Two months ago, Colin Marsh and Carl Bagwell were so worried about the increasing amount of theft and vandalism on boats along the Harbour reaches that they went to have a chat with Rye Police. The Harbourmaster put forward a new idea: we have Neighbourhood Watch for the town, he said - what about Riverwatch for the harbour? With the approval of the Chief Constable, the new scheme was set up at a meeting earlier this month, and six co-ordinators were appointed, each with his own stretch of the 43 miles of river. Colin Marsh has the eastern side of the Harbour and Ron Caister the western; Ronnie Simmons is in charge of the Fish- market, Derek Phillips and Noel Varley share Rock Channel and John Royle keeps an eye on Strand Quay. The emphasis is on prevention, and boat-owners are being lent the special marker pens to identify their property; stickers are expected in due course. But the Home Office, which supplies the Neighbourhood Watch window-stickers, was itself stuck when it came to Riverwatch. Readers will remember that our Crime Alert scheme (which turned into Neighbourhood Watch for .-administrative reasons) was the first in the south; now Rye has gone one better, and as far as Sussex Police know, Rye Riverwatch is the first scheme of its kind in the whole country.
Forty years ago there was a small ceremony on the Tilling Green Estate. It was a rather different place then: just six houses in Marley Road comprised the entire estate being built by Rye Borough Council, and the ceremony was to mark the admission of the very first couple to live there. The Mayoress, Miss Mary Warren, handed them a golden horseshoe to mark the occasion and bring them luck which it certainly did, since last weekend Kathleen and George Robus celebrated their Golden Wedding, still in the same Marley Road house.
The Robuses had been married at St. Mary's on 23 November 1935. Mrs. Robus was a Blackhall, and the next generation have stayed loyal to Rye; although one son works in Germany, their daughter Mrs. Susan Polley and their other two sons are all still Rye-based. Mr. Robus is now retired, but used to work as a taxi-driver, and was with Bryans before moving to the Central Garage.
Mary Warren, who died some years ago, is commemorated by a seat outside the police station. But the couple to whom she handed the lucky horseshoe so long ago are flourishing, and on Saturday their children, grandchildren and friends all joined to celebrate with Kathleen and George Robus a half-century of happy married life. Congratulations:
On Christmas Day Mr. and Mrs. A.R. Hobbs of Cooper Road will be marking their 65th wedding anniversary. It seems likely that they have been married as long as anyone in Rye, and their friends would be very interested to know if anyone else here had their Diamond Wedding in 1980 - or even earlier?
There are three candidates (assuming none of them has got cold feet by today, the last date for withdrawing a nomination) for the 19 December by-election for the vacancy on the Town Council: John Ciccone and Gerry Fortsch, who were such close second and third runners last time, and Francis Rowe. We hope to publish state ments from all three contenders shortly.
Colin Marsh and Bob Deacon, who came fourth and fifth in June, have not lost interest, Colin tells us; they were reluctant to put the town to extra expense for such a comparatively short period of possible office, but we shall see them both as candidates in 1987.
2.
Mrs. Ellen Padgham, formerly of Peasmarsh, died on 21 November at her home in Poppyfields, Playden, which she shared with her daughter Mrs. Card; the funeral takes place today at Peasmarsh Church at 2. Mrs. Padgham had attained the very venerable age of 98.
What could be a new bus horror story is brewing up for 5 January.
A press release from Hastings & District announces major changes to some bus services and school transport arrangements, and says "most direct journeys between Rye and Broad Oak via Udimore ... will be withdrawn" and replaced by a County Rider service between Rye and Broad Oak via Northiam! How Cadborough people are supposed to get their shopping home up the hill under these circumstances is not stated - and as for Udimore...?
ESCC is said to be explaining the arrangements it is making for new school contract services and the County Rider bus. But nothing has appeared yet by way of press release.
Thomas Peacocke parents on routes 50, 48, 40 and 41 should have received via the school a letter about the new arrangements; its tear-off slip has to be return' this Friday, or the pupil won't get a bus pass for the start of next term!
It sounds total chaos, unless there is a lot more publicity, clearly set out and very soon. All we can do now is warn you, and offer to lend you the seven pages of amended timetable sent us by H & D (which makes no mention of alterations to route 50, referred to in the school letter). H & D's Marketing Officer is Paul Atkins (Hastings 433711) - detailed enquiries should go to him, since he presumably knows what ESCC is playing at. Maybe by next week we'll know too.
