The marriage at St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon, graced by sunshine despite grey clouds earlier in the day, was a real Rye affair. Jenny Boreham, of The Link, was the bride; Stephen Nash, of Fottingfield Road, the bridegroom. Jenny was given away by her brother Keith, and Stephen's best man was his brother Andrew. Jenny looked enchanting in pale wild-rose pink with three tiers of frills round her full skirt, her short veil edged with pink trimming; cerise flowers mingled with pink in her bouquet, matching the cerise dresses of her three bridesmaids, who carried pink posies and wore white flower circlets in their hair. The reception was at Thomas Peacocke School, catering by the Bedford Arms. The couple are buying a house in St. Leonards; Jenny works at the cafeteria at the Sports Centre there, while Stephen is on the staff of a firm making speciality bricks in Icklesham.
The afternoon's second wedding was at the Baptist Church, between Paula Bourn of Udimore Road and Tony Payne of Camber; both work at the Rye Model Laundry, and they will be living in Camber. Paula was a classically beautiful bride in white lace, the overskirt looped up over a tulle crinoline; she was attended by five young bridesmaids in aquamarine (all their dresses made by a friend) her cousins Emma and Lisa Tiltman, and Tony's nieces Samantha and Sarah Payne and Andrea Harkin. The bride's mother looked particularly elegant in primrose yellow. The service was taken by the Rev. Stuart Davison, and during the signing of the register Caroline Addy and Gill Davison sang "The Lord is My Shepherd". Paula helps with the 1st Rye Guides, who were there to form an informal guard of honour for her. After the service all the guests walked along to the reception at Ma Beeton's; for the crowd of well-wishers across the road, there was a particularly pretty moment when the bridesmaids scurried to catch up with their bride, blown along like flower petals in the brisk wind. The party broke up at about 11; and at 3 Michael Bourn was called out of bed to deal with a car on fire at Camber, with his milk-round looming just a couple of hours ahead...
The Sports Centre opened on Monday for its first long holiday session - open seven days a week from 9am to 10.30pm for the next six weeks or so (term begins on 3 September). Staffing is now complete, with Kevin Brooks (who comes from Milton Keynes but is living in Rye) as assistant manager joining Stewart Lees and Tim Bolton.
On offer again, twice during the holidays, are the all-in three-hour morning sessions for children aged 6 upwards, which proved so popular at Easter; £1 a session from 9 to 12, Monday to Friday, 10 to 14 August and 24 to 28 August. With no playscheme in the town this summer, this is bound to be particularly welcome to parents.
In addition to normal daily running, there are three sessions of trampolining on Mondays; soccer coaching from 6 to 7pm on Tuesdays, and also fitness training under an instructor; aerobics on Wednesdays; squash coaching on Thursdays (advance booking only); badminton coaching on Friday, and also on Saturday morning (for adults and over-13s); Saturday is also the Family Night - bring them all for £2.50 the lot. Sundays offer table tennis and also, in the afternoon, roller disco, fast growing in popularity.
Holders of membership cards will know all this already. Visitors (or local experimenters) can take part on payment of a 25p daily fee (children 15p). Everyone pays for what they choose to do (this sounds like a moral statement, but is not so intended!). A leaflet is obtainable from the Council Offices, or phone the Centre on Rye 224676 for more details from Stewart, Kevin or Tim. If you have never even been inside, it is well worth 25p just to have a look round it - as patronised by Royalty, after all.
2.
Readers may remember that earlier this year, after a problem in 1986 over house-to-house collection dates, we tried to sort out the position for 1987. We printed at the time a list of the "weeks" that organisers gave us; but there was obviously a lot going on that we didn't know about!
