The Mayor of Rye went to sea on Tuesday (6th) in company with other Cinque Ports Mayors paying an official visit to Her Majesty's Aircraft-Carrier "Illustrious". Mrs. Oliver and the Mayor of Winchelsea left Rye at 7am for Portsmouth, where they were escorted through the dockyards to join ship. Over coffee in one of the wardrooms they were introduced to the officers by the Captain and given an introductory talk and film show, and then taken on a tour round the ship before lunch. There should have been a photograph on the main deck, but the weather was too awful, so they settled for the Admiral's Deck instead; Mrs. Oliver has a copy of the photograph showing the whole party. After lunch they split into groups of five and went on a more detailed voyage of discovery all over the ship, seeing the working parts and the missile department - and going up and down hundreds of ladders! Meanwhile, Illustrious took her distinguished passengers for a short cruise round the Isle of Wight to somewhere off Beachy Head - at least one Mayor (not ours) found the motion of the ship, on a very rough day, rather upsetting.
The most exciting part came last. After tea, the group were briefed on how to put on helicopter gear, and what to do if the chopper ditched. Then, suitably dressed, they were helped aboard from the ship's deck into two helicopters! Mrs. Oliver went with the Mayors of Lydd, Hastings, Folkestone, New Romney, Dover and Winchelsea who were landed at Lydd, while the rest of the party went to Manston. Dick Oliver was waiting at Lydd at 5.30 to take Monica home, after a very long day; she told us she had tried to spot Rye as they crossed the coastline at Dungeness, but it was too misty to see even that far.
Rye Dance Centre pupils entered for 57 examinations in ballet (some doing more than one) earlier this month - and everyone passed everything. Joanne Haviland was reluctant to pick out names, even though there were some very good marks, because, as she says, they all did well - and, alas, we haven't room for all 57. So congratulations to the Centre, and to Joanne, and of course to all the successful young dancers!
Paul, son of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Osborne of Iden, and Lynda, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Wilkinson of Udimore Road, were married at St. Mary's on Wednesday. Lynda wore a 20s-style white lace dress, with a headband of pearls; Paul's best man was his brother Peter. The reception was held at the Landgate Bistro. The couple will make their home in Military Road; Paul works in his father's building firm, and L:nda is a painter at Iden Pottery on Strand quay.
Rye's Day Centre, which provides a weekly change of scene for elderly and frail local people who would otherwise be housebound, is badly in need of helpers. Barbara Wild says that each session now has about 25 to 30 members, and the same little band has to do everything each time, so that even holidays mean crisis situations. They are looking for people who could offer simple cooking, simple crafts, and/or just general help and friendly chat - and car drivers who could bring in one or more members would be particularly welcome (a small mileage allowance is paid). Each session runs from about 9.30 to about 2.30, and of course a volunteer is not expected to help on Tuesday and Wednesday. At present the Centre meets at the Lower Hall in the Baptist Church, but it will move into purpose-built accommodation on the Magdala House site in Ferry Road when that development is finished next October. If you can offer help, either at the Centre or simply bringing members into and out of Rye, please ring Mrs. Wild - or come along to the hall during a session, and see for yourself what would be involved, and how friendly and appreciative the atmosphere is.
2.
Miss Jeanne (Cissie) Mills, of Ferry Road, died in a nursing home on 5 October, after a long illness; she was 95. The funeral took place on Monday at Rye Cemetery. Miss Mills was born in the Midlands, and was grown-up before the family moved to Rye in the 1920s to run "The Little Shop" - a drapery in the Landgate, where the camera shop is now. After a time the business expanded into Ferry Road, where her younger sister Nancy (the late Mrs. Gibbs) was in charge of part of the present shop. In 1940 Miss Mills gave up the Landgate shop and took her elderly parents back up north out of the way of the war, leaving Mrs. Gibbs to keep things going in Rye; she returned in 1948, when they bought the adjoining Ferry Road shop and joined the two together. Many Rye people will remember shopping there in the years after our currency went decimal; Miss Mills declined to accept the newfangled system, and continued to work out prices in shillings and pence - she liked to be paid that way too, but would very reluctantly convert the final total if she couldn't persuade the customer to do it for her. The further complications of metres and centimetres were something she never knew! When she was 87, Miss Mills gave up working in the shop, and Mrs. Gibbs looked after her as well as managing the business. She went into a nursing home last
year. Mrs. Gibbs died in June, aged 76 - died young, by Mills standards; there is still a sister in Manchester aged 88, and the other members of the family lived on well into their eighties.
