Rye Harbour lifeboat went out on a medical mission on Saturday. Fisherman Brian Smith of Camber, at work a mile out in the Bay, was stung on the arm by a weaver-fish - and paralysis was creeping up towards his heart...
Low tide meant a beach launch (13 minutes from lifeboat-house to water's edge) and Dr. Cardew of Udimore was an essential member of the crew; but even so, the boat took just 27 minutes from the time the maroon went up to the time it reached the fishing-boat - is this a record, wonders Mary Lestocq? Dr. Cardew administered two massive injections, and the lifeboat brought Mr. Smith back to the beach and thence to the lifeboat-house - where he recovered without the need to go to hospital.
The boat has had two other minor outings recently, but our lifeboat correspondent was not here to tell us; Mary has been in America, at the annual convention of the Professional Photographers of America. She is an international member of this body, and tells us that it was a truly international gathering, with photographers from India and China, almost as many women as men, and a delightfully friendly atmosphere. Those who remember the prize-winning picture of Mary's daughter with all the hats will not be surprised to learn that it was among those hung at the convention; this year's event (in Chicago) was the first Mary has attended, but she is already planning what to send in for the 1988 convention in Orlando, Florida:
Back, briefly, to the lifeboat: the crew have been presented with two pumps (to pump water either way, depending whether the problem is fire or flood) by Rye Fishermen and the Rye Harbour Boatowners Association.
Sunday week, 30 August, sees the fourth of Rye's August spectaculars - the Raft Race. For eight years Dianne James has run this event, with the profits most gratefully received by the NSPCC; now Mrs. James is passing on her paddle, so to speak, to Rye & District Lions - which will still be glad of her expert advice. Recently the Lions have been organising a small fete at the Harbour to coincide with the finish of the race, and to take over the race itself is a natural extension: Round Table has its Carnival, Rotary its Country Fair, and now Lions have the Raft Race - with a large proportion of the proceeds still going to the NSPCC.
Enquiries about entries should be made at the Tollgate Garage (Rye 223105). The more rafts, the merrier (there were 20 last year): the course runs from the Rock Channel confluence down the Rother to the Harbour, and the official start time is 2.45-ish. But in our experience far more rafts leave the Strand Quay slipway than ever reach the start, let alone the finishing-line. Some are no-hopers from over-optimistic drawing-boards, some involve daring experimental techniques, some are basically planks-on-oil-drums and none the worse for that. In the early days Weslakes were usually front runners; last year the Royal Armaments Research & Development Establishment from Chertsey won the prize for the best constructed raft, though sturdy Rye Young Farmers finished first in a record 22 minutes. There is a fancy-dress prize, and. a wooden spoon for the last crew to finish under its own steam (there is also a rescue boat for those who don't...)
This is an occasion for old clothes, both on and off the water. To watch the launchings, be at Strand Quay (the far side is best) soon after 1.0; to see the start, you have a long trudge through field and furrow at the beginning of Harbour Road (you can't get round by the river bank). Car owners may do better to miss out this and head direct for the Harbour, the finish and the fete. And please be generous when you see a collecting-tin; the NSPCC really does need the money.
2.
Mr. John Hole of Udimore Road died suddenly at Bethel Chapel on 12 August, aged 71. He had been a resident of Rye for some sixty years; he came to the town when his father became manager of the International Stores. He married Miriam Jempson in 1937, and lived to enjoy their Golden Wedding earlier this year in the company of their five children and six grandchildren. He ran the Cadborough Post Office Stores for a few years before the war - during which he served on destroyers in the Royal Navy and was involved in the Italy landings. He was then employed by Spun Concrete and Mears Bros. at Rye Harbour, before working for Seibe Gorman at Ashford until his retirement in 1981. Although suffering from Parkinson's disease for the last few years of his life, he derived much satisfaction from maintaining the gardens at the Aged Pilgrims' Home at St. Leonards, and from visiting, with his wife, his five children in various parts of the country. His funeral service was held at Jireh Chapel, Tenterden, on 17 August, and was followed by interment at Rye Cemetery.
Mrs. Osma Jones, of North Salts is now the Area Representative for St. Michael's Hospice, and she will doubtless be delighted to hear from anyone willing to hold a coffee morning or more ambitious event in aid of the Appeal. Joy Mockett now devotes her time to running the Hospice Shop at 17 Wish Street (opposite the Old Forge), and anyone who would like to lend a hand with that should get in touch with her. There is soon to be a new venture at the shop: as well as ladies' wear and bric-a-brac, they will be selling new household linen by arrangement with Clements of St. Leonards - very handy for those who at present have trouble in finding what they want in Rye. The Appeal is opening a new shop in King's Road, St. Leonards, at which furniture, books and pictures will be sold; if you have good-quality second-hand items for this, leave word at the Rye shop and Bob Hodgson will contact you about collection.
