Starting at the end of May, Rye is to get - thanks to Hastings & District something it hasn't had for a very long time indeed, if ever: a town bus service! This will run Monday-to-Saturday, summer and winter, from Tuesday, 31 May; there will be a flat fare of 25p for adults, 15p for children. There are two alternating routes, each taking half-an-hour; departures from Rye Station are at 9.0 and 9.30, and so on until the final cycle starts at 3.0. Timings are the same all through the day. The vehicle will be H & D's standard 20-seater minibus.
Route 1 leaves the station at 9, and goes through the High Street (stopping at the George), then down Market Road and out up Rye Hill to the Peace & Plenty (9.10); down Houghton Green Lane and along Military Road, calling at North Salts at 9.15 and Kings Avenue at 9.19; and back to the station by 9.30 to start out on route 2. This goes through the High Street again and then out to Cadborough Cliff (9.39), the Estate (right round by Pottingfield Road) and back to the George before returning to the station to start on the ten o'clock cycle.
This means that once an hour throughout the middle of the day, people from all the outlying parts of Rye except New Winchelsea Road can be taken up into the High Street and back home again for 50p return (30p for children) - or, of course, 25p single if all they want is a lift home with their shopping. The bus will be handy for the Hospital, and also convenient for people coming off the trains, at 28 minutes past the hour. The bus leaving two minutes later will take them into the High Street and then up to Cadborough or round the Estate; if they want to go the other way, at least the prospect of a 25p fare will sweeten the delay.
ESCC has been making noises about a service of this kind for ages, but the new Service 25 is an entirely independent venture by Hastings & District, seeking to fill a gap. We hope it gets the support it thoroughly deserves.
Local Guides, Brownies, Cubs (and a few Scouts to help) celebrated the start of National Environment Week by picking up litter on Saturday - 20 big black bags of it. The Cubs were in Cinque Ports Street (and are presumably responsible for removing the squalid heap of rubbish which had been at the foot of Needles Steps for a week); they moved on to Station Approach and the railway car park, but ran out of bags with plenty of litter still lying about there. The 1st Rye Guides and lst Rye Brownies were in the centre of the town, including the Gun Garden (regularly a source of complaints); and the 4th Rye Brownies did the cold windy Salts with no moaning at all, says their proud Brown Owl. The Thomas Peacocke Guides are due to do their stint down at Camber after school today; and the Guestling Guides and Brownies have made themselves responsible for the Winchelsea Beach area, starting where Greenpeace left off. At senior level, some Conservation Society committee members also went out armed with black sacks, mainly on Rye Hill and the railway-bridge.
A new generation of Rye Nursing Cadets is carrying on the high traditions set by those who have now moved on to the adult division of St. John Ambulance Brigade. At Portslade recently the Rye team won three cups in the County home nursing and first-aid competitions. They were awarded the Scott Cup, as runners-up; the Sussex Cup, for the highest number of points in the individual competitions; and the Trott Cup, which went to Kirsty Piggott as the team leader with the highest number of points. Members of the team were Kirsty Piggott (15), Rachael Thomas (12), Nadine Mitchell (15) and Claire Beamish (12), with Helen Robus (11) as reserve. The girls now go on to represent Sussex (together with the Willingdon team) at the Regional Competitions at Aldershot on 21 May.
2.
Mr. Bill Todd, who died on Easter Day, was born in Lewisham and went to work for the Bank of London & South America. When he was 21, he opted for adventure and went out to join the Bank's South American operation, where he remained for 20 years. He and his wife Olive then crossed the Atlantic to a new job in Nigeria, where he was accountant for a mining company; they bought a cottage in Watchbell Street as a base for their leaves, moving later to Old Rhodes in Watchbell Lane and eventually - when Mr. Todd had retired and they had decided to live in Rye for good - to the flat at the foot of The Mint, with its superb triple view. Here they settled happily into the community. Mr. Todd was for many years a valued and active committee member of the Conservative Association, and its most successful fund-raiser, and the Branch will sorely miss him; he was also the treasurer of the Conservation Society, and unstintingly used his skills in accountancy in the service of the town. The funeral has taken place.