Rye was definitely blooming on Saturday. At the George, the Winchelsea & District Floral Group's show, "The Beauty of Autumn", showed a large number of really lovely arrangements, competitive and otherwise, plus two charming "trees" flanking the entrance. We admired particularly an elaborate decoration for the fireplace inside the door - and also the exotic entries for Indonesia and Sri Lanka in the "Harvest around the World" display set up by the committee and members. There were some useful stalls, and the George ballroom made a fitting background to the show.
Rye & District Flower Club at the FE Centre had chosen a local theme for their classes - Rye Inns, Rye Landmarks (this was an inter-club competition, and we must congratulate Sedlescombe on a delightful interpretation of the Mill), Fishing - which produced some interesting and ingenious entries - and Antiques, a well-supported class in which the flowers interpreted a favourite container or piece of bric-a-brac. Two large central displays attracted much attention - one entitled "Wool" and the other (courtesy of Tarquin Cole, who lent the accessories) "Rye Pottery". There were stalls of special interest to flower-arrangers, and small table decorations in oasis foam for sale, as well as cakes and refreshment The doorway was decorated with great swatches of ribbons; blowing in the wind, they may have startled visitors, but they looked uncommonly pretty from outside!
There are no actual Rye planning applications this week, but Montrose Properties, through their Hampshire architects, have submitted an amended plan for their site in Harbour Road (which comes into Icklesham). Readers will remember that earlier this year Montrose put in a new planning application for the site, to include 124 houses (as opposed to less than 100 under the permission they already had) with a "linked lakes" water feature in the centre. Rother deferred this for discussion to reduce the number of houses and increase the marina size, and the amended plans now on view at the Council Offices are the fruit of the discussions.
They show 97 house units, a yacht club, a restaurant, 8 shop units, 13,000 sq.m. of industrial/warehousing space, and a yacht basin with a minimum of 100 pontoon moorings. In addition to this are visitors' moorings on pontoons, and river-bank moorings - the number unspecified. This reduction in housing seems to have been achieved by a reshuffle on the town side of the site, and the complete removal of several blocks on the Harbour side, leaving a much larger industrial area
than before. Lock gates are indicated, and there is a certain amount of technical detail about the water-edge arrangements (which will of course also have to be approved by Southern Water).
3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 14 October 1987
On Monday we asked Ken Warren's secretary whether he had yet had his end-of-September meeting with the Minister (GAZETTE no. 238); she spoke to him on our behalf, and kindly rang back with the following statement:
"Ken Warren had had an informal meeting with the Minister for Transport, Peter Bottomley, at which representations being received by the Ministry were discussed. These are still being submitted to him. Mr. Warren estimates it will be at least another month before the representations are collated.
"Mr. Warren has also received a considerable number of copies of representations made by people living in Rye and around - the furthest away being from an American in Washington who holidays in Rye each year. No pattern of preference for a particular route is emerging, but parish councils and residents who would be affected by a northern route are beginning to come forward and say they are against that proposal."
Mr. Warren's statement ties in with a press release issued by five parishes whose representatives met on 6 October and expressed opposition to the northern route shown in the DoT leaflet. The release doesn't say what the parishes would like to see; in July three of the five (Playden, Iden and East Guldeford) were against the through route, Rye Foreign had not expressed an opinion at all, and only Udimore said at that time that they would prefer the through route to a northerly one.
