Congratulations to Mrs. Joan Yates, who was returned as County Councillor for Rye and the villages to the north and east with a decisive overall majority over the other two candidates. Mrs. Yates (Conservative) polled 2,015 votes, Mr. Goggin (Liberal Alliance) 1,013, and Mrs. Ungar (Labour) 495. Mrs. Yates told us that she intends to make the sports centre a priority call on her time, and will also be fighting to keep Rye Hospital going - both these projects, of course, affect her constituents in the villages as well as Rye people.She feels that the next four years will be the hardest she has had to cope with in all her local government experience, since her new constituency is so much larger than her old one; it includes Camber, East Guldeford, Iden, Rye Foreign, Playden, Peasmarsh, Beckley and Northiam as well as Rye. The rest of our surrounding villages go to Robert Bromley, who was returned again for the Winchelsea constituency with 1,825 votes, as against 1205 for Alliance and 385 for Labour.
The count took almost three hours, with Rye and Winchelsea polls being dealt with simultaneously under the supervision of the Returning Officer, Edward Joy. It was in three stages, the voting slips first being counted to make sure the total tallied with the numbers recorded at the polling stations, then sorted into bundles for the three candidates, and finally the exciting part when the individual votes were counted. Anything bearing a mark other than a single cross was put aside for consideration; where the voter's intention was quite clear (a tick, for instance, instead of a cross) the vote was allowed, but the candidates were consulted over debateable ones, and of course anything bearing a signature or other identification is automatically discarded.
44% of the Rye electorate voted, and 40% of the Winchelsea electorate. (The figure for the last General Election was just under 69% for the whole of the Hastings and Rye constituency - we failed to extract the percentage for the Rye poll at that time.)
The situation on the County Council is now going to be extremely difficult. Instead of the previous Conservative majority at Lewes, the seats are divided equally between the Conservatives and a combination of Alliance and Labour councillors.(There are no longer any Independent county councillors; political expediency has finally ended this tradition, though Mrs. Yates makes it very clear that she represents the interests of all her constituents whatever their politics, and we are sure that the same view is held by other councillors.) A casting vote is the prerogative of the chairman, both in full Council and in all the various committees. Perhaps the committee chairmanships can be divided between the parties; but the present chairman-elect of the whole County Council is a Conservative - will she in fact be elected to the hot seat as things are now? If not, who will? One thing which is clear is that all the new councillors will have to be present whenever a vote is taken on a controversial matter, which means that none of them - and particularly those from the outlying areas - are going to have it easy for the next four years.
The owner of the sheepskin spectacle-case left at the FEC polling station on Thursday can collect it in the town if he or she likes to ring Gordon Stanbridge. Mr. Stanbridge, one of the tellers at the Centre, had two interested foreign visitors at his polling station - an American who said it was much like that back home, and a Saudi who commented "How peaceful and quiet it is at your elections!". Doubtless readers will be relieved to know that there was no blood shed in the town at all on Thursday - the two policemen on duty at Thomas Peacocke during the count were there for purely technical reasons. (And they, and everyone else down there, would have been delighted if the coffee machine had been working - and more relaxed if the school clock in the hall had not been running an-hour-and-a-half fast! Fortunately Rother had brought their own rather more reliable clock for official purposes.)
2.
Mrs. Cissie Sherwood, formerly of West Undercliff, died in hospital in Basingstoke 27 April, aged 88.There is to be a memorial service in Rye for Mrs. Sherwood at a date not yet decided, and we shall print a full obituary notice then.
Mr. Michael Dunlop, producer of "Mapp and Lucia", died very suddenly at his home on 28 April; he was 40. The news was, of course, a great shock to the cast and other members of the LWT team; it will also grieve those who admired Mr. Dunlop's work as a producer, and particularly those people in Rye with whom the whole film unit had built up such a good relationship during their two visits last year. Location manager Peter Hall tells us that studio work on the second series was almost complete before Mr. Dunlop's death - they return to Rye for a fortnight from 28 May - and the director, Donald McWhinnie, will take over as producer for the rest of the filming.