A recent potential clash led us to ask Rother what was booked in for Rye for the rest of the year. In theory anyway, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness will be collecting here from 3 to 16 August. Quite certainly, the RAF Association will collect between 7 and 19 September, followed by the National Children's Home from 21 September to 3 October. So far, so good; but now comes trouble. The NSPCC traditionally collect in Rye early in October; but the Rother list has an organisation called Action Aid booked in from 3 to 18 October, a direct clash with the NSPCC (which was not on their list at all). Since Action Aid, which has no local representation as far as we know, may not appear, perhaps this won't matter; but if it does, there could be embarrassing encounters along Rye's streets. (The final house-to-house is for the Poppy Appeal, from 26 October to 7 November.)
The problem arises with the two-tier system of permissions. The big charities have Home Office exemption to pick their own weeks - normally but not necessarily supported nationally. If they inform Rother good and early what dates they 1 e chosen, they can be marked in on the Council's list; the smaller charities, who have to get specific permission from Rother, can then be offered the weeks in between. The big charities are apparently not bound by law to notify Rother at all - but it certainly saves a lot of hassle if they do.
Ideally a charity likes to have a house-to-house week rounded off with its flag-day on the Saturday. But flag-days are a quite different problem, and are allocated only by a sub-committee of Rother's Staff & General Purposes Committee in February or early March; Rye is allowed about ten each year, and they don't always fit in with the collecting weeks - and anyway not every charity wants both. One way and another, the whole system is extremely messy, and could do with an overhaul at national level!
Rye people might well assume that "Mollusc" was another of the learned publications in which articles by Dr. Goldie-Smith on local underwater wildlife appear from time to time. They would be wrong. The oddly-titled magazine is produced by the County Library Service, by and for young borrowers, and copies are once again available at all its libraries during the summer holidays.
On 25 August, children up to the age of 10 will be welcome at Rye Library (closed to the public on a Tuesday) for a session of stories and other activities relating to teddy-bears - bears are invited along too. In a quite dreadful pun, the advance information refers to making this a bearable summer! Further details from the library.
A display of photographs in the reading-room showcase at the Library will amuse older Rye people, who may recognise their parents, if not themselves, in the various groups. All date back to before WW1, and are part of the "Rye's Own" collection. They include the 1904 production of Iolanthe; Rye Invicta football team, winners of the Rye Charity Cup in 1907/8 and again the following season; Rye Athletic Club, 1908; Rye Scout Troop in 1909, with Mrs. Cory in the centre as Captain; Rye St. Mary's Lads football club, 1909/10; and an undated photograph of the Rye Town Military Band, clearly of the same period. If anyone can identify any of the people shown, please leave a message at the desk for Mrs. Jean Greenhalf if she is not on duty; the names will be added on the back of the photographs in due course.
The photographs are now part of the Local History Collection at the Library; pictures, documents, programmes, posters, etc., no longer required by their owners are always sure of a good home there.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 29 July 1987
The Rye Carnival programme, packed with local ads as well as details of the events planned for Saturday afternoon, is now being sold round the town at 50p. Each copy is numbered, and this year Baldwins have arranged for two cross-Channel ferry companies, Hoverspeed and Townsend Thoresen, to provide lucky-number free trips: Hoverspeed offer a flight for a car and two passengers from Dover to Calais or Boulogne and back (to be taken before 31 October), Townsend Thoresen a day-return trip for two foot passengers. Skinners of Rye have offered to pay £50 to Round Table charities for each car bought between 1 and 16 August if the purchaser produces a Carnival programme, and last year Round Table gained a very useful sum in this way. Skinners are also running their 50p "roll the dice" competition again on Saturday - throw 7 sixes and you drive away a smart new Mini (no-one won this last year, so presumably the odds shorten this time?).
Floats and fancy-dressers assemble at Tilling Green in good time for the 12.15 judging (children's fancy-dress at 12.30 - a Boots gift voucher for the winner, plus prizes for everyone). The procession moves off at 1.30 after the presentation of Cups and prizes (Playford Memorial Cup plus £50 for the best commercial entry, Rye Town Cup plus L50 for the best non-commercial entry, with second and third prizes of £25 and £10 in each class - and a mind-boggling £250 for the best float in the show, with a further £50 for the best from within 5 miles of Rye). If everyone turns up, there could be 30 floats - but Frank May tells us that they will be very pleased to get at least 20.
