The press book this week records three local thefts - and a robbery. On Thursday morning last week, a roundsman for Mayfair Vending of Orpington called at the Ship Inn to top up the pub's cigarette-vending machines. When he went back to his white Transit van, three men seized him, bundled him into it and drove off to lonely Church Lane, Peasmarsh. Here they stopped, transferred some £3,700-worth of cigarettes of various brands, in 12 boxes each holding 250 vending packs, plus about £800 in cash into another vehicle and departed - leaving the driver in his van, shaken but unhurt. Descriptions are not much help: one man was white and aged about 25, wearing jeans, T-shirt and trainers, and the other two are not described at all (except that the driver heard the name Bill used). Presumably, if anyone saw anything at either end of this operation, the police would like to hear about it (Rye 222112). The other thefts recorded were four boxes of carpet tiles worth £220 from Ryecon in Harbour Road, £132 in cash from Duncan Grant's in Fishmarket Road, and £8-worth of tonic water and wine from Victoria Wine in the High Street.
Just one fact will establish the sheer professionalism of the Rye Society of Artists. On Friday, exactly a week after the Summer Exhibition in Mermaid Street opened, treasurer Tony Sandeman banked payments and deposits representing £6,000 worth of sales!
Over recent years the membership of the Society - originally Rye-based - has expanded to include a number of younger artists living in Hastings, who tend to paint on a larger and more colourful scale than Rye was accustomed to see. Certainly, Angela Braven's cheerful garden view would dominate any room, in complete contrast to S.C. Jones's delightful little oil of children on a beach which hangs near it. (Davida Smith's small quiet monoprints will be taking second place for a while to something else small and not quiet at all - see page 7!) Louis Turpin is still exploring gardens, and Kitty French dips into mythology for her inimitable batik-type pictures. Fred Cuming shows wintry land- scapes, and two effective studies of rock formations; Shirley Spottiswoode moves gradually south with her watercolour studies of views and buildings.
In the lower room, Robert Greenhalf, Peter Jay, Annie Soudain and Tina Cole nave all been in the country (Tina, apparently, in Africa). Carol Masied looks at pigeons (pigeons seem to have replaced owls as the current favourite bird); cartoonist Martin Honeysett looks at people - and so does Mary Dinsdale, but hers don't have any clothes on. Margaret Barnard's "Dawn Picnic" is intriguing - started in 1935 but only finished last year, the lads shown would by now all be in their seventies... The late Evelyn Cutler had prepared her exhibition entries before her sudden death earlier this summer, so they are the last we shall see from her talented brush. Geoffrey Bagley and John Owen are both looking back to holiday memories; David Crew's memories are of the old Rye goods shed and the railway it was built for. Joan de Bethel also has a train picture in her entertaining group. Brian Cook Batsford and his wife Wendy have been painting in Rye itself (Church Square and Strand Quay).
Joint stars of the three-dimensional exhibits were Bernard Reynolds' ingenious wooden constructions, which shared admiring glances with Bernard Sindall's bronze resin figures, all in Gallery Two. Gallery One houses an excellent selection of pottery for all tastes by Tarquin Cole, Walter Cole, Frank Smith, Ernest Collyer, David Sharp, John Solly and Signe Kolding. (The Towner Gallery at Eastbourne, incidentally, will have a retrospective exhibition of the work of the late Pamela Nash for a month from 23 August.)
The exhibition continues daily until 6 September, 10.30 to 5.30; there are almost 300 exhibits, some already replaced since the show opened.
2.
Mrs. Florence Jones, of King's Avenue, died in a nursing home in St. Leonards on 4 August. She was 84, and had been in poor health for some time. Mrs. Jones and her husband Joe came south from Manchester in 1928, and she lived here ever since except when she took the children up north again during the war, retaining the house here against their return. Mr. Jones had been the cleaner at St. Mary's for many years, with his wife's help as he grew older; after his death she took over the job until she in turn finally handed it over two years ago to her daughter Mrs. Meldrum of Ferry Road. Mrs. Jones is survived by her twin daughters, and six grandchildren. The funeral at St. Mary's on Friday at 1.0 will be followed by cremation in Hastings.
