Readers may already have seen posters for the GAZETTE'S protest meeting about the A259 route, to be held in the Community Centre on Thursday, 28 May, at 7.30, with your Editor in the chair. This meeting is purely for those who want to complain about one or more aspects of the proposals; it will be shamelessly partisan, and anyone who actually approves of the DoT plan will be wasting their time coming (possibly risking their life, from what we hear already!). We shall hope to list all the objections which become apparent at this week's Public Consultation (see back-page diary); to identify those people (particularly those with relevant experience) who would be willing to form the nucleus of an Action Group; and - by the sheer size of the audience - to convince anyone who needs convincing that RYE DOES NOT WANT THIS ROUTE.
The Town Council is to discuss the route with community leaders before calling a properly structured meeting for the general public as soon as possible. But we think the town wants an opportunity to expostulate at once and to reassure those worst affected that there is a vast and vocal opposition behind them.
If you can come, please do your best to study the plans at the Community Centre this week, so that we shall all know what we are talking about; and bring a pen (paper provided). If you would like to come but can't (and many people take their holidays at this time), please drop us a line of support instead.
(See also pages 4-5.)
The new Miss Rye is in fact a Mrs. Rye - Caroline Davies, of Udimore (whose husband works for Braxtons). Moreover, she is a Carnival Queen with plenty of experience. Back in 1978 she was Miss Rye for the first time, when - then Caroline Martin - she worked with her mother and a friend who had the Quarterbelle dress shop in Lion Street; and last year she was Miss Hastings, so she really knows the ropes. Caroline has a very professional attitude to her term of office and intends to make herself available for charity events in the town (she does a good deal of fund-raising in her spare time anyway); she is a part-time model, part-time secretary, and has her own business as well, so her hours can be arranged to suit the calls on her time. Her maids of honour are Debbie Galloway, who lives in Tenterden and is a nurse, and hairdresser Debbie Peatfield of South Undercliff - Mrs. Peatfield was herself a beauty queen, so it runs in the family. Congratulations to all three!
Frank May of Round Table, which organises the event in connection with the Carnival, tells us that it was a very enjoyable evening at the Oasis; there were 22 entrants, and the judges (2m, 2f) had a hard time. Caroline's prizes include a cheque for £50, free entry to the Oasis for a year, and a free hair-styling at Michael Chambers (formerly Blacklocks) in Cinque Ports Street. Her first booked appearance is at Bexhill Carnival, but we shall undoubtedly be seeing her in Rye before then.
Geoffrey Bagley writes: "Mr. Lawrie Band's well known collection of old photographs of Rye and district have now joined the other treasures in Rye Museum. There are about 1200 of them and they represent many years' work by Lawrie, tracking down originals, copying them onto slides, recording titles and points of local history. He had always wished that their final resting place would be in Rye Museum and so they have. Following his recent death, Mrs. Joy Band presented the collection to the Museum Association where it will be valued as an important unit of history that will be enjoyed by audience and student in the years to come."
All those to whom Lawrie's shows gave such pleasure will indeed be most grateful to Mrs. Band for this very generous gift to the town, a fitting memorial to her late husband.
2.
Christopher John Marsh, only child of Colin and Yvonne Marsh of The Strand, died on 14 May; he was 26. Christopher became seriously ill just before Christmas, and last week was taken to Harefield Hospital to undergo tests for a possible heart transplant operation, but he died in the hospital. A keen sportsman, Christopher went to Tilling Green and Freda Gardham Schools and then to Sir Roger Manwood's School at Sandwich. He joined HM Customs & Excise Service at Newhaven, and was posted to Folkestone and, on promotion, to Dover; he was to have been married in September. The town grieves for his parents (his father was, of course, Harbourmaster here until his transfer to Ransgate last year) and for his fiancee, Alison Curd of Peasmarsh. The funeral will take place at St. Mary's on Friday this week (22nd), at 2.30, followed by burial in Rye Cemetery; flowers may be sent to John Perigoe & Son, Beckley. Commander and Mrs. Marsh would like to see as many as possible of Christopher's friends at the service.
Those who travelled regularly by rail some years ago will be sorry to learn of the death last Friday of Mr. Leslie Marshall, aged 81. Mr. Marshall, a widower, lived at Winchelsea Beach before moving to Greyfriars in 1983. He used to work for the railway and was, we are told, a great character; certainly he will be very much missed at Greyfriars.
