ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE ABOUT TO EXPIRE: FOR RENEWAL DETAILS SEE PAGE 6.
Through the generosity of Mr. A J Hardcastle of Whiligh, near Wadhurst, and the good offices of Rother Councillor Bill Jones, Rye Town Hall has acquired a historic piece of furniture - not as historic as some of the town's possessions, but nonetheless part of its history.
Sir George Courthope, whose family owned Whiligh for 450 years, represented Rye in Parliament from 1906 to 1945. In 1931 a subscription list was opened in the constituency for a presentation to mark his quarter-century as Rye's MP. The gift chosen was a carved cabinet, made by F. Rosier of Frant from oak grown at Whiligh; and it is this which has now returned home to Rye.
It would be interesting to know more about F. Rosier (whose name is recorded on brass plate inside the cabinet) because he did a superb job. The cabinet or perhaps desk - is 64" tall, 45" wide and 24" deep; it has a drop-flap and two small drawers, of which the handles, hinges, lock-plate and even the key are clearly hand-fashioned. The whole piece is elaborately carved: linen-fold panelling decorates the sides, and the Sussex martlets and the Rye ship join the Courthope family arms along the top. But the most remarkable carving appears on the front flap - a view of the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey seen from across the river, intricately rendered in high relief on a panel some 3' by 2'. The whole design somehow recalls the period before WWI rather than the 1930s, but the piece was quite clearly made for the occasion it commemorates.
It comes with a book recording the names of all the subscribers (somewhere over 3,500 of them, at a quick count) with a beautifully illuminated frontispiece.
The present owner of Whiligh, Mr. Hardcastle, wanted the cabinet to go back to Rye, if possible to the Town Hall, and after the Mayor and Mayoress had been over to look at it they were able to accept gratefully this very handsome gift, which was brought over last week and now stands in the Mayor's Parlour. The opportunity has been taken for the display cabinet normally there, also a gift to the Council, to be sent to Beckley for restoration; but we are assured that room will be found for both when the earlier one is returned.
Doubtless among our readers are people who subscribed for the 1931 presentation. Would someone like to tell us more about it - has anyone, for instance, a news paper cutting describing the ceremony, or a photograph?
About a dozen years ago, Rye WI held a Mediaeval Fayre. One of the attractions was the opportunity to pose for photographs in a full-scale replica of the town stocks, made by Ellis Bros as a present for the WI. This was a popular idea, and the stocks were later borrowed by other local organisations for the same purpose - and, inevitably, someone somewhere didn't return them.
They must be still around? In a garage, at the back of a village hall, up in an attic or down a cellar?Stocks are, of course, basically planks mounted on side supports in such a way that a person's head and hands are held firmly while either Mum takes a photo or the enraged populace throws rotten eggs, depending on the century. The Bonfire Boys would be glad to have them for use as part of the Bonfire Bonanza on 21 September; but Rye could do with them back anyway.
We are asking local Parish Councils if they could make enquiries in their villages, and something may come of this; but in the meantime, could readers try and recall any local events in which stocks were featured - just in case they were Rye's?
2.
Mrs. Assunta Hulme, of Cadborough Cliff, died on 3 September; the funeral has taken place. She is survived by her husband John, their four daughters and one son, and grandchildren. The family have lived in Rye for some thirty years. Mrs. Hulme will be sorely missed by the many people to whom her skilled hands have given relief from pain over the years - a gift which she was always willing to use when it was needed.
Mr. Reg Chubb, of Fishmarket Road, died in St. Helen's Hospital on 4 September. His widow Pamela survives him. Mr. Chubb came to Rye some fifteen years ago, having been an export manager, in which capacity he was on one memorable occasion presented to the queen and Prince Philip. He managed the shop at the Rye Bay Caravan Park, and later became caretaker at Tilling Green School. He will perhaps be best remembered as Treasurer of two local groups - Rye Ratepayers Association and Rye Bowls Club, by whose members he will be greatly missed, both as Treasurer and friend. Cremation takes place today (Wednesday) at Hastings at noon.