Mrs. Edith Hatter, of Marley Road, died in hospital early on Thursday morning, 7th, after being taken suddenly ill at her home the same night. Mrs. Hatter was 69. Her husband Tom died in 1984; six months later, she had also lost one daughter, Valerie, and there will be much sympathy for her other daughter Barbara, now the only remaining member of the family. The funeral service takes place at the Methodist Church tomorrow (Thursday) at 2.30, when Miss Hatter asks us to say that all friends will be very welcome; cremation in Hastings will follow at 3.30.
Among the possessions left by the late Mrs. Violet Curd of South Undercliff was a small portrait of her former employer, Mrs. Reta Jacomb-Hood of West Street. "A charming Edwardian period portrait - high neckline, piled hair, little dog ... an attractive and kindly face", Cynthia Reavell of the Tilling Society describes it; Mrs. Reavell's interest in it, of course, lies in the fact that the sitter was EF Benson's Mayoress in the late 1930s. The picture had been painted before WW1 by her husband GP Jacomb-Hood, a well-known artist of the period.
Mrs. Reavell learnt that the picture was coming up for auction (not locally) and left a bid. The price soared beyond the resources of the Tilling Society; bravely, the Reavens themselves bought it for £750 and had it cleaned and restored with the very generous intention of offering it on permanent loan to Lamb House - where Mrs. Jacomb-Hood must often have entertained the town's dignitaries during Benson's mayoralty. However, the National Trust - after a good deal of messing about at its Regional HQ, Mrs. Reavell tells us - decided that it was not suitable and the offer was firmly declined. This, on the face of it, seems a pity, but presumably the Trust had its reasons.
Anyway, there is a happy ending. Canon Maundrell put Mrs. Reavell in touch with two Jacomb-Hood cousins; they came to Rye last week and were delighted to buy the portrait back into the family. The Reaveils have had a photograph professionally taken for the records of the Tilling Society, and are not out of pocket over the affair. The only loser seems to be Lamb House...
It is now six years since Pauline Sanders took over Bert Osborne's ladies' hair-dressing salon in Landgate. For those six years, Mrs. Sanders retained the salon's original name, while she refurbished the interior; she introduced a sauna for a time, as well as a solarium (sun-bed) which still offers a sun-tan for those who funk lying on Camber beach! Recently Mrs. Sanders turned her attention to the outside of the building. The bay window is a modern addition, but the building itself is much older (and its original tiled exterior is still visible as an inside wall in the Bistro next door). Mrs. Sanders has taken much pleasure in restoring to 4 Landgate its original good looks, with the help of builder John Ades of South Undercliff and his assistant Andrew - and with the loyal support of her clientele, dodging under ladders to reach the salon's driers! When the gold lettering on the fascia is finished, it will display a new name, "Top Chic", which Mrs. Sanders has chosen to reflect the salon's new image and professional approach. She and her assistant Janet Fairhall welcome old and new customers from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays to 1.
- 3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 13 August 1986
Last week's Carnival report referred in passing to Zoe Metcalf in her clown outfit at Boots. Little did we know then that this was a very minor happening in Zoe's life that week. Earlier, she had been in London, staying at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington as the guest of "Company" magazine. They had asked just 20 out of a thousand applicants in their competition for potential models, to spend a night in London and take part in the finals - and Zoe was one of them. But there was even better to come. The judging took place at a roof-top restaurant in Kensington. All the competitors were issued with Company T-shirts so there was no problem about what to wear. The outright winner was awarded a modelling contract and various other goodies; four runners-up were also chosen - and Zoe was one of them too! At the Community Centre office, Zoe's mother Yvonne told us that her daughter has been offered a test by a London modelling agency, and would very much like to take up modelling as a career; but she is 17, half-way through her A-level course at Thomas Peacocke, and (with luck) sensible enough to put off full-time modelling for a year until she has some boring old second-string paper qualifications as well. "Daily Mail" readers may like to look back for Zoe's picture, which was due to appear within the last few days.
