Thirty top kidney surgeons from Europe and America met at the George Hotel last weekend to talk themselves - eventually - out of a job. The exclusivevEuropean Intra-Renal Society was founded in 1976 for renal surgeons (urologists) who are in the very forefront of their profession, and the Society has been responsible for all the great advances in renal surgery throughout the world during the past ten years - notably the introduction of the Dornier Lithotriptor, which disintegrates kidney stones without the need for surgery. "Minimal invasive surgery" is the aim of the Society, and as high-tech equipment is made more widely available, traditional kidney surgery will increasingly become a thing of the past.
This year's President is John Ward of Eastbourne, which is why the Society's annual conference is in England; previous ones have always been in major cities abroad. Rye was Mr. Ward's personal choice of venue. Another member is John Wickham, a consultant at St. Peter's Hospital in London, and it was one of his staff, Simon Carter, who told the GAZETTE what was going on (Mr. Carter is the grandson of the_ late Mr. and Mrs. Eric Mason and has known Iden and Rye since his childhood - he is himself a renal surgeon, though not a member of the Society). The scientific programme consisted of thirty papers, one from each member, and took up the whole of Saturday and Sunday morning. Some surgeons brought their wives, many stayed at the George, and the hotel must have had a distinctly medical atmosphere over the weekend!
We asked Mr. Carter if there had been previous medical conferences at this very high level in Rye. Not in his own experience, he said; but there is something known as "the Rye classification"' of lymphoma, which makes him think that it could have been formulated at some similar event twenty years ago or more. Does anyone happen to know? (Or was the classification just devised by a Mr. Rye?)
... to the Women's Section of the Rye Branch, Royal British Legion, whose 50th anniversary was on Tuesday and who celebrated it with a spectacular parade and church service two days earlier. A full account appears on page 4.
... to Carl Bagwell, who is to be Rye's Harbourmaster from mid-July, succeeding Colin Marsh who is moving to Ramsgate. Carl has been Colin's Deputy at Rye for some ten years; he is well known in the town, and is one of the Rye Lions.
... to Mrs. Rosalind McNiven of North Salts and Mr. Jack Gross of Three Oaks, who were married at the Baptist Church on Saturday afternoon. The bride wore a crimson-and-white flowered dress, and carried a matching posy. The five grandchildren from the two families joined the wedding group for some very happy photographs before the party left for a reception at Playden Oasts.
... to Bert and Margaret Owen of Devonport House (and once of the Green Owl at Camber) who are celebrating their Ruby Wedding on Sunday with a family party at the home of one of their two sons; their five grandchildren will doubtless enliven the joyful proceedings!
... to Stephen and Helen Hadfield on the birth of their son Henry Thomas, to be known as Harry, on 8 June - a grandson for Joan Nunn of Love Lane (her first) and for Kenneth and Joy Hadfield of Saltcote.
... to Richard and Pam Knight, ex-Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, who visited Rye last week with two pieces of very good news. Next year Richard is to become permanent warden of the new RSPB Wye and Elan Reserve, near Rhayader in Wales - 600 acres of hanging oak wood and moorland, the home of lots of exciting birds. And Pam's job with the Dorset Trust for Nature Conservation? She will be giving that up soon anyway; she is expecting a first baby in November.
2.
Miss Hilda Field died in hospital on Monday. Miss Field, who was 83, was brought up in Udimore, where her family had a shop, and at one time she and her mother lived in Church Square. She later moved to a flat in The Grove, and when Devonport House was opened in 1982 she became one of the first tenants. Until Social Services took over, Miss Field organised the Home Help Service locally, under the auspices of the WRVS; she also belonged to Playden WI and to the Winchelsea Floral Group, and was a life-long member of the Methodist Church. The funeral will take place at Rye Methodist Church on Friday (13th) at 3.30, followed by cremation in Hastings.
This coming Sunday, Springfield in Playden (main road soon after Rye Hospital) is the unusual setting for a concert by Madrigalia under Lesley Brownbill. The domestic character of the evening will be enhanced by wine and light refreshments, all included in the ticket price (L3 from EMBS, 12 High Street – Rye 223041; book early as there is only room for 60). Profits from the evening to to the St. Michael's Hospice Appeal.
The Chicago choir who were to sing at the Community Centre on 19 June have cancelled their entire tour for fear of terrorists! But two days later, on Saturday (21st), Rye Harmonic Society and the Stowmarket Concert Band are combining to give a concert in St. Mary's at 7.30. Both groups are well know in Rye, but this is their first joint appearance. The choir will sing music by Percy Grainger, Elgar and Mendelssohn, and the band will contribute items of its own. After the concert there will be the traditional move to the churchyard, with the trumpeters on the tower. Full details in "Fixtures".