Mr. Cecil French, of Tillingham Avenue, died suddenly at his home yesterday. The funeral is provisionally arranged for Monday (16th) at 1.45 at St. Mary's, followed by private cremation at Hastings. We shall have a full obituary next week.
"It might have been supposed that the outbreak of war would have broken the spirit of Mrs. Emmeline Pillson, formerly Lucas, nee Smythe, always Lucia..." is the opening sentence of Tom King's ambitious and in general extremely successful attempt to continue the story of high society in Tilling as it coped with the first few months of WW2.Frankly, we would quarrel with him on this point: no-one who knows Lucia could for one moment suppose any such thing! But "Lucia in Wartime" (Macmillan, £8.95) is an entertaining pastiche - with occasional lapses - of Benson's style, and relates in complicated and satisfying detail how the rival ladies pursue their ambitions, driving their husbands ahead of them and egged on by their friends and neighbours. Major Benjy runs the Home Guard (but was it not still called the LDV in 1939?), most of the domestic staff have left to make munitions, there is a little man down by the station who organises the black market, and Georgie has found himself a quite unexpected job at national level; we are not going to spoil the story by saying any more, but simply commend Mr. King's ingenuity. But is he right to put so much emphasis on the shortage of food during the first few months of the war? As far as we remember, there were no real problems, anyway in the country, at that stage - though if the book, had been set a couple of years later, things would have been different. Such quibbles apart (and Mr. King is far too young to remember WW2 at all, so he must be forgiven) "Lucia in Wartime" is a most enjoyable read, and we hope he will be encouraged to continue his account of a besieged Tilling in further instalments.
Some time ago we reported that the novelist Pamela Oldfield, who lives in Appledore, was working on a book to be set in the Rye fishing community in the period covering WWI, and would be glad to hear from people who had been part of that community. She tells us that she has received a great deal of help from local people in the course of her research for the book; there are too many to list individually among the acknowledgements, where she thanks them, but as they include Jack Doust and Harry Phillips we can be sure that her background will read authentically."The Gooding Girl" will be published by Century Hutchinson on 26 September - it will cost £9.95, but for that readers get a real block-buster almost 500 pages long and with a local setting. The dust-jacket shows a picture of the heroine, and Mrs. Oldfield was pleased to learn that the photograph was actually taken on Camber beach. The story concerns three brothers, one fishing out of Hastings, one out of Rye and the third with a boatyard here, and it covers the period from 1910 to the mid-1920s; Mrs. 0ldfield decided to stop short of the lifeboat disaster because she was anxious not to cause distress to local families by mingling fact and fiction there.She adds "I spent many happy years in Rye, Camber and Winchelsea Beach earlier in my life, and if the book gives pleasure then I shall feel I have said 'Thank vou'."
3 -THE RYE GAZETTE, 11 September 1985
Reporting to the Crime Prevention Panel meeting on Wednesday, Chief Inspector Philip Dyson had good news for Rye - bad news for burglars. In the first six months of 1985 there were only two burglaries from dwellings in the town – while there were 16 in Guestling over the same periods. There were a further nine burglaries from non-domestic premises, 16 thefts from vehicles, 17 thefts of vehicles (some of which were "borrowed" and later recovered) and 9 cases of criminal damage. A total of 102 crimes were committed in the town over the half-year, but this figure includes assaults, etc., which are not really the concern of our obviously very successful Neighbourhood Watch scheme.
Chief Inspector Dyson added that in the sub-division as a whole there was a 48.5% detection rate for all crimes (the national average is 17%), with the burglary detection rate at 62.6%; the GAZETTE would like to congratulate him and his officers on this figure, the highest in Sussex.
The closure of the police station at night is due to come into effect as soon as British Telecom has completed the phone link with Hastings Police Station from the box outside the door. But the importance of the 999 call was emphasised as the quickest means of getting help; in Bexhill recently such a call from a suspicious neighbour produced a very satisfactory result for the police.