A double row of poles down the middle of Gibbet Marsh struck horror into the hearts of some Ashenden Avenue residents who thought they were the start of the bypass, but they were simply markers for the two lads acting as marshals for cars diverted there from the closed gas-works park. On Thursday, the Gibbet Marsh park was nearly full, but no-one had to be turned away (it is thought to hold 350 cars, or 400 if they are really packed in). The Goods Yard and normal Rother parks were all full, Edward Mills's field held several hundred - even the cobbled triangle at The Strand was invisible under multicoloured metal; but Jempsons' park at the old Farnborough building was virtually empty.
Tony Maynard tells us that the firm never expected to make serious money from this park, but they need 50 cars a day to break even (and that doesn't include capital outlay on signs and a hand-gate into Farm Lane so that people can emerge only a few steps from the Strand). As things are, they are only getting about a dozen cars a day, sometimes not even that, and unless things improve there the car park will have to close. There are large signs up each side of the entrance, but the new AA sign at the gas-works doesn't help, says Mr. Maynard - why can't the arrow point double-ended, instead of simply directing traffic round the complicated Banister's Corner to Gibbet Marsh only? Even cars which overshoot Farnborough first time round can make a U-turn at the Strand roundabout and return to the spacious concreted parking area at the back of the Winchelsea Road site. It seems a pity to risk the loss of a large park like this for lack of support - the all-day charge for coaches is only 3 as against BR's £5, with cars charged 50p - but Mr. Maynard will not be keen to open next season unless trade picks up in the next few weeks.
Rother will not be using the Salts again for parking, now that the Fair has departed; the permission from the relevant committee was only until 25 July, and Peter Bridges does not expect to have to ask for it to be renewed.
Finally, thank-you to British Rail for at last replacing the awkward kissing-gate at the Strand end of the Gibbet Marsh footpath with an ordinary hand-gate which allows the passage of pushchairs and shopping-trolleys (is it wide enough for wheelchairs?). This is something for which both Rother and the Town Council have been asking for several years, and comes at a very well-timed moment.
Miss Olive Wickersham of Mason Road answers our question about the author of these contributions to the Sussex Express in the 1920s. He was William Richard Sims - not Dora's father, but a cousin - and lived in Military Road, where his father had the smithy next to the Globe Inn. He served in the Royal Naval Division in WWI, was a life-long bachelor, and died about ten years ago.
4.
Sunday's Country Fair had just the weather Rotary had ordered:: a sunny day with a little high cloud - and enough wind to blow the sand about and make Camber beach rather uncomfortable. Certainly there were lots of Fair-goers; those who came by car had no problems (apart from the queue to get out at the end, we were told), but walkers were shaken to find that the site had been changed without warning, so that they had to take the footpath from Monkbretton Bridge to Broadwater Corner and then walk back along the verge, with a stream of cars breathing out fumes beside them. Some older people couldn't face the walk, and went home; some lost their way beside a dyke, and walked all the way round by the road. Next year that field, too, will be ploughed up; perhaps Rotary could establish themselves on the Town Council's Freda Gardham land instead?
The Fair attracted 120 elderly and treasured pieces of machinery, mostly on wheels: cars, motor-bikes, tractors, stationary engines of various kinds, the H & T Daimler bus "Alice", and two WW2 USAAF jeeps from a group at Bexhill whose display sent a little girl running to tell her mother "Look, they've got a machine-gun from the olden days!" (which made your reporter feel very olden indeed). Some of the vehicles were museum pieces, and had lots of plaques to prove it, but some were well-loved little family saloons perhaps only 30 or 40 years old, with pushchairs in the back to prove that they were still well-love% by little families. Bob Deacon had his two classic ACs on show; and Udimore Road people were delighted to see the familiar cream-coloured A35 dating from 1959, which Mrs. Margaret Jacobs drove regularly into the town on shopping trips until last year when (in her mid-eighties) she decided to give up driving and sold PAP 760 to Betty Townsend. The Townsends sought out period accessories and applied lots of polish and elbow-grease, and Betty competed in it in the "Car and Lady" contest in the course of the afternoon. The winner turned out to be the Lucia-style driver of a 1927 Austin, with the glamorous Edwardian passenger in a chauffeur-driven 1907 Rover coming second. The oldest car was a 1904 Stanley Steamer, a handsome scarlet vehicle which did indeed steam. But it was a younger entrant who had travelled the longest distance (69 miles) to the rally.