Rother could hardly have found a more suitable Tourist Information Clerk to help Elvier Bylake in Cinque Ports Street than the lady who will be starting work on Saturday: Barbara McKenzie. Mrs. McKenzie knows the town as well as anyone, and she and her husband ran Little Saltcote guest-house until recently - so she is in an admirable position both to direct tourists and to find accommodation for visitors, having been "in the trade" for many years. Mrs. Bylake is delighted - and so is Mrs. Leopold, who retired from the job at the end of last season after more than 20 years in the service of Rye Borough and Rother Councils (and who refuses us permission to say any more than that about her!)
Someone else well qualified for the job she is just starting is Joan Parkes, who succeeds Mrs. Hill as recorder/receptionist for the baby clinic; as a doctor's receptionist for longer than she cares to think about, Joan is glad to be able to use her professional skills again. Mrs. Carey of Udimore Road is also willing to lend a hand, so the Clinic is no longer short-staffed. Joan had been helping out at the Hospice - but she found that the new rail timetable made her journey unduly prolonged, so she has transferred to their emergency list.
The current list includes amended plans for reorganisation of the Monastery Hotel; change of use from store to picture-framer's workshop for the building in Paygate Yard, at the back of Paygate Cottage; (the applicant is Tony Campion, next door); and the resurfacing of the Gas Works car park. This is not to be concreted after all, but covered with 6" of "type 1 sub-base" (some sort of stone chippings through which the rainwater can drain away). The McCarthy & Stone plans for the old Hinds site are on the list which came out yesterday; they are presumably available in the Council Offices today, and we shall describe them next week.
The new wendy-house outside the playgroup hut was attacked by vandals early one evening last week; they broke the plastic window (and tried to set light to it), threw the furniture about, and in their Doc Marten boots trampled the newly-planted flower-bed. Since it was rather too early for these yobs to be drunk, they must be just plain horrible; and if Mrs. Janet Wood, whose husband Ray built the wendy-house, finds out who they are, we gather she will be just plain horrible too! Mrs. Wood tells us that the contractors on the site next door are doing their best to be helpful to the playgroup children and staff; they did cut the water-main, but repaired it very quickly, and relationships are amicable so far. Piling hadn't started on Monday.
3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 20 May 1987
• First the good news. We would like to congratulate the owners of the Grist Mill on Strand Quay on the pretty garden which they have created out of the waste ground beside the building. One of the trees planted there some time ago (by Mrs. Yates) still survives, a little unhappily; the other died long since. But there is a very healthy cupressus hedge round three sides of the plot, a lawn, and a flower border under the wall. Thanks!
• There have been complaints in the town about rubbish bags and bins left on a narrow ledge of private ground beside an entry in The Mint. This is unsightly to everyone going down the street, since it happens not just on the normal dustbin day (restaurant debris is collected twice a week, and this accumulates until then). But Rother tell us that it is perfectly legal as long as the rubbish is not on the public path and is in sealed or lidded containers. There is apparently nothing to be done; but it is fortunate that other establishments in the town are able to make better arrangements.
• We so much wish that the Health Authority would do something about the sign outside the Clinic. This is an arrangement of four painted boards fixed to two poles. Over the past ten years or so - maybe longer - the paint has faded from its original blue to pale grey, and the lettering on the top two boards is indecipherable; the only thing which is clear is that the baby clinic is held there for two hours once a week - which gives the erroneous impression that the building is heavily under-used! Moreover, the fixing of the bottom board died some years ago, and it is permanently crooked except when some exasperated passer-by bashes it temporarily back into place. The scruffy appearance of the sign really does let the Clinic down badly, to those who don't know that inside it is quite different.
• We were astonished to be told recently that there are no litter bins in Mason Field - the recreation ground for the entire Estate! This is a matter for Colin Hudson's Parks Department at Bexhill - and he told us that as far as he knew there had never been more than the occasional wire basket on the Field. Since Rother took it over in 1974, perhaps it is time there was one, we said? As usual, there is a shortage of money, but Mr. Hudson will try to borrow one from another site. (If it is one of the slatted ones, we doubt if it will be much use; what is needed is something too substantial to be thrown in the river by home-going revellers.)
The new rail timetable is proving just as awkward as we feared. Part of the Thomas Peacocke problem was very simply solved: ESCC removed all the Three Oaks contingent from BR's loving care and now pick them up by coach (which, says the school, means that the Pett children have to leave home before 8, making a long day). The pupils from Hastings who choose to come to Thomas Peacocke still have a problem, since they are responsible for finding their own way; maybe the parents should get together and charter a minibus? Students at Bexhill College, who used to leave Rye on the 8.03 train in the morning, now have to leave at 7.20 and get to college much too early; the next train, the 8.20, gets them there too late. And there are still plenty of complaints about the Canterbury train.