The press book shows £200-worth of criminal damage done to an Austin Mini parked outside the Globe Inn late on Friday night, 30 August. A collision in East Guldeford on Saturday between a police vehicle and a double-decker bus resulted in severe damage to the police car and slight damage to the bus, though no-one was hurt; the interest lies in the fact that this happened at 2.45 in the morning, and the officers had been “anxious to speak to the driver of the bus regarding its movements at such an hour" says the press book demurely. A man will be appearing before Rye Magistrates.
• As from the first Sunday in October, there will be no buses in or out of Rye on a Sunday until next summer. Last winter the 50 service vanished on Sundays, but the 799 continued; this year, this also goes (they both run Rye/Hastings via Icklesham). On weekdays the 50 and 799 will alternate to provide an hourly service, as they did last winter.The winter timetable for Hastings and Districtis not yet available, but their Mr. Atkins has promised to let us have a draft as soon as possible; in fact, he says, the other alterations affecting Rye are the same as last winter's.
• "The GAZETTE has always had a great deal of feedback about British Rail, and very little about bus services. Is this, we wonder, because our mostly Rye-based readers don't use the buses much - or is it simply that in general people are more satisfied with the bus services than they are with the trains?
We have now been able to contact the D o T's information office about the bypass public consultation dates. It seems that the October date was only intended to be a provisional booking, and was cancelled when it was clear that the plans could not be ready in time. No new date has yet been fixed, either provisionally or otherwise. So we linger on in limbo.
ESCC Highways Department gives very long notice that the B208 will be closed at the Ferry Road crossing on Sunday, 10 November, between 4 am and 9 am, to enable British Rail to carry out maintenance work on the crossing. Pedestrian access will not be affected.We will remind readers about this the previous Wednesday, but it is worth bearing in mind if you are likely to be planning an early start from that end of the town on 10 November - because a vehicle travelling between, for instance, the Queen Adelaide and the Oasis early that morning will be diverted via Broad Oak, Horns Cross, Clayhill and Four Oaks:
On Monday, plenty of cars were cheerfully driving past the Road Closed notice into the Mint (GAZETTE no. 143) - and laboriously backing out again for a bumpy escape up West Street; we wonder if drivers can't read or just don't?
4.
At the party in the Town Hall which preceded the final concert on Saturday evening, Rye Festival chairman Jim Simpson had a long list of thank-ycus: to the generous sponsors, both local and (this year for the first time) national; to Rother and Rye Councils, ESCC and South East Arts for grants; to the advertisers in the programme (he is sorry the programmes ran out, they printed the same number as last year but they sold quicker); to the Mayor for the use of the Town Hall during the week, and to Gus Gale for his recurrent scene-shifting; to Anne Wood for organising the party, to Ralph Wood for his guided walks and Vera Proctor for her generous hospitality to his two groups; to the North Kent Building Society for acting as Festival box-office; to the Alliance Building Society who paid for the printing of the brochures; and to the many subscribers, without whom the Festival could not take place, as well as to those who made such generous private donations. Among his audience were the Chairman of Rother, the Mayors and Mayoresses of Hastings and Rye2 and the first Rye Festival chairman Brian Lamble.
Jim told us afterwards that this year's Festival has been one of the most successful. Each evening had some degree of sponsorship, and in most cases the artistes' fees were covered by ticket sales, but there are of course lots of other expenses which make it impossible even to guess yet at the profit or loss made over the week. However, the Festival is not intended primarily to make money but to give- pleasure, and this it certainly did; bookings were good throughout, with a hund_ more seats sold for the first concert than in 1984, and the final one booked up completely. Chris Barber, on the Tuesday night, gave particularly good value,even posing for publicity photos with staff from his sponsor the Midland Bank. Ralph Wood's guided walks attracted nearly a hundred people each time, to the astonishment of passing motorists and (nearly but not quite) the detriment of his voice. The two films, chosen to mark British Film Year, also drew good audiences. The ebullient Sheila Steafel and her impassive accompanish Jonathan Cohen pleased their hearers very much, and on Saturday morning Janet and Nina Thorndike presented a stimulating selection of readings on the theme of Mothers and Daughters, with Catherine Collison's lovely true voice filling the Town Hall unaccompanied. Kitty French found there was not time to fly the kites her enthusiastic class had made, but there are subsequent reports that they took to the air very successfully.