The Woodwings Flying Circus display was even better than last year. A large uncut cornfield lay beside the "airfield", which may have deterred the teddies from parachuting (it certainly claimed the flying elephant), but the toffee-drop went ahead, as did the final dog-fight and bombing raid on the airport. New this year was a grass-cutter which quite unexpectedly took off ("the original Flymo") followed by an equally volatile cup and saucer, and at one point there were eight of the surprisingly large model planes in the air together.
Ross the carthorse, Rob the Clown (and his sidekick Thick Thelma), and the East Sussex foxhounds all turned up to help with the entertainment (the beagles didn't make it); Ross and his cart, a little train and a tractor and trailer all spent the whole day slowly circling the arena with happy passengers taking the weight off their feet. Other diversions included donkey rides, a coconut-shy, sheep- shearing, a balloon-race (run by Skinners), a mini-trike circuit, a fairground organ, the Battle Town Band who played all afternoon, plus lots of stalls and sideshows of all kinds, both commercial and charitable. The ice-cream van sold out early; the ladies of Inner Wheel provided a magnificent spread in the refreshment tent, and the bar was by courtesy of Alan Sinden of the Hope Anchor. Plenty of litter-sacks were provided (and used), straw-bales served as seating, Geering & Colyer's double-decker bus made a useful admin HQ. And we would also commend the loos, a lot nicer than some much more established ones! The Com- munity Health Council caravan was a focal point for visitors with complaints about NHS treatment, and its volunteer staff felt that their day was well spent. The Samaritans were also represented; and we hope that Jempsons' stall pulled in business from the visiting motorists for their shot-blasting and tarpaulins.
The winner of the raffle (£100) had an Iden telephone number; it is nice when the big prize goes locally!
(continued...)
5.
Rotary estimate that they have probably cleared about £2,800 from the event. But on top of this is the money taken by various organisations which rented £12 sites; for instance, the Multiple Sclerosis Society is most grateful to all those who helped bring in £267 via its pegboard! Inner Wheel's profits on refreshments are also not included in the Rotary figure. Finally, Rotary would particularly like to thank all the local shops and businesses who so kindly put up the posters - maximum advance publicity is needed to make a day like this such a success.
Talking to Margaret Farthing at the St. John Ambulance stand - they were there on duty, as well as recruiting - we learnt that the Division's caravan is booked up almost every weekend in the summer; motor-cycle events, in particular, are apt to produce a crop of fractures. They would like to have enough trained volunteers to man Rother's first-aid post at Camber, but only Mrs. Farthing and two other members can spare time during the day at the moment. One problem which arises there is good news, in a way. Rother's beach inspector is a man, and doesn't wear uniform; and lost children refuse to go with him to look for their parents - because they have been brought up not to go off with strange men! So Rother would be particularly glad to have a St. John (female, uniformed) presence there, quite apart from actual first-aid care. Anyone who can help should contact Mrs. Farthing at Peasmarsh.
The Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve had a stand well-supplied with photographs of the reserve's various aspects (including an amazing wrap-round panorama taken some years ago by Peter Greenhalf). Warden Barry Yates tells us that the group now has nearly 800 members. Ten days ago, his Reserve had a small but distinguished visitor - a semi-palmated sandpiper, which normally migrates between Alaska and Texas. Dr. Yates himself identified it, just after he got back from holiday, and released the news to the birdwatching circuit since the nesting season is virtually over - and some 250 twitchers came to see it, some from as far away as Scotland, during its three-day visit! This was not only a first sighting of a semi-palmated sandpiper at Rye, but also a first for Sussex. The Friends are holding a Charity Auction at Winchelsea Beach Village Hall on Saturday, 6 September - note the date now if you are interested, since it is out of our area and won't appear in the back-page diary. For details, phone Barry Yates on Rye 223862, or watch for posters.