British Rail fares go up on 12 January. Season-ticket holders are warned to order new ones in time to collect and pay for them by Saturday, 11th; if you leave it until the last minute, you risk the station not being open that day! Specific new fare rates will be given in a press release issued in three weeks' time - too late for our 18 December issue; we will give local ones on 8 January. Family Railcards go up from £12 to £15; other railcards remain unchanged.
Christmas trains: they close down early on Christmas Eve, and there are none on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. From Friday (27th) to Tuesday (31st) the service is as usual, minus some commuter trains. On New Year's Day there is a Sunday serve, but as "through trains will operate between Hastings and Charing Cross in both directions" it is not clear what this means to us, since our present Sunday service is linked to engineering work on the Hastings/Charing Cross line. If you will be travelling from Rye on New Year's Day, check your journey times with special care.
Trains this weekend on Saturday as well as Sunday will be running "20 minutes later than advertised" between Hastings and Ashford, so if you have a connection to make you should check beforehand. The following week, Saturday will be a normal service (we enquired on behalf of Father Christmas, see below!)
Father Christmas will be visiting Rye again this year, by kind invitation of the Chamber of Trade. He will arrive at Rye Station just after 4 pm on Saturday, 7 December, and will take a longer route than usual to the George Hotel, going along Cinque Ports Street and under the Landgate, escorted by the TPS Band and the Rye Majorettes. At the George, he will switch on the town's Christmas lights and will be happy to receive any letters which children may want to give him. Then up Lion Street to the Town Hall; there the Mayor and Councillors greet him, he switches on the Christmas-tree lights, and joins briefly in carol-singing with the choir - but he is a very busy man and won't be able to stay long.
The Chamber of Trade, who annually provide the street lights, need an extra £500 this year for new cable; any contributions would be much appreciated.
3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 27 November 1985
• In recent weeks, nothing in the Post Office has been in the same place for more than 24 hours, or so it seems to customers - about the only familiar things are the faces of the staff, cheerful throughout it all. The old entrance has now completely vanished; although the work was still shuttered on Monday, it is possible to admire the nifty finish to the corner of the new room, and there is a neat little round-top window facing onto the street and another over the phone boxes. Beneath the big window is a stamp-machine and three letter-boxes (first- class, second-class and local mail); the handsome wooden outer door leads to a small entrance lobby with a glass door into the main office. Inside, there is a lot more room, with the old entrance and the room behind it incorporated into the public office; the counter is longer, and there are lots of smart desk units being installed round the walls. Except for the ceiling panels, the decorating has not yet been done; but we are puzzled to notice that whereas most of the exterior paint is white, the window of the Postmaster's office is painted dark green with black opening lights!
The extra counter space won't mean extra staff, as Mr. Clark told us some time ago; on Monday morning, an indignant customer complained, there was only one pigeon-hole open just before mid-day, with a queue stretching permanently to the door. However, an hour later we found three people on duty, with a much shorter queue. It seems to be a matter of luck.
• Along the road at the Baptist Church, Ellis Bros's workmen have been raising the roof for the new foyer. Having disposed of the chains buried in the concrete which were so disconcertingly discovered holding up the outside staircase, they have been busy setting the old stones from the steps frontage into the new wall between the windows, so that the extension will bear some relationship to the church itself. The new internal staircase will lead up to, a single door, which will also give access to stairs leading down to the hall below, so that everything can be reached directly from the road. Stuart Davison tells us that they hope to enter through the new foyer at Christmas, even though it will not be completely finished; the congregation has been able to use the church throughout the work.
At Rother's planning committee on Thursday, the supermarket plans got the final go-ahead - the new market access arrangements were passed. But there is local anxiety about the crossings situation (GAZETTE no. 153), and we understand that letters have gone to the County Council, who as Highways Authority are responsible for this aspect of the development.
Other planning applications were treated as follows (our information is from the draft minutes only, as usual). Approved, the renewal of permission for a temporary store at Long Products in Harbour Road; an extension in Lea Avenue; the conversion of 4 Sea View Terrace into two maisonettes (subject to no objection before the final date); and a new house on an "infilling" site in the Old Brickyard. Tuckers Restaurant was refused permission for a hanging sign in The Mint. Four applications were deferred: the position about Wee Nestie in Fishmarket woad is still under discussion, and there is to be a site inspection of Frank Golden's and the new Anglia office, who have repainted without waiting for per mission though Anglia have not put up their proposed hanging sign.
