We wish a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all our readers - particularly, of course, to our subscribers - and also to those who have helped us so much over the past year. Our thanks go to Bernie, Pauline and Marion at Cinque Ports Stationers and to their New Romney printers; to our bankers, the Midland (and especially the standing-order staff); to the officers of Rother Council, both here and at Bexhill and Battle; to Ralph Olesen at Bexhill, George Roberts at Scots Float, and David Woodhouse at BR Ashford; to the staff of Rye Police Station; and to our Mayor and Town Clerk, and all our Councillors. Thanks, too, to all the private citizens who have fed us the personal good-news stories which everyone enjoys most. We are, as ever, deeply grateful to our pick-up points, without whose help half our readers wouldn't get their copies: Mr. and Mrs. Osborne at Cad-borough Stores, Hazel Hammond, John Ciccone at Spar, Mr. and Mrs. Vicarey at the Freezer Centre, Steve Denny at Penny Royal and Janet Webb at the Tuck Shoppe - and Tina Popple, our spares outlet at Young Ideas.
This is the last GAZETTE until 6 January. If your copy is not ticked (top right, by your name), we need £4.80 from you for the next twelve weeks - in cash please, by New Year's Day at latest. Maybe you'd like to give someone a subscription as a Christmas present; maybe you'd like to suggest that someone gives you one?
"If support for a northerly alternative route is to be sustained, it could be demanding on the time and effort of local people. It would also imply full and costly representation at Public Enquiries into the Winchelsea and Rye schemes, in order to ensure that the case is fully explored (this being the purpose of enquiries)."
That is the heart of the problem as set out in the report by Transportation - Planning Associates to the Town Council, which went public after the Council meeting on Monday night. Readers will appreciate that we have therefore not had time to study the report in any detail, and we hope to give a fuller assessment in our next issue. Anyone who wants to photocopy our copy in the meantime is very welcome.
Basically, TPA reckon that the DoT figures are probably about right for current traffic, but they query the future projected flows as not being nearly large enough. (And no-one seems to have mentioned the Lydd Airport plans yet.) They consider that a southerly route will never be economically viable, and recommend that the Council shouldn't waste time on it. A northerly route stands a better chance, and they outline two - neither of which is quite what we thought Rye had in mind; but it will not be easy to convince the Department that either would be good value, they say. The report sets out most of the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed route and the northerly one; but, as with the Department's own proposals, it is written entirely in terms of traffic and seems to take no account of the problems of people who would have to live with the road in the course of their day-to-day business.
When the people of Lewes successfully fought off their throughway, the legend goes, it cost them £50,000. Rye has to fight off two routes (which is doubtless why, come to think of it, the Department insisted on separate schemes - the clever devils!) The Action Group was recently delighted to raise £350 from a jumble sale; but no amount of jumble sales will fee Counsel at even one Public Enquiry. Any ideas? Any offers?
2.
Mr. Donald Henry Britt, of Bankside, died suddenly at his home on Sunday; he was only 45. He leaves his widow Margaret, son Peter and daughter. Sarah. Mr. Britt at one time worked for Banister's, the ironmongers, but more recently was employed by Mozley's in Hastings; the staff there are deeply saddened by his death, and both they and the customers will miss his cheerful presence. The funeral takes place at St. Mary's on Friday (18th) at 11, followed by burial in Rye Cemetery; no flowers, but donations in Mr. Britt's memory may be sent to the Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street, c/o Ellis Bros if preferred.
• On Christmas Eve, says a BR press release, the rail network will shut down early, with no trains after 10pm, and even passengers travelling earlier in the day are advised to check on their trains in advance (Hastings 429325).
Rye Station asks us to say that on Christmas Eve the last train from London for Rye will be the 18.55 from Charing Cross (arriving at Ashford at 20.01 to connect with the 20.15 for Rye, 20.37 here). Last train from Hastings, 19.22 (19.44 here).