A week later, on 28 June, the Methodist Church Choir will sing "Day and Night", a sacred cantata by H. Ernest Nichols, in the church at 7.30; tickets at £1.25 include a light supper, and will be available at Adams of Rye from 16 June. Advance booking will be appreciated.
The following day (Sunday, 29th) sees two musical events! In the afternoon, the Blackheath Opera pay their annual visit to the Community Centre, when they will present Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffman", as always at a very high professional level. In the evening, singers from even further afield visit St. Mary's: the Hastings Chamber Choir under David Wookey will be joined by the Kantorei der Pauluskirche of Bad Kreuznach in West Germany under Dieter Wellman. The two choirs have links forged over several years. The programme will include both sacred and secular music.
A delightful new business appeared in the High Street last weekend. Just a week ago Leah Mercedes (nee Hammond) was finally handed the key of the tiny shop which tucks in between the Woolwich and Hamilton Furnishings: she started work on the lavender paint that evening, moved the stock in on Friday and opened for business on Saturday morning selling a quite enchanting range of goods. It will be referred to, no doubt, as the lace shop, but in fact Leah stocks far more than that: household linen - single and double sheets with lace trimming and matching pillow-cases, table-cloths (which can double as counterpanes), tray-cloths and tiny pretty doilies; garments from baby-gowns to bloomers; and some very attractive cushions which Leah makes up from old lace and provides with new filling. One table-cloth she displays with particular pride; it was made by the grandmother of one of her friends, now a very old lady quite astonished that anyone could want "that old thing"! There are also silk shawls and other embroideries - a far wider range than Leah and her mother could possibly offer on their stall in Rye Market or at various antique fairs. She is also, of course, interested in buying (anything pre-1939, though most of her stock is far older than that), and hopes people will come and look at what she sells and then say "I wonder if you would be interested in some bits I have in a trunk..." - because she almost certainly will be very interested indeed.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 11 June 1986
After the clash which came to light when RNIB and ARC. found they had both chosen last week for their house-to-house collections in Rye (GAZETTE no. 177), much surprise has been expressed in the town at the arrival of Spastics Society envelopes through local letter-boxes. The ARC gave up their house-to-house rights (booked with Rother a year ago) in favour of the RNIB, since ARC do have a flag-day this year, and we aired the whole problem in the paper and asked if other house-to-house organisers would help us publish a list so as to avoid similar clashes. Not a soul answered.
So we laid in wait for the Spastics Society collector doing Cyprus Place and asked her what was going on. It seems that the Spastics have a different system. Local helpers receive their envelopes by post with a covering letter from an address in Brighton (said to be open from 9.30 to 1.30, but if so no-one there answers the telephone!) containing instructions to collect during May or the first half of June. Not perhaps realising the implications, the Rye collectors chose last week to do their rounds - which was rather a pity, and caused considerable awkwardness for the RNIB collectors who often found themselves following the same route the same evening.
Rother isn't able to publish a definitive list of house-to-house weeks because they don't have the facts - unless an organiser happens to notify them, as ARC did. It might be possible, if the GAZETTE makes a big effort, to assemble early next year a list of "weeks" bespoken by charities with known local support groups - but this would hardly help with mavericks like the Spastics Society who have no local organisation and no specific week either. Can anyone suggest a solution? No-one likes to say no to a collector; but not knowing how many there are likely to be in the course of the week does make one cautious with one's change...
A copy, kindly sent by Peter Smith, of a note in the Law Quarterly Review of April 1954 makes it clear that wiser heads than ours have been scratched over this question (GAZETTE no. 180). Professor Plucknett, "a legal historian of formidable learning" says Mr. Smith, deals with the matter in terms too technical for the GAZETTE; but it seems that petitions date back a long way, and were always humbly phrased, asking for the favour "for God's sake and as a work of charity" (the Channel Tunnel example omits this section). A C15 version runs "your sayd besechers shall ever pray for your gude estate"; another goes "youre sayde servaunt shall pray god for the preservacion of your most roiall estate". "One subtle difference is notable" Professor Plucknett concluded. "The Petitioner introduces this clause with the word 'and'. If this really means 'and then', it would seem to imply that the prayers are contingent upon a favourable outcome of the suit. But that leads into deep waters." It seems clear, alas, that "... for the confusion of the French" is not an option!