• The current week's planning list contains, at last, an application for the Sports Centre. The plans show a building nearly 10m high, with brick-faced walls and a roof of sheet steel in mushroom colour. The main hall is 32m x 17m; there are also two smaller rooms, one shown as a squash court and the other as a "multi-gym". Between the two sports areas a staircase leads to a club-room and bar overlooking them, with cloakrooms and storage space below.
The building will run from just beyond the gardens of the two Grove houses nearest the school, as far as we could tell, stopping short at the little brick shed outside the Library window which houses the pumping arrangements. Its own windows are confined to the central cloak-room/club-room area, and the walls are mostly blank. Access is suitable for users in wheelchairs, but it seems odd, in view of the size of the main hall, that there is no double-door access to it.
4.
• The Poppy Appeal collection in Rye and Winchelsea, Winchelsea Beach, Iden, Playden, East Guldeford and Camber amounted this year to £1,948 (street and house-to-house), £85 up on last year's total despite the disastrous weather which brought the street collection to a premature end at 3 pm.
• Rye Scouts are very happy to report that their Christmas Fair on Saturday resulted in the splendid profit of £340.
• For the past three years Mrs. Gwen Fitz-Hugh of Pottingfield Road has been selling lottery tickets at local bingo sessions. She has now raised the marvellous total of £1,000 for Community Centre funds, and the Association would like to say a public and well-earned thank-you to her.
• £170 was raised for Action Research for the Crippled Child from a bridge after noon held recently at Cleveland House, Winchelsea, by kind invitation of Mrs. Sarah Jempson.
• Saturday's coffee morning in Fishmarket Road raised £32 for the leper colony and drew, among a number of local people, four French visitors who had seen a poster and gone along:
• After raising £50 for St. Jude's Refuge for battered wives at Bexhill with a coffee morning recently, the local supporters' group has finally decided to disband. Although they have contributed around £2,000 to the hostel over the past ten years, they find it very hard to raise any public sympathy for this cause-locally, Mrs. Yvonne Metcalf tells us. (Doubtless if the hostel were here, there would be no problem; but Bexhill is just too far away for Rye to feel neighbourly with it.)
The Christmas entertainment at Freda Gardham School this year is being mounted by the younger children only, during school time, and parents and friends will already know all about it. Entertainment by some of the older children, how- ever is being offered at a fund-raising coffee morning held by the school's PTA in New Road on Wednesday, 11 December, from 10, when the general public will be very welcome.
The Lower School's Christmas entertainment has been cancelled owing to industrial action by members of the staff; but the carol concert at Upper School takes place on 19 December at 7.30.
Term ends on Friday, 20th, and begins again on Wednesday, 8 January.
Hearing in casual conversation about a recent early-morning disturbance at Banisters Corner, when apparently drunken teenagers were scrapping and shouting in the road, we asked if it had been reported to the police? We-e-ell, said our informant, it wasn't exactly a crime. So we asked Chief Inspector Dyson whether something of this kind should rate a 999 call, and he said very definitely yes; even teenage brawls can lead to trouble and perhaps tragedy, either as a direct result or if a car should come upon them round a bend. And it is not of course, a case of putting the full majesty of the Lewes-based Law into operation; a 999 call will merely send to the spot the local patrol car which could otherwise be lurking elsewhere in the darkened town, with its two occupants only too anxious for something to do. As we have said often before, the police really do want to know at the time about anything which isn't quite as it should be - and this includes fifteen-year-olds making a nuisance of themselves under people's bedroom windows at 2 am.
There were some interesting new lines at the Craft Market at the FEC last Saturday; the next Market is in a fortnight's time, on 7 December, and it then closes down for three months until April.
The final WI Market of the year (they reopen in March) will be on Friday, 13 December, when special Christmas items will be on sale and goodies ordered earlier by provident housewives will be ready for collection.
5.