Congratulations, of course, to Carolyne Simpson, whose final Festival this is. And next year? No organiser has yet volunteered, but it seems certain that the event will not die, even if it has to be slightly curtailed; the committee's dozen or so members, even though they spent most of last week shifting chairs and serving drinks, are keen to ensure its continuance.
On the last day of the Festival, Rye and District Flower Club chose "Symphony in Flowers" for the theme of this year's show at the FE Centre. The set piece atone end of the big room was beautifully and ingeniously arranged to incorporate and illustrate in flowers the instruments and other trimmings of the orchestra - even down to the floral cushion on the piano stool!This show invariably makes the best of the Centre, from the decorations at the entrance gates to the flowers in the canteen; the big pedestal arrangements, one of the competition classes, echoed the symphonic theme and added their magnificent colours to the scene. The Rye club's show always has a competitive element, and it was pleasant to see many local names among the winners - though members come from far and wide.
Mrs. Vickie Piper won the Novice Class "A Song Title" followed by Mrs. B. Jacobs and Mrs. J. Talbot-Smith; the Pedestal Class was won by Mrs. Olivia Parkes (Mrs. Beryl Rixon and Mrs. Elizabeth Goodwin); "My favourite kind of music" was won by Mrs. Eine Moore (Mrs. Pat Orpin and Mrs. Goodwin), and the award for "Moonlight Sonata" went to Mrs. Orpin (Mrs. S. Fletcher and Mrs. Parkes).Winners in the Inter Club class were Bexhill (East Riding and Winchelsea).The "Best in Show award went to Mrs. Parkes's pedestal, with Mrs. Moore's favourite music as runner-up. Judge was Mrs. Gladys Rae from Kent, whose written comments were most interesting.
5.
• In view of the eccentric business hours at Rye Station - which now seems to be open or not entirely at the whim of the management - readers might like to be reminded that Baldwins Travel, opposite the Post Office, also sell train tickets. A recent traveller tells us, too, that they gave him a much better financial deal than that offered to him at the station. It seems that the Savers price range- which we mentioned as confusing when we wrote about ticket changes some time ago - is too confusing for whoever was on duty at the station then; but Baldwins understand it, and can sell a ticket at the normal BR price across the desk from 9 to 5.30 six days a week - and you can't ask fairer than that!
• The great big cup in the window of Mary Lestocq's Studio in Market Road is awarded quarterly by the London Portrait Group. Mary won it for her study of "Sisters on a Stile", the charming portrait on the easel beside it; the young sitters are Alicia and Laura Turner of Winchelsea Beach. From the end of September, Mary will be running her Market Road studio in a different way; instead of having someone in the shop, she will have a portable telephone beside her as she works, and perhaps a message pad outside for times when she is heavily involved in the darkroom and can't even pause to answer the phone. She will also have an answerphone on which messages can be left. studio will be closed all day on Tuesdays.
• Owing to the discontinuance of the take-away next door, The Ice Box in Cinque Ports Street is now offering a full take-away service - the shop is open from around 9 am to perhaps 8 pm, "as long as the customers are there" says Mr. Sayell, who will of course be continuing with the normal ice-cream parlour and cafe trade as well.