• Ryesingers enjoyed a very successful visit to the Cheltenham Music Festival last weekend. 37 singers plus friends and relations went west by coach, and stayed in two hotels. They brought home two Cups (folk-song and madrigals), and two second and two third placings as well.
• Gus Gale was also away from Rye last week, taking his holiday and representing the town at the first World Championship for Town Criers at Shanklin on the Isle of Wight; he was among 88 Criers from all over the world, and they had a very good if hectic time - heralded by a Civic Lunch which didn't finish until 6.45!
(Just room for an extra Bright Spot - see top of page: the amazing fragrance of Rother's wallflowers beside the Town Wall car park on a warm day…)
4.
At Winchelsea's public consultation about their bypass in November 1983, there was a very strong Rye presence. The same happened last week at the Preferred Route exhibition there, and the men from the Ministry and the consultants had difficulty in convincing visitors that they were only there to talk about the Winchelsea route ("You can ask me that next week" they kept on saying). Rye will, of course, be asking a great many questions this week at the Community Centre (see back page) - and again, we hope, at the protest meeting there next week (see front page).
We did pin down one DoT man on the question of why the brochure delivery in Rye had been so inefficient; many of us suspected that the firm must have consisted of one old man with a bad leg and a small boy, but the DoT refused to disclose who had been given the job. Anyway, households all over the town still hadn't had their copies by Friday evening, a week after the deliveries had started the DoT man said he couldn't see that it much mattered if people only got them a couple of days before the consultation...
Derek and Pam Hanwell went to the Winchelsea exhibition primarily to find out whether or not their Service Bay in Wish Street was due for demolition or not; they hadn't had either the brochure or the letter which went to the occupants of other threatened premises, and they were not very pleased to learn from the New that their business was to be flattened.
The threatened Rye householders (Mr. and Mrs. Nix at the Gatekeeper's Cottage, the young Barker family at Lowlands next door, the Hamiltons at 13 Bridge Place, the Tuckwells at no. 12 and Mrs. Jones, in her 80s and living alone, at no. 11) got their brochures right at the start, plus a letter from the Department. Given the unhappy circumstances, it was a reasonable if formal letter, enclosing various booklets about compensation and offering to have a private meeting with the householders either at the Community Centre tomorrow or at their own houses. Mrs. Jones, of course, was exceedingly upset - she has lived in her house for more than quarter of a century - and it is fortunate that she has family in the town. Nothing went to Mrs. Lowry at no. 10 (not even a brochure, she told us); her house is not due for demolition - but as it is the other half of the former chapel in Bridge Place, it would be difficult to demolish no. 11 without no. 10 falling down too.
The sixth house to be demolished is out at East Guldeford, a modern agricultural bungalow at present occupied by one of Colin Cooke's farming sons - and even here the Department boobed: they delivered the letter to the wrong house: The one they should have called at is St. Luke's; Church Farm Bungalow, which is what they told the News, is quite a different house. "Are you sure they do mean St. Luke's?" we asked Mr. Cooke; he is sure, but says that on the whole they would prefer to have the house demolished (since Rother can hardly refuse permission for a replacement elsewhere on the farm) than have the road going under its windows.
Which brings us to the other householders, who are not being demolished but merely having their homes made unsaleable and their lives miserable by the prospect of a road under their windows. There are a lot of them; doubtless we shall find out how many on Thursday week. All the ➢epartment offers them by way of compensation, apparently, is double-glazing; presumably in Dorking nobody ever wants to open a window?
It is becoming very clear that the route most people in the town want to see - in view of the topographical difficulties said to afflict one going well clear to the north of both Winchelsea and Rye - is a southerly one. Running from the blockhouse corner to the far end of New Road, past Camber Castle (about to become a major tourist attraction once bits stop falling off:), it would take away all the industrial traffic generated by Harbour Road and the wharf. It means an expensive bridge (or tunnel) but no property demolition. The cost is given, dismissively, as just over E2m more than the tangled knitting which we are being offered - full of loose ends and dropped stitches doubtless not allowed for in the costing. Surely Rye is worth more than a bargain offer, when Winchelsea gets a bypass?
5.