Rye Firemen had a beautiful day for this event on Sunday in Winchelsea Road, and are deeply grateful to Jonathan Jempson for allowing them the free use of his lorry park. Much of the publicity was free, too, and there were virtually no expenses to set against the gate takings of E400, all of which will go to the National Firemen's Benevolent Fund. The site was full (Dave Catt lost count of the number of cars, they came in so fast), and parking for shoppers was free with a request for a donation to the Fund - many people were generous enough to put Cl in the tin. From the shopper's viewpoint it was a lot of fun, since almost all the boots had been filled from their drivers' attics rather than from warehouse shelves, and the commercial element was hardly there. Shoppers and sellers alike were glad of the hot-dog and icecream vans. When it was all over, the firemen cleared up thoroughly - though Mr. Catt said there was really remarkably little litter. And we are glad to say that there was no call-out that night, and the men got the good night's sleep they had so well earned.
A High Street shopkeeper asks us to urge elderly people in particular to take care on the pavements. Several times recently she has provided succour for those who have caught their feet on the uneven slabs, and she has frequently seen others tripping and recovering themselves. ESCC Highways at Bexhill is supposed to be doing something about the pavements, but is taking its time; and anyway, the national criterion for a dangerous slab is one which is at least an inch higher than its neighbour - anything less than an inch, and it isn't dangerous:
Some time ago James Menhinick sent us a story from The Times, about people in Ireland who had discovered the joys of financial claims against their highway authority for damage sustained in this way; perhaps this is something people here should think about if they come to grief - as long as they can prove that what they fell over measured one inch or more...
3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 19 August 1987
The A259 Action Group intend to conduct a small traffic survey of their own next Wednesday (26 August), covering traffic entering and leaving Rye by all six roads over a period of four (possibly five) hours from 8am. They will need about a hundred volunteers, and there are still spaces on the list: 13-year-olds upwards will be welcome, reasonably good eyesight is important, and the work will be done in half-hour stints. If you can spare one, or several, half-hours that morning, please contact Mary Bonham.
On Sunday, Rye Racers conducted their annual Silly Race in perfect weather and with a good turn-out of competitors. As usual, teams consisted of two people running three-legged (pretty loosely three-legged in some cases) pushing a third on wheels of some kind - wheels ranged from a pram to a golf-trolley, and included a sack-barrow with only one working wheel! The aim is to visit all the town's 18 pubs, with one member of the team taking a drink at each (girls can settle for soft drinks), starting and finishing at the Ypres Castle. The fastest team was the Ypres' own mixed threesome, the Windscreen Wipers, who completed the course in 35 minutes; a minute behind them were the Union Beaux and Cocky Conquerors, joint claimants for the "fastest men" title. The fastest women in Rye come from the Rye Club (we speak, of course, only of Sunday's event!) - their Flintstone team also won the fancy-dress trophy. Sober citizens worried by obvious cheating round the bottom of the town can rest assured: all the teams cheat, says Joan Parkes who acts as timekeeper - and they all tell on each other when they get back! The event brought in £157-Collected in the tins, £65 from food, and £130 as Dick Pearce's contribution from the Ypres bar takings - there were slightly fewer people around than last year, he reckons (but there were a number of other events on in the town). The final total is likely to be £350 or so - which should ensure a good party for the town's senior citizens at Christmas.
Holidays or not, Thomas Peacocke senior staff are busy sorting out A- and O-levels this week (we hear there have been some very satisfactory As, Os are due on Thursday). But George Hunt kindly took time off to give us briefly the latest batch of degree results from ex-TPS pupils. Diana Sanders now has a BA (Hoes), a 2.1 in Creative Arts. Claire Lutman has a 2.2 in Geography from Hull, and is to train as a remedial teacher. Simon Benn has a 2a from West Sussex College. Sadie Carroll has a Second in English Literature and American Studies, from Strathclyde. Claire Turner has a Diploma in Secretarial Studies with a foreign language, from Swansea. We also hear that Tracy Kirkham has a job as an assistant accountant Lear Covent Garden; Richard Tuck is with Customs & Excise at Newhaven; and Mark Royle, with a degree in geophysics, starts work with Cable & Wireless in October. This is the generation now in its early 20s - we shall be glad to report other college and job results if parents will let us know.