In his final report as Harbourmaster to the Harbour of Rye Advisory Committee, Commander Colin Marsh said that 42 fishing boats used the port in April and May this year.; 35 of them were locally based. In the same two months, 380 local yachts and 123 visiting yachts used it. Cargo trade, however, dropped dramatically from the same period last year: only 15 vessels used Rye with 6,450 tons of cargo in April and May 1986, while last year saw 37 vessels with 29,052 tons. Commander Marsh also presented his report for the year 1985/6: 410 yachts were locally based, and there were 913 visitors to the port. 28 boats were on the waiting list for moorings in May.
Visitors to Lamb House over the past five years will have noticed a thoughtful juxtaposition of photographs in the panelled room which leads into the garden. Sir Brian Batsford came across the older one, a view of the road from Lamb House to the churchyard dated 1 October 1897, and on the same day in 1981 he photographed exactly the same view. The earlier picture has a woman standing in the road, and Sir Brian enlisted the help of a young student who happened to be passing and agreed to stand in exactly the same place for his own photograph.
By way of thanks, he sent her copies of both. Last week, he was delighted to meet her parents, over here on a visit from their home in Australia, who had made a special journey to Rye to see for themselves the place where their daughter stood to go down to posterity.
STOP PRESS - TVS's Shaw Taylor was in Rye on Tuesday morning filming the scene of the cigarette-van hijack (see front page), for his Police 5 programme.
• We are sorry that GAZETTE holiday arrangements mean that our review of the Tuesday Painters' 25th Annual Exhibition will not appear until after the show ends. This year, its Silver Jubilee, the show will be opened by John Ward, RA, who selected and hung the very first exhibition for the Club. It takes place, as usual, at the FE Centre in Lion Street, and will be open from 2 pm on 20 August and then from 10 to 6 daily for ten days until 30 August. This includes the Bank Holiday weekend, and visitors to the St. Mary's Flower Festival (see next paragraph) should not fail to complete their pleasure with a visit to the FE Centre as well - and vice versa, of course.
• The Rye & District Flower Club, the Winchelsea & District Floral Group and the church's own Flower Guild have invited 31 local organisations to provide flower arrangements for the St. Mary's Flower Festival over the Bank Holiday weekend (23 to 25 August) - and, judging by previous years, a visit is something which really should not be missed. As well as the beauty of the flowers in their historic setting, visitors have the opportunity to listen to organ recitals by Charles Proctor, Denis Breeds and Clifford Foster, and on Sunday afternoon at 3 the vocal ensemble Musica Viva will give an hour's recital. The energetic organisers are also providing morning coffee, ploughman's lunches and teas on the Saturday and Monday, with just teas on the Sunday.
Since all readers should have received a copy of the Rye Festival brochure with GAZETTE no. 188, we are merely pointing out now that the booking office at Bridgland Insurance, 103 High Street (Rye 222255) is now open to the general public, and anyone who has not yet secured their Instant Sunshine (5th) or Kenny Ball (2nd) tickets had better get a move on. Another major coup for the Festival comes right at the beginning - on Sunday evening, 31 August, at the Community Centre. The distinguished actor Michael Pennington is appearing, in costume, to give his original National Theatre performance, "Anton Chekhov"; he has appeared as Chekhov on television, in 1982, but started to prepare his one-man show when he was travelling across Russia more than ten years ago. Festival Organiser Anne Wood was fortunate to be able to book this - the show had been promised to the Stables Theatre, but a change of date meant that Mr. Pennington had to pull out, and Rye stepped in and grabbed him!