Rye Harbour Sailing Club were respectably, indeed impressively, represented in the Round the Island Race on 31 May; 7 RHSC boats were among the 1,300 starters. Congratulations to John Royle in "Expression" with a crew of Sussex chartered surveyors on winning the Surveyors Cup, and to Bob Weadon and John Chapman in "Fusion" who won the class for non-I0R Class G yachts and were 7th out of 300 boats in their division!
Three North Foreland Radio speakers will be at the RHSC clubhouse tomorrow evening at 8 to give local yachtsmen the latest information about various services and procedures from British Telecom's "Maritime Services Division". The session is likely to last about an hour, and John Royle tells us that all those interested are welcome to come along.
Paul Kennard's "Mascotte" is now secured in her new Rock Channel mooring. She moved the short distance downstream on Saturday morning, and with wind and tide behind her Paul was most grateful not only for the loan of the Harbour pilot boat to act as brake but also for Colin Marsh's offer of any other help needed.
4.
Led by the splendid Battle Town Band under Mr. C. Hippwell, and by the Union Jack borne by the County Vice-Chairman (Women's Section), 20 Royal British Legion standards filled the High Street with blue and gold on Sunday afternoon as representatives from all over the county came to congratulate the Rye Women's Section on its 50th birthday. The Parade was reviewed in the Market car park by the County President, Rear-Admiral T. Sharp, CB, DSC. Mrs. Sharp was also there, as was the County Chairman Mr. B.J. Holden and his wife (the County Chairman of the Women's Section was otherwise engaged at a sports event in Hastings, and a Dunkirk Association event also in Hastings kept away more of those who would normally have been here). The Parade was supervised by the County Parade Marshal Mr. Dennis Reed; and his wife Mary nobly stepped into what could have been a very awkward breach when Rye's standard-bearer was not well enough to take part in the ceremony (standard-bearing, Joan Camier tells us, is not something that just anyone can cope with on an occasion like this).
Other distinguished visitors took their seats in St. Mary's as the standards gathered at the south door: the Chairman of Rother, Lady Jones (President of the Rye Women's Section), and the Mayor of Rye with her Mayoress, whose husband and small daughters were also among the congregation. Then the long procession entered: 16 visiting Branches and the two County standards lining the centre aisle, while the two Rye standards and the Union Jack were carried up to be on the altar during the service. Canon Landreth of Icklesham (Burma Star Association) assisted the Rye Branch's Chaplain, the Rev. Stephen Ingham, in the service; the first lesson was read by Lady Jones, the second by Sheila Bowler (wife of the Rye Branch Chairman), and everyone knew all the hymns. Charles Proctor was at the organ. Mr. Ingham preached a forceful sermon about the role of the Legion in general and of the Women's Section in particular, stressing the importance of the work of the Branches in supporting the national organisation.
Then the Branch standards were returned to their bearers, and there was the traditional ceremony: the playing of the Last Post, the Exhortation (spoken by Joan Gamier, Chairman of the Rye Women's Section), a silence - not a cough, not a rustle, hardly a movement in the entire church - until the sign was given to sound Reveille. The waiting standards had dipped slowly as the first bugle call sounded from the top of the Upper Room staircase; they rose with a great tide of movement as Reveille sounded, and then dipped and rose once more as the National Anthem was sung. (The bugler, one of the Battle Town Band, looked so young that we ventured to ask not only his name but also his age: Dean Pelting comes from Hastings, is only 15, and this was his first performance on such an occasion, though no-one would have guessed it from his playing.)
After the service, the Parade marched down Lion Street and Market Road to the police station, where the salute was taken by the Chairman of Rother (Councillor Wells)., the Mayor of Rye, Rear-Admiral Sharp and Lady Jones. Back in the car park, the Parade Marshal dismissed them; standards were folded away into car boots, and everyone moved off to the Upper School hall for tea and catching up with the news (including the ATC and St. John Ambulance contingents who had been there just in case help should be needed). The speeches were short: Lady Jones referred to her "positively last appearance" (we all hope she was joking) and said how sorry Sir Charles was to miss the occasion, though she was taking home so many messages that it would take her days to pass them on! Joan Gamier thanked all the standard-bearers, and congratulated everyone on the smart turnout; she also thanked the Rye members and helpers, and also the school catering team responsible for the magnificent tea. Then it was "Happy Birthday to you", and time to go home. (The church collection, for the Earl Haig Fund, amounted to £80.)