A timely press release from ESCC reminds those who have had unexpected A-level results about the government's Advanced Further Education Information Service, run locally by ESCC's care-_-s service. This is available to all students, no matter where they were at scnool (state or private). TPS students still in touch with the school will e referred to the service anyway if they need it; others can call at Upper School Careers Office (Rye 224426) on Wednesdays and Thursdays, or by appointment at other times, ring the Careers Office at 11 Wellington Square, Hasting (425780).
Although the 8.36 from Rye to Ashford still officially misses the 9.0 fast to London, it seems that if Rye passengers are in luck they may catch it! Network the Transport Users Manager Cedric Nott has told the Transport Users Group that his planners are looking at this missed connection and hope to do something about it next May. In the meantime, it is possible to get to London by 10.07 on a day-return ticket leaving Rye at 7.55 and going via Hastings.
4.
Rotary's Country Fair on 9 August was a great success; at least £3,500 has been raised for the wide spread of Rotary charities, an increase of some £700 over last year. The car rally drew nearly a hundred entrants; the award for the driver travelling the longest distance to get there went to Mr. C. Stephens, who drove his 1946 Hillman 10 the 235 miles from Bridgewater in Somerset - and turned round and went straight home again afterwards! Oldest vehicle present was a 1911 Humber motorcycle and sidecar; oldest car, a 1913 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. The lady-and-car prize for a stylish turnout went to a 1937 Austin Cambridge, with a 1927 Lea-Francis as runner-up. None of the winners came from Rye; but then, the rally draws in drivers from a very wide area indeed nowadays.
Despite glooming clouds, the Invicta Parachute Club gave a splendid display, and kites flew throughout the day. Both hounds and beagles appeared in the arena, backed by a stand from the British Field Sports Society. Keeping the spectators lively and the children entertained were three hard-working clowns - Rob and his sidekick Thick Thelma, joined this year by a bustling Chico. Could they possibly be Bob Vincent, Kathy Varley and John Ciccone? (Of course not, what a preposterous idea...)
The Freda Gardham field owned by the Town Council made an excellent site, thanks to Alan Catt's kindness in allowing car-parking on the adjoining land; other facilities included an admirable refreshment tent, bar and icecream van, loos were tucked delicately away under the willows (Rotarians not only dug the hole beforehand but filled it in afterwards!), and there were plenty of plastic sacks for litter (one clearer-up told us that she didn't notice a single dog's mess, though there had been lots of dogs present). A number of local organisations rented stall space; the MS Society reports gratefully that it raised £193. There was a useful chance to see the full range of garden ornaments made in Winchelsea Road by Reg Cooper, now taking over Mr. Mayock's long-established business.
Rotary's Big Teddy, given by Tony Wills, raised a total of £600 for the Polio-Plus Appeal - tickets had been sold in the town throughout the summer; it went to a man in Hastings, who promptly presented it to his Rye girl-friend. The top raffle prizes also went locally: £100 to Sue Crisford of Lloyds Bank, the Spar hamper to Zoe Tennant of Peasmarsh; and Sunday lunch for two at the George to Mr. D.H. Boreham of The Link.
The weather teased, with great navy clouds over Playden and an occasional drift of drizzle; but although thunder rumbled away across the Marsh, the rain very obligingly held off until all the visitors had gone and the Rotarians had even got their tent folded up and put in the car. Although this has been a wet summer, 1985 was worse: that year it rained on the Carnival, the Country Fair and Rye Racers alike!
The Fair was a splendid opportunity to show off the Freda Gardham Field. Water is now laid on, and in the autumn trees will be planted - not in a hard line, but in groups inside the purposely irregular fence. It is not too far from the town (it's a pity about the grit on the pavement in New Road, though), and is already used for football in the winter. The Town Clerk (Town Hall, 223902) would be delighted to receive enquiries from groups who would like to hire it for events such as boot fairs, fetes, etc. - and we gather that Rotary will certainly be back there in 1988.
Star performer at Vidlers' August sale was an early C18 walnut cabinet-on-chest which sold for £2,000. A similar but less impressive piece fetched £500. A three-piece Chesterfield suite went for £250, an Edwardian bureau-bookcase for £420, an old pine corner cupboard 6' tall for £240, a Victorian dining-table for £270, an Imari vase just 18" tall for £520 and a 16" Imari dish for £220 - another large oriental dish fetched £260. An antique oak chest-of-drawers sold for £240, closely followed by a mahogany ditto at £620. A pocket-watch in an 18ct. gold case fetched £300, and a further 16 lots fetched over £100.
