the restaurant. And there is an application for a riding school and stables in Rye Foreign, just this side of the Peace and Plenty corner.
Congratulations to Tim Watson, East Sussex News reporter for Rye and Battle over the past 18 months or so and now the new Chief Press Officer at Brands Hatch. Readers may remember that Tim recently won a national award for motoring journalism, and doubtless his new job is not unconnected with this; but he tells us that he sees his long-term future in journalism rather than PR, so with luck "Our Motoring Correspondent, Tim Watson" will be the byeline in one of the nationals before long.
Tim's successor covering Rye is Mrs. Pat Cole (not a local Cole, she comes fromGuernsey). She started with the News on Monday, and we look forward to a continuation of the excellent relationship between all three local papers which has existed over the past year or so.
• That great local entrepreneur John Neve Masters pops up in Vidlers' Special Evening Sale on Friday, when one of his company's aneroid barometers is to be sold. Lovers of French mantel clocks will have a happy time, since there are five of these in the sale, as well as lots of beautiful and interesting antique furniture and pictures, and more than twenty items of jewellery and silver - 108 lots in all. Viewing is from 2 pm and the sale begins at 6.
• Different organisations which use the Community Centre are combining on Saturday to put on a variety evening in aid of Centre Funds David Cade will be compere, and there will be entertainment from Rye Players (including Blodwen), the Rye Dance Centre, Rye Majorettes, the TPS break-dancers, and members of the Community Centre committee. (It is a pity that Ryesingers, whose G & S productions at the Centre have been so popular, are not able to take part.) "March Madness" should be a very lively evening in a good cause; tickets are available in advance from the North Kent Building Society, or at the door - £1, or 75p at each end of the age-range.
• Madrigalia has a concert in Playden Church on Saturday week (16th) at 7.45. The main work will be Pergolesi's "Magnificat", and there will also be madrigals and some C19 part-songs.
• Also on the 16th, the jumble sale for the Friends of Hill House at the FEC has been cancelled. However, the Women's Section of the British Legion now have one on that day, from 11 to 1 at the Community Centre; and at the FEC there is to be a coffee morning in aid of Further Education Centre funds, a cause which must appeal to most Rye residents one way or another.
• The 1985 programme of the Rye Art Gallery in 0ckman's Lane opens with an unusual exhibition. Called "Sussex Windmills" it consists of pictures painted early this century, so it is a historic as well as artistic record. We shall of course report on this when it opens on 16 March (until 28 April), but have been asked to mention it in advance since circulation of the Rye Art Gallery's 1985 leaflet has been unavoidably delayed.
• People involved in more than one organisation may have a hard choice to make on Friday, 22 March. The Natural History Society holds its AGM at the FE Centre; the Museum Association holds its AGM at the Town Hall, and lures members with the promise of Geoff Bagley's slides of Venice; and the RNLI has a wine-and- cheese evening, with films, at the Community Centre. All at 7.30.
• The following evening (Saturday, 23rd) sees the Catsfield Steamers making a joyful noise down in The Grove, where the Thomas Peacocke School PTA has arranged another of its popular barn dances. Tickets, which include a buffet meal from the renowned Pat Baker Caterers Inc., are obtainable from the school or from Penny Royal at £2.50 for adults or £2 for school pupils.
• Our invaluable contact in the Transport Users Group, Michael Dearing of Hastings, suggests that people dependent on buses for their transport might like to know about a meeting which the Kent & East Sussex Bus Users Association is holding at hite Rock, Hastings, at 2.30 on Saturday, 23 March. People from the villages, whose bus services are said to be particularly at risk if the Transport Bill goes through, will find it useful. The guest speaker will be Mr. Paul Godwin of the National Association of Local Government Officers. "Come and hear the facts" says the leaflet, "Help to protect your bus services." Later may be too late.
• And finally, very long notice that the Rye and Winchelsea Centre of the National Trust is planning a holiday based on Kenilworth from Friday to Sunday, 7 to 9 June. Visits will be made to NT properties in the area, and accommodation and catering will be to the Centre's usual high standard. Members of course have priority for bookings, but non-members who would be interested in joining the group should contact Miss Alma Fabes, 16 Ashenden Avenue (Rye 222420) to see what the prospects are.
5.
The Editor was enchanted to receive a letter last week from apparently the only surviving member of the cast of "Pipkin's Rustic Retreat" which we mentioned in GAZETTE no. 118 as part of a fund-raising event at the Monastery in 1914.
Mildred Hoed from that cast-list became Mrs. Mildred Allen, now of Udimore Road (and at 96 surely a contender for the title of Rye's oldest inhabitant?). Her husband was a member of the twelve-strong Allen family which included Guy, photographer to the whole town between the wars - and her daughter is of course Win Allen of Rye Grammar School and Thomas Peacocke.
