We do apologise for our over-exuberant biro last week. Only two of you were actually misled into paying twice; the tick was what counted, all the copies bore crosses against the subscription reminder. We won't do it again, promise!
The choice of Ringo Chapman as the new Town Councillor is clearly very popular in the town, even with those whose own votes went elsewhere. Ringo won 317 of the 1099 votes cast, with John Ciccone as runner-up with 229. Then came Gerry Fortsch with 223, Colin Marsh (94), Bob Deacon (91), Bill Neihams (50), Simon Earl (42) and Jean Freeman (35). Victor Watts, the only candidate not present at the count, got just 8 votes.For a full report see page 3.
In GAZETTE no. 132 at the end of May, we reported on the meeting held at Thomas Peacocke School to discuss funding, with Ken Warren and the Chairman of the ESCC Education Committee on the platform. At this meeting it was stated, first, that the school had been at the top of the list for improvements before a Government freeze 18 months before; and then, disconcertingly, that it was "getting near" the top. The first speaker was the PTA secretary stating what had been understood by the school; the second was the ESCC Education Chairman.
We sent our report of the meeting to the Information Officer at Lewes, to ask him to clarify the position. His answer finally arrived, after a bit of chasing, at the end of last week. It goes as follows:
"The County Council is giving high priority to the improvements planned for Thomas Peacocke School. However, it would not be right to say that the project was at the top of the list. The reasons for this are twofold. First - and I am sure your readers will see the fairness of this - in allocating the cash we have, our very first priority must be for new school places in areas of population growth which have to take precedence over improvement and refurbishment schemes like the one for Thomas Peacocke. Second, we cannot finally work out a programme until we know how much cash the Government will allow us to spend on capital projects in the next financial year. For instance, it was not until January 1985 that we heard from the Department of Education and Science of our capital allocation for projects started in 1985/86.
"Simply, providing roofs over heads has to come first, with improvement schemes next in line and all depending on how much money we have to spend. This means that we can't yet put a firm date on the work. But we do realise the need and have put a high priority on it to have the improvements completed as soon as this can be done."
(As an impressive way of committing oneself to absolutely nothing at all, we must commend the last sentence!)
What it amounts to is that, whether or not we were at the top of the list, nothing will now be done at Thomas Peacocke until everyone in the county who needs a nice new school has got one - and not necessarily then. Has the PTA Committee considered the possibility of organising a Week of Prayer for a small local earthquake in St. Mary's Marsh?
We are glad to add that the Chairman of the Education Committee kept his promise and visited the school recently; Mr. Fooks took him all round the complicated two-section warren which has evolved from the original Grammar School building, and they visited every room in both Upper and Lower School.The amount of commuting must have been obvious.Councillor Russell's visit was exploratory, and naturally he did not commit himself; now, despite the statement given (since his visit) to the GAZETTE, we must just hope that something will happen.
Mrs. Margaret Wyatt, of South Undercliff, died in hospital on 27 June. Mrs. Wyatt was a widow. The funeral takes place today at Hastings Crematorium at 11.
We are very glad to report this week that the position in the High Street has much improved. The Black Boy now normally has just its hanging sign, menu and "open" notice, though the ice-cream banner does reappear at intervals.The Shades milk-churns seem to have a life of their own; one day both were there, the next both had vanished, and recently just one has hung on the wall. Yesterday even the hanging sign in Conduit Hill had gone:As far as we know, no-one has yet broken a leg on the remaining pavement board, the one belonging to the Tandoori.
We are now being showered with moans about advertising signs, all over Rye. Apart from the physical obstruction caused by pavement boards, there seem to be two grounds of complaint. One is that shops advertise excessively on their own property (one ice-cream notice, fair enough; three ice-cream notices, no).
The other is that advertisements are now "squatting" in the centre of the town for shops tucked away elsewhere. The monthly Craft Market's boards are offendersvhere (there was even one on the litter-bin at the top of Cyprus Place), as are those propped beside the Rope Walk loos, and in particular the Queen's Head board which leans against the Landgate Arch even though the pub is some way off in the opposite direction.The argument here is that shopkeepers in the High Street and Citadel areas pay very high rent and rates, while those in less prestigioue, streets pay less because they are not in such a good position to attract oldtimers; is it, then, really fair that they can claim free advertising in the more expensive terrain?