Just room here to mention that the school meals team are always willing to undertake catering for functions booked in at Thomas Peacocke; the first approach should be to Mrs. Oliver, c/o the Area Education Office (Hastings 425780) or through the school. They certainly do a lovely job:
5.
Wednesday's quarterly meeting of the Crime Prevention/Consultation Panel was so well attended that there were hardly enough chairs in the big room at the top of the police station! The original Crime Prevention Panel was merged last year with the Neighbourhood Watch organisation, and as this grows among the villages the number of representatives on the combined Panel now totals some 30 people, perhaps half of them from Rye itself.
The main topic was of course the review of Sussex Police organisation which we outlined, as far as the Rye Sub-Division is concerned, in GAZETTE no. 179. The Divisional Commander (East Division) and his Deputy were both present, and with C/I Dyson who, under the new arrangements, will have a special responsibility for Neighbourhood Watch schemes generally in the new Rother Sub-Division, they explained more of the Rye implications. From 1 October, when the new scheme starts, Rye will have no Chief-Inspector but two Inspectors, one of them Inspector Northern and another not yet named. Otherwise the staffing will remain as at present. It seems likely that when the station is closed at night, calls will go through to Bexhill rather than Hastings as now; but then Bexhill rather than Hastings will be in radio touch with the officers patrolling at this end. Members of the Panel were assured that local people would notice very little difference, though local people present felt a certain scepticism - but we shall see.
C/I Dyson reported that the Sub-Division had an overall crime detection rate of 41.8%, with some 300 crimes committed in the course of the first five months of 1986. The police were very worried about burglaries; it is important, he said, to keep up the impetus of Neighbourhood Watch which brought the rate down so effectively.
Sussex Police are launching a new Wheelwatch scheme aimed at the owners of cars, motorbikes and cycles; there is a mass of Home Office material by way of stickers, posters and even paper hats to reinforce this, but the message is primarily "Lock it or lose it". In this holiday area, there is always a summer increase in the number of thefts from cars, and the police regularly advise locking valuables in the boot; but, said the Chief Inspector, even this is not really good enough - ideally they should not be left in the car at all.
Finally, there was a discussion about the desirability of a non-police chairman for the Panel (until now C/I Dyson has taken the chair). The police were keen to have a "civilian" so that the panel could be shown to be independent; the civilians were obviously perfectly happy with the existing arrangements. Finally one of the TPS VIth-form representatives, Leila Jamieson, came up with the solution - why not a civilian vice-chairman? It was agreed almost unanimously that this was the answer, so in future the chair will normally be taken by one of the Rye Inspectors, with a vice-chairman from the Panel to be appointed at the next meeting in October ready to take over as and when appropriate.
A letter to TPS parents from the Headmaster about various school matters gives a list of the sums collected for charity recently by pupils. We wrote several weeks ago about School House's £150 for Mencap; the House has also given £50 to the Kent and East Sussex Railway. Rother House has raised £100 for the NSPCC; the Vlth Form have raised almost £400 for Dr. Barnardo's; and well over £300 went from Lower School to the National Children's Homes. Other charitable fund-raising events are planned before term ends. Mr. Fooks adds: "We all hope that we are moving into better times in education. I am sure that no-one can fail to be impressed by the fact that when things are difficult for our pupils they are so actively concerned to be helping those whose needs are greater. They set an excellent example to us all." The Sport-Aid fun-run total, incidentally, is not yet available, but is expected to be somewhere well over £500 and possibly nearer £1,000.
Money has also been raised by pupils for Sports Centre equipment; details later. The building itself has now almost reached roof level.
6.
Oh dear, our typing! Last week's list of the planning applications which were leap-frogged by the Magdala House site plans should have included Udimore Road; Susan and David Manktelow at no. 24, further down the road and on the other side, were very much surprised to read about their planning application! (Sorry about that.) We asked the Planning Officer if he would care to comment on the leap-frogging, but have had no response.
The current planning list includes an application for the retention of the ice store, etc., belonging to the Rye Fishermen's Society; for a greenhouse at 7 North Salts; for the extension to Novens, with an amended plan showing a pitched roof matching the present one and no first-floor room at the back; and for what was at first sight a rather startling application from "Rye Yacht Club Ltd.". What is this, we asked John Underwood of Le Fevre Wood & Royle?