(continued)
Battle has already been joined. Stephen Ingham urged his Iden parishioners from the pulpit on Sunday to make sure they went to the consultation, since the proposed A268 junction would ultimately concern them. Anne Lingard's numerous American and Continental trade buyers tell her they come to Rye (and stay overnight, dining in the town) because they like it as it is now - what can the planners be thinking of, they say, aghast? So she has the proposal pinned up in the shop, and is handing out addressed envelopes so that her overseas customers can protest to the Department direct - perhaps it is a pity that the letters are not going to her first, so that she could send copies to the Chamber of Trade and the Hotel & Caterers Association - who are so keen on attracting rich visitors to Rye.
Roger Breeds is not at all pleased with the way the Sussex Express reported his views on the route. He lent us the notes from which he spoke to their reporter. "If Winchelsea is to get a bypass" he had said, "it is imperative that we do, preferably first; at present, many of the larger lorries avoid Winchelsea because of the difficult route, but once Winchelsea was improved they would use the A259 and life in Rye would become more intolerable. Given the selected Winchelsea route, the proposed route for Rye is the least destructive and offers the best solution to manyof the current problems, ie. planning blight, property sales, car parks, etc. But we need to see the plans to find out in more detail how they propose to deal with the junctions in Ferry Road and at Rye Hill. If the Grove is to be closed off, it will obviously need some road improvements to cope with increased traffic for the school and the residential properties, not forgetting Edward Mills and his lorries."
The Express had reported Roger and County Councillor Joan Yates as being in favour of the route; we wrote to Mrs. Yates asking if she also felt she had been misrepresented, but have had no reply. Against the plan, the Express quoted the Mayor, George Shackleton, Frank Dowdeswell, James Menhinick as secretary of the Ratepayers Association, and Peter Howlett as secretary of the Conservation Society. Ray Fooks told the Express, as he had told us, "it is difficult to believe we are expected to take this proposal seriously".
Ken Warren, says the Express, has called for a meeting in Rye: "I want to make sure that any route in Rye is what Rye wants" he said. However...
(GAZETTE no. 174, 23.4.86) "After our report of his view of a southerly bypass, Ken Warren asks us 'to make clear to your readers that when public consultation starts a number of routes will be put forward for comment ... we will have a straightforward public consultation to establish local choice of a route, or indeed of any bypass being thought to be required at all ... I have the Minister's assurance that the line of the Winchelsea bypass will not preclude any of the routes proposed for Rye.' As you say, Mr. Warren. We have all, of course, had the Minister's assurance, etc., time and time again; the trouble is that no-one here believes it."
(and how right we were not to, as things turn out!)
(GAZETTE no. 212, 11.2.87) "Recently several people better informed than we are assured us that the route was already decided and would go alongside the railway - whatever else the public consultation offered would merely be a polite fiction. We asked Ken Warren about this on Friday, and he said categorically that neither he nor even the Minister has any knowledge of what route will ultimately be chosen, and that there is still a real choice."
If in February Mr. Warren and the Minister honestly thought we would get a choice, yet within two months brochures were being printed offering what the Department hopes is a fait accompli, we don't think much of the liaison between Westminster and Dorking, where Mr. Bottomley's minions were working away with a ruler and pencil without his knowledge. Doubtless Ken Warren will be facing questions about this at his pre-election meeting here on Friday, 5 June - and it will also be interesting to hear what the other candidates have to say on the subject (so far, we have not seen either of them here).
6.
Visiting Lochin Marine last Sunday to watch their second Tyne lifeboat arrive, we came away with another story as well - a story about a Rye-built car which was racing at Brands Hatch earlier this month, with the maestro, Stirling Moss, at the wheel.
Frank Nichols of Lochin had started building sports racing cars in 1954 - first at Bexhill, then Hastings, then in Winchelsea Road in the present Roxburgh buildings. He called his cars Elva ("Elle var - she goes), and produced the Elva Mark VII here in 1963, a year before he finally gave up production.
Twelve months earlier, on Easter Monday 1962, Stirling Moss finally gave up driving - not from choice, but after an accident which nearly killed him, in a Lotus at Goodwood.
On 3 May this year, at Brands Hatch, car and driver raced together for the first time, when Moss drove his lovingly restored Elva, with his original racing number 7, in a ten-lap race for cars built between 1961 and 1968. Frank Nichols, who has known Moss for many years, was there to watch - and was proud to see Moss, now 57, lead for most of the race and finish a close second.
For the benefit of motor-racing enthusiasts (and particularly of David Townsend, GAZETTE no. 208), we quote the Elva entry in the catalogue of the Racing Car Show at Olympia in January 1964:.