Mrs. Allen tells us that she cannot remember that particular production, but would be interested to know if we ever hear anything of "April Fool" put on by the same group some years earlier. "Like many directors of amateur theatricals" she recalls, "Mr. Bushby must have had a hard task to extract worthwhile performances from his cast, for I remember vividly his irritation as he strove to train the ladies to walk gracefully - 'not like hop-poles!' - and his struggle to persuade the hero to pronounce 'hoax' with one syllable instead of saying 'ho-ax' with two." How many amateur producers, we wonder, have left their imprint so clearly after more than seventy years - their problems, however, remain much the same…
Thomas Peacocke School's second full Shakespearean production, "A Midsummer Night's Dream",takes place next week - Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 14th to 16th, at 7.30 at Upper School. Producer Chris Rose has deliberately cast the play from the whole of the Upper School (Titania is Sarah Scambler from the 3rd year, and her Oberon is Mark Curry from the 4th year). Jo Simpkins, who made such an impression in "Guys and Dolls" last year, plays Bottom, with Tina Donlon as Puck; the lovers are Laurence Winkworth, Leila Jamieson, Vicky Hunt and Matthew Briggs. The production is in modern dress, a far cry from the furred doublets and brocaded robes of the 1981 "Measure for Measure".
Tickets are now on sale, at a very good-value £1 for adults, 50p for children and OAPs. They may be bought at Upper School (main entrance) between 12.30 and 1 every school-day, or ordered via a pupil (state if you prefer a balcony seat), or, as a last resort, reserved by phone (though we doubt if the busy school office would exactly welcome a rush of phone bookings!). Business manager is Paul Mountford.
Rye's sole representative in the London Marathon this year is Mr. George Cumming of Market Road. He has already run on behalf of Mencap and Multiple Sclerosis, and this time he is hoping to raise from sponsors a handsome sum towards the cost of providing Aid-Call equipment for all the local MS sufferers who want it.
Kath Elworthy of Ferry Road showed us her Aid-Call. A pendant on a cord round her neck can contact the phone system at a distance of up to 100 yards, with a battery back-up should the power fail. If she presses the button on the pendant, an alert comes up on the London switchboard which is manned round the clock. They then ring her back to see what the trouble is. If they get no answer, they have a list of four key-holders who are willing to be alerted. Failing all five, we gather, the police are a last resort.
The scheme, which is for any elderly or handicapped person (not just MS victims) costs £65 a year on top oTthe initial R,400 installation. Kath says that the sheer relief of knowing that it is there is marvellous, even if she never needs to use it - "It's like having a friend in the house". If anyone would like to see the equipment, she would be delighted to demonstrate it; and she also has a sponsor sheet for those who would like to help Mr. Cumming.
The local branch of the MS Society is most grateful to Mr. Cumming for his offer, and also to Rye Lions for their generous cifoo sponsorship to pay for one machine, and to Round Table for the promise of £100 towards another.
6.
Last year Rye had 11 permitted flag-days (including three out-of-season, the
Pancake Race, Poppy Lay and Bonfire Night). A report to be considered at tonight's meeting of Bother's Staff & General Purposes Committee gives details of this year's list, allocated by a sub-committee which met in January (GAZETTE no. 118)
For 1985 Rye is allotted only 9 flag-days in all:
Community Centre (Pancake Race) 19 February
Arthritis and Rheumatism Council 1 June
Multiple Sclerosis Society 15 June
Alexandra Rose Day 22 June
Royal National Institute for the Blind 29 June
RNLI 13 July
RSPCA 27 July
Rye Sea Cadets 31 August
Poppy Day 9 November.
(Bonfire Night is a story on its own, see front page.) All these organisations except the RSPCA had a Rye flag-day in 1984. Those refused collections include the RAF Association and the Red Cross, as well as the Leukaemia Research Fund, SSAFA, Greenpeace, Mencap, Dr. Barnardo's, Mental Health, the Army Benevolent Fund, Guide Dogs for the Blind, and some Welsh affair called Aber Rag.
Red Cross Week is held nationally in early May, and the RAFA's Wings Week in mid-September. On a bad trading Saturday in 1984 the Red Cross street collection in Rye raised £231, and Wings Week did even better.
It took the six-strong sub-committee just 45 minutes to sort out not only our applications but those for the 15 flag-days at Bexhill (plus a further 15 refused); for the 8 at Battle (10 refused); and for the 8 in the rural areas (plus 5 refused). So the choice was presumably not found to be a difficult one. But there seems no reason why the Red Cross and the RAFA should not be restored to their proper and currently unoccupied places; even if Bonfire Night is rescued, it would still only bring us up to a total of 12 flag-days, three of them out of Beason, and if Bonfire Night fails the total would be 11, the same as last year. We hope to be able to report in due course that a reprieve will be issued for these candidates for assassination!
As a pendant to this story, we thought it might be of interest to clarify the position about house-to-house (as opposed to street) collections. Certain long-established national charities - we don't have a full list - have priority statue—, with the Home Office and their house-to-house dates (though not necessarily their flag-days) are fixed at that level. Bother is sent a list of these collection weeks, and has to fit in other applications where it can. So far, so good.