Nick Ramus, chairman of Rye Foreign Parish Council, has been elected to the Town Council's A259 Sub-Committee as the delegate from Iden, Playden, Rye Foreign, Peasmarsh and Beckley; Udimore are said to be lobbying for their own separate delegate (perhaps, way we suggest, shared with Winchelsea/Icklesham?); and East Guldeford is supposed to be sharing a delegate with Camber.
Ken Warren's letter from an American is only one of a considerable number which have reached the DoT from the States. Anne Lingard has been doing a marvellous propaganda job on her overseas buyers, and many of them have written opposing the route - including one elderly gentleman from Japan, who addressed his letter to her c/o the Department (they duly sent it on to Rope Walk with, Anne suspects, something of a twinkle). A letter from Brussels on Interpol paper may have puzzled them, too. But Anne's customers are serious in their opposition, and are not just humouring her; she tells us they find it difficult to believe that anyone - even the mad English - could consider slashing a road through the middle of a town like Rye...
Working in conjunction with the Conservation Society, the Action Group record with pleasure one success: the pink Gatekeeper's Cottage has now been listed Grade II by the DoE. The Group is now trying to get Bridge Place, Landgate Square, the railway bridge and the signal-box listed too.
Congratulations to Sharon Cocks of Military Road, who despite wind and rain on Saturday kept her promise to her Mencap sponsors and cycled to France and back. She left Rye at 7am, and was back by 8.20 that night, having cycled 80 miles, mostly with the wind in her face so that she had to use the gear she would normally select for going up Rye Hill - no wonder her knees hurt next day: She wore waterproof clothing, and took a dry outfit in her saddle-bag, but nevertheless was wet to the skin almost from the start. She told Vickie Piper that she was glad of a lie-down in the boat (which ran despite the weather); the worst part was from Lydd to Rye, when she really thought of giving up but was pushed on (literally for a time) by her boyfriend Gary who had accompanied her all the way. To prove that she really did get to Samer, she has a photo of herself taken with the Mayor, and a business card from one of the shops.
Sharon doesn't yet know how much money she has raised from her sponsors, until she collects the sheets from shops in the town (but Vickie has promised to let
us know). She works at Iden Pottery, and was back at work on Monday (now, why couldn't Saturday have been a lovely day like that...?)
4.
Expecting to find problems everywhere after almost a week of rain, we walked round the town on Sunday afternoon - to find that Rye seems to have been spared the disasters that afflicted other parts of the county. At high tide, the water at Strand quay was well below the top of the river-wall; the Tillingham, held at bay by the closed sluice until the tide turned, was within a few feet of the bank top at Knights Nurseries, immersing some very surprised waterside plants but not reaching the piers of the Tillingham Bridge. Upstream of the bridge, it reached the fence of the Paygate Cottage terrace, but further along only the tips of the willows were dabbling in the brown water. There were puddles, of course, on the Magdala House site (now with outer walls rising from the vast concrete floor slabs), and on the Drill Hall site (with not much to show yet for the new fire station), and on the supermarket site (which didn't seem to have altered at all since we last inspected it, but had a big crane down there on Monday).
The Sports Centre contractors had at last managed to get their land drains laid last week behind the gardens in The Grove, and it was just as well they did; there was water laying on the ground at the back of the Centre, but nothing like there has been in much drier conditions. A fairer test of the new drainage will be whether it can clear the water entirely once we get a week or two of dry weather; it has hardly had a chance yet! On the other side of The Grove, the Mountsfield swamp extended virtually to the bottom of the rising ground, with the recently-planted trees standing pitifully in the lake; jokes about train travellers needing aqualungs if BR do move the railway over suddenly seemed not so funny...
The Salts, of course, did lie wet. The Cricket Salts looked all right, but the bowls green housed a neat square pond where excavation for the returfing had been done (and on Thursday water had lain on the new grass too). The putting green and playground were wet, but not nearly as wet as the Football Salts where a shining lake extended from the fence right across to the lane - and we heard of a middle-sized dog which was seen actually swimming in it!