On the credit side, we hear of one tea-shop which is virtuously applying for planning permission for a single board standing on its own ground well clear of the pavement.
£300 clear profit resulted from the coffee morning at the Town Hall on Saturday. Since it was in effect organised jointly by the Rye Mencap Branch and Hill House School, the two helpers from the Hill House League of Friends waived their claim to any share of the proceeds.
On display outside the Town Hall was the smart white minibus recently presented jointly to Mencap and the school by the Variety Club of Great Britain - a poster on it thanked Rye and Rother Valley Round Table and the people of Rye for their help.Vickie Piper tells us that her group and the school have already contributed £750 each to the first repayment of £1,500; the second repayment, due in September, will be greatly helped by the Round Table's promise of a share in the Carnival proceeds.
On Sunday a:very cross reader rang the GAZETTE to ask us to complain yet again at British Rail. What was it this time? Apparently on Saturday all the trains (including he 7.05 am which our reader had risen early to catch) ran half-an-hour late, and were further delayed at the approaches to London so that they were 45 minutes latteeby the time they reached Charing Cross. A fellow-traveller who had come down to Rye on Friday evening was quite sure that there had been no warning board on view in the station then, although the changes were apparently scheduled and not due to any emergency.
We rang the BR Press Office at Waterloo: why hadn't there been a press release? There had, it seems, but the GAZETTE wasn't sent it because no-one realised that work on the Wadhurst line, the cause of the trouble, would affect our trains! Anyway, they tall us that whereas this work affects our line every Sunday for the moment,tewill only affect us on some Saturdays (and not this coming one). But they agree, that the only way to be quite sure is to check journey times in advance (Hastings 429325) for any rail journey you may have to make at weekends.
3.
Hearty congratulations to Ringo Chapman, our dustman and a founder member of the Community Centre Association, whse 317 votes gave him an overwhelming majority in Thursday's by-election; he was formally sworn in by the Mayor immediately after the count. Ringo, who lives at Udimore Road, is 37; he was born in Camber and was at school in Rye, so that now gives us two "native" Councillors among our 16 - Roger Breeds being the other. We have been asked to express the thanks of our new Councillor to all those who voted for him.
In all, 1099 people cast their votes.There were a few spoilt papers, mostly from people who couldn't believe that nine candidates were chasing just one place, and two votes went missing in the final total but no-one was worrying under the circumstances. The 31% poll would seem to imply that the efforts made by the candidates and by the Rother staff who organised the election were not wasted; even at the Pother Council election two years ago the Rye poll was only 46%.
One of the day's surprises was the lack of interest from people in New Road and Kings Avenue, who had a choice of candidates anxious to represent them.Simon Earl and Jean Freeman between them polled just 77 votes; even if all those had come from their home patch, it would still mean only a 27% turnout down there. Presumably people living across Monkbretton Bridge are not as worried about the town's affairs as had been thought.
It seems fair to say that Gerry Fortsch's third place came as a surprise to many people.As the official Labour candidate, he had heavy backing in the way of printed leaflets and posters and presumably attracted the votes of all Rye's Labour supporters, but we do hope that the tentacles of national politics are not going to strangle the town's future freedom to choose its Councillors as people, as already happens at higher levels of local government all over the country. In any case, it seems likely that if Mr. Fortsch tries again in 1987, he will be the first declared Labour supporter actually elected to the Town Council (Osma Jones joined it as one of the 16 nominated members at the 1983 non-election).
Runner-up to Ringo, John Ciccone would have been representing the town's business interests on the Council, and doubtless he too will be successful when the whole Council is up for election in 1987.Many of his fellow shopkeepers were unable to give him the support they would have wished, since they have no Rye vote, living out of the town; it does seem hard that people who conduct their business here and pay a very large proportion of the rates should have no say in the way the town is run.Colin Marsh and Bob Deacon could also have used backing from friends and professional contacts living outside the town boundaries, though niike Mr. Ciccone neither of them actually lives in Rye.
Bill Nelhams' result perhaps reflects the already high proportion of Councillors who have come to Rye on retirement from jobs elsewhere.Mr. Watts's result, we assume, reflects Mr. Watts's apparent lack of interest in the entire proceedings!