But Rother has no means of finding out whether in fact these favoured charities do intend to take up their allocated weeks in a particular area. A situation can therefore arise in which a local branch of a smaller charity is refused a house-to-house during the week of its flag-day on the ground that this week is already booked nationally - while the major charity has in fact no representatio in the area concerned and is not organising a house-to-house there itself. Our attention was drawn to this by the local branch of one extremely reputable national charity which finds itself stuck with a house-to-house collection a fortnight after its street collection - a most embarrassing situation for the collectors ("But I gave you people something only a couple of weeks ago - why are you asking again?"). The charity which has bespoken nationally the desired house-to-house week is not represented in Rye (indeed, does not even appear in our local phone book) - and it seems unfair on the other group which works very hard round here for a comparable cause.
(We should add that we are not complaining at Rother over this. It is not their fault - they are landed with a national system which obviously has its disadvantages in practice.)
• A crane at Strand Quay on Wednesday morning looked almost large enough to bepicking up the entire Grist Mill outside which it was anchored!vHowever, it vwas there to shift a kiln from the first floor of the Grist Hill to the ground floor of the Old Brewery in Wish Ward, and anyone who was watching will have appreciated the very careful positioning necessary at both ends of the journey. The finger-tip control which the driver exercised over this enormous piece of machinery seemed nothing short of miraculous.
• Saturday was not a good day for poor British Rail. In the morning, it seems, trouble at Appledore meant an emergency bus service between Rye and Ashford. Worse still, in the afternoon there was a derailment at the Ore end, when a passenger train overshot the points. No-one was hurt, but it meant buses the other way too; and it was "all change" at Rye, where through passengers had to get out of one buo and into the other!
• Despite some absentees stricken by one or other of the current nasties, 58 members and guests enjoyed Rye WI's party on Friday evening at the FEC. The turkey supper was accompanied by home-made rolls and home-made wine, and the entertainment was also home-made, when the new Drama Group appeared (in most cases) for The First Time On Any Stage - and a delightful job they made of it, we heard. Monica Oliver tells us that unfortunately illness among the cast ill mean that they have to pull out of the "March Madness" programme at the Community Centre on Saturday; the WI is not given to pulling out of things, and they are very sorry about it, but hope to be performing publicly later.
• On Monday morning there had been nothing at all entered in the police press book over the past week, either for Rye or the villages - which makes a nice change, particularly for the latter where there have been a lot of burglaries lately. But we were
Civil Service Retirement Fellowship coffee morning, FEC, 11
Vidler & Co's special evening sale, 6 (see page 4)
Nat.His.Soc. "Churchyards and Conservation" (Pat Donovan),FEC,7.30
Saturday Special all-day classes at FEC: DIY, Ikebana
Winchelsea Floral Group jumble sale, FEC, 10
"March Madness", CC, 7.30 (see page 4)
Winchelsea Floral Group meeting, George Hotel, 7 (reminder!) TPS Parents Evening, Upper Vlth
St. Mary's Tuesday Club, 2 East Street, 7.30 — Colin Page with his slides of the countryside
13th Coffee morning for Arthritis & Rheumatism Council, CC, 10.30 to 12
Rye Library, conducted tours of new layout, 10, 11 and 11.30 (and see page 2)
Rye WI, "The ghosts of Drury Lane" (Mrs. E. Tubb), FEC, 7
• Congratulations to Caroline and Peter Glibbery, until recently at Hamilton Galleries in Cinque Ports Street and now living in Pett, whose son Tom arrived obligingly on his father's birthday, 26 February.
• Thomas Peacocks School parents and friends are asked to note the coffee morning (with raffle, stalls, etc.) which is being held in aid of school funds from 10 to 12 next Thursday (14th) at the George Hotel.
•At least three young people from Rye will be in the congregation at St. Paul's Cathedral today at a service to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the King George Jubilee Trust, held in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Charles. Mark Osborne, of Love Lane, will be one of two representatives of the Hastings lifesaving group; and sixth-formers Emma Pecorini and Brian Masters will be there from Thomas Peacocke School.
•The ATC has recently welcomed back as a civilsIon instructor a member of its very successful shooting team of some five years ago, Mark Ketterl of Landgate Square.
• Congratulations to two of the Rye Majorettes - one from each end of the age range, Rosemary Wilkinson tells us - who will be taking part in the regional round of a national Majorettes competition at Margate at the end of March: Sharon Oliver will be competing in one event and Kerry Woodman in two. Good luck to both girls!
•The Town Wall car park is due to reopen today in its smart new clothes - with a new surface, and white lines marked out to assist economical parking. The job will have cost Pother almost £4,500.
• British Rail announce engineering work at night on Sunday, Monday and Thursday of next week. On Sunday there will also be buses between Ashford and Rye, with delays of up to an hour.
• The Rotary seat on the Mill footpath now has a litter-bin beside it; crisp-eaters who use the footpath, please note.
• People who want to give up smoking might like to start on 20 March, which is National No Smoking Day. Information should be available from the Post Office, and there is a sponsor scheme for relatives/colleagues to support those who intend to give up, either for the day or for ever. Further details from Julia Buckman, Health Promotion Unit, Hastings, whose press handout is full of gruesome facts wasted on the non-smoking GAZETTE office!
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, and published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, 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; some spare copies are available from Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, and back numbers from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1985)