Our recent obituary notice for the late Mrs. Bodilly referred to her father, the headmaster of the Mermaid Street boys' school, but omitted to mention his name. He was, of course, Mr. Sprigg Walker, who came as headmaster to the school aroundthe turn of the century. Peter Ewart is very interested in Mr. Sprigg Walker, and hopes to include a passage about him in a forthcoming book, and perhaps to publish a longer account later. He would be very glad to hear from anyone who has a relevant photograph which could be copied, or any other documents, or who remembers Mr. Sprigg Walker particularly in the period before and during WW1. (Does anyone still possess a copy of the Christmas card which the headmaster used to send to each of his pupils until about 1915?) Mr. Ewart's address is near Canterbury.
Having received due notice of a request by ten electors for a by-election, Rother Council now moves into action with the publication within the next few days of a Notice of Election - which will give details about nomination procedure. So don't think you have left it too late; there is still time to put your name forward. We were shocked to hear that one potential candidate was almost deterred from standing because of "having to spend £100 on getting election literature printed". In the view of the Editor, this is outrageous for a parish council election - the whole point of the bottom tier of local government is surely that money is not involved, councillors are asked to give their time and experience only. Some candidates, already well known in the town, may not feel it necessary to produce literature at all; but surely those who do wish to put their views in writing car, do so on a photocopied sheet - both Council Offices and Library charge 5p for a large sheet of paper which would easily cut up into two separate copies? The work of distribution of course, is the same chore however the literature is produced; this is where a candidate's supporters really show their mettle!
How extremely confused our foreign visitors must be by some of the posters around the town! For instance, on Sunday there is a Boot Sale, probably with not a single pair of boots on offer, down in the Market (entry from Rope Walk). This is a fund-raising exercise by the Thomas Peacocke School PTA, and begins at 10. Entry is £5 a car on the day, they have a nice central site, and they hope for plenty of buyers as well as sellers (most people know the principle by now, you load your surplus junk into the back of your car, pay for your pitch to the organising group, and then keep the money you take).
Also starting at 10 on the same day is an Attic Sale - this time at the Community Centre (which as far as we know has no Attic!) in aid of Centre funds. This is one of their regular sales on the same basis as a Boot Sale; stallholders pay a set fee and keep their takings, but the affair is under cover. On the other hand, they have to unload everything out of their cars and set out a stall, rather than selling direct from the boot.
Anyway, in combination the two sales provide a marvellous Sunday-morning opportunity for the bric-a-brac browser or people seeking bargains in domestic clutter.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 8 May 1985
Gold glittered all over the Town Hall in Monday's sunshine as an august assembly met there to witness the Mayoring ceremony. A treasury of gold chains adorned distinguished necks: the Chairman of Rother, the Chairman of ESCG, (his second visit to Rye in four days), and the Mayors of Hastings, Winchelsea, Tenterden and Bexhill with their ladies. The big maces, borne by Gus Gale and Les Paine, guarded the platform party - the Mayor, the Acting Town Clerk and senior councillors. And all round the walls the handsome new lettering listing the Mayors and other officials is now almost complete, with appendices in the ante-room still to be done; we shall report on this when the work is finished.
Duncan Starkey proposed that Roger Breeds whould be re-elected as Mayor, and his motion was carried with enthusiasm; the Mayor took the Oath of Allegiance, and then received from Jo Kirkham as Father of the Council the casket containing the precious 1951 pennies which are now part of the town regalia. (Alas, we have no space to report in detail Jo's dramatic account of how the 183 pennies - collectors' pieces now - were nearly lost to the town and then smuggled back to sanctuary here!) Monica Oliver was then proposed as Deputy Mayor by Hilda Nelson-Barrett, and took the Oath of Allegiance. The Mayor's Sergeant, Gus Gale, was sworn in, and the Mayoress, Mrs. Amy Breeds, reappointed.