Edward Joy, the Deputy Returning Officer, had had problems deciding how best to conduct a count where nine candidates were fighting for one place; in the end he settled on the ingenious "wallpaper" system used for the Rother election, which would have eased a recount had this been necessary.(He had even brought along a pack of cards in case of a tie!)Traditionally, Rye Town Council members turn out in force to see fair play at a by-election, and ten of the fifteen were present - plus sundry spouses, the agents for the candidates (whose job it is to see that the tellers don't cheat), and your reporter.There was one moment when we really longed for a photographer - checking doubtful papers, all the candidates were grouped round Mr. Joy in the gallery, under the resplendent coat-of-arms and backed by the lists of former Mayors: very symbolic.The whole count took just under two hours, and for the audience was nail-biting right up to the end.The tellers, out early on duty at the polling stations, must have been thankful to get home after their 16-hour day.
There is, we understand, a new respect for Rye's postmen among the supporters who delivered election addresses round the town - six candidates, including the top four, produced them - and found just how difficult some of Rye's letter-boxes are, to say nothing of the dogs which lurk within! ...out from under my feet!"
We now have more details about the RCVS-sponsored summer playscheme to be held at Thomas Peacocke Upper School for three weeks from 22 July to 9 August (9.30 am to 3 pm).It is intended for children between the ages of 7 and 13, and parents of this age-group should have received letters via their children's schools about the project; if your child is eligible and you have not had the note, we suggest a pocket-search!The cost will be 20p a day, they hope to accommodate 30 children each day and will give preference to those living in or near Rye. Activities will include outings, visits, various sports including swimming and the use of the adventure playground near the pool, and perhaps canoeing and archery.
Registration forms will be available tomorrow from the Social Services office at 25 Cinque Ports Street, from Freda Gardham and from Lower School; they must be returned by 11 July.Potential helpers should ring Julia Thomas or Jill Rance or Ann Dunlop (office hours).
Tanya de Vlam of Udimore Road has solved for us the mystery of the "beer festival" (GAZETTE no. 136). A family staying at her guest-house came down from the north for it.What it seems to have been was motor-cycle trials held by a private club which meets at different places in the course of the summer. Her visitors had a 12-year-old son competing on a very expensive bike! (Readers will recall the success which attended Lloyd Huggett of Playden in this sport, though he decided to give it up when he started work - at the senior levels, he told us at the time, it becomes very much all-or-nothing.) The venue was one of the New Road fields, and doubtless beer was drunk. But beer festival - no!
Every Monday morning your reporter checks the Press Book at Rye Police Station for crimes committed during the previous week.Correction: crimes entered during the previous week.Last week had three new Rye entries: a red Austin mini stolen from near the Ypres Tower on the night of 24/5 June; a porcelain figure of a fox, worth E58, stolen from a High Street shop on 26 June; and "criminal damage" (unspecified) done in the Goods Yard car park on the morning of 14 June - this item appearing in the book after the other two.It could be a story - more details?"Sorry" they said, "those records have all gone back to HQ now".But the story wasn't even in the press book last Monday, so we cannot tell you whether, now nearly three weeks ago, someone lit a bonfire and incinerated half-a-dozen coaches, inscribed rude verses on the ticket kiosk, or just scratched someone else's car... Why, oh why can't the press book be kept up to date? (Or should we simply not bother?)
Two readers have pointed out to us recent sitings in the town where the right hand, so to speak, has obviously not been consulted. Someone - Rother? - has attached a litter-bin to the new hand-rail on Conduit Hill, on the footpath side; not only does this mar the look of the carefully-designed rail put up after all sorts of planning consultations by ESCC, but it also means that people using the rail to climb the hill have to abandon it to dodge round the bin! There is an even more thoughtless "planting" just below the Landgate arch, where Ralph Olesen's ESCC staff had put wheelchair ramps some time ago so that the road could conveniently be crossed from (roughly) Bragge to Phipps. Now ESCC has erected a large road sign on the Phipps side, borne on two stout metal poles, completely blocking half the ramp - the other end is closed off by a street lamp.We rang Mr. Olesen, whose fault it isn't; "Oh dear': he said, "that's what comes of planning things on paper!"It will, we understand, be simplest to move the ramp.
A British Rail press release - the one we did get, this week - gives details of cheap offers for visitors to the British Open Golf Championship at Sandwich.
Eight members of Rye Movie Society went to the BBC Television Centre on 27 June for a memorable day out.Liaison Officer Bill Miles made them welcome, gave them tea and showed them a demonstration film on the activities of the BBC, before taking them on a two-hour tour of the complex - which employs 6,000 people.