The Carnival Queen, Caroline Davies, will lead the procession in a suitable vehicle - not necessarily the 1923 AC in which she came second out of more than 15 Carnival Queens at the Bexhill Carnival last weekend (and third recently at Hastings). If everything goes to time, Caroline will open the Carnival on the Salts at about 2, with a full afternoon of fun and games ahead. The arena attractions include something called Western bare-back barrel racing, in which ponies are involved (the Moto-Equestrians-Display Team); the Motorcyclowns; and the Gerry Gooch motor-cycle display team. There is also a punch-and-judy, bale stacking and tossing, a fun castle and lots of other sideshows, plus plenty of stalls and various refreshment stands including a bar.
The Exemption Dog Show is being run this year by Mrs. Janet Campion of Ham Street, and judged by David Springford from London. There will be four pedigree classes and eight novelty classes, with a trophy for each winner - also trophies for Best in Show, reserve Best in Show and Best Puppy, plus various rosettes. Entry fee is 50p per class, and entries will be taken from 1.0 with the first class being judged at 2.0.
Those with plenty of energy left may like to move on from the Carnival to the Greenpeace benefit gig at the Ypres Castle pub, since this continues long after the Carnival is over - presumably in musical competition with the Fair: Performers include Green for Love, Pass the Cat, Rain Station, the Louis Turpin Band, Macavity's Cat, John Burgess and others. There will be a bar and barbecue, and tickets are obtainable from Rye Wholefoods in Cinque Ports Street - £3.50 (£2.50 for OAPs and unemployed, UB40).
Didn't it rain last Wednesday! The Salts were an amazing sight, and the circus was said to have had problms for a time, but the firemen were not called upon to pump anyone out, and al. the water eventually went away somewhere...
... Except beside the Sport Centre, where the expensive lorry-loads of soil deposited round the back to impress the Queen Mother now form the bed of a shining lake. One Grove resident told us that not merely were there seagulls on it, but the Marsh frogs had discovered this nice new habitat and sang there all night. Nothing has yet been done about the drainage of this land, a problem which became very apparent as the Sports Centre building grew on its concrete foundation raft (try pressing on a sponge for the effect); even during the weeks of fine weather water lay in the ruts, and the contractors told us some time ago that they couldn't get the machinery in until the ground was dry. On this showing, it could take years - not an inspiring prospect for the householders whose gardens border these.
4.
At the full County Council meeting last Tuesday, Rye was in effect disenfranchised. Councillor Mrs. Joan Yates (Conservative) declared an interest, and withdrew from the meeting while the A259.improvement was debated.
Councillor Mrs. Anne Moore (Liberal), who had done her best for Rye at the committee stage, put forward a motion which would have overturned the committee report (GAZETTE no. 231); she was seconded by a Labour Councillor from Hastings, Michael Foster, who told us he had been well briefed by Osma Jones and Brian Champion of the Rye Labour Party. Robert Bromley, the Conservative Councillor for Winchelsea, spoke in favour of the report, and when it came to the vote all the Conservative Councillors present voted with him. The Liberals and all the Labour Councillors except one voted against the report; in effect the voting was along party lines, and the report went through.
Ken Warren had also done his best for Rye. A few days before the meeting he wrote to the Conservative leader of the Council, Mrs. Mont (with copies to Mrs. Yates, Mr. Bromley and Mr. Hodgson of Hastings), saying:
"As you know there has been extremely fierce and determined public reactionagainst the DoT A259 proposals for Rye. I am meeting Peter Bottomley, the Minister, on 22 July to ask for better proposals to be produced.