• Bearing in mind that Rother staff only had on Monday the draft minutes, and that some applications are granted subject to various conditions, the following Rye decisions were taken last week by Rother's Planning Committee. Approval went to an extension to the Rycon warehouse in Rye Harbour Road; to a kitchen exten sion in Mill Road; to the reconstruction of the Colebrooke's factory into four dwellings with parking; to the replacement of the outside staircase on the former Colebrooke warehouse on The Strand; to an extension on the first floor of 14/15 Watchbell Street; to change of use for 39 The Mint for the sale of health-foods; to change of use for the first floor at 1 East Street from optician's consulting-rooms to insurance broker's office; and for a small rear extension in Udimore Road. The application for work on 1-3 Bridge Place was deferred for a site inspection; and the proposal for resurrecting the two Sheffield Place cottages, ouried deep inside the corner of Lion Street and the High Street behind the George Hotel car park, was refused on grounds of over-development and inadequate access.
The current planning list contains an application for a front porch in Marley Road; for a new shop-front (a central inset door flanked by small-paned windows) for 32 The Mint, the Cyma Shop, and alterations to its outbuildings at the back; and for an enlarged dormer window on the second floor of Whitefriars, with the installation of a full-height 3' wooden garden gate in the street wall uphill from the Conduit Hill house recently converted into two dwellings.
One of Rye's landmarks which nobody will mourn has vanished from the Salts: Rother has demolished the old air-raid shelter. Colin Hudson tells us that it took a week to do the job (and apologises for the obstruction caused by the equipment parked on the road) since by its very nature the place was stoutly built. But it has now all gone, and the scar left will be grassed over in due course. Fishmarket Road people, and the police, are very pleased to see the last of the shelter and its casual occupants.
Just room here to pass on to Mr. Hudson a compliment from a reader, who remarked to us how particularly fine Rother's flower borders in the town are looking just at present - not only up the top of the town but on the Salts as well.
6.
• We are late with our congratulations to Sean Cunning (whose family comes from Shrewsbury but who is best known round here as a recent Assistant Manager at the George) and Gill Court of Love Lane, who were married in St. Mary's on 24 August. The service was followed by a reception at the George Hotel. Sean is now on the staff of the Strand Palace Hotel in the West End, and Gill has just finished her training as a dental assistant; the couple will live in London.
• Shane Bourne of King's Avenue and Marie Duffy of Lea Avenue were married at St. Mary's on Saturday. Marie was attended by four bridesmaids - Shane's twin sisters, her own very email sister and a friend's young daughter. All the dresses were made by Mrs. Brett of Henley Close; the bride wore a charming and unusual full crinoline dress trimmed in blue, while the older bridesmaids ware dressed in blue with white sashes and the younger in white with blue, all with flower circlets in their hair.The reception was held at Thomas Peacocks School,and the honeymoon is being spent in Torquay.
• Also honeymooning in Torquay are Andrew Paine of New Winchelsea Road and Isobel Conner of St. Leonards, who were married on Saturday at St. Leonards. Andrew,whose brother Philip was his best man, is well-known to regulars at Vidlers' sale room, though usually only by his Christian name; Isobel is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Conner who were for several years the proprietors of the Fish Shop in The Mint. The couple will live in St. Leonards, though Andrew will continue to work at Vidlers.
• Adrian Townsend of Landgate Square and Louise Pycroft of Little Common, Bexhill, were married at Little Common on Saturday.Adrian is the doctor son of Bill and Betty Townsend, and has just completed three years of GP training; since Louise qualified as a staff nurse a year ago, she has been working in the intensive care unit at RESH. Louise was attended by her sister Jo, a small nephew, and Adrian's niece Sarah, in Kate Greenaway-type outfits; Adrian's best man was a friend from medical school days. Among the guests were the crew members (and their wives) who had sailed with Adrian in "April Magic" in the recent Fastnet Race (GAZETTE no. 143). The couple left the church in a 1928 car normally on loan to the Montague Motor Museum, the property of a friend; but they are now touring northern France in something rather less spectacular!