Then the Mayor gave his address. This is his second term of office, and so he reporting on the first year of his mayoralty. He referred to current planning issues in the town - the Rural Development Area, the bypass (now, he said, with 14 different variations in the route), the postponement of the street lighting, and of course the problem of parking, now so closely linked with the bypass proposals. Turning to a pleasanter subject, he reported on the success of the Town Model, now with foreign language tapes for parties booking from abroad; he thanked the operators "who spend most of the summer in semi-darkness surrounded by recorded thunder and lightning, while the rest of us are outside - enjoying the same thing!". He thanked the Town Hall staff - Town Sergeant Gus Gale, with his wide range of duties; and Lesley Scammell, now Acting Town Clerk, particularly for her work over the last five weeks (loud applause!). He expressed the Council's good wishes to the Town Clerk, John Baker, for his speedy recovery. The Mayor's audience much enjoyed his entertaining and forward-looking report.
Among that audience were a group of very special Americans: the Mayor of Rye (New York), Fred Hunziker, hie wife Patty, and three of their friends - one, Eileen Langer, doubling as his police escort! Miss Langer, a member of the Rye NY police force (and feeling a little lost without her gun) last came to Rye two years ago, and when Mr. Hunziker arranged his visit to England to include the Mayoring, he suggested that Miss Langer should join the party as part of her own vacation. Although Rye (New York) is three times the size of Rye (Sussex, its local council has just six members plus the Mayor, who is elected separately; and Mrs. Hunziker, though the Mayor's wife, is not the Mayoress - they don't have one.
After the ceremonies, the party went to St. Mary's for a short service conducted by the Rev. Stephen Ingham, and then returned to throw hot pennies to the expectant children below the windows before moving off to the George Hotel where some ninety people sat down to lunch in the ballroom.
Because it is Rye's turn this year to provide the Speaker of the Cinque Ports, our Mayor will have more formal duties than usual - the first being on 21 May when he takes up the office for 1985/6.
The second of the TVS "Portrait of Rye" programmes went out on Thursday, and wandered across the marshes towards Wittersham. They visited composer and photographer George Newsom, landscape painter Fred Cuming„ sculptor Bernard Sindall, jeweller Michael Bolton, and two generations of the Turpin family: Digby and his son Jeremy who specialise in animation work for films, his wife Beryl who works in enamels, Jeremy's brother Louis who is one of Rye's most successful professional painters, and Louis' wife Davida (Smith) whose delicate prints are often to be seen at the Easton Rooms. It is generally agreed that TVS has done the Rye area very well indeed over this. Only three people told us they missed part 1, and we hope to arrange something for them.
Friday was a blowy old day out along Rye Harbour Road - which was just as well, since the stiff breeze showed to advantage the twelve gold stars circling a vivid blue background flying from the flagstaff at Long Products: the Europe flag.
Each year during Europe Week East Sussex County Council presents a few of these very special flags to organisations of all kinds which have made notable efforts to strengthen the county's relationship with mainland Europe. This year there were nine distributed throughout the county, but as far as we know Long Products is the first Rye firm to be honoured in this way. The presentation was made by the retiring County Council chairman, Ronald Brown, to the chairman and managing director of Long Products, Roger Walker. Other representatives of the County Council were there, among them Robert Bromley whose "patch" includes the Harbour, as were members of Long Products staff - both Rye-based and from the company's other factory at Grantham, Lincs.
We are now going to be a bit technical (but not, we hope, too inaccurate). What Long Products actually produces are specialised tapes, coatings and waterproof membranes to protect against corrosion. They do a great deal of business with the oil and gas industries, both here and abroad; they export extensively to Europe, their salesmen part the Iron Curtain regularly and travel frequently to the Middle East (Vincent Moore and John Coke had fascinating travellers' tales to tell). They do not look towards the household market, though one of their anti-skid finishes has been used on the floor of the new lifeboat house and several local garages have their specialised coatings on showroom floors. But primarily the company deals in a big way with very big business indeed, and it was presented last month with a British Board of Agrement Certificate, which carries a great deal of weight in Europe; Longs are showing their entire range of corrosion control systems at the World Gas Exhibition in Munich at the end of June, and they were the only British company to be invited to exhibit reeently in Budapest by the Hungarian Government.