The flag of St. George was blowing straight out from the St. Mary's flagpole (why is its rope so noisy just lately?) on Sunday when the town met to celebrate the feast-day of England's patron saint. Admittedly, as the Rev. Brian Soper said in his lively sermon, all that most people know about St. George is his dragon and his cross; but the Sunday nearest to 23 April is traditionally an occasion for the young of the town to think about their commitment towards country and community, and in recent years the parade service, led by the Royal British Legion, has grown into an impressive affair. Sea Cadets, St. John Nursing Cadets, Scouts, Guides, Cubs and Brownies all formed part of the parade, and other local organisations were represented in the congregation; the Mayor and Town Council attended in their robes, and there was a substantial choir. The service was taken by Canon Maundrell, and in the course of it the Scouts and Cubs in the congregation renewed their promises aloud (why not, we wondered, the Guides and Brownies? Don't they need to?).
At a reception at the Town Hall afterwards, the Mayor proposed the loyal toast, and they said - in reference to the sermon - that she felt the Council needed a sword rather than a cross to defend the town's rights! County Councillor Mrs. Joan Yates proposed the Mayor's health, which was drunk with much enthusiasm.
The National Trust's summer programme always consists of outings rather than the winter talks. The most ambitious venture this year is a holiday in Exeter from 17 to 20 June; for those determined to "go foreign" there is a day trip to France on 15 September. Four local guided walks are planned (Winchelsea Beach, Beckley, Rye and Camber). Plans also include a supper picnic at Batemans, a bridge afternoon and a coffee morning at Winchelsea, and full- or half-day trips to Bentley Wildfowl Trust, London, Leonardslee, Barham House/Amberley Chalk Pit Museum, and Hever Castle. These outings are restricted in theory to Rye & Winchelsea Centre members, but it is worth ringing Alma Fabes in case there are last-minute seats available for non-members.
The new exhibition at the Easton Rooms is given over mainly to the work of Hastings artist Ken Townsend (brother of Dennis, of Idea Pottery). Ken has lately turned to oil painting, and is showing a number of large colourful works in a relatively abstract style. There are also a few of his more familiar prints and drawings - we particularly liked the hen with a funny look in its eye.
Upstairs in the Craft Gallery is an eye-catching display of turned wood by John Kember, bowls and platters but using the natural flaws and crevices in the wood to create flowing shapes, beautifully finished. There are also a number of works by members of the gallery's regular group of artists, including an interesting group of copper-glazed raku vases. This is an attractive show, particularly in conbination with John Ryan's cartoons of Pugwash and friends in the Stormont Studio next door, which closes on 8 May; the Easton Rooms show runs until 16 May.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 27 April 1988
First the good news. Although the Health Authority are not committing themselves over not closing Rye Hospital - anyway, not until they have seen the small print of the Government proposals for funding the nurses' pay award - things do look a lot better now. For the moment, anyway. BUT...
On Thursday the HHA decided to close the entire casualty department at Rye. Mrs. Joan Yates spoke up strongly in favour of night-time closing only (with silent support from the Mayor and Muriel Mayer in the audience), but was outvoted. The matter now goes out to consultation with "appropriate bodies", but unless a strong enough case can be made for retention, no casualties will be treated at Rye Hospital after October.
The Library has the papers for the HHA meeting, which include a three-page report about the casualty department; we can't attempt to summarise it here, but it makes interesting reading. "Some inconvenience may result to residents, although in the case of minor injuries it is normal in most districts to receive such treatment in GP surgeries. Some additional ambulance journeys may be needed; however ... the cost effect would be insignificant." Maybe; but suppose someone gashes his thumb on a building job? As we all know, "treatment in GP surgeries" is simply not available here, even at simple stitching level, unless one of the doctors happens to be in. So the thumb goes over to Hastings - probably in the ambulance, since getting a mate from work to drive you up to Rye is one thing, but over to Hastings is quite another. It is clear from the report that there is no question of providing an extra ambulance; so while that thumb is on its way to Hastings, there will be a problem if the man next door has a heart attack and the girl opposite goes into labour, let alone if there is a pile-up at the Peace & Plenty as well. Indeed, "some inconvenience may result to residents" - how inconvenient is death?