"I should be most grateful if you would present my compliments to your Conservative colleagues and ensure that they are aware of the strength of the public feeling and the unfortunate and quite unnecessary arrogance of the Civil Servants in the public presentations of the DoT case.
"I notice from your Council Agenda for the meeting on the 21 July that Councillor Hatcher proposes that 'qualified support' should be given to the DoT proposal and that there should be joint work on 'environmental enhancement etc.'. Bearing in mind that the road line proposed will not divide the town just by two trains an flour, but by 8000 vehicles a day, with a much higher figure in the summer months, the division will be real and absolute. I hope you will agree this prospect is absolutely intolerable and that any suggestion of 'environmental enhancement' can only be treated as an unfortunate joke.
"The support of all your group would be greatly appreciated."
Ken Warren is away this week, but we hope to hear how he got on with Peter Bottomley last Wednesday. People in Rye will be grateful to him for his sporting - though, alas, unsuccessful - try at Lewes; but they will of course also be grateful to Councillors Moore and Foster, who did more for Rye than the. Conservatives on the Council. Aren't politics odd!
Mrs. Yates herself told the Conservation Society committee meeting on Wednesday that she had withdrawn from the Lewes debate, and word soon got round the town. Four questions are being asked. What was the "interest" Mrs. Yates had declared, since her house will increase in value (she lives in New Winchelsea Road) whichever route is chosen? Why, in view of the very marginal nature of such an "interest", did she not get a dispensation from the Minister to speak notwithstanding? Failing that, why did she not ask another Councillor to put Rye's case - or did she? And, perhaps most interesting, why did she suddenly discover her "interest" before the full Council meeting, since she had quite openly spoken and voted at the committee? We wrote to Mrs. Yates asking if she would like to answer any of these questions, but have had no reply.
Everyone in Rye is affected by the A259 route, wherever they live. On Mrs. Yates's reasoning, it would seem improper for even the Town Councillors to discuss the matter. Perhaps our Rother Councillors shouldn't have spoken up for us at Bexhill, either? Logically, if this is likely to happen again, Rye would be better served by a County Councillor who had no possible connection with the town itself at all: Which is ridiculous - or is it?
REMINDER: if you haven't yet written to the DoT about the Winchelsea bypass route (as it affects the Rye proposal), it needs doing at once: Department of. Transport (Room 411), SE Regional Office, Federated House, London Road, Dorking, Surrey RH4 1BR.
5.
The Annual Report of the Rye Conservation Society is always a full and interesting summary of events in Rye over the year, primarily as they affect the look of the town. The Society is dedicated to solving modern problems as well as saving ancient buildings, however; the report refers to negotiations about street lighting, shop-window posters, parking and the "unsightly proliferation of overhead wires" belonging to British Telecom. The restoration of the Landgate Square pump was a project brought to successful fruition: Rother contributed £350 towards the repair of the brickwork, while Burnhams, Landgate Square people, the Town Council and Society members together raised enough money to complete the work and leave a small balance for possible repairs to the actual pump. Larger structures are rather more of a worry, of course, for instance the Martello Tower in Winchelsea Road; the chronic situation at the damp-ridden Ypres Tower has been causing concern, but in the work which has been done there "adequate supervision is often seen to be lacking and planned progress absent - an example was seen when window locks were fitted to windows that were barred and 25' from the ground"!
There is a useful section on the Harbour, which refers to the Marina Feasibility Study - the Society shares the view held by many people in the town that there is indeed a need for wet moorings but not for the housing developments which the consultants envisaged as accompanying them. An appendix records recent developments in planning law during the past year - including the question of dish aerials for satellite TV reception; planning consent will be needed for these in the Conservation Area, but "if it is true that half of Britain will be watching satellite television, are we reconciled to the prospect of dish aerials on half the roofs of Rye?"