Established in Rye in the 1960s, Long Products came into private ownership in 1979, and since then both its range and its export turnover has vastly increased. It employs about 50 people in Rye, and a further 30 at Grantham, where they deal with a different way of fighting corrosion - cathodic protection, the physics of which were quite beyond your reporter's comprehension but which, over-simplified, means using a combination of electric currents and various metals to deter nasties - animal, vegetable and mineral - from going where they shouldn't. This system, together with some 30,000 square metres of special tape from Rye, is to be used at the new BP inshore oilfield at Welton, where the company will be responsible for the entire anti-corrosion work on the installation. In 1982 Long Products was winner in the Smaller Manufacturers Export Award; smaller manufacturers they may be, but the fifty Rye staff in their unassuming Harbour Road works are just the tip of an enormous and very successful export iceberg.
(Europe Week was also celebrated in Thomas Peacocke School canteen - we heard about (mock) moussaka, fish mornay, pizza and several varieties of pasta, with mousse and eclairs for afters. No mention, however, of those traditional European delicacies, snails and frogs' legs!)
The Rye Sports Centre steering committee is about to be short of a secretary, since Hilary McDonald, who has done so much for the project, is moving north later in the summer. The work is not arduous; the committee meets perhaps six times a year at Thomas Peacocke School, and the secretary needs to take notes at meetings and then write (preferably type) whatever letters are necessary. Obviously the job might be expected to appeal to someone keen on sport themselves or with children who are; but chairman Rowena Varley would be glad to talk to anyone interested in taking on the work. The plans promised by the County Architect have not yet appeared, but the committee understand that Rother has the matter in hand. Their next project is a fund-raising Summer Fair at the FE Centre on 20 July.
5.
Saltcote Place has now been a home for elderly people for a year. The 23 residents (the number for which it is licensed) are nearly all women, and their ages range from 65 to 96 - and, says Mr. Barker whose family runs it, it is not always the younger ladies who are the most sprightly: Three worship regularly at St. Mary's and one at Playden, and they go to church on foot by their own choice when the weather allows. Those who wish are involved in the running of the house, as they would be if they were living on their own. The heavy garden maintenance, mowing and hedge-trimming, is of course done by machine; but Mr. Barker is grateful for help with the lighter jobs from his male guests. When the Barkers took over the house, complete redecoration was necessary - naturally enough, since it had been the school boarding-house for girls - and there were other alterations including a new fire-escape; now, once again, it has the air of a large private house, and the 18 single rooms and 3 doubles have not meant sub-division of the big rooms into tiny cells - instead, there are 21 rooms of the size one would expect in a large country house.And, of course, there is the view...
Now the Barkers have a new plan. They were sorry that when their residents grew unable to manage without nursing care, they had to leave Saltcote and go elsewhere. So they are applying for planning permission to convert the stable block into a nursing home, under medical supervision and with an SRN matron on duty. The plans show ten bedrooms and a day room downstairs plus the usual kitchen and bathroom service arrangements; above, the plans show two self-contained flats. Mr. Barker intends this primarily for Saltcote residents, but he would hope to make a few rooms available to local people for temporary short-stay care.
At present the building, with flatlets upstairs, still has the old stable fittings in one of the downstairs wings. These are tremendously stout wood and iron structures dating from when the Hennessy family built the house in about 1905, and Mr. Barker would be glad to see them preserved - but not, naturally, in his nursing-home: He will be interested to hear from anyone who could find a use for them; he also has a cast-iron circular staircase (which the new fire-escape replaced) piled up in the garden awaiting an appreciative home.