"Sports cars are likely to provide some of the most spectacular and closely-contested racing of 1964, and Frank Nichols has decided to concentrate on developing his 1963 sports racing cars to compete strongly for the honours in the up-to-two litres class. Indeed, the Elva-Porsche, developed jointly by Elva in Rye and Porsche in Stuttgart, promises to be the most formidable car in the two-litre events. On some circuits this 1,700cc-engined car will even be capable of overall victory against the new, really big engined cars.
"The Elva-Porsche was first demonstrated last autumn, when it was flown straight from the factory to win two races outright in the USA, including the important Road America 500 Mile Championship at Elkhart. Orders for 15 of the cars were received on the spot after that achievement, and these are now being produced. But they are greatly improved versions benefiting from the lessons of the first races - and it is an improved, production car which is exhibited on the Elva stand.
"Also on this stand is an Elva Mark VII-S, an improved version of the Elva Mark VII, which made its first appearance at the 1963 Show. Elva Mark VIIs have been prominent in-sports car racing throughout the year. Tony Lanfranchi in a 1,500cc-powered car notched 14 wins and 3 hill climb f.t.ds., and Equipe Elva London's 1100 Elva Mark VIIs, in the hands of Steve Minoprio and Robin Benson, collected seven wins and 15 places. The Elva Mark VII-S is perhaps most interesting for the fact that it is now being offered with two versions of a BMW dry-sump engine of 1600 and 1995cc. Some design changes to the frame have been necessary, but there has been close consultation and co-operation between Elva and BMW in Munich, to develop this engine to give really considerable power outputs. One of these engines is displayed."
Takes you back, doesn't it? Even now, 23 years later, the Brands Hatch press release refers to the "fabulous Elva Mk7, the star attraction of a race which marks Stirling Moss's return to motor racing in this country". Next time - and Mr. Nichols assures us there will be a next time - we hope to report that Moss and his Rye-built blue Eva finish first.
(Just a reminder - don't forget to visit the DoT exhibition at the Community Centre tomorrow, Friday or Saturday; the WI Market takes place on Friday at 10 as usual.)
7.
• Next weekend (29-31 May) Playden Church has a Festival entitled "Craftsman's Art and Music's Measure". Local craftwork, with flowers, will be on display in the church daily (Friday and Saturday 10 to 6, Sunday 12 to 6); there will be various stalls, and coffee and tea available. On the Saturday there will be musical interludes and poetry readings during the day, followed by a concert of light classical music at 7.45 (Nigel Spooner, organ; Jane Bowler, cello; Cathy Collison and Rebekah Smith, sopranos). Tickets for the concert cost £2.50 and include a glass of wine and canapes after the music. Sunday services are a Festival Eucharist at 10.30 and Choral Evensong (with Madrigalia) at 6.30. All proceeds go to church funds. (Please note the details in your diary now, as this is not a Rye event and won't appear on next week's back-page list.)
• Red Cross Week raised a total of £2,386 from the Rye Centre (Rye and a large circle of villages) - £200 more than last year, despite the loss of the flag-day. Of this sum, C545 was raised in Rye itself and £1,841 in the villages. Nick Martin, the treasurer, tells us that the Rye house-to-house collection was much the same as last year, and the Open Day and 11 High Street operations together compensated for the lack of a street collection.
• Condolences to the Jeelanis and to Rye Lions, both of whom lost house plaques last week - from the Garden House in Watchbell Street and from Durrant House Hotel, where the Lions hold their meetings. Ron Lampon of Durrant House says that one way to deal with this is to fill in the screw slot with plastic metal.
• Riding for the Disabled are holding a coffee morning at the Town Hall on Saturday week (30 May), from 10 to 12, with a raffle and stall. The group is best known round here for the work they do at Hill House for both school and hospital clients - all those able to ride (the youngest is 3) enjoy themselves enormously, and it seems to have a marvellously relaxing effect on some quite difficult patients. As far as we know, this is the group's first Rye event, and they will much appreciate local support.
• Music drifted from Thomas Peacocke Upper School ten days ago, when over 70 young singers and instrumentalists took part in a 24-hour marathon to raise money for hi-fi equipment for the Music Department. Starting after school on Friday, 43 pupils spent the night in the building, with Lois Benton in charge. The Ulysses music was performed at 10pm, the choir sang extracts from the Messiah and the Creation which they had sung earlier at the Albert Hall, there was an 8.30 am band call - instruments included four synthesizers and three drum kits! If all the sponsors pay up, they hope to have raised E300.