There will be no trains on Christmas Day or Boxing Day anywhere. Sunday services (two-hourly on our line) will run on 27 and 28 December, on New Year's Day and course on 3 January. Normal services will run on 29, 30 and 31 December and o2 January, and then from 4 January onwards. However, there are odd little quirks in these general guidelines, and anyone travelling seriously at any point over the Christmas holiday would be wise to check train times first.
• H & D buses: Christmas Eve, a normal service plus the (usually) Friday back-roads journey to Eastbourne (342). Christmas Day and Boxing Day, no buses at all. On Sunday and Monday, and again on New Year's Day, a Sunday service - which means no buses here. On the remaining three days (29th, 30th and 31st) there is a normal Saturday service; but on the 31st, despite this, the 342 bus to Eastbourne will run, and so will the regular Thursday New Romney service (47).
• The Library will be closed from Christmas Eve to Tuesday, 29th, inclusive, and also on New Year's Day.
• The Council Offices will be open on Christmas Eve and then closed until Monday, 4 January. (This, of course includes the Tourist Information desk.)
• The banks close at noon on Christmas Eve and reopen on Tuesday, 29th; they will be closed on New Year's Day. Similar arrangements apply at the Post Office (and the PO counter at Cadborough Stores), except that they don't close till 12.30 on Christmas Eve - ie. the usual Saturday arrangement.
• The dustmen will compress five days' work into four next week (so they may call at unusual times); no collection the following week; start again on 4 January.
• The launderette will be closed on Christmas Day only, says Anthony James nobly!
• Mr. and Mrs. Patel at the Corner Shop, at the bottom of Market Road, have now taken over the stock of Rye Havana, so smokers will still be able to find their favourite tobaccos in Rye. The Corner Shop is now also the town's agency for prepaid advertisements in Friday Ad - so it is now no longer necessary to go over to Hastings, or send text and cash by post.
• Recent articles in the glossy magazines make it clear that unfitted kitchens are now the smart thing, and Anne Lingard is taking full advantage of this; she has transferred all her kitchen furniture and equipment from her main shop to the smaller one at the top of Rope Walk.
• Freight Express has some fascinating photographs in the Lion Street window. A group taken by their own Andrew Law shows shipping in the Rother and Rye Bay, and there are three aerial views of the mouth of the river. Taken at different states of the tide, they show not only the Harbour area in detail but also the line of the floodbank, and the circle of fortifications round the Martello Tower (and the extent of the caravan site at its base).
3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 16 December 1987
The Massacre of the Innocents is an episode usually omitted from Christmas celebrations. But in St. Mary's on Friday night it was the last of the mimes telling the story of the Nativity; and it was only because the cast were reduced to tears at the dress rehearsal that Jeanne Freeman reluctantly wrote out the final strangled scream offstage...
The Rye Group of WIs hold their carol service every year, visiting each village in turn; but it is fifteen years since they attempted anything as ambitious as Friday's performance in St. Mary's. It wasn't quite a mediaeval mystery play, but there was something of the same feeling among both cast and audience. Jeanne Freeman had been the producer in 1962, and wrote the script which she used again this time, with many of her original cast reappearing. Each Institute contributed one episode, and four different Virgin Marys blended into one beneath the same vivid blue cloak. Rye Harbour staged the Annunciation, Iden the arrival at the inn, Rye the midnight scene in the lambing field, Peasmarsh showed the angels preaching peace to warring mankind. Landgate brought the shepherds to the manger, Playden brought the kings - but Beckley's comfortable family meal was turned into hideous melodrama with the arrival of the soldiery to drag three small struggling sons off to the slaughter! However, the final tableau was assembled happily with the visitors to the stable - shepherds and kings, family and soldiers - crowding up the aisle to join the holy group beneath the chancel arch.