The family know very little about the history of the house before the County Council bought it after the war. During the mar it was taken over by the army, and stationed there were the Wiltshire Regiment, the Queen's Royal Regiment, the South Wales Borderers and the North Staffordshire Regiment. How does he know? Because, in spare moments, the men carved their badges on one of the big gateposts!
Mr. Barker would be delighted to hear from anyone able to fill in the gaps in the house's history, and also to show it to them if they would care to see it in its new elegance. Ring him to talk about it.
Kath Elworthy had some very unexpected visitors at Ferry Road at the weekend. Two years ago she had a request for her cookbook (sold in aid of MS) from a lady in Australia, whose name meant nothing to her. But on Sunday, the purchaser arrived in person, with her husband, son and four grand-daughters and turned out to be very much part of Rye.
Barbara Sealey, nee Ridler, came here from Somerset in 1924 as a very small child. She went to Rye Grammar School in due course, and by 1941 was working at the High Street post office with Mr. Orford as postmaster. Her husband Basil, a former head boy at the New Road school, was the projectionist at the cinema until it was bombed in 1942. Three of their children were born in Rye (David, Basil and Barbara) and in 1952 the family went out to Western Australia where their youngest son Robert was born. The Sealeys have been back to Rye twice before, in 1972 and 1980, and still have many friends here - also a set of saucepans bought from Banisters in 1947 which are still going strong: David, the son who was with them on this visit, is a shearing contractor (2i minutes for a Merino sheep) - he and his sister and brothers are all settled in Australia, and there are seven grandchildren.
6.
• The WRVS meals-on-wheels service is very short of drivers and mates, particularly with the holiday season coming up. The driver obviously needs a car, but th mate does not; except in emergencies, the duty comes round only twice a monthvand means just two hours (11.30 to 1.30) out of your day. Sheila Barton saysvsadly that when she sees the number of people emerging in a leisurely way from the coffee-shops on their way home to lunch, she is tempted to ask them if they could not spend a little time on this valuable work just twice a month! So wevare asking you for her. If you could help, please ring Mrs. Barton.
• The local MENCAP group has had a big morale-booster from Round Table, who have chosen it as the main beneficiary of the Carnival on 3 August (details nearer the time). The branch is currently running a Spring Draw, with a portable television set as first prize plus other goodies; the draw takes place at the George Hotel's Benson Room on Bank Holiday Monday, 27 May, at 11 - and Vickie Piper says "Stop me and buy some"(tickets, of course, which she will be carrying around with her in the town over the next three weeks).
• Police warn that forged £50 notes are circulating in Sussex.They can be identified by their "uncharacteristic waxy feel" - not a lot of help to those of us whodon't know what a real one ought to feel like (have you ever handled one?). But the police station has a list of suspect numbers; and if, having checked the watermark and quality of paper, you are unhappy about a note, don't just refuse is and watch the owner disappear, but ring Rye 222112 and report it Quick!
• The Women's British Legion VE Day Commemoration Dance was a huge success. There were getting on for 300 people in the Thomas Peacocks School hall, and Ted Crouch's band played all the old tunes - remember the Hokey-cokey, the St. Bernard Waltz? - in strict tempo but not too loud, reports Joan Parkes who was watching happily from the sidelines. Dancers included, of course, many people who well remembered VE-Day (Joan was particularly pleased to see some of the WRVS luncheon club members there), and plenty of their sons and daughters as well - a really very enjoyable evening.