It is Phase 3 of John Barwell's Rock Channel development which started with the blue-roofed industrial units, and is about to continue with a total of 14 houses for which permission was obtained in February 1982 - since then there have been endless negotiations over access both by land and by water as well as other complications, but work really is due to begin very soon now. Phase 3 is the boatel and club premises, fitted into the corner of land jutting out between Phases 1 and 2. In fact, John tells us, they have already had permission for this too, but there have been various alterations since 1983 and it was decide to put in a single new application to tidy up the planning loose ends. The building is mainly two-storey with a second-floor manager's flat at one end; it includes a club-room and other facilities, and 15 boatel units which are expected to be rented by yachting visitors who find accommodation below decks rather less than comfortable. There are also moorings, of course, and a 6m strip between the building and the river insisted on by the SWA so that they can if necessary get their heavy equipment all the way along the river bank. The present footpath which emerges at the Salts is not affected.
Dwellers on the south side of the town will like to know that the roofs will be of clay tiles (a "double-cambered" type which has the look of a hand-made tile though in fact it is not), and the other building materials are also traditional - brick, weatherboarding and stained wooden surrounds to the windows.
(Developers really do encounter unfair problems sometimes: readers will recall that the Sports Centre had to be "moved" 20' to avoid an unmarked main drain, and John Underwood tells us that at Rock Channel one difficulty has been the discovery of an unexpected 9" water main which carries the supply, rather surprisingly, for Camber!)
Marjorie Rust at Crafty in Ferry Road is embarking on a new venture – nearly-new children's clothes. The town now has two excellent dress agencies for ladies, but nothing similar for children, and it was suggested to Mrs. Rust that she might have room in her shop for a rail of junior-sized good-quality "outgrowns". She will cater for children up to the age of 12, and will be very glad to see sellers as well as buyers - obviously summer clothes are required at present, but come the autumn she will hope to have a good stock of warm garments for the colder months ahead (to say nothing of the current chilly flaming June!).
Congratulations to Mary Lestocq, whose has won the Portrait Cup of the Sussex area of the British Institute of Professional Photography for the second year running. She is grateful to Laura and Alicia Turner and their mother (and the dog), all of Winchelsea Beach, and to Tommy Booth of Camber, for enabling her to take the two winning portraits; both are on view in the studio window.
And finally, a change of ownership at the Saltiness Hotel. Rod and Anne Jenkins have moved away, and the hotel's new proprietors are Derek and Ellen Willis, who come to Rye after ten years at a public house in Uxbridge. They are not intending to make any particular changes at the hotel, apart from a certain amount of redecoration outside, which we shall all be seeing in due course. We hope they will be very happy in Rye - a far cry from Uxbridge, in more ways than one!
7.
One of the Hill House Hospital staff, John Hearfield, is concerned that when the buildings finally vanish in a few years' time there will be no record of the history of the place. Hill House ceased to be a workhouse and became a "colony" (to use the phrase current in those days) for mentally handicapped people soon after the end of WW2; it had a very flourishing League of Friends who ran a shop there and put on entertainments for the patients. There are many readers who will be able to help Mr. Hearfield over the early days of the hospital, and we do hope they will contact him either by letter at Hill House or by phoning Rye 223001 and asking for extension 38 - if he is not available he will gladly get in touch later.
We are not sure if Mr. Hearfield is also interested in the workhouse, but if he is prepared to carry his researches back as far as that he would earn a debt of gratitude from future historians. One local lady remembers being regularly taken up to the top of the hill as a small girl by her mother "to visit" - not to see a particular person, but just visiting generally; and Too H members also visited regularly, sometimes even braving "the spike" where the tramps were accommodated. Doubtless we have some readers who used to work up there before the war, doubtless too some whose elderly relatives ended their days there. Before it is all forgotten, it really would be invaluable to have recollections of those days recorded, with a copy stowed safely away in. the Library's Local History collection and another in the Museum.
• Last summer's play-scheme at Thomas Peacocke School was such a success that Julia Thomas has been persuaded to run it again - this time for the last two weeks of July, and for children aged between 6 and 12. She can only cope with 30 per session, and knows that the demand will be greater than that, so no-one can expect to go every day; forms will be available in about a fortnight from Social Services in Cinque Ports Street, or next Thursday (19th) at the coffee morning at the George Hotel held to raise funds for the venture - there will also be a cake stall and a raffle. Those whose children had a lovely time at last year's play-scheme, please ask your friends to support this event - all are welcome, whether or not they are primarily there to secure a form!