The carols were sung with enthusiasm; organist was Mrs. B. Dickinson. The readers were Mrs. P. Jones, Mrs. J. Clark and Mrs. D. James, and the service ended with prayers and blessing by Canon Maundrell. The collection for Mencap's Friary Gardeners raised £93. Coffee and mincepies after the performance allowed the large audience to congratulate all concerned, including the scene-shifters and other back-stage ladies; Gabriel had parked her wings, but carried her halo over one arm and her handbag over the other...
To those who missed this, as well as those who didn't, we commend the Christmas Eve event in St. Mary's at 5.30, when the children of the church (Choir and Sunday School) take part in the Blessing of the Crib and a Nativity. This is a new venture, and the timing is chosen to enable parents with excited small children to bring them to St. Mary's at the start of Christmas - though of course everyone else is welcome too. Do come!
Maud Boreham of Udimore Road has been meditating on the powers of the DoT. Since they appear to be limitless, she has drawn the logical conclusion...
When Heaven calls me one fine day, and I head for the Pearly
Gate,
I will probably find a motorway with the DoT in wait.
They'll say "We didn't like the road that all the Saints have
trodden
So we told Our Lord we'd alter it and build one far more modern!
"So just in case you don't agree and want to make a fuss
We'll tell you straight, it's a waste of time, no-one can hassle
us.
In fact that Gate where Peter stands with outstretched arms to
greet
Is far too close to our new road. We'll move it fourteen feet!
"No matter how He protests loud or how He wrings his hands
We don't intend to leave it there - it upsets all our plans.
Our Heaven will be much nicer, we know we can improve it.
Now hurry through that Pearly Gate before we start to move it!
"When we have done, oh lowly one, The Way will be much slicker;
It will ascend, road without end, and get you there much
quicker!"
Mrs. Boreham has kindly allowed us to reproduce these splendidly cynical verses, which Dilys Mayor recently added to the new display in her shop window opposite the Goods Yard. There are others, too - and Mrs. Mayor wonders whether one of our local pub bands might like to make a tape for the Action Group, lyrics supplied? (Don't forget the Action Group's fund-raising wine-and-cheese party, Town Hall, 8 January; or the elegant £1.25 notepads, available from Anne Lingard and the Wool Shop - just right to post.)
4.
Just over a year ago, we wrote about the group of embroiderers who were getting together to make new kneelers for St. Mary's. Phyllis Smith, who is in charge of the enterprise and who designed the kneeler, now tells us with much pleasure that the first three dozen are finished and will be dedicated at St. Mary's on Sunday morning. Since there are fewer than 20 workers, and some haven't yet finished their first kneeler, it will be obvious that some people have been working very hard. Mrs. Smith has now produced a fresh design, which will become the standard 1988 version, to stop her team getting bored. The group meets in the Upper Room on the second Monday in the month, and new workers are welcome; enthusiasm rather than vast expertise is needed, and Mrs. Smith has been delighted to find how much those new to the art of embroidery are enjoying it.
Until now the PCC has funded the work, but it does have other calls on its purse. It seems unfair to expect the workers to pay for their own canvas and wool all the time, and since the design includes space for initials, it is possible to commission a kneeler to be made in memory of a loved one. The cost is somewhere around £15 or £16, and anyone interested should contact Mrs. Smith.
In October, John Alsford of the timber firm sent to every member of the Harbour of Rye Advisory Committee a copy of a letter to Rother Council, expressing his company's interest in purchasing the New Road site in order to develop a marina there; the letter, quoted in a report from the Chief Executive to Rother's Policy & Resources Committee on 2 December, does not specifically refer to a marina village, but it seems clear that this is what is meant. Mr. Alsford goes on to say that his company would also be prepared to contribute to the formation of a lock to allow the North Point site to be used for off-river small boat floating moorings. The sale would be dependent on planning permission being granted for the New Road site. (Newcomers may not be aware that all this refers to the land immediately across the Rother from the Fishmarket.)