People for whom the Channel Tunnel is still only something to read about in the paper have a chance to see for themselves on Thursday fortnight, 29 October. Hastings & District are running a coach outing from Rye ("Tomorrow's World Channel Tunnel") for those who want to "learn about the proposed fixed Channel link, and see some of the preparatory work now being undertaken for one of the greatest engineering feats of the century". This is quite different from the company's usual scenic, historic or shopping runs, and there is no indication in the current excursion leaflet about exactly where the passengers will be going; but it will take a full day, leaving Rye at 8.50 and returning at 5.30 (adults £6, children £3, OAPs £4.50). We had spotted a smallish ad for this last week, and rushed round to Baldwins to book - only to be told that there wasn't much interest and the trip might not run. H & D have agreed to reprieve it for a week, in the hope that bookings may build up; so if you want to go, call in on Baldwins or ring them (Rye 224277) hastily. To see for ourselves will mean that reports on Radio Sussex and TVS should make a lot more sense in future - and there won't be another such trip until February.
(and see next page)
Rye Playgroup's "Nosh Night" made a profit of £200. Among the guests were the Mayor and her husband, the Mayoress and her husband, and Councillor Shackleton; Councillor Dowdeswell was helping with the bar, and Councillor Ringo made himself responsible for the music as his contribution. All 37 raffle prizes had been donated. The evening was so much enjoyed that the group may have another in the spring, says Mrs. Janet Wood who organised it (having been the one to suggest it in the first place!). The next event will be the Christmas Fair on 21 November (earlier this year so as not to clash with the Christmas lights switch-on) at the Clinic from 2 to 4, with Father Christmas in his grotto as usual, and a wide range of stalls and teas. Book the date now!
5.
Last week's report on the future housing of the Playgroup now has a very satisfactory update - and an apology: the session fee of 75p is the peppercorn rent the committee pays to Rother for the hire of the hut - mothers pay £1 a session, plus an extra 10p which goes straight into the rebuilding fund.
George Shackleton has been talking to the Playgroup committee, and to Rother, and it sounds as if a mutually acceptable solution is likely to be reached. The present building, he said, really is past economic refurbishment, but instead of the proposed multi-use community hall, Playgroup are investigating various prefabricated buildings which would suit them, to be erected on Rother's site. Rother's planning staff are using very helpful, and once a suitable building has been selected and planning permission obtained, the Playgroup and its friends can start raising the money. If they pay for it - it could cost them £20,000 - the building will of course be theirs - if they care to let it for suitable events, fair enough, but they will control the lettings. Councillor Shackleton is hoping to persuade the Town Council to make a one-off capital grant, recouped by putting something on the town rates precept; if the Council is willing to do this, it will put the Playgroup in a stronger position in the search for grants from other bodies. Everyone will be looking at the County Council; and County Councillor Mrs. Joan Yates will doubtless do her utmost to press their case, since she has been a strong supporter of the Playgroup for many years.
Dr. Kathleen Goldie-Smith of Military Road is exactly the right person to answer our recent query about mosquitos - though what she actually specialises in is a closely-allied group of non-biting midges. The trouble, of course, has been the wet summer and its "transient accumulations of water" plus one very warm spell. In ponds, etc., other marine life eat the eggs and lavae; in rivers, they are carried rapidly away. But with a breeding cycle of only a few weeks a nice new puddle with no resident predators is an ideal nursery for mosquitos... (There are also salt-marsh species which can breed in the period from one spring tide to another, thus avoiding getting washed out to sea.)
We were startled to learn that there really are British mosquitos which can transmit malaria (known in the old days as ague or marsh fever). Anopheles maculipennis var. atroparvus (we think this means it is small and brutal with spotted wings?) nearly always breeds in brackish coastal waters but likes "the society not only of domestic animals but also of unhealthily-housed men" - so improvement in the standard of housing in coastal areas has helped to eliminate indigenous malaria from this country. However, if one of the little blighters happens to cite someone just off the boat and still suffering from the disease, it can then transmit it to a fresh victim here!