• The quilt which was first prize in the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve raffle (displayed in Anglia's window) was won by a Mrs. Walker of Oxted, and the person who sold her the ticket was at the AGM on Saturday when the draw was made; second prize of a hand-knitted sweater went to Mrs. Giles of Rye. The draw raised an astonishing £1,400 in all, which will enable Barry Yates and his helpers to make a really good job of the new wader pool (we hope someone will keep the GAZETTE in touch with its progress?). Congratulations to Anne Yates and the other ladies whose nimble fingers worked towards this splendid total:
• The police report no major traffic problems over the Bank Holiday weekend, despite Monday's beautiful weather. A collision between two cars at Broomhill led to a 12-year-old boy being taken to hospital, and there was another accident also on Monday, but details had not reached the press book on Tuesday morning. We were also told, by someone living nearby, that a lorry loaded with chippings of some kind came off the road near East Guldeford church early on Saturday morning; the driver was not hurt, but his load became unloaded somewhat abruptly and two lorries were sent by his firm to remove it from the road and the dyke. It seems that the driver, travelling from Chatham, had been instructed by his firm to take the inlandmotorway route; poor chap, he must wish he had! The press book does show the theft of a yellow Ford Capri from behind the Cinque Ports Hotel between 22 and 25 April, and of two white hub-caps from a car parked in The Deals.
• The Head Office of another multiple shop group is trying its luck with a planning application for an illuminated projecting sign in the Conservation Area (readers may remember that Woolworths were equally - and mistakenly - optimistic some time ago). Victoria Wine seeks permission for an internally illuminated projecting sign 3.5m from the ground outside the High Street shop; the plans give the actual measurement of the circular sign as "600", but they don't say 600 what, and the manager was unable to help us over this. We shall wait with interest for Rother's reaction. Other applications include Castle Joinery's request to add a first floor to an existing building in Harbour Road; a two-storey extension in South Undercliff; and change of use for the Saltcote Place stables (see page 5 for details of this).
7.
• The Leasam House fete on Monday afternoon was, of course, amazingly lucky in the weather - it was a beautiful day, and people lay about on the lawn enjoying their tea listening to the (Battle Junior Ensemble) band or indulging in a genteel game of croquet. As most readers will know, Leasam House is now the boarding house for both boys and girls from Thomas Peacocke School, and some of the boarders took up the circus theme with clown outfits. There were plenty of local visitors, and parents of the boarders came from as far afield as Essex and Surrey, some to return their children after the long weekend and some simply to support the event. The dog show had good support, too, with forty entries. A lot of work had gone into making goods for the stalls - but all the helpers felt amply rewarded, since some £400 was raised for House funds, to provide amenities for the children who board there. Congratulations!
• It is nice to know that Rother does take notice of suggestions made by members of the public. Mrs. Benge's remarks, which we reported recently, about having the "on" periods shortened during the summer for the communal lights in the Nutley Close (and other) flats have borne fruit, and she rang us on Friday evening, very pleased, to say that the timer had been altered!(Apparently Rother are hoping to instal light-sensitive switches for the public lighting in all their flats eventually - but Mrs. Tomich points out that these things are expensive to installment if they do mean savings on the running costs over the years.)
• Applications are invited for the 1986 place under the auspices of the Canon John Williams Youth Adventure Fund for a cruise on one of the Sail Training Association schooners - Andrea Wickenden and Roy Pierce have already been, Jane Blackman leaves at the end of June. People from 16 to 24 living in Rye, Rye Harbour, Playden, Iden, Camber or East Guldeford are eligible.Forms are available from Mrs. Kate Dayson, Market Road, Rye - closing date 30 June.
• For the benefit of readers unable to get about much, we would like to record that the arch of pear blossom outside Rye Pottery looked more spectacular last week that we ever remember it. The Ashenden Avenue cherry trees should be at their best now. Rother has "gone for gold" with its flower-beds this year; there is a splendid show of yellow tulips round the War Memorial, and a big vivid round bed of them mixed with blue pansies down by the Bowls Green. But the most startling show of blossom we have seen is, apparently, the result of EEC subsidy. From the top of a bus approaching Guestling Thorn from Icklesham, the entire middle distance is a valley of gold, perpetual sunlight even on a dull day. There must be several hundred acres of farmland sown with rape, now all in full mower - a quite amazing sight, and we hope someone with a really good camera has been able to record it from somewhere other than a moving double-decker!