5.
Booking is now open to the general public for Rye Festival events (5 to 12 September). The Woolwich Building Society has been kind enough to provide the box office at 105A High Street (Rye 222730 - Monday to Friday, 10 to 1 and 2.15 to 4.30, Saturday' 9.30 to 11.30). Ticket prices are set out in the green-and-white leaflet widely available in the town. (If you want seats for The Fairer Sax, fresh from the Edinburgh Festival, you will need to hurry!)
There are one or two amendments to the leaflet which we circulated with the last GAZETTE. Although Lonnie Donegan has had to withdraw, organiser Anne Wood has found a very adequate replacement: Terry Lightfoot, well known to jazz lovers, with blues singer Helen Gould and The World's Greatest Dixie Band - what more can we say? It will be obvious to most Festival-goers that the connoisseurs' evening at Rye Museum is on 4 September (not 4 August as in the brochure); and a welcome addition to the programme is an early-evening spot on the Wednesday when Graham Clarke will be at the Town Hall, talking about his delightful series of "History of England" prints now on view Et the Easton Rooms (until 31 August).
Dick Pearce at the Ypres Castle has stretched his basic Festival event (Kevin Brown, 8 September) into a mini-jazz/blues Fringe - the Mark Edwards Trio on the 6th, Eric Money and Loose Change on the 7th, and Louis Turpin on the 10th (on the 9th and 11th Dick will be busy running the bar for Terry Lightfoot at TPS and The Fairer Sax at the Community Centre).
There have been some big boats in Strand Quay recently, but nothing quite up to the standard of the magnificent "Octavus" from Dordrecht in Holland. The Harbour office tells us that she is not a restoration job, but built brand-new: a barge-type vessel, she was dressed overall when we saw her, and was attracting admiring looks from every passer-by. Dressed overall in a different way was a big Swiss catamaran, with a double washing-line that any housewife would have been proud of - and at the sluice end, a French yacht was even more domestic. Not only was the washing out, but they were brewing-up on a small stove on the quayside!
We do hope visiting as well as local yachtsmen are keeping an eye on their possessions; in the press book recently there have been four thefts from boats in the river. Whatever happened to Riverwatch?
In every copy of the GAZETTE this week we have enclosed a standing-order mandate, to allow for the 40p subscription rate applicable from 30 September (further copies available on request).
Standing orders don't need receipts, because the payment appears in your bank statement; they are automatically paid each half-year til you tell your bank to stop. You pay the same, over the full year, as everyone else - but the banks prefer the payments to be divided into two equal halves, while cash/cheque subscribers pay 20p more in the winter h if-year (24 weeks) and 20p less in the 23-week summer one.
Postal subscribers will find that their forms allow for postage charges of 18p or 13p (whichever we have been using) top of the standard £9.40 cost. Forms should be returned to 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, TN31 7DR (.not to_ your bank) by 18 September at the latest
so that we can note details,in our records and still give your bank time to make the new arrangement before the 30th. (If you are not continuing your subscription and have been paying by standing order, don't forget to cancel it with the bank in good time.);/
This system has now been in operation for 18 months, and seems to work well; we can specially recommend it to those who regularly forget to renew their subscriptions until the last minute or later. Doubtless, however, many of our readers will prefer to continue paying by cheque or cash, and they will find full details about this in the issue of 9 September.
6.
We were much impressed to receive a review copy of a book published earlier this summer here and in the United States: "The Complete Notebooks of Henry James", edited by Leon Edel and Lyall H. Powers (Oxford University Press, £25 - and available from the Martello Bookshop).
Rye was a haven for writers towards the end of the last century and during the early part of this (nowadays it seems to harbour more artists). The greatest of these literary lions was, of course, Henry James - who had Lamb House as his country home and wrote some of his most important novels here. James is greatly venerated in America, his native land, where all his papers are in the library at Harvard. Professor Edel is the accepted leading authority on James and has written his Life and edited his letters, plays and collected essays; this left only the notebooks, which had been previously published forty years ago by editors who regarded them as having an entirely literary significance. Professor Edel and his colleague Professor Powers from Michigan University thought differently: "It is clear to us that the notebooks are primarily historical, biographical, geographical and psychological." Many Rye people ha the pleasure of meeting Professor Powers when he spent some months here, a couple of years ago, researching the local background for the book (his grand-daughter was baptised at St. Mary's during the visit). Local residents of long standing were able to help him over problems of identification; and as a result Professor Powers illuminates splendidly the upper crust of Rye in James's day.