However, we have been able to clarify one thing with the HHA. No charge is ever made for the use of the ambulance. If, however, you are involved in a road accident, you may get a bill of £15 for a medical examination, whether at the roadside or in hospital - and this may have led to confusion and rumours of ambulance charges, says Liz Woodward at St. Anne's House.
Rye Harbour Nature Reserve's feathered population behaved disgracefully on Friday, when a distinguished company arrived at the new hide by the wader "scrape" for its formal opening. Not a bird was to be seen! However, 26 species of waders, including avocets, have visited the pool since it was opened (and lined with mud from dredging operations at Strand Quay), and doubtless they all rushed back as soon as everyone had departed.
The opening was arranged for the day of the Reserve's Management Committee meeting in the Town Hall, so there were a number of non-local people present. (Those in barbour jackets were, we thought, likely to be regular visitors to the Reserve, since they obviously knew about the bitter cold wind laced with mist!) The guests were welcomed by George Edwardes-Jones, chairman of the Management Committee, who had a large number of people to thank for work on behalf of the Reserve, the wader pool and the hide. £650 towards the cost had been given in memory of the late Colin Green, Head of Rural Studies at Thomas Peacocke and a founder member of the Reserve, and the hide is to be named after him; it gave everyone great pleasure to have his younger daughter Jenny present for the ceremony. Southern Water had laid the foundations and built the pier approach, and the building had been erected by a team from Manpower Services using timber given by John Alsford.
The door was formally opened by the Divisional Manager of the Kent Division of Southern Water, Bruce Hewett; and Hazel Grant, chairman of the Open Door Club for young disabled people which meets at Winchelsea Beach, had come in her wheelchair to prove that the hide really is suitable for disabled birdwatchers (the pier provides a straight level run in from the road, and there is knee-space below the viewing area). And it is now possible to get round the locked gate across the road without having to negotiate a muddy slope - a great improvement for pedestrians too.
4.
Ken Warren voted in favour of the Community Charge proposals, his statement says, "as the best way to get rid of the present unfair rating system. The Community Charge will have reductions in requirements to pay taking account of people's ability to pay. The Community Charge will put into the grasp of the voters the control of Council expenditure."
Those who wish to argue the point with Mr. Warren will have the opportunity to do so when he comes to Rye on Saturday, 21 May, for the Conservative Association's "Meet your MP" coffee morning at the George. He will quite possibly be happier meeting those who applaud his decision than those who don't. But it does seem that under the present proposals Victorian values are coming full circle, and the line in that well-known children's hymn about "the rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate" becomes suddenly topical when (naming no names) a certain millionaire and his wife in Peasmarsh will pay the same rates as a young couple struggling to buy a tiny terrace cottage - let alone those who can't even manage to do that but who may still not be eligible for "reductions in requirements to pay".
Speaking to the Community Lunch Group the day before the HHA meeting which was to decide the fate of Rye's casualty service, Dr. Roger Thomas was not going to jump the gun on that issue. But he did clarify, for the benefit of an unusually large audience, the hierarchy of the NHS administration. At the top is the Secretary of State for Social Services. Responsible to him are the 14 Regional Health Authorities (ours is South-East Thames). Hastings District Health Authority is one of 14 within the South-East Thames Region; all have paid chairmen appointed by the Secretary of State for four years at a time. (Our chairman resigned after the February meeting and has not yet been replaced.) There are 16 other members of the Authority, nearly all appointed by Region to form a representative group, though individuals are not supposed to lobby on behalf of their particular interest. Four members are appointed directly by local authorities. Members are unpaid except for expenses.
The HHA employs a management team, led of course by the General Manager (on a 3-year contract, not automatically renewable). The current occupant of this job is Alan Martindale, CB. He is assisted at senior level by two Unit General Managers, for Acute Services and Community Services (Rye Hospital comes in the latter section) - and, of course, by other administrators. They get no chance to rest on their laurels, since Region reviews the achievements of all its Districts annually, and the Secretary of State looks every year at what all the Regions have accomplished.