• Local historians have got not just one but two feet in the Festival this year. Playden is celebrating its appearance 900 years ago in the Domesday Book with an exhibition in the church from Saturday, 30 August to Tuesday, 2 September - "Playden: Domesday to Present Day". In aid of Playden Church Restoration Fund, it has sections on local history generally (arranged by Alan Dickinson and Eric Wetherill); Playden School (with some of the old registers); Playde. WI (records, photos, etc.); Breda Burt's record of all the local flora; upstairs and downstairs bygones (Ruth Ingham and Eine Moore organised this section); and slides. (The following Saturday at noon, Kenneth Warren will unveil new "Domesday Village" signs on the A268 - paid for by Playden Parish Council, the only village in East Sussex to do this, they were told by ESCC.) In Rye on Friday, 5th, Rye Conservation Society and the Local History Group are jointly arranging a local history exhibition at the Town Hall, which will be on view from 2.30 to 5.30 - details in our next issue.
• Bank Holiday train services are not going to make a noticeable difference to our line, but intending travellers should check on longer journeys. On the Friday, Saturday and Sunday the normal services for each day will run; on the Monday there will be a Sunday service. Extra trains are being run on some lines to the west of us, but apparently not via Ashford. There is a terrific jolly at Cannon Street Station on the Bank Holiday Saturday and Sunday, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the London and Greenwich Railway; 153 stands are spread over the concourse and most of the platforms, and it sounds like every train buff's dream. We have a leaflet and a list of exhibitors for anyone who wants more details. (There seems to be a well-founded rumour that the next Southern Region £3-anywhere day out will be in September. The press office had no date, but "a usually reliable source" mentioned the 13th. Keep your eyes open for announcements this time.)
7.
• Congratulations to Louis and Davina Turpin of Udimore Road on the birth of their 71b 5oz son on Sunday (10th) - a brother for Aaron, but with no name of his own yet, Louis told us on Tuesday morning.
• Congratulations, too, to oboist Joanna Shephard, who had her own "spot" for the first time last week when she shared a lunch-time recital at Hastings Museum. Joanna starts her Preparatory music course at Lewes next month with an excellent Grade VIII result: 140 marks, which is a good distinction - and one which will give much pleasure at Thomas Peacocke School, though she has been going to Canterbury for oboe tuition out of school hours.
• Barbara Wild has recently heard from the Charity Commissioners that the Rye & District Day Centre is to be granted charitable status as an autonomous organisation. This does not mean, of course, that the Centre will be entirely divorced from RCVS under whose auspices it started; but it will no longer be necessary for every move to be authorised by RCVS - something of a timewaster for all concerned now that the Day Centre has become so thoroughly established.
• The second-floor flat at Jeake's House in Mermaid Street - where Conrad Aiken did much of his writing, between the wars - will te available for a winter let from early September until Easter. It has two bedrooms; Jenny Hadfield says with regret that it isn't really suitable for small children. Prospective tenants or their local friends should ring Mrs. Hadfield .
• The Arthritis & Rheumatism Council for Research, readers may remember, gave up its right to a local house-to-house collection in favour of the Blind Association - because it had been awarded a flag-day and the Association had not. Now it is ARC's turn, and Francis Barrett is appealing for help with the flag-day on Saturday, 6 September. Since this is the final day of Rye Festival he would like to arrange as much coverage of the town as possible (next year, as he says, they may not get a flag-day at all). If you can spare an hour at any time between 9 and 5 on that Saturday, please phone Mr. Barrett or write to him at Fair Oak, Fair Meadow.
• Notices will soon go up on the Town Hall board and in the Council offices to announce the arrangements for public inspection of the Town Council accounts which have to be available to local government ratepayers on 15 working days before the annual audit (which this year is held at the end of September).
• Jean Bull-Marshall tells us that the new Victim Support Group for our area has already been able to help a number of people - but it needs a volunteer member from the Camber area. Phone Mrs. Bull-Marshall (evenings).
• Hastings"& District are putting most bus fares up from Sunday (17th); they rise by 5p for 30-65p fares, by 10p for 70-115p fares, and by 15p for fares of 120p and over. But the prices for Explorer, Freedom and Senior Traveller tickets will remain unaltered - making them better-than-ever value, say the company.