The Rye Hospital Action Group has now embarked on the final stage of the job which it was set up to do. The members today discuss a draft report on what the closure of the hospital would mean to Rye; this includes extracts from some of the hundred-plus letters sent by local people, and covers all the points made in them. When the report has been agreed, it will go to the Community Health Council for forwarding to the Hastings Health Authority, together with copies of the petition which at the final count included 8,500 names. All we can do then is to wait and see, fingers crossed.
Only perhaps 75 people - half the number at the previous meeting at the Town Hall - turned up at the League of Friends' meeting at Upper School on Wednesday to talk about the future of the hospital. Someone said that this reflected a cooling-off of interest; it seems more likely that it reflected the absence of a speaker - it was Mr. Martindale's presence which drew the crowd at the Town Hall (GAZETTE no. 150). Anyway, Mrs. Ruth Lawson-Tait spoke from the platform about developments so far, though there was not really much to report apart from the Action Group's vast list of names and collection of supportive letters. The various people at high level to whom the League had written had mostly either not replied or passed the buck. They had, however, had letters of support from several of the local consultants. Dr. Jeelani was the only one of our local doctors who spoke (perhaps the only one present?); he referred to meetings between HHA staff and the local medical practices, and it was clear that in his view the hospital is certainly needed. He suggested that if the League could fund cubicles in the two wards it would be easier to keep them full, since women patients could then be put in the male ward if necessary.
It was stated in the course of the meeting that whatever happens to the hospital, the casualty service there is likely to go. This was opposed very strongly by Ray Fooks; Thomas Peacocke School, with its 1250 lively pupils, frequently has occasion to send a child up to Rye Hospital with minor damage (as do Leasam House, Freda Gardham and Tilling Green). Since a teacher has to accompany every pupil unless a parent can be contacted, he had worked out that if every case went over to Hastings they would be likely to lose, in terms of time, one quarter of a teacher over the year - unfairly shifting the burden from the Health to the Education Authority. (Among the letters received by the Action Group are some from local farms and workshops making much the same point; if this were summer, there would doubtless be similar protests from Pontins and the caravan sites. Will the ambulance service be able to cope with the extra demand on its services, we wonder?)
A questionnaire - not always, we thought, very clear - was handed round at the meeting for return to the League at the Hospital as soon as possible. (These should not be left at the Post Office for the Action Group.)'
Jimper Sutton tells us that Rye Bonfire Night will be happening next year, and the date is fixed: Saturday, 4 October. This early date, collectors told him, has very basic advantages; if spectators are not wearing overcoats and gloves, cash flows more freely into the collecting tins!
Organisations collecting on their own behalf during the 1985 procession benefited as follows: NSPCC £120, Pett Level Rescue Boat £97, Firemen's Benevolent Fund £176, and Rye Lions £170. Confusion over the British Legion tins will be resolved before the AGM in February when the remaining money, some £150, will be allotted.
Big changes are planned for next year, since the Bonfire Boys have been promised some really useful support with the running of the evening - and indeed of the whole day, with events in the town earlier as well. The order of the procession will be altered, theyexpect more tableaux, the bonfire will not be lit until the fireworks are over, and there is a proposal for sponsored set-pieces advertising local firms. The temptation of seeing "THE RYE GAZETTE" in vivid yellow spangles over the Salts, however briefly, is quite irresistible; we will be there:
6.
A report from the Planning Officer to Rother's Policy & Resources committee tonight advocates a feasibility study of the various marina proposals for the Harbour area. As he says, there are now three with planning permission, but no sign of any of them being implemented (as far as we remember, these are at the North Point beach-works, the salt-marsh beyond the Sailing Club, and - with a lot of housing attached - half-way up the Rother). The RDA is interested, and will pay 75% of the estimated E20,000 cost of such a study, the rest coming from the SWA, ESCC, and Rother. "The provision of water based recreational facilities offers considerable scope for employment creation" says Mr. Robinson, "but it will be essential to ensure that the creation of such opportunities does not prejudice the unique wildlife value and the character of Rye Harbour."
The same committee will be considering a recommendation that a Rother District Museum Curator be appointed as from April 1986.