All GAZETTE subscriptions are due for renewal before the end of this month, and with nearly 400 receipts to write out we shall be grateful to those who don't leave it until the very last minute.If you would like your subscription collected when your next copy is delivered, please put a note in the letter-box and we will ring the bell - it would be appreciated if you could then have the money ready, preferably in an envelope with your name on?
The next quarter runs from 2 October until 18 December; then we have two weeks off, and the remainder of the half-year runs from 8 January to 26 March. The quarterly subscription is therefore £3 for 12 weeks or EA for the full 24-week half-year.Cheques should be made out to The Rye Gazette; cash payments should come in an envelope with dour name and address or pick-up point on it, please. All receipts will go out on 2 October, but your next copy after we receive your subscription will be ticked beside your name (once for 12 weeks, twice for 24, as usual).
As from October, subscriptions are only accepted on the understanding that if the Editor were to be laid so dramatically low that the GAZETTE had to cease publication at short notice, the money would not be refunded; our subscription list is now so large that it would be virtually impossible to arrange this. Instead, the total amount of subscription money outstanding would be given to the RNLI, as being a charity with universal appeal and strong local connections. This seems the best solution to an otherwise worrying problem; after all, we are all mortal! (If the shut-down were only temporary, of course, the subscription period would simply be extended to compensate for the weeks missed.)
7.
• Once again this weekend the trains are in disarray, owing to work on the Tonbridge line on Saturday as well as Sunday. We asked BR's press office at Waterloo how much longer this was going on - the original announcement had said it would be for the summer. It seems that the work is nowhere near finished yet and is likely to continue throughout the winter, so the advice remains the same; whether or not we warn you specifically, check before you travel. Hastings 429325 is our nearest enquiry bureau, and they have a "stacking system" for calls so you must get through eventually if you keep ringing for long enough.
• Joanne Haviland had a treat for her Rye Dance Centre pupils during the summer holi days - a summer school for a week, with dancing in the morning followed by afternoon activities which included a trip to a London show.It gave pupils from one class the chance to see the work done by others, and was fun for everyone.Thenew term begins on Monday with a Modern Workout class, and they look forward to using the new floor upstairs at the Community Centre - no more splinters!
• Speaker at Rye Memorial Hospital League of Friends AGM at the Town Hall on Tues day, 8 October, at 7.30 will be Mr. A R Martindale, District General Manager of Hastings Health Authority. He will presumably be talking about the Authority's plans for the area, which we discussed at length in GAZETTE no. 119 and subsequently; it should be an interesting evening. Since we cannot guarantee a report in the GAZETTE on something taking place on a Tuesday evening (largely depending on the behaviour of the photocopier earlier in the day), we urge readers to go and hear for themselves.
• Rye Lions can still take goods for sale at their Charity Shop on 21 and 22 Septem ber at the Community Centre; one year, as far as we remember, they had two pianos (uprights, admittedly).So clear out your garage, clear out your attic, your garden shed (and if you find the Rye town stocks - see front page - ring the GAZETTE not the Lions) - then phone and someone will cheerfully come and take it all 52f to recycle in a good cause. They will also, of course, need customers, but the Charity Shop's reputation makes sure that buyers come with alacrity - indeed, a second visit is often rewarding if there are replacement goods to fill the spaces left by the first wave of shoppers.
• Welcome to the new Secretary/Warden of the Community Centre, Mrs. Yvonne Metcalf who starts her job this week. The hours are different under the new regime; Mrs. Metcalf will be in the Community Centre office every Monday from 9 to 12 and from 5 to 7, and every Friday from 9 to 12.
• For the record, the RAFA's Dakota trip did finally take place, and they had very good value for their £12, flying as far as Eastbourne and then back over Rye - SO if you could hardly believe your eyes on a recent Sunday evening, that was our magnificent men (and women) in their flying machine!
• Win Allen tells us that the Rye Old Scholars' Association is hoping to organise a Stone Age Reunion at the George Hotel on 30 November. Anyone who was at the Grammar School before September 1939 is invited to make a note of the date; more details will appear in the next Old Scholars' Bulletin and the local press.