They saw Val Doonican rehearsing for this Saturday's show, and also the One o'Clock News going out live, visited some of the eight main production studios, and then took the opportunity to ask questions arising out of what they had seen - to the relief of Mr. Miles, who said he did like an inquisitive audience! A day to remember, Fred Masters tells us, and an opportunity he is glad he did not miss.
Question: "How do you light a candle in the middle of a Guestling field in a stiff breeze?"Answer: "With difficulty" - as some fifty Guides and Guiders found on Friday evening!
The occasion was a birthday party for Rye and District Guides to celebrate the Guide Movement's 75th anniversary.The companies involved were the 1st (Lady Maud Warrender's) and 2nd (Thomas Peacocke) from Rye, plus Icklesham and Guestling-and-Pett. The site was the Scout and Guide HQ at Guestwell, down a winding lane somewhere at the back of Guestling, whose encroaching hedges put at risk the gold paint on the new minibus given to Thomas Peacocke School by the PTA (but not yet paid for, we are told: Support The Michaelmas Fair!).
The rain held off - just - but at least the wind which blew out the candles saw to it that Doris Henley's fire glowed strongly under the sausages, and the final camp-fire blazed in the gloaming in a most satisfactory way.Round it the girlsbsang the traditional camp-fire songs of their generation (though not of your reporter's) with actions of mounting complexity, led by Lois Benton with her guitar.
We were interested to see that nowadays Guides relax in sweaters and jeans rather than in uniform - just as well, since earlier in the evening they had tried out an assault course in the wood beside the field, organised by the Venture Scoutsband clearly (to judge from the noises off) a great success. As well as this, there was a series of games, each provided by a different company, the prizes being candles to decorate the (Oasis) birthday-cakes destined to go back to the individual HQs. Your reporter funked the assault course and the tin-can stilts, though her paper hat stayed on and her paper cup held (some) water; there were also clothes-pegs to be picked off a line one-heeded, a model adventure playground to be made from bits and pieces found in the wood, and a candle-holder to construct from card and foil.
The highlight of any birthday party is the cutting of the cake, and Friday was no exception.It was a big cake, decorated in white and Girl-Guide blue, and therebwas a handsome slice for everyone to top off the hot-dogs and "birthday punch". But since this was a very special birthday party, there was also a very special ceremony involving the lighting of candles - starting with one which had come from a county celebration at Lewes, itself a descendant of one lit outside Buckingham Palace.Each Guider and each patrol leader and eventually each Guide present was offered the flame (this is where the candle-holders were needed), but they were very "brief candles" and doubtless the ceremony will be repeated indoors when each company next meets.Led by the District Commissioner, Mrs. Rose, all the Guides repeated their Poise; it was pleasant to think that their daughters will be doing it all again when the Movement celebrates its centenary in 2Cia.
The bare border round the War Memorial has now been planted up with Rother's usual bedding plants (including more yuccas) and looks a lot more cheerful.But other people share the views expressed last week by our two readers, and Canon Maundrell tells us that arrangements are being made for a permanent planting round the War Memorial in the autumn, using Hidcote lavender bushes as being more suitable for the setting.
A report to Rother's Housing Committee gives the overall cost of the sheltered housing which will replace the demolished Council Offices in Ferry Road as £378,000 - £18,000 lower than the original estimate because of a revised estimate for professional fees.
This includes the cost of a day care centre, and as they expect to start work this time next year it does seem important to resolve soon the question of whether or not the old phone exchange is to be used for this purpose instead. We wrote in GAZETTE no. 120 about the desirability of all the authorities involved - Rother (sheltered housing), ESCC Social Services day centre and the Health Authority (clinic) - getting together to discuss the future of the whole Magdala House site before it is developed piecemeal. Readers will recall that a new clinic is part of the Health Authority's Strategic Plan, though the present lunatic proposal is that it should be on the Hill House site at the top of the hill, leaving the central and convenient (and valuable) site of the present clinic for "disposal".
If we want the enlarged clinic - and it will have to be enlarged since the Health Authority is also proposing to dispose of the hospital with its outpatient facilities - in the right place for its customers, it is not too soon to start now a campaign to make sure there will be enough land for it in Ferry Road.If the Day Centre gets a permanent (and larger) home in Eagle Road, this could give moi room for other development, not necessarily by Rother, on the Ferry Road site.