HHA meets monthly in public (though some items may be discussed in private session at the end of the meeting); meetings last three hours or more, with a very long agenda and a mass of reports to be studied. Much of the business has to be financial - and, said Dr. Thomas rather nervously, overspending by the Authority could be held as a charge on the personal assets of the members, though as far as he knows this has not yet happened! Health Authority finance is something we can't attempt here, except to comp in that Hastings gets paid for 156,000 people when the actual population of the District is more like 170,000...
The PTA Quiz at Thomas Peacocke Lower School on Friday evening really was fun; but it was a proper quiz ton, and all honour is due to Janet Fowles of Northiam who had prepared the questions and acted as quizmaster. Twelve teams, mostly of eight but with one confident foursome, were allowed to confer before handing in written answer sheets; drinks, nibbles and later fish-and-chips assisted the conferring process. We couldn't see who was at the winning table, but the school staff seemed to come pretty well up on the final score-sheet; at the bottom were two tables of cheerful pupils and an all-female team of six (non-TPS) teachers and two school secretaries, who nevertheless enjoyed themselves very much indeed.
5.
• "For Sale" boards on the Bateman & Maxfield premises in Landgate - the old Electric Palace cinema - indicate that the company has expansion plans which can't be put into effect in its present rather constricted space. "There's plenty of room there" said Tim Colville, "the trouble is that so much of it is above our heads:" The intention is to move the factory, not too far away, and of course to continue making the very specialised occasional furniture which is seen in the best places (and palaces) all over the world. But Mr. Colville is not yet in a position to go into details about the new site.
As for the Landgate premises, they have for many years had planning permission for two shops and residential accommodation above. The upstairs was converted into a flat for Chris Bateman some time ago; the shops, of course, are still on paper. Also on paper is a planning application which has just gone into Rother for the back part of the building, the old cinema itself; this could be adapted to provide two flats with a workshop below, with access from Fishmarket Road. The building comes up for auction at a sale held by the Prudential on 9 May at West Malliag.
• The very handsome iron lamp standards in the High Street - set in place a couple of weeks ago and now painted black, but still awaiting the lanterns which are to top them - have caused comment: why are they so far back from the road? So we asked Ralph Olesen at Bexhill. Technically, he says, anything in the way of street furniture is supposed to be set half a metre back from the face of the curb (though occasionally he has to bend this rule for Rye's narrowest pavements). But for the street lamps, they had to choose between having wall-mounted ones, which are not always popular with property-owners and anyway "waste" half the light, and the new standards. When these have their lanterns in place, they will be nearer the roadway - but not so near that every passing high lorry will bash them, he hopes! They will light both roadway and pavement - and, as a bonus, should prove a deterrent to illegal but all-too-common parking with two wheels on the pavement. (Another lamp-post causing comment is on the West Street corner of the churchyard, impeding the footpath; his own inspector has mentioned this as a possible hazard, and it is being looked at hard.)
• There were few Rye applications before Rother on Thursday. The big one was the Mariners Hotel; change of use to accommodation for mentally-handicapped people (with continuing public restaurant use) was refused on the grounds of loss of hotel accommodation to the town. George Shackleton had intended to refer a refusal to full Council on Monday, for a rethink; but he was contacted by the Canterbury Oast Trust to say that they are anyway having to withdraw from the project because of the high cost of maintenance. Permission to demolish the Hill House lodge and replace it with two houses for mentally-handicapped people was granted, subject to suitable materials being used and the access being improved. The owners of 1-3 Bridge Place were refused permission to install replacement windows at the back and side of the house. Permission was given, subject to no contrary representations, for a pair of semi-detached houses with three garages, in the garden of The Red House in Tram Road at the Harbour. Finally, the Golf Club have renewal of their 1982 permission to create 250 wet moorings at North Point pit, subject to a new Section 52 agreement and other conditions - despite objections from County and the Nature Conservancy Council on ecological grounds. The Club makes it clear that there is no immediate intention to implement this permission, simply to keep it alive until gravel working ceases.
• The only local planning application in the current list is for the Harbour - for the demolition of Wills Cottages in Harbour Road and erection of three terraced houses with integral garages and new vehicular access.
• At Rother's