• RNLI Secretary Joan Parkes has received very gratefully a cheque from the Ypres Castle Inn for £180 as a result of the Charity Fun Day held by the pub on Saturday; a further £30 came from the souvenir and second-hand stalls, and with the contents of the lifeboat boxes being rattled round the Salts and the pub's garden and bar the event raised a total of £290. Mrs. Parkes adds that this brings to almost £1,000 the amount raised for the RNLI by Dick and Dabs Pearce since they came to the Wipers eighteen months ago:
• Rye police (Rye 222112) would like to hear from any witnesses of an accident on the Camber Road on Saturday afternoon at 3.45, at the bend between Moneypenny and North Point. The elderly lady driving a Renault 5 was taken to hospital with serious injuries to one hand, and her companion accompanied her suffering from severe shock. The other car, which did not stop, was a gold-coloured Opel Manta saloon.
• Some Leasam House boarders had a memorable half-term break. Eleven pupils, plus Julia Thomas and John Crouch of Leasam House and TPS staff members? Frances Paintin and Martin Estall, took the minibus up to the far north of Scotland for an action-packed holiday. They stayed in two cottages lent by friends of Julia's, and the activities included not only the usual bird-watching but also gold-panning (yes, they did - and some garnets!), a trip in a lobster-boat, a visit to a castle and a look round the Caithness glass works.
Clearly gluttons for punishment, the same adults plus two more took ten children on a day trip to France the following Saturday, leaving Rye in the minibus at 5.30, eating baguettes, pate and cherries on an unfrequented beach outside Calais at mid-day, and getting back to Rye at 8 that evening.
CSRF: "Ancient Statues": English church monuments (Stella Pigrome's slides), FEC, 11
Bowls Club coffee morning, Town Hall, 10 to 12.30 (all welcome) Action Research for the Crippled Child coffee morning and bring-and-buy, Red Cross, 10 to 12.30 NSPCC Summer Fair, FEC, 10.30 to 3.30
TPS PTA open committee meeting, Upper School, 7.30
Thrift Shop (handing-in only), Red Cross, 10.30 to 12.30 Landgate WI, "A family photograph album" (Rachel Sarrieddine), CC, 10.30
Community Lunch Group, Clinic, 1 (see below)
• Many thanks to Rother for the really superb hanging baskets which appeared on Thursday outside the Council offices - produced, we understand, by the staff of the Council's Parks & Gardens nurseries.
• Devonport House residents are very glad to welcome Mrs. Lily Benge of Nutley Close, who moves into one of the flatlets next week.
• The speaker at the Community Lunch Group on Wednesday will be Linda Porter, who with Lew Goddard and Rowena Varley will be explaining her plans for a support group for cancer sufferers and their families.
• Rye Young Farmers Club won eight awards at the annual YFC Show at Plumpton recently: for beef judging, poultry judging, carcase judging, the best pet lamb, the best beef calf, the champion dairy and beef calf, individual sheep shearing, and valuation of live and dead stock. Congratulations!
• Bowls: the Rye club have done less well than usual, losing last week to Deal, Northiam, the Observer and Sidley Martlets. Better luck next time?
• Neil Weatherall of Social Services will be among the 25,000 riders expecting to take part in Sunday's London-to-Brighton bike ride, all 56 miles of it. Neil will be riding in aid of the British Heart Foundation; sponsor forms are at the Social Services office in Cinque Ports Street, and he will be grateful for support.
• The Muscular Dystrophy Association coffee morning at the Red Cross last week made a clear profit of £80 - thanks to all who helped, says Gill Wood.
• Not long after we plugged Radio Sussex's East Sussex Diary spots in GAZETTE no. 176, they disconcertingly vanished from the air! George Pixley, the Programme Organiser at Brighton, assures us that the loss is only temporary, and in the meantime the menu for "258 Alternative" (ex-Lunchdate) is given at the end of the county-wide Diary at 7.25 and 8.25 am. Waiting for it, we discovered, you can learn an enormous amount about what goes on in Brighton...
• Has anyone got for sale one of those canvas camp beds which consist of a flat sheet stretched between two long fold-up poles supported on M-shaped legs; or a mosquito net made of non-rot material; or a hammock made of nylon string? The Editor is not contemplating a personal foray into mosquito territory, but her youngest son is and would be glad of the chance to buy any of these things second-hand by the end of this month (Rye 222303).
• Please don't anyone fix anything else for Saturday, 28 June: the Diary shows two coffee mornings, two strawberry teas, the craft market, a wedding and a concert in the evening!
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, TN31 7DR (0797 222303), and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. News items for inclusion are always welcome – deadline Monday afternoon (Tuesday 9 am at latest and only for real emergencies). The GAZETTE costs 30p 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 1986)