And now, the Rye Bisection. The main report was written before the Public Consultation in May, and at the AGM last month a supplementary report was produced for discussion - and approved - as the basis of a letter of objection from the Society to the DoT. The report refers to the proposed route as one "selected mainly for cost effectiveness reasons as a means of easing through traffic, but without giving due weight to consideration of the long-term social cost to our town as a community - quite apart from noise and traffic pollution close to the centre. For Rye it is the cheapest and nastiest solution and certainly offers no improvement. The plan smacks of earlier, primitive planning reflecting small- scale short-term thinking.
"What is really needed for the long term is a realignment of the Folkestone-Honiton Trunk Road as a true south coastal artery running roughly parallel to the coast several miles inland, which would be well clear of Rye and Winchelsea and also Hastings, Bexhill and Brighton, in much the same way as the A27 (to which it should be linked) clears Eastbourne, Newhaven, Shoreham, Worthing and Littlehampton. This altogether larger concept, which allows for future traffic densities rather than those of the past and present, may be a counsel of perfection and be regarded as far too costly, but it would hardly be regarded as such by our neighbours on the Continent.
"Should this wider concept be ruled out for reasons of cost or lack of vision, we would be forced to consider the less satisfactory but possible alternatives of Routes 1 and 8 (Route 7 is dismissed as running too close to the town). It is realised that Route 8 to the south would create a number of problems affecting the maritime life of Rye and its visual aspects, and would necessitate costly high level bridging or difficult tunnelling in view of the water-table. Equally, Route 1 presents difficulties, but the main earthworks cost argument (Cadborough Cliff) should not be regarded as insuperable, nor the damage to the environment which proper landscaping could minimise.
"The Society has independently come to the same conclusion as the Town Council that Route 1 is infinitely preferable to the planners' proposed route, and urge most strongly that Route 1, perhaps with modifications ... be selected as a true bypass for Rye."
Congratulations to the Society and whoever wrote that!
6.
There was consternation in the High Street on Saturday morning, when shoppers found one of the two cashpoints firmly closed. Lloyds Bank manager Brian Tuck is extremely sorry about this; the trouble arose when a note jammed in the mechanism on Friday evening, so the cashpoint was out for the whole weekend. Doubtless local people were able to make other arrangements, but for visitors it presented real problems. None of Rye's four banks opens on Saturday; the Post Office and all three building societies are open in the morning - but that's no help unless you have an account with one of them...
Recently Rother Council discussed the progress of the Dog Warden scheme. George Shackleton took an active part in the debate, since he has maintained all along that it was a waste of money to expect one person to cover the whole District adequately. He was told that Rother had only had one actual complaint from Rye since the scheme started; this was presumably from your Editor, asking that an eye should be kept on the Mill footpath where suspiciously new-looking messes are to be seen at around 10am, anyway on Wednesdays - but hasn't anyone else complained at all? Mr. Shackleton says that the only way to get the Warden to pay proper attention to Rye is to complain, to the Council Offices or Bexhill Town Hall, not necessarily every time you notice a dog's mess but certainly every t you notice one in the same place several days running.
As far as we could tell from the Environmental Health report, during her first two months the Dog Warden collected two strays, referred two cases to Rather for advice (but "neither case was considered appropriate for prosecution"), and liaised with police about sheep worrying at Robertsbridge - something hitherto done by the farmers concerned, surely? She also "gave special attention" to a footpath at Strand Quay. "The planned 'high profile' phase of the Service's operation in Rather has proved effective" says the report, "and the second phase - enforcement and education - will commence in the near future." So if you feel you need a spot of enforcement in your bit of road, you know what to do.
As a matter of interest, has anyone sighted the Dog Warden actually at work in Rye? Several people people report seeing her van parked, someone noticed her doing her shopping; she works flexi-time, so can reasonably shop during the day but equally reasonably can be asked to be around early in the morning.