In his report, Mr. Powell pointed out that the committee, as landowner, had several issues to consider: "Firstly, should the site be sold or retained for its present grazing and open space use? Secondly, if it is surplus to requirement do you wish to sell it for development? On the first point, we do not require the land (which is a tipped area) for any specific use, but it does have an 'open space' amenity value. On the second point, if we are to dispose of it we have a responsibility to secure a fair market value. This value is obviously determined largely by the development potential and planning permission." Mr. Powell went on to recommend that no decision about a sale should be made until the planning position is resolved, and that anyhow the site ought to be offered on the open market should the Council decide to sell it. This was agreed, and Alsfords are being notified both of the contents of the Chief Executive's report and of the committee's decision not to offer the land for sale at present.
At the Policy & Resources Committee, George Shackleton made a very sporting try to get the matter considered as a policy rather than a planning issue, and to have the site designated as an open space; as a hill town, Rye needed a green belt, he said, and it was the Council's responsibility to preserve and pass on Rye's heritage. Alas, Cllr. Shackleton failed to convince his fellow-members that the matter should be ended there and then; but he will go on trying.
Tomorrow's Planning Committee considers a report on the site from the Planning Officer. We shall be writing about this in detail in our 6 January issue, by which time the Committee's decision will of course be known; but it is clear that anyway Mr. Robinson is firmly in favour of selling off the site for development. Mar. Shackleton tells us that if the committee agrees, the matter goes back to Policy & Resources - he will then see to it that the question is discussed in full Council on 1 February. Readers who have been following this saga since March will be aware that this is not a straightforward planning decision; as the owner of the site, Bother would of course stand to make a great deal of money from the sale…
5.
This week's planning list has, believe it or not, another application for six flagpoles! This time the optimists are Mr. and Mrs. Baldock of the Hope Anchor Hotel (whose recent application for a lighted RAC sign was rejected by the Town Council and still has to come before Rother); they want to put the poles "along the boundary fence" - the plan is not very helpful, but it appears to run along the top of the cliff. They would be, says the application, not more than 20' high; what would fly at the top is not stated.
Other applications this week are from the owners of Durrant House and Black Lantern Cottage. Mr. and Mrs. Lampon are applying to build a single-storey extension to the hotel in the garden at the back (at the top of the cliff); it would contain three bedrooms and a bathroom, as well as an extension to the present dining-room. A small open courtyard would remain, and a roof-lit passage would link the extension to the main building. Materials would be brick and tile.
At Black Lantern Cottage in Hucksteps Row, the new owners are planning extensive renovations, as well as replacing the modern conservatory which was badly damaged in the storm. This new extension would be traditional in type, constructed of brick and white weatherboarding with oak-framed windows under a slate roof. Into this roof would be set a balcony, with access from a new french window on the first floor. A wrought-iron railing is proposed for the balcony, a wrought-iron gate into the garden from the lane, and there are also proposals for renewed and sometimes repositioned windows and a new door to replace one to be blocked. Interior alterations are also shown.
Following refusal by Rother for planning permission to build on land adjoining Westwick on Point Hill, the owners appealed to the DoE. The current Planning agenda records that the appeal has been dismissed: no building.
In a report to Rother's full Council meeting on 14 December, the Planning Officer set out publicly what had only been discussed in private at the November planning meeting. The continually deteriorating condition of warehouses 4 and 5 on Strand quay (the building known here as the Great Warehouse) has reached the position where repairs would need to be considered as a matter of urgency, he said. He had informed the Planning Committee of the present situation and of the action available to secure a solution, and it was resolved that Messrs. Heynes (Chartered Surveyors, of Bexhill) be instructed to prepare a detailed dilapidations survey of the warehouses, the costs of the survey to be met from the Council's Conservation Fund. (Mr. Robinson told us that part of the building is owned by Messrs. Thom son, and the remainder - let on a long lease - by Rother Council.)