Our domestic mosquitos, theobaldia annulata and culex molestus, are fierce and Persistent biters (there is another variety that normally only attacks birds). They hibernate in cellars and attics; and it is only the female which bites. Now then, genetic engineers: what about a sex-change hormone for mosquitos?
We can't attempt a proper report on the TPS Open Evening - there was so much to see. But we promised the canteen to commend their excellent supper - 85p bought four kinds of salad plus a slice of cold beef, a sticky bun and coffee! Parents, of course, were glad of the chance to look at their children's work and to talk to the staff; the rest of us enjoyed playing with the Lower School science experiments and urging on the competitors in the CDT's Oxo- cube-stand contest (which replaced the Great Egg Race). Over at Upper - the path well lit, this year, by a dynamo-driven floodlight half-way along - we very much enjoyed looking at the school archives in the Library (they include a book showing pre-war teachers' salaries), and wasted a lot of time in conversation! We never did find the plans for the new buildings, but hope to report on them later; we shall also be printing the Head's statement about the year's very satisfactory public exam results.
6.
If someone were proposing not only to reopen but vastly expand a disused airfield at, say, Cripps Corner or Bodiam, Rye would have known all about it long ago; plans would have come before Rother, Rother would have consulted the Town Council, the Express and News would have been full of it - we might even have an action group! But because Lydd, the same distance away, lies across the Kent border, Rother knows nothing about the plans - and nor does anyone else round here. True, there was something on TVS a few weeks ago - but people have talked about revitalising Lydd Airport so often before...
However, this time it seems to be serious. The first Rye heard of it was a letter to the Town Council from the L)dd Action Group, referring to a possible Chernobyl disaster if a plane were to crash into the power station, a flight path slap through large flocks of bird migrants, and a stream of tankers (quoted variously as "50 lorries a day" and "40/50 every three or four days") going through Rye carrying fuel from the Harbour to Lydd.
So we made enquiries. First from Alsfords: what about the fuel? They say this is pure speculation at present (and certainly the Action Group doesn't seem very sure of the facts); Alsfords are frequently consulted about possible cargoes to be loaded or unloaded at their wharf, and they have been consulted about this - but so have a lot of other local ports, and there is absolutely nothing definite. Carl Bagwell as Harbourmaster would certainly be rubbing his hands, he told us, since the fuel contract would vastly increase the Harbour revenue - which in turn would rub off on Strand Quay and other facilities for yachtsmen and fishing boats.
We left the question of the Dengemarsh birds to the RSPB. But a Chernobyl-type disaster? LA-UK, the group who own the airport now, say that their longer runway would give them a traffic zone which would include the power station; at present, any plane can fly over (into?) it - and it was built to withstand such an accident.
A short piece in last week's News talked of a "jobs bonanza" and the Kentish Express says there could be as many as 1000 jobs on offer when business is booming - 500 at the complex and 500 in the spin-off work, whatever that is. (This does sound suspiciously like the 500 jobs in Harbour Road which ESCC keeps on about at present the airport employs 113 people, doubtless some of them part-time.)
Throughout next summer Gatwick is to be closed for night flights for runway repairs, and if Lydd's new loner runway can be ready in time they hope to take some of its surplus traffic; but David Blackman, Lydd's Air Traffic Controller and PRO, makes clear that they do not propose to set up another Gatwick here. He said that Gatwick is trying to lose what is termed third level aircraft - such as executive jets - and LA-UK want them at Lydd; there could also be charter flights. (The Action Group points out that three directors of LA-UK are also directors of Intersun.) LA-UK's press release - which we had some trouble getting hold of - says that the sort of aircraft which will operate into Lydd will be the smaller modern and quiet (quiet? huh!) 100-seaters such as the BA 146, Boeing 737-300 and so on; there will be no jumbo jets, no inter-continental flights. But the press release is obviously not intended for Rye, since it points out carefully that almost all jet departures will be towards the southwest - straight across Rye Bay!