We cannot attempt (indeed, we would not presume) to review formally this authoritative and definitive volume, beyond saying that James enthusiasts will find it quite indispensable. The notebooks are primarily concerned with the writer's work, and it is clear than he put an enormous amount of advance planning into it, with endless fretting over whether a particular anecdote or incident could be worked up into something publishable. James was definitely not the kind of author who sits down at a typewriter and produces two thousand words off the cuff before lunch every dayl The typewriter was in fact forced on him late in life, when writer's cramp smote him half-way through a novel; he never used the machine himself, but employed a secretary to type straight from his dictation so that he could immediately read back what he had said.
As well as the literary notebooks, however, James's pocket diaries have survived, from 1909 until his death in 1916. Here he noted down his journeys, his social life wherever he happened to be living at the time, any extremes of weather, and above all the state of his health - an increasing worry to him as he approached his seventieth birthday. His Rye medical adviser was Dr. Ernest Skinner, who doubtless found him a lucrative if demanding patient. The Lamb House staff included Burgess Noakes, his valet (a Peasmarh man); gardener George Gammon; successive housekeepers Mrs. Paddington and Joan Anderson; and secretary Theodora Bosanquet. Many of James's society and literary friends from London visited him here, but he also knew all the best people in and around Rye - the Warrenders at Leasam House, the Hennessys at Saltcote Place, the Skinners at Mountsfield, the Frewens at Brede Place, Mrs. Perugini (a daughter of Charles Dickens and mother of Laurence), the Jacomb-Hoods, and the Golf Club secretary Dacre Vincent and his wife Margaret (later, says Professor Powers, Benson's model for Lucia)... James banked at Lloyds in the High Street, had a small shareholding in the Literary Institute, shopped locally - and, oddly, records the receipt of ,t6 from Edgar Stonham for "rent of garden"?
The fascinating local interest of this book is of course a minor details, and certainly not the main object of the editors. As a record of the problems which beset James, and the genesis (perhaps birth-pangs would be a better word) of his great novels, "The Complete Notebooks" will remain a standard work of reference for James scholars for a great deal longer than the next forty years.
(In our next issue, we hope to write about another book, equally of interest to Rye, set in a rather different level of society a generation or so later:. "Goodbye Bijou", Arthur Woodgate's reminiscences as told to the TPS Local History Group - the first in the Group's series of publications.)
7.
There can be few former Rye Grammar School pupils who are such successful novelists as Pamela Oldfield. She and her sister were at the school at the end of the war, when their mother was housekeeper to the equally successful novelist Margaret Irwin (who lived on Rye Hill). Whether or not it was this which later spurred Pamela on to write her series of historical novels, she is not sure; but she now lives just over the Kent border, and produces these splendid stories, full of incident, romance and tragedy, with no apparent difficulty and at the rate of one a year. 1985 saw "The G ooding Girl", set intriguingly in Rye in the early years of this century; 1986, "The Stationmaster's Daughter", set in Tenterden (and with its launch party held in one of the K & ESR trains). Now we have "Lily Golightly" (Century Hutchinson, £10.95), set ambitiously and convincingly in the California Gold Rush, with a bold Kentish heroine overcoming every obstacle to reach a happy ending; Pamela went to America to research it, though the QE2 wasn't (she told us at the time) quite the same as the emigrant ships of the 1840s! This book will be greatly enjoyed by people who like to settle down to a good long read, whether they have encountered Pamela's earlier work or not; and we do look forward to seeing where her literary flair will take her heroine in 1988.
• Steve Denny - who has made the tiny Apothecary's Shop such a charming and fragrant feature of the High Street - is wondering exactly why the date 1787 is so firmly associated with the building. Is it the date of construction of 104 High Street - or the date when a chemist's shop first opened there - or what? He is thinking of having a small 200th-birthday celebration, but would very much like to know first what he would be commemorating. Can anyone help him? The earliest record we have is from an 1887 directory, when Plomley & Waters (estab. 1847) were "agricultural and veterinary chemists" there; but we need to go back another 60 years to answer Steve's question. Various Adams Guides reproduced a painting of the shop with ladies in crinolines in front of it - but Clifford Foster has no idea where the original of this came from; here again, can anyone help?