The Economic Development Panel of ESCC recently discussed funding for the Heritage Centre. It was agreed to make a grant of £10,000 for the coming year; but a suggestion that a further £10,000 should be pledged for the following year met with disfavour, and the Panel - which includes Robert Bromley among its members - agreed that this second sum should remain uncommitted for the present, to see how the project shapes up.
Thomas Peacocke Lower School's Christmas entertainment was a most enjoyable occasion. After a selection of musical items by choir and soloists (Hazel Gainsbury at the piano, and Kellie Edwards on the trumpet) and a poem read by Laylah Driscoll, the children launched into "Wacky and his Fuddlejig" - a pleasant piece of whimsey by Donald Swann, about Santa's workshop. Lorna Burt brought an attractive pathos to the long part of Wacky, a browned-off worker who dreamt of producing the perfect toy. The designer sample, Fuddlejig Mk. I, looked curiously like the head of John the Baptist on a microwave, and we quite failed to see the attraction - however, everyone would have liked to take home the enchanting, shimmering Fuddlejig Mk. II (played by Laylah Driscoll)! Alison Bayley was a first-rate, clearly-spoken and authoritative Santa; Erica Goodhead played the foreman in a suitably cantankerous manner; and Kellie Edwards managed her robot costume with skill, as Santa's assistant. The costumes for the large cast were made by pupils and parents, and there had been help from Upper School with the set. Mrs. Bush and Miss Marshall directed, and other staff members helped in various ways.
6.
Last week ESCC startled the inhabitants of Udimore Road and Ferry Road by planting a parade of 26'-high metal lamp-posts, at remarkably short intervals, all the way from the town boundary to Banister's Corner. It seems only a few years since the Udimore Road lights were last improved, but ESCC says that the new scheme is in the interests of safety.
At Banister's Corner, the single big concrete lamp-post is to be replaced by three of the new lamps. One is tucked in beside the Crown. One adds another post to the group on the awkward angle just past the sports shop - and the third is planted in the narrow pavement across the street, leaving a clearance of just 32" between it and the wall of 6 Ferry Road. Owners of twin pushchairs will doubtless discover whether or not this is a practicable gap; the pavement is even narrower on the corner, of course, but there it is possible to edge round with two wheels in the road. By the new post, anything which can't get through also can't see what's coming round the bend. (Cynics are saying that the lamp-post won't stand a chance there, anyway!)
County would have preferred to fit the light to the wall of the house, but this would be too low. (Indeed, the towering pole completely dwarfs the entire listed terrace at its foot.) Why not just leave well alone? Because the old concrete post is beginning to crumble, and simply to replace it would not light the junction adequately. The chap from County said he hadn't actually seen t,,,e position for himself, because the details of the scheme were drawn up by consultants; he said he would try to come over and have a look.
There was better news about the spinney of poles on the other side of the road. At present the three of them carry a big mirror, a 6'6" width restriction sign (assuming this applies to Cinque Ports Street and Wish Street, it's a pity the traffic takes no notice of it), an arrow indicating Lydd Airport and Rye Harbour, two much smaller signs, and a litter bin fixed unusually high up and facing the wrong way - in addition, of course, to the planned street light. Our ESCC informant tells us that the intention is to sort all this out and end up with just the new lamp-post as a base for the rest of the clutter. Assuming that this means the eventual removal of the cast-iron post in particular, pram-pushers and others will be delighted - though dogs may lament the loss of choice!
Finally, really good news from the top of the town. The new lamps are now in place in Trader's Passage and Watchbell Street - some on posts, some on curly wall-brackets, and all topped with the handsome lantern specially modelled on one from the Gun Garden. Not all are working yet, and the tungsten bulbs are temporary anyway; the area will ultimately be lit with the newest thing, a non-yellow sodium bulb (like the light over the brick arch in the Gun Garden). There are also purpose-made "doors" on order for the foot of the iron pillars, with the Cinque Ports arms embossed on them; more heraldry is planned for the actual lanterns. All the paintwork is black. The post half-way up Trader's Passage, incidentally, was planted in the cobbles deliberately; the outer tarmac path is in fact cantilevered out over the cliff, and it would be impossible to set anything deeply into it - and anyway, ESCC reckons (rightly!) that given the choice people would rather walk on the tarmac path than on the cobbled strip.