The question of the Eagle Road site is to be discussed shortly by a small subcommittee from ESCC's Social Services Committee; it will presumably come up too at the Rye Council for Voluntary Service public meeting in the Town Hall on 18 July.
• Many readers will have enjoyed the Radio 4 programme last Wednesday in which our Bishop Peter (of Lewes) and his twin brother Bishop Michael (of Jarrow) looked at newspapers dating back to "The Day I was Born".It was not always easy to tell, in this lively discussion, which Bishop was speaking, but when it came to a statement about the wearing of the episcopal purple we feel sure it must have been Bishop Peter who admitted to owning a pair of purple pyjamas - "bought in a Rye jumble sale"!
• Jo Burke, occasionally of Bridge Place, had an exhausting weekend recently. She is the personnel manager for First Leisure Limited, hiring and firing staff for the vast entertainments business, and she had rashly said at a management meetir that it would have been helpful to her in the job if she had ever had bar experience. "You're on!" they said, and so that she would not be recognised and suspected of being a spy for management, they sent her right up to Blackpool for the weekend - a weekend's very hard work in one of the ten bars in the Blackpool Tower.She now knows the problems!Rye publicans will be interested, not to say wistful, to hear that the takings were around £1,000 - a day>...
• Mrs. Smith of Shipyard Road adds her son David to the list of babies born at home in Rye; in 1974 she was a patient of Trevor Parkes, and he raised no objection. It seems likely, therefore, that the home-confinement system ceased towards the end of the 1970s.Since then we have been told of only two babies born in the town, one in 1980 and one earlier this year.Two Ryers in - what? - seven years? The "new" owners of the Queen Adelaide in Ferry Road - who have in fact been here since February (how time flies!) - are Vic and Helen Wrate, who come from Welling in Kent.Neither has had a pub before, but Vic has had catering experience; much of his time with the Territorial Army was spent running the mess. His working life has been in Fleet Street, 37 years on the Evening News. Helen has known the Rye area since her childhood in Pett Level, and always wanted to come back;so when she and Vic decided to buy a pub they were delighted to find one in Rye.(If you want to sample Helen's home-baked pies or steak-and-kidney pudding, arrange an early lunch-hour, because word is getting round and she finds that they don't hang about!)
On the Wednesday morning of last week's Thrift Shop (sorry we left this out of the diary, by the way) a pleasant ceremony took place at Dolphin House.Sister Margaret Biker, SRN, who lives in Breda, is the Matron of St. Paul's Nursing Home in Hastings, and will be known to many people in Rye because of that. But she is also known to many more becauseevery Wednesday morning, on her day off, she spends time for the Red Cross as a "sitter-in" for the medical loan service. She has been doing this for the past 15 years, and Hilary Bolton took great in presenting her on behalf of the Branch with the Voluntary Service Medal the equivalent for professional medical people of the BRCS's Badge of Honer. (This is normally presented, Mrs. Bolton tells us, by a senior Branch official; but since Sister Biker's time is so fully occupied, they had to grab her while they could!)
Rother's Planning Committee was generous to Rye last week. One application was refused: the TSB now joins Victoria Wine and Woolworths as firms who have tried in vain to put up illuminated signs in the High Street. The outline proposal for housing on Cadborough Farm was deferred for a site inspection; a proposed extension to a house in King's Avenue was also deferred, as was the latest an for redeveloping the Colebrooke factory (GAZETTE no. 136). Change of use for the stable block at Saltcote Place as a nursing-home was approved, though we have not yet been able to check on the conditions attached to this.
Also approved were the following: alterations to a boundary wall at 35a The Mint; a first-floor extension at Castle Joinery in Rye Harbour Road; a non-illuminated sign at the Glue Pot; a hanging sign at the Old Brewery; the Benson plaque at Lamb House; and the window lettering for Bob Deacon's High Street surgery. New en gineering workshops in Rock Channel can go ahead, since no objection has come from the D o T; despite objections from two Meryon Court residents, the Central Garage has permission to build upwards; Tower Forge House can have its doors painted dark green; a house at the top of Udimore Road can add a first-floor extension; ESCC can lay the short length of footpath beside Devonport House; and at Rye Foreign, Broomhill Lodge has change-of-use to a private hotel.