Apart from noise and possible traffic problems, Rye should benefit from the new airport. Not only will local holidaymakers be able to leave from Lydd instead of trekking off to Gatwick, but our hotels and guest-houses should get increased business from visitors doing the same thing. On the other hand, the press release says with enthusiasm that the arrival of the airport should put up house prices - the last thing Rye wants.
There is no way we can set out all the pros and cons here. On Saturday the airport is having an Open Day, from 10 to 6, with conducted tours and the opportunity for questions. It is short notice, but we'd be glad to hear afterwards from anyone who goes over there. Better still would be if Mr. Blackman were to set up a meeting here, so that people from this side of the border, still very ignorant about the whole matter, can be enlightened - and, we hope, reassured.
7.
Hill House School has just published a delightful recipe book, on sale from the school and also from David Street in Market Road, price £1.25. It contains over 50 serious recipes (and a few others) supplied by Hill House staff and their friends, with contributions from a wide range of famous people to whom the school wrote hopefully. There are recipes from the Mayor, and from three local restaurants (the George, the Old Forge and Flackley Ash), and Class IV sets out its own recipe for Easter cakes. John Cleese's contribution alone is, worth £1.25 - and is Spike Milligan serious or not when he recommends spaghetti served with double cream, castor sugar and brandy?
School secretary Elizabeth Wetherill edited (and typed) the book, which is produced at the Hastings Teachers Centre, A4 size with a sensible fold-back binder and lively drawings by Liz Coleman. Mrs. Wetherill met recently, quite by chance, the school's first head teacher, Mrs. Iduna Hawkey, so she has been able to include a "Heads' menu" - Ruby Dean's soup, Barry Samuel's casserole and Mrs. Hawkey's Scottish tart. Less well-balanced is the political menu: Margaret Thatcher's frozen orange mousse, Neil Kinnock's Welsh cakes, JiL Callaghan's apple amber and (Mrs.) Ken Warren's delicious-sounding raspberry meringue gateau, all set off by Clement Freud's cucumber soup! Other well-known contributors include Linda McCartney, Malcolm Muggeridge, Cliff Richard and Sarah Greene of Blue Peter.
Profits from the sale of the book will go to pay the expenses of running the school's minibus; the pupils get enormous pleasure from their outings in it. Although the school was originally started for Hill House patients, none of the present pupils (aged 3 to 19) are nowadays resident at the hos- pital; all 22 come in daily from quite a wide area round Rye.
Either you like Japanese prints or you don't - and in the latter case, you can try casting around for captions. The exhibition at the Stormont Studio lends itself to this treatment: our favourite was "Late for the Office, or The Missing Filofax", but there was also the Captain Hook character gleefully running down a dinghy sailor, the lady who had not realised the ferry timetable had changed, the lads strutting about in their new overcoats, someone who shared the Duchess of York's views on serpents, trouble in the staff ladies' rest-room, an erring wife letting in her lover without waking the baby, and the supper guest who set fire to the garden lantern... Most of the prints, lent by Hastings Museum, date from the last century, and illustrate episodes in Japanese history or mythology; all the characters have the same sinister face - oddly, not the same face as the Japanese nowadays do! (Do look out, though, for the charming schoolroom scene.)
John Piper, now in his 80s, is still painting very English pictures, and in the Easton Rooms there is an exhibition of his recent lithographs - mostly of his favourite subjects, churches and monuments. We were nearly tempted by a fairy- tale white marble palace across a lake, with fireworks and shooting-stars above. Upstairs in the Craft Gallery Robert Clatworthy shows one finely-sculpted head (of Elizabeth Frink) and three very rough-cast ones, plus a series of what are perhaps sketches for future work, in monochrome grey and white with occasional smears of blood...