Erreys Ltd of Uckfield are now the sponsors of the East Sussex League, to which Rye Cricket Club belongs. In this connection, a new Erreys Trophy is awarded to the member club which "by its words, deeds and actions, both on and off the field, provides an atmosphere in which cricket can be enjoyed in a true sporting spirit". The 12 member clubs voted for the trophy to be shared, in its inaugural year, by Rye and Herstmonceux. All those who had anything to do with Rye CC in 1985, says Mike Thomas - groundsmen, tea ladies, umpires, scorers, barmen, suppor ters, sponsors and players - are to be congratulated on this success.
Congratulations, too, to youngsters Matthew Wilkinson and Philip Bourn, both of Udimore Road, who attended a weekend cricket residential course in August and recently had trials at the County Ground, Hove. (What is it about Udimore Road, says Mike, that produces so many good cricketers?)
We have pointed out several times to Ralph Olesen's Highways office at Bexhill the bad patch of "pavement" connecting the Ferry Road crossing with the Goods Yard footpath. It is only a few yards long, but the level has sunk below the road surface with the result that in wet weather it is a permanent puddle and, when it freezes, a very small ice-rink. Pedestrians either have to get their feet wet, risk slipping (as several did last winter) or step out into the traffic. Please, Mr. Olesen, could we have a couple of barrowloads of tarmac down there, just until the supermarket work actually starts? (If it ever does...)
People with the new British Telecom sockets in their homes may like to know that 3-metre extension flexes, adaptors for plugging two phones into one socket, and a handy soft rubber gadget for holding a phone between shoulder and chin leaving both hands free, are all on sale (£3.95 each) at British Telecom's Hastings shop.
In this Parliamentary constituency each year more than 200 people die from smoking related diseases - 133 men, 71 women - one in eight of all the people who die in the area. The Health Education Council offers this sinister statistic, which we simply pass on to readers...
Trying on a dress at Flair Separates (GAZETTE no. 155) a customer was shown into the temporary changing-room at the back of the shop. She emerged very much amused; her building society business is now, of course, conducted further along the High Street, but - "I never thought to find myself taking my clothes off in the manager's office!" she said.
"Do you know your outside light is on?" we asked as we delivered to a Rye office last Wednesday. They did know; they always leave it on in cold weather - to keep the bush beside it warm!
7.
• Six senior members of Rye Majorettes, led by 18-year-old Sharon Oliver, lined up proudly at the Mariners Hotel on Thursday to present Vickie Piper with a cheque for £350! Her Mencap branch will put the money towards a holiday for some of the children at Butlins, Bognor, in the spring. The Majorettes collected the money during their weekly appearances at a holiday camp in New Romney; they have raised L2,400 for charity over the past eight years.
• From tomorrow the draft Register of Electors is available at the Council Offices, Post Office and Library. Voters (and those who will be 18 by 15 February) are asked to make a point of checking that their names are included. If yours is not, it is essential to contact the Electoral Registration Office at Bexhill Town Hall (Hastings 216321) by 16 December at the latest, or you won't be on the final list and therefore won't have a vote for any election in the coming year.
• Several Rye artists are among those giving work to be auctioned in Hastings Town Hall on the evening of 6 December in aid of the Paul Colley Fund. This has been set up to provide 24-hour "programming" for Paul, the handicapped small son of Kate and Tony Colley - Kate (Adams) was a former pupil at Thomas Peacocke School and Tony is a teacher at Hastings College of Art. More than 50 pictures will be on view from 4 December, and as well as our own Kitty French, Louis Turpin and Davida Smith there is work by many of the Hastings-based artists who regularly show at the Easton Rooms. If you see something at the viewing which you like, but you can't be there for the auction, there are arrangements for leaving bids.
• After our account (GAZETTE no. 154) of the RNLI memorial book, of which the two local pages now hang in the Lifeboat House, Mary Lestocq tells us that the station is hoping to build up a collection of lifeboat memorabilia - certificates, newspaper accounts, photographs, etc. - for display in the Lifeboat House. If you have anything of this kind which you would like to give to the collection - or which you would be willing to have photocopied if you don't want to part with the original - contact Mary Lestocq at her Studio in Market Road to talk about it.
• Many residents have been sorry to discover that the cheerful roadsweeper – who replaced Mr. Deadman when he retired in mid-July - is no longer with us. Mr. Cleghill was here for four months, and his friendly smile and helpful attitude were much appreciated in the town. Enquiries at Rother reveal that as one of a number of temporary staff taken on during the summer, his job came to an end with the season. However, his replacement is also on the temporary staff (Rother works on the "last in, first out" principle); we understand that in view of various ideas in the Technical Services melting-pot, a permanent appointment will be made until next year. Au revoir, Mr. Cleghill?