Back at Bannister's Corner, Ralph Olesen and a surveyor were last week checking the camber of the road outside 2 Ferry Road (the lorry-vulnerable cottage on the bend). Instruments showed that the fall from the traffic island to the edge of the road is 13", which really is unusually steep. Mr. Olesen is now considering what can best be done; to build up the road surface on the Ferry Road side could send the rain-water straight under the front doors, but to shave off the surface on the Wool Shop side would give rise to levelling-up problems with the rest of the roadway...
The NSPCC coffee morning at the George Hotel on Wednesday raised just on £500. The Action for Epilepsy event at the Red Cross on Saturday afternoon raised £55. The St. John Nursing Cadets coffee morning on Conduit Hill made a profit of £168.
7.
• Welcome home to Mrs. Nellie Affleck of Windsor, Ontario, who has lived in Canada for forty years and is spending her first Christmas in Rye since 1952. Mrs. Affleck, who was born in Wish Street, is staying with her brother-in-law Stanley Murrell of New Winchelsea Road. Her brother Bob Bayley lives in Cyprus Place, and she has also been visiting old friends in the town; when she has had time to have a good look round, we hope to talk to her about the changes she sees.
Woolworths' own staff (who gave up their evening and provided the refreshments), St. John Nursing Cadets, and a group of quite invaluable drivers from Rye Lions, all combined to give a special shopping outing on Thursday to some 50 elderly or disabled people in the Rye area, with one-to-one attention for those who wanted it and the chance for everyone to shop at leisure. A most successful evening, says Woolworths manager Ernest Wren - and much appreciated, we are sure.
For a short time only (until 31 December) the Stormont Studio's upper room houses an exhibition of photographs which should not be missed. The late Frederick MacManus, OBE, FRIBA, of Church Square, was by profession a distinguished architect; by inclination, he was also an expert photographer, and his widow has allowed Eric Money to look through her husband's files and make a selection for display. The result is a delightful hotch-potch of pictures, mostly unlabelled, --taken all over the world, in colour and black-and-white - which will provide a rery happy half-hour's browsing for anyone seeking relief from unremitting Christmas cheer.
• The small group which runs Rye Racers thought they were in trouble when Upper School Hall continued to leak and was not available for their Senior Citizens' party; with 184 guests last year, nowhere else was big enough, they feared. But Freda Gardham School came to the rescue at very short notice, offering them kitchen facilities as well as the large hall; the Racers were able to seat 162 guests, enjoying a full turkey dinner. Entertainment was provided by Ryesingers, Rowena Sperry, Pat Gawn and "Blodwen" (written as well as performed by Joan Parkes), and everyone went home very happy at 8. The party was paid for by the money from the summer Silly Race, and from cash raised by an on-going Winter League for pub games, which has been organised by the Racers for two years now and is a lot of fun quite apart from the money it brings in.
• Dead fish in the Mill stretch of the Tillingham on Thursday afternoon caused concern to anglers and conservationists alike. George Roberts assures us that it was not a case of agricultural or industrial pollution upstream, but an inadvertent escape of salt water into the river as the tide rose. A member of his staff who happened to be passing spotted the trouble and swiftly remedied it, and it is likely to have been the smaller fish which suffered - the bigger ones being able to swim upstream to fresh water and safety. As far as Mr. Roberts recalls, this has not happened for many years; he does not intend it to happen again.