• There is no Battle of Britain Sunday service here this year, but the RAFA standard would not be available anyway; Gordon Stanbridge is taking it to Westminster Abbey on Sunday morning (15th) as one of a contingent of only 20 RAFA standard-bearers who will be joining the RAF Colour Squadron there.He tells us it willbe hard on the shoulders, because the large number of dignitaries attending the service all have to be appropriately saluted as they arrive:
• Saturday week (21st) looks like being a very busy day in the town. In addition to the Bonfire Bonanza at the Town Hall and the Lions' Charity Shop at the Commu nity Centre, both from 10 to 4, the firemen have a jumble sale at the Fire Station at 1.30 (and would be glad of jumble for it), and the Women's Section of the British Legion are holding a mini-market and teas at the FE Centre from 2. There is also a seminar on transport at Upper School, so all four of the town's larger halls are in use.
Christian Lunch Club coffee morning (bring-and-buy, books, etc.), Red Cross Centre, 10.30 to 12
Civil Service Retirement Fellowship coffee morning, FEC, U. First meeting of Scout Troop, Scout Hut, 7.30 (GAZETTE no. 143)
Mayoress's coffee morning for RAFA Wings Appeal, TH, 10 to 12
Museum Association outing, Thames Barrier and Greenwich Battle of Britain Sunday organ concert (Nigel Spooner) for Wings Appeal, TPS Upper School, 2.30 (GAZETTE no. 144)
First meeting of 16-19 Club, CC, 7.30 (GAZETTE no. 144)
Licensing of the Rev. Mike Havell as Team Vicar, St. Mary's, 7.30 (light refreshments after the service provide an opportunity to meet Mr. and Mrs. Havell and their family)
Thrift Shop (handing-in only), Red Cross Centre, 10.30 to 12.30 Mencap "Wool Party” Room 2, FEC, from 7.30 (see below).
• Congratulations to the Rev. Stuart Davison and his wife Gill, of the Baptist Church and Udimore Road, on the birth on 29 August of their son Joseph Stuart, a brother for Eleanor.
• Congratulations, too, to Linda and Reyn Hauff of Tunbridge Wells on the birth of their daughter Katie Amelia - a first grandchild for Jean and Dennis Kemp of New Road.
• Good luck and fingers crossed for Philip Martin of the Old Brickyard and the High Street, today fishing off Iceland for the TVS Sea-Angling Championship!
• Joan Parkes whose sister is at present a patient in Hellingly, would be glad to hear from anyone who visits there and could offer her a lift; she would, of course, gratefully pay her share of the petrol.
• The next meeting of the Local History Group, on 19 September at 7.30 at the Library, will be its first AGM; after the business of the meeting Frank Palmer will show slides of Rye.
• Tony and Pauline Meyer at the Decorator's Warehouse in Cinque Ports Street have a large number of wallpaper sample books which they no longer require and will be happy to give away to anyone who can make use of them.
• Playden WI have some seats left for their outing to Chartwell on Tuesday, 17th leaving Rope Walk at 9 am and hoping to get back by 7. The coach fare is £3.25, but this does not include entrance to the house (which is a National Trust property, so members should be sure to bring their cards). If you would like to join the party, phone Mrs. Pope.
• The NSPCC coffee morning in Church Square last Wednesday raised £165.
• Vickie Piper tells us that Mencap's Wool Party on Wednesday will give knitters an opportunity to look at and purchase from a good range of wools then and there, with facilities for ordering extra ounces later.
• In view of their impending move (not, we are glad to say, out of Rye), the Hadfielde are holding an "attic sale" tomorrow in their garden (indoors if wet) at / The Grove, the end nearest the school. Jenny is taking the opportunity to clear out, among other things, a good deal of equipment for babies and small children which her family no longer uses. The sale opens at /0 and runs all day - or until they sell out, of course...
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)