• The Rye & Winchelsea Centre of the National Trust held its annual coffee-morning at Cleveland House, Winchelsea, last week, by kind invitation of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Jempson. Some g600 was raised for Trust funds.
• The current planning list contains nothing for Rye. The lists come out weekly, and are available in the Library and the Council offices; we will list all the local applications in the next three on 3 September.
• More feedback about that production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Both our ex-Mayoress and our present Mayoress were in it, Suzanne Burgess (nee Oliver) as a very small "extra" fairy. Leslie Davie was brought in at the last moment to read the part of the Duke (no time to learn it) - he dates it as the summer of 1950, the year after he joined the staff of the Grammar School. And the Mayor tells us she is in regular touch with the mother of Hazel Davis, who now lives in Peterborough, and she will pass on Margery Nettle's message.
• The RSPCA Field Centre and Nature Reserve at Mallydams Wood, Fairlight, has an Open Day on Sunday, 31 August, from 10 to 5.
Saturday, 16th Women's British Legion sale (bric-a-brac, cakes, handicrafts and Disabled Men's Industries goods), refreshments, Red Cross, 10 to 4
Ambulance Social Club boot sale, Salts, 10
Craft Market, FEC, 11 to 5
Sunday, 17th Rye Racers Silly Race (for OAP party), Ypres Inn, 11.30 onwards
Monday, 18th MENCAP shop, until 29th (Monday to Friday, 10 to 4), next door to Rye Town Model - items for sale gladly received
Wednesday, 20th Coffee morning for NSPCC (and sale of paintings and sketches by the late Maisie Callender), 11 High Street, 10.30 to 12 Thrift Shop (handing-in only), Red Cross, 10.30 to 12.30 Tuesday Painters Club exhibition opens, FEC, 2 (see page 6)
Thursday, 21st Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10.30 to 4 (and Friday, BUT NOT SATURDAY this month)
Saturday, 23rd St. Mary's Flower Festival (and Sunday and Monday, see page 6)
Sunday, 24th NSPCC Raft Race, start Rock Channel c.3 (fun begins at Strand Quay at least an hour beforehand), with Rye Lions stalls at the finish at the Harbour
Monday, 25th Bank Holiday
Thursday, 28th Local History Group, Playden and Iden walk, 7.30
Friday, 29th Connoisseurs' Evening, Museum, 7.30 to 9 (entrance free for Museum Association members, 01.50 for non-members includes glass of wine)
Saturday, 30th RF: children's event - day session with Julia Thomas for 6-12s
(RYE FESTIVAL) (packed lunch), CC, 10
RF: children's event - Raku pottery with Bunny Collyer and
friends, Gun Garden, 11
RF: WurlitzBr concert (Nigel Spooner), TPS Upper School, 2.30
RF: Opening concert (Joachim Piano Trio), St. Mary's, 7.45
RF:: Pop concert (The Big Dream), CC, 9
RF: "Playden, Domesday to Present Day", Playden Church (see p.6)
Sunday, 31st Festival Service, St. Mary's, 10.30 (with Ryesingers)
RF: Eastbourne Silver Band, Gun Garden, 2.45
RF: Michael Pennington, "Anton Chekhov", CC, 7.45 (see page 6)
Monday, 1st RF: Wendy Cope reads her poems, TH, 6 RF: Film, "The Verdict", CC, 7.45
Tuesday, 2nd Term begins
RF: Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen, TPS Upper School, 8
Wednesday, 3rd Hearing Circle coffee morning, Red Cross, 10.30
NSPCC coffee morning, 32 Church Square, 10 to 12
RF:- Concert (Contrapunto), Playden Church, 6
MENCAP monthly meeting (Julia Granger of Mencap Homes Foundation), Social Services, 7.30
RF: Film, "Dance with a Stranger", CC, 7.45
Rye Festival continues until the end of the week. Because of the three-week diary list (we are not printing again until 3 September), normal back-page material can be found on page 7 this week.
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 - normal deadline Monday afternoon. The GAZETTE costs 30p weekly and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday; a few spare copies and back numbers may be available at Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1986)