Joan Parkes was one of 110 people who joined in the St. Mary's Harvest Supper at the Community Centre on Friday, and she reports rapturously to us on the entertainment - provided by the Mothers Union and supporters in the Good Old Days style. Sylvia Silver was a splendid Master of Ceremonies, and David Waddams as Fagin led his chorus of Sunday School children in a spirited song from "Oliver"; Jeanne Freeman's WI sketch was hilarious - but, Joan said, the whole show was really first class, and well up to Rye Players standards. From her, this is praise indeed. (We also had rapturous reports about the supper itself, prepared by Mrs. Betty Ellwood and her team of helpers - altogether, it was obviously a most enjoyable evening.)
Thursday, 15th Coffee morning for Arts Centre Appeal, organised by Rye & Winchelsea Inner Wheel, bring-and-buy stall, Studio, 10.30 TPS Parents Evening, 4th year
Friday, 16th Mus.Ass., "The Glory that was Greece" (Brian Soper), FEC, 7.30
Saturday, 17th RNIB coffee morning and sale (of goods made by local blind people), FEC, 10
Women's British Legion teas, Red Cross, 3 to 5
Wine and Cheese party for St. Michael's Hospice, with raffle and Hospice sales table (raffle prizes to the shop or to
Osma Jones, 38 North Salts, Rye 222507), TH, 7.30
ATC Barn Dance (Catsfield Steamers), Upper School, 7.30
Old Scholars Association Annual Dinner, George Hotel
Sunday, 18th Deanery Evensong for St. Luke's Day (preacher, the vice-provost of Southwark Cathedral), St. Mary's, 6.30
Monday, 19th Monday Club Annual Sale of Work (stalls, raffles, teas - always much enjoyed by patrons and members), Clinic, 2
Town Council Planning Committee (see TH notice-board)
Camera Club, competitions, FEC, 7.30
Wednesday, 21st Coffee morning for A259 Action Group (Mrs. Jupp and Mr. Webb'), 7 Ashenden Avenue, 10
Thrift Shop (handing-in only), Red Cross, 10 to 12
Landgate WI Annual Meeting, CC, 10.30
Community Lunch Group (NSPCC speaker), Clinic, 12.30 for 1
Local History Group, business meeting, Library, 7.30
TPS PTA AGM, Upper School, evening
• Mrs. Playford is delighted to report that her coffee morning on Saturday in Pottingfield Road raised £77 for Cancer Relief, and she would like to thank her helpers and everyone else who turned out despite the dreadful weather.
• Terry's DIY will be closed all day on Tuesday, 20 October, for stocktaking; will customers please note.
• Condolences to Mrs. Lilian Dolan of Nutley Close, who was taken to RESH last Wednesday with head and leg injuries after an accident at the Strand roundabout; the car involved was driven by someone from Winchelsea.
• Mrs. Barbara Whelpton paints under her maiden name of Barbara Crocker, and from 24 to 29 October (10 to 1 and 2 to 5) is holding an exhibition of recent work at her studio at West Watch in Trader's Passage. It is not often that Rye has the pleasure of seeing an artist's work on show in its own setting, and those who enjoy landscape painting in particular have a treat to look forward to.
• From next week the GAZETTE'S news deadline will be Monday morning. The paper will be written in the afternoon and typed the same evening, ready for at least one sheet to go over to New Romney first thing on Tuesday morning to be printed. This will mean that both posted and delivered material must reach us first thing on Monday - and earlier if you can possibly manage it, please. Phone between 8.30 and 10.30, or from 12 until 2; emergency messages can probably be absorbed during the afternoon, but Monday evening will be too late. This arrangement, if it works, will mean that we can continue to deliver on Wednesday mornings, can take on new subscribers without feeling guilty, and may even be able to offer a few spare copies for sale again - since the printers can cope with a virtually unlimited run. Wish us all luck:
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 through Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. Deadline is Monday morning for Wednesday's delivery; subscribers pay on the basis of 40p an issue, and spare copies are likely to be available from Cyprus Place at 45p. (Copyright Mary Owen 1987)