• Rye is once again on the Bank Holiday route of the East Surrey Morris Men, accompanied this year by the Barnsley Longsword Team from Yorkshire, a team from Bedford with their Cotswold dances, and Greensleeves. On Sunday (24th) they will be dancing at the Mermaid at 12.45, the Globe at 1.30, St. Mary's at 2.45, the Ypres Tower at 3.15, and The Strand at 4.15 - after which they reckon to go on to Winchelsea before returning to the Cock at Peasmarsh! (We will be happy to lend their leaflet, with lots of technical details, to anyone interested.)
• This Sunday also sees the first of a four-week series of brass band concerts, arranged by the Mermaid Inn in their courtyard at 3. Sussex Brass plays this week, then Cranbrook (31st), Uckfield Industries (7th) and Hailsham & Vines Cross (14th). There will be a silver collection in aid of Rye Memorial Hospital. And if it rains? Come all the same - the Tudor Room holds a lot of people and a brass band if necessary.
• An ambitious clematis - pink Montana, its owner Mrs. MacManus thinks - has climbed to the very top of a 30-year-old pine-tree in a Church Square garden; the flowers form a spreading cushion over the flat crown of the tree, and glow beautifully in the evening sunlight. Oddly enough, the flowers at the bottom of the tree are still only in bud.
• Just room to say that it was not the Williams boys' big blue lorry which made a very noticeable hole in a garden wall at the back of the shop terrace in Cinque Ports Street!
Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10 to 4 (and Friday and Saturday) Department of Transport A259 exhibition, CC, 4 to 9
DoT A259 exhibition, CC, 2 to 9
DoT A259 exhibition, CC, 10 to 3
Playden WI Summer Fair (nearly new, cakes, white elephant), FEC, 10 to 12
Footsloggers races and dog show, Cadborough, from 2.1 (see below)
Sussex Brass concert, Mermaid, 3 (silver collection for Rye Memorial Hospital) - indoors if wet
Louis Turpin Blues Band, Ypres, 8
Bank Holiday; start of half-term week
Mayoring, Town Hall, 11 (hot pennies about an hour later)
Rye Town Council, Planning Committee and full Council
Local History Group (Brion Purdey on the Hastings local history collection), Library, 7.30
• Sussex Police need a clerk/audio typist for Rye Police Station - an interesting and varied permanent job providing administrative/typing service to the police station. 37-hour week, Monday to Friday; Local Government APT&C scale 2, c6,045-6,441 pa.; starting as soon as possible. Ring Mr. John Brooker at Bexhill Police Station (Bexhill 213630) at once for an application form, etc. - closing date for application is today week, 27 May.
• Bank Holiday trains: Saturday as usual; Sunday as usual, but track maintenance work means buses (and longer journeys) between Rye and Hastings; Monday, a Sunday service (now hourly on our line). If in doubt, ring Hastings 429325.
• The Mint will be closed to traffic for about an hour from 6 am next Wednesday morning (27th) while a removal firm delivers a photocopier to Le Fevre Wood Royle at no. 77. Early birds, please note.
• Romney Marsh Footsloggers Club holds its annual races and dog-show at Cadborough Farm on Sunday. We haven't room for the full schedule, but there is something for everyone, and as well as the usual serious races there are the traditional funny ones too (egg-and-spoon, etc.) For more details, ring Mrs. Nan Hacking.
• On Saturday, 6 June, Mencap are holding a street collection; they could do with some more help, and if anyone with an hour to spare would like to take a tin, please ring Mrs. Vickie Piper in Rye.
• Welcome to two new residents at Devonport House, Stanley and Irene Wright. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have come from Ashford, but they used to live in Winchelsea Road and Mr. Wright has a sister living on the Estate.
• Results: the Rye Society of Artists' jumble sale on Saturday, always popular with the regulars, raised an astounding £396. On the same day the Arthritis Rheumatism Council made 1E148 at their coffee morning at the FE Centre, and up in Mill Road £60 was raised for Playden Church funds by residents who opened their gardens to about 50 visitors.
• We are reproved for referring to Winchelsea as a village; it is a town. And as a town it can hardly have a village hall; the A259 exhibition was housed in the New Hall. Apologies!
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7DR (0797 222303), and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. Deadline is Monday afternoon for Wednesday's delivery. The paper costs subscribers 30p weekly, and a very few spare copies may be available from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1987)