Perhaps we should repeat here that this information is given over the phone (as it is to any enquirer on the Monday afternoon onwards after each monthly planning meeting), and applicants should not be rash enough to start work until they get it in writing along with any conditions which may be imposed.
The current planning list includes a most interesting application for a building tucked away at the back of the George Hotel but actually belonging to John Dennis, ironmongers. It was once two cottages called Sheffield Place, and at one timechoused a little school. It has, however, been used as a store since at least h says that if the cottages had been occupied then they would certainly have been condemned and demolished, as much Rye property was between the wars.There used to be an open yard between the cottages and the back of the shop, but this is now roofed over and forms the gardening section, up the steps from the High Street shop; the cottages are at the higher level, and have a right of way into Lion Street via the passage beside Gassons antique shop. The owners are now applying to reinstate the cottages as living accommodation, using the Lion Street access.
There is also an application to divide the existing maisonette at 55a Cinque Ports Street (over the bookmakers) into two self-contained flats, demolishing a chimney; and for the dismantling and rebuilding of the corner building in Bridge Placework which is already in progress.Down in Harbour Road, Ryecon are applying to build an extension to their existing warehouse which will include an office; their premises are opposite the new Hatleys development, and they propose an extension beside the road about 50m x 14m x 6--m high, steel-clad in brown or dark green, and with roof-lights forming 20% of the roof area.
Rye WI coffee morning in aid of Day Centre, Red Cross, 10 to 12
Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale, 10 (view Thursday, 1 to 5)
Rye Hospital Fete, FEC, 10.30 to 12
Rye Harbour Lifeboat House opening (by invitation), 2.30
Christian Lunch Club, CC, 7 for 7.30 (see below)
Rye Harmonic Society's Handel concert, St. Mary's, 7.30
St. Mary's Tuesday Club, informal meeting, 2 East Street, 7.30
Wednesday, 10th ARC coffee morning, Fair Oak (Fairmeadow),10.30 to 12
Rye WI: members on stage, FEC, 7
• Congratulations, regrettably a week late, to Mrs. Sarah Jane Martin (nee Axell) of Rye and Icklesham, who celebrated her 102nd birthday quietly on 26 June!
• Congratulations, too, to her son Philip, of the Old Brickyard and the High Street greengrocers, who has won his way to the semi-finals of the TVS Sea Fishing • Championship - starting as Club Champion of Rye Sea Angling Club before moving on to the quarter-finals at Newhaven. The semi-finals take place at Brighton at the end of this month, with some 60 contestants; if Mr. Martin does well enough, he will find himself fishing off Iceland in the finals in September.
• Rye Bowls Club are delighted to report that they won their home match on Sunday afternoon against Rye Rotarians, 81-52. The Wednesday fixture was rained off.
• Clive Gilbert's Lykewake Walk (GAZETTE no. 132) brought in over £110 in sponsor money for the Third World Water Aid fund.
• The staff of Weslake Developments Ltd. and their guests - 52 people in all enjoyed a midsummer barbecue on Saturday - in a tiny area of garden in one corner of the ex-Farnborough yard where the firm now has its works.A very good time, we are told, was had by all, and (or should it be but?) not a single one of the borrowed glasses was broken!
• The Christian Lunch Club is holding, for a change, an evening meeting on this coming Saturday at the Community Centre, 7 for 7.30.The speaker is Miss Gaye Hyde from Ashburnham, talking, singing and playing her guitar. £1 includes coffee and home-made cakes.
• Congratulations to Janice Gill of the Old Brickyard, who has just gained her B.Ed. (Honours) at La Sainte Union College at Southampton. Her mother says she would never have got to the college if Miss Dann had not given her such effective coaching at A-level stage. Janice, who was a Sunday School teacher in Rye as well as helping with Guides and Brownies, is now looking for a teaching job, preferably round here.
• We give long notice of two Museum Association outings recently arranged. On Tuesday afternoon, 27 August, a coach goes to Ightham Mote, the National Trust property; on 15 September there is an all-day Sunday outing to the Thames Barrier and Greenwich. Members should book the dates now; there will be more details in the Association's newsletter nearer the time. There may well be room for a few non-members as well if the coach is not full.
• The Museum Association booklet about Rye Church Clock (GAZETTE no. 136) costs 45p (not 40p as we stated).
• A smartly-painted coach turned into the Ferry Road car park. The firm's name was displayed all over it: Grey-Green Coaches. What colour was it? Predominantly orange and white!
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)