• A last-minute Christmas present could well be a little book about to be published, "The Rye Players" by Jeffery Waters and Kenneth Clark. It will cost £2.99 (all profits to Rye Hospital) and should be obtainable from Rye bookshops next week. We are sorry an advance copy was not available for review, but look forward to writing about it in detail in the New Year.
• Friends of Rye Art Gallery not only enjoyed their party on Saturday, but had the extra pleasure of a short play, "Blind Date" by Frank Marcus. Christine Holden and Eric Money were the couple waiting for each other; Nina Thorndike directed. (Those who couldn't find a seat upstairs were reminded by Eric that when the new extension is built, there will be no such problems!) The staff and committee had gone to endless trouble to create a party atmosphere, and the live music continued well into the night.
• Rye Harbour Nature Reserve was on the national TV network on Tuesday mid-morning (sorry we couldn't forewarn readers, we didn't know). This was the TVS programme which was interrupted here by a thunderstorm some months ago, and it was very pleasant to have the chance to watch it right through at last!
Thrift Shop, Red Cross, 10 to 4 (and Friday and Saturday) "Kids at Risk" coffee morning, Woolwich, 10 to 12
Conservative Association coffee morning, George Hotel, 10.30
Last day of term (school starts again on 6 January)
Rye Art Acoustics, Hokum Hotshots, Stormont Studio, 8 (2.50)
Methodist Church carols, 11
Ryesingers carols, East Guldeford Church, 2.30 (see below)
Carol Service, St. Mary's, 6.30
Carol Service, Baptist Church, 6.30
Camera Club guest night, "Woodland Life", Melvin Smith, FEC,7.30
Parcels to Fire Station for Father Christmas delivery on Christ-
mas Day (GAZETTE no. 252): 2 to 6 today and on the 24th; 6 to 9 on the 23rd.
Blessing of Crib and Nativity, St. Mary's, 5.30
First Solemn Mass of Christmas (with extra readings and carols), St. Anthony's, beginning at 11.30 pm.
Midnight Eucharist with hymns and carols, St. Mary's, 11.30 pm.
United Christmas worship (all denominations), St. Mary's, 10.,J Masses at St. Anthony's, 9 and 11
TPS Recent Leavers get-together, Queen's Head, evening (please note, not on Saturday as it usually is) Vidler's monthly auction sale, 10 (despite being a Bank Holiday)
Sponsored volley-ball, Sports Centre, for Playgroup Building Fund - noon to 10 pm (see below)
Christingle Service, St. Mary's, 3
Camera Club, "Around 0xney" (George Delamare), FEC, 7.30
FRAG: Rye Players and friends read Terence Rattigan's "Harlequinade", Stormont Studio, 8
Crime Prevention Panel, Police Station, 7.30
• The GAZETTE offers respectful congratulations to Dr. Alec Vidler, who will be 88 on 27 December.
• Although Ryesingers are not holding their St. Mary's carol service this year, they will be singing as usual at East Guldeford Church. The service begins at 2.30 on Sunday (20th) and has to finish before dark because the tiny church has no electricity; singing will be unaccompanied or backed by the harmonium.
• Peter Gasson of New Road decided to seek support for the Playgroup's Building Fund from Rye's sporting element, and has arranged for a team of volley-ball players to put on a marathon game at the Sports Centre from noon till 10 pm on Saturday, 2nd (the day the Centre reopens after its Christmas break). Sponsorship will be appreciated; forms are available at the Centre and at Allsports, 9-11 Cinque Ports Street - or phone Mr. Gasson.
• When "The Fairer Sax" played at the Community Centre during Rye Festival, the proceedings were recorded by Radio Sussex; the programme, lasting just under an hour, goes out on Monday, 28 December, at 6.05.
• Worth's, the Jaeger shop in East Street, is being refurbished. Until the work is complete - by Monday of next week, Mrs. Worth hopes - business continues next door, at 16 East Street.
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. We resume publication on 6 January; deadline is second post on the 4th. (Copyright Mary Owen 1987)