Brian and Alison Milgate waved goodbye to Rye as their 28' "Tiger Rag' slipped quietly away from Strand Quay on Saturday's noon tide. Their visit had been well worth while, and both had found links with their Rye ancestors. Mrs. Joyce Robus of the Harbour was able to give Brian a great deal of information about their joint ancestor John Milgate, and Mrs. Sheila Clark and Mrs. Cora Woolley have also given us details which we shall be passing on to the Milgates. Len and Julie Fuggle were equally able to help Alison with her Goodsell connections. If anyone found they had (literally) missed the boat, the Milgates can be contacted c/o the Post Office at Cowes, Isle of Wight, until about 11 August; we have Alison's mother's address in New South Wales, but they don't expect to get back until Christmas 1989 - "if we hurry, that is" said Alison!
The book about their drug network adventures, which held them up for the best part of three years at the start of their voyage to Britain, is called "The Cochin Connection" (by Brian and Alison Milgate), published by Chatto & Windus earlier this year at £10.95.
(and very nearly too late for this week)
• The Town Council meeting announced for next Monday (3 August) is postponed.
• Rother has an immediate vacancy for a part-time seasonal attendant (working alternate days including weekends and Bank Holidays) at the putting and bowlingcgreens on the Salts, selling tickets etc. Apply Council Offices at once. Should suit student or pensioner.
7.
• Lifeboat Week raised an impressive £2,635 from Rye and the surrounding villages, some £300 more than last year - from house-to-house collections and the flag-day in the week ending 18 July. This was despite the dreadful weather on the Saturday morning which had the collectors out in yellow oilskins - or maybe, come to think of it, because of the dreadful weather: (High Street collectors reported cars stopping to hand them money through the window in sympathy.)
• The Bowls Club coffee morning at the Town Hall on 18 July made £60 profit, which will go towards the purchase of trophies for Club games.
• The local branch of the Arthritis & Rheumatism Council is still mourning the sad and sudden death of its admirable secretary, Frank Barrett. But even the irreplaceable has to be replaced, and if the branch is to continue at all it must have a secretary, preferably a secretary-cum-treasurer. The chairman is Arthur Rolls of Fairmeadow, who would be extremely glad to hear from anyone who might be willing to take on the job - the best time to reach him at home is soon after 9am, or in the evening. Finding a secretary is always the hardest job for any charity; the Rye ARC branch is not a big one and does not attempt high-profile events, but its coffee mornings and ploughman's lunches have become a part of the social scene, and it was one of the lucky groups to get a flag-day this year (5 September). Is there perhaps a newcomer to the town, not already committed elsewhere, who might be able to help?
• Rye Police are still looking for volunteers for their identity parade list - all ages from 16 upwards are welcome. You fill in a very basic form (height, build, colour of hair and phone number) and get paid if they need you. The police would also like to hear from people - on the telephone, and usually at home during the day - who would be prepared to act as Neighbourhood Watch coordinators, to fill assorted gaps in the coverage of the town and its outskirts. This is pot a paid job, but you are undoubtedly serving the community.
• The Rye Branch of Mencap I- deeply grateful both to Rae Festing and to the Rye Labour Party for their kindness over two events last week. The Garden Party at 11 High Street brought in £120, and the coffee morning at the Town Hall £110 - a welcome £330 towards the setting-up costs of the new Friary Gardeners project for mentally handicapped local trainees. Vicky Piper is now asking for spare garden tools and equipment - almost everyone must have something at the back of the shed that you no longer use and the youngsters would be really glad of. Never mind if what you can offer them is not in the best of condition, since Dick Oliver of Lea Avnue has set himself the task of renovating what needs it. (Seed-boxes and pots would also be very welcome.) Please ring Vickie Piper if you have anything for them; collection can doubtless be arranged if necessary.
• There were three thefts from local business premises recently;a car radio from the back of Ma Beetons, cash and a Campri Marine holdall from SeaCruisers, and an HGV lorry tyre from Jempsons Slade’s Yard – here police are looking for three men in their mid-20s, all slim and around 5'10”, who ran from the yard just after 3am on 23 July and made off in a tatty purple Marina. At midnight last Friday someone took a double-decker bus from the depot by the station, drove it to the top of Rye Hill and crashed it into the cemetery gates.
• We have now learnt of more autumn events, unfortunately clashing with two of the three we mentioned last week: as well as Ryesingers on 17 October, there is an ATC barn dance (Catsfield Steamers) and Old Scholars' annual dinner; on 14 November, as well as New Sussex Opera at St. Mary's, the Community Centre has a jazz evening with the Semi-Quavers. Please, organisers, let us know your autumn plans as soon as possible for the diary.
• Next week's GAZETTE will be the last for a fortnight; we are not printing on 12 August (nor on the 26th, but the paper will appear on the 19th as normal). If you have something for which you need publicity in the next two or even three weeks, let us know by Monday afternoon 3 August or it will be too late.
Rye Sea Cadets, cream teas, Red Cross, 1.30 to 4
Rye Society of Artists private view; exhibition opens on Saturday at the Boys' Club, 10.30 to 5.30 including Sundays, until 5 September.
Rye Carnival - see page 3
Greenpeace benefit gig, Ypres, noon till night (page 3)
Hymns of praise with the Salvation Army Band, Gun Garden, 3 King Capone Reggae Disco, Ypres Castle, 8
Town Council meeting
Hearing Circle coffee morning, Red Cross, 10.30 Landgate WI children's picnic (members)
• Congratulations to Veronica (nee Fox) and Dieter Bogush, now living in Germany, on the birth of their son Tom Edward Ernst on 20 July - a first grandchild for Teddy and Sheelagh Fox, a first great-grandchild for Mrs. Norah McCaughey, all of Playden Cottage.
• Congratulations, too, to Anne and Barry Yates of the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve on the birth of their third child and second son, as yet unnamed, on 18 July. Anne brought him home from hospital two days later, nicely in time to sit down and watch the TVS programme about the Nature Reserve; half-way through there was a terrific clap of thunder, and all the electricity went off and didn't come on again until next day. Perhaps the Yateses should call their new son Jupiter - whose emblem was a thunderbolt! (TVS did send them a video, but only for domestic use so they can't have a public showing.)
• Some seats are likely to be available to non-Museum Association members for an outing to the two castles of Walmer and Deal on Saturday, 19 September. Coach fare is £3.80, plus admission fees (Walmer £1.20, OAPs 60p; Deal 75p, OAPs 55p). The coach will leave Rope Walk at 10, back in the early evening, and packed lunches should be taken to eat at Walmer. Apply to Rosemary Bagley or Margaret Houslander at The Mint.
• Having booked a stall for the Carnival, the Action for Epilepsy Group put up some very cheerful Union Jack posters in the town asking for red, white and blue items to sell - but so far, says Glenis Bentley plaintively, no-one has given them anything. They would be so very grateful for appropriate contributions (doubtless pink, cream and aquamarine can be absorbed without anyone complaining!). Mrs. Bentley can arrange to collect goods, or they can be left with Freight Express-Seacon (opposite Town Hall).
• Rotary's Polio-Plus Appeal is better off by £500 as a result of the weekend mini-fete in Winchelsea - this on top of the £600 raised at Point Hill two weeks ago.
• Is there anyone who drives from Rye past Warrior Square, St. Leonards, first thing Monday to Friday, who could offer Jean Dickinson a lift? She starts work at 9, as does her husband Alan; but whereas it takes him less than five minutes to walk from Rope Walk to his office in The Mint, she leaves home at 7.45 to take the train to her language school. Coming back is less difficult, but a lift between 4 and 5 would be welcome too. Share petrol costs, of course.
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. The deadline is Monday afternoon for Wednesday's delivery to subscribers and pick-up points; the current subscription is calculated on the basis of 30p an issue, and a few spare copies are sometimes available from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1987)