• Planning: ARC (the owners of Atlas Stone) wish to put up a private electricity substation on a corner of the Harbour Road site; also at the Harbour, the owners of Frenchman's Beach want permission for another 14 static caravans, this time at the far end of the site and away from the Martello Tower. The owner of 46 Church Square seeks permission to prune three sycamores in the garden; there is a proposal for a bedroom extension to 19 Cadborough Cliff. In Cinque Ports Street the bookmakers want to change their shop-front, with a central door opening onto the pavement instead of the present arrangement - the fittings to be in "white 3ynthapulvin aluminium". And the George Hotel gives details of the plans to incorporate the Sheffield Place cottages into the main hotel via a first floor corridor above the yard.
• Mrs. Dorothy Wood moved house last week - only next door in Church Square, but she tells us the complications were immense; this is also the Rye base for her son William Kendall, the singer, when he is able to wring time-off out of a career which takes him all over Europe and beyond. With the imminent loss of Barbara Fearon, every single house in Hucksteps Row has changed hands recently or is about to do so: the senior resident as from next week is a real newcomer by most Rye standards:
• Rye Bowls Club was represented by Messrs. Oliver, Nelhams, Milton and Deeprose at a two-day tournament at Hythe arranged by the Cinque Ports Mayors Association last weekend. Appropriately, our Mayor's husband Dick Oliver was captain, and, he tells us that it was a strenuous weekend - they played for seven hours one day, six the next, on splendid greens in lovely weather. Rye's performance was not, to be honest, anything very special; but our Limb, Tenterden, won the tournament in a thrilling neck-and-neck finish. Rye's green closes early - last match, 6 September - for major repairs during the winter, and the Club, who have now played on most of the local greens, hope very much that theirs will be up to standard for the 1988 season.
(no GAZETTE next week, then back to normal)
Thursday, 20th Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10 to 4 (and Friday and Saturday) Conservative Association coffee morning, George Hotel
Monday, 24th Thrift Shop half-price sale, Red Cross, 10 to 4
Town Council committees (see Town Hall board)
Tuesday, 25th Rye Library teddy-bear session, 10.30 to 11.45
Ken Warren, MP, surgery, Council Offices, pm (see below)
Local History Group business meeting, Library, 7.30
Wednesday, 26th NSPCC coffee morning, 11 High Street, 10.30
Tuesday Painters Club Annual Exhibition, FEC (private view 11 to 12.30, exhibition open thereafter and 10 to 6 daily including Sunday until 5 September)
FRAG concert - a musical evening with the Nisbett family (playing Debussy, Chopin, etc.), Stormont Studio, 8 (£3 at door, , £2.50 in advance from Easton Rooms)
Friday, 28th A259 Action Group coffee morning, 10 East Street, 10.30
Saturday, 29th Women's British Legion ploughman's lunches, FEC, 11 to 2
Sunday, 30th Rye Raft Race, for NSPCC, afternoon (see front page)
Wednesday, 2nd Hearing Circle, Red Cross, 10.30
• Congratulations to David and Debbie King of Bridge Place on the birth of their daughter, a sister for Melanie.
• Ken Warren, MP, is holding a surgery at the Council Offices on Tuesday afternoon next week (25 August). As usual, appointments have to be booked with the Hastings Conservative Association office (Hastings 423110, mornings). Nobody in the newspaper world will ever promise when a particular story will appear. So we will only say that it is likely that this Sunday the London "Observer" will carry something about Rye's A259 proposals - and people who don't normally take the paper may like to order one, just in case. We don't know, of course, what will be said; but our source gives us the impression that Rye won't be entirely dissatisfied...
• Much of the street lighting on the Estate has been out of action for the past two weeks, to the great inconvenience of the residents. The Mayor has reported this to ESCC; there is apparently a mains failure, and Stteboard expect to take some weeks identifying it and repairing the fault!
• The Corralls Yard car park in Winchelsea Road is now officially open, and well patronised: the ticket machine is on a 24-hour timer, so the £l-all-day charge covers any 24 hours. For lesser needs, charges are 30p for one hour, 50D for two, 70p for three and 90p for four.
• The police press book shows the usual summer crop of thefts from cars (one poor lady found the window smashed and her handbag taken). Also thefts from boats, a burglary via an unsecured window in Cinque Ports Street, damage to a bus in Station Approach - and a £1,000 video camera belonging to a Mexican couple who reported it stolen from the George and had it returned to them by someone who found it at the back of the Ship Inn!
• Jim Wood from Hilder's Cliff phoned us in much amusement recently: there was a black Vauxhall Astra parked outside with a numberplate which really ought to belong to Rye - A259 DUF!
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. (Copyright Mary Owen 1987)