• Tollgate Video of New Winchelsea Road is offering free loan of the VHS video "Strong Kids, Safe Kids". This is a family guide dealing with the difficult question of child abuse and abduction; it is intended for parents and children to view together, and the presenter is Henry Winkler, well known to children as The Fonz from "Happy Days"; Yogi Bear, the Flintstones and the Smurfs appear too. Although primarily an American production, it has a special introduction for the UK, and sounds like an excellent way of discussing a delicate subject without frightening the young viewers. Tollgate tells us that it has been recommended by the BBC.
• The WRVS Lunch Club entertained 75 of their "regulars" to Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings (including those in the traditional liquid form:),at the Community Centre on Monday. Margaret Owen and her hardworking team of helpers get a rest next month, and the Club meets again at the end of January.
• At the recent Red Cross AGM, Hilary Bolton congratulated Joan Crane on passing her Cosmetic Camouflage course at the BRCS national training HQ; Joan now has her own room at RFSH where she advises clients. As a result of the meeting's raffle and bring-and-buy stall plus a very generous donation, £164 has gone to the Red Cross appeal for training workers for disaster areas overseas. We are also asked to recommend the excellent raffle at the Thrift Shop.
Muscular Dystrophy coffee morning, George Hotel, 10 (GAZETTE no. 155)
Local History Group (Peter Ewart on researching family history), Library, 7.30
National Trust AGM (with a "Surprise Package" from Alma Fabes), CC, 7.30
Rye Museum Association talk, "An Indian Journey" (Joan and Sidney Horniblow), FEC, 7.30
Thomas Peacocke School PTA Fashion Extravaganza, The Grove, 7.30 (GAZETTE no. 155)
Winchelsea Floral Group Christmas coffee morning and sale, FEC, 10.30
Women's British Legion Christmas Fair (with Disabled Men's Industries goods on sale), Red Cross, 10.30 to 4
Playgroup Christmas Fair ("Visit Father Christmas in his grotto"), Ferry Road Clinic, 2 to 4
Old Scholars Association Stone Age (pre-1939) Reunion, George Hotel, 7
Town Council committee meetings (for times see TH board): General Purposes, Planning, Bequests, Road Safety
FRAG talk, "Michael Angelo Rooker and early English watercolours" (Patrick Conner), TH, 8
Wednesday, 4th BRCS Hearing Circle, Red Cross, 10.15 to 12 Crime Prevention Panel, Police Station, 7.30
• Many happy returns of the day to Mrs. Laurie Meredith of Eagle Cottage, who celebrated her 80th birthday last Thursday.
• Congratulations to Sarah (nee Wood) and David Mitchell on the birth on 28 October of their second daughter, Ruby - a sister for Anna and a second grand daughter for Anne and Ralph Wood.
• Congratulations, too, to Trevor and Janet Paine, of Goose Bay, Labrador, on the birth of their daughter Michelle Sarah Lynne - a grand-daughter for Mike and Betty Paine of New Winchelsea Road and a great-grand-daughter for Janet's mother Mrs. Sarah Cutting of Camber. Mr. and Mrs. Paine, who are flying out in a fortnight's time to spend Christmas at Goose Bay, may well find Trevor and Janet excited at Monday's news that NATO is likely to set up a big fighter training centre there - good news indeed for the manager of the local sports centre!
• The Blood Transfusion Service visits Rye again on Friday, 6 December; it will as usual be at the Baptist Hall from 2 to 4 and from 5 to 7.45.
• A green Fiat Mirafiori car was stolen from the Ferry Road car park on the night of 17/18 November.
• The new Landgate (Rye) WI was duly set up last Wednesday, with Mrs. Sue Thomas as its President. It will meet on the third Wednesday of every month, upstairs at the Community Centre from 10.30 to 12.30, starting on 18 December.
• There will be an Attic Sale at the Community Centre on Sunday, 8 December, from
10 to 1. Stalls can be booked f - £6, £5 or £2.50 - and must be paid for by 1 December; sellers turning up on the day, of course, take their chance. The sale is under different management this time, owing to illness; but a donation will still go to Community Centre funds.
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)