In August 1945 the Sussex Express published a booklet entitled "The War in East Sussex", giving a mass of facts and figures and stories, some censored until then. Now they have marked the VE-Day commemoration with a straight reprint which is a real historical document, and the chapter on Rye is of course of particular interest to us: "Borough Suffered Widespread Damage" is the sub-heading. 55 houses and 9 other premises in the town were totally destroyed, 282 houses and 53 other premises severely damaged but capable of repair, and a total of 1057 were slightly damaged. Since some places were bombed several times, the final total of incidents comes out at 2536 houses and 324 other premises. As well as war damage, there are stories about the evacuation, both to and later from Rye; and there is a reference to a canteen opened in the town for the benefit of the men whose families had gone inland, and which served about 1000 meals daily. It would be interesting to hear more about this: did any of our readers work in it? or eat in it? and where was it, anyway? Are any of Mary Warren's wartime WVS helpers still in the town? And who ran National Savings? In the 1944 "Salute the Soldier Week" Rye won the county championship for small savings with just over £50,000 raised in the Borough!
These things are perhaps not quite history, yet; but they will be.
SSAFA coffee morning, CC, 10 (GAZETTE no. 128)
Red Cross Plant and Pantry Sale, Red Cross Centre, 10 to 3
Cream teas, Red Cross Centre, 3 to 4.30 (GAZETTE no. 128)
Civil Service Retirement Fellowship coffee morning, FEC, 11 ATC jumble sale, Thomas Peacocks Upper School, 2
TPS PTA Car Boot Sale, Rye Market, 10 (see page 2) Attic Sale, Community Centre, 10 to 1 (see page 2)
ESCORT (community transport) meeting, TH, 7.30 (GAZLe2E no. 128) St. Mary's Tuesday Club (Mr. Shalcross with more slides), 2 East Street, 7.30
• Thrift Shop, Red Cross Centre (handing-in only), 10.30 to 12.30 Social services group meeting, Clinic, 2.45
• Welcome home to Mrs. Gene Care of Henley Close (and until recently of Camber), and to Mrs. Jean Greenhalf of Rope Walk and Rye Library, both now back in Rye after time spent in hospital.
• A cheque for 2,40 has gone to the RNLI from Winter's Dairies, the proceeds of the Easter promotion by Northern Dairies from whom they get their cream.
• British Rail will again be running buses between Ore and Hastings on Saturday, when work continues on the tunnel there. The BR press releases include masses of detail about weekend engineering work in the region generally, but the best advice seems to be to check train times before you travel, particularly on a Sunday.
• We are delighted to record that the handsome Royal coat-of-arms is now proudly restored, resplendent in its new paint, to its place over the door of the Customs House in the High Street.
• The beginning of the Bowls Club's fourth season was marked by a coffee morning at the pavilion, when the Club's green-and-white flag, presented by Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, was ceremonially raised for the first time on the flagstaff given by Mr. Atkinson.
• Hastings & District Bus Company, one of whose open-topped buses was used in the episode of the BBC children's series "Busker" filmed in Rye in March (GAZETTE no. 122), has been kind enough to pass on to the GAZETTE the news that the Rye episode goes out on Monday of next week, 13 May, at 4.15 on BBC1.
• Congratulations to the Thomas Peacocks School Young Enterprise group for 1984/5, AYCE, which came second in the finals of the Levy Gee Awards at Eastbourne recently.
• Rye Ambulance Social Club, who made £165 from their recent jumble sale despite the weather, are now expanding their ambitions and arranging a Giant Boot Fair on the Salts (the end nearest the Rother Ironworks) on Saturday, 15 June from 10 to 4. Pitches will cost £4 booked in advance, or £5 on the day; phone Hastings 812315 or Rye 225535 for further details.
• The Ryesingers jumble sale at the Community Centre on Saturday raised about £200.
• An exhibition of the work of French painter Paul Maze (1887-1979), who settled in Sussex in 1950, opened at the Rye Art Gallery in Ockman's Lane on Saturday (until16 June). We shall be reporting on it, and on the new exhibition at the Easton Rooms, next week.
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; a few spare copies are available from Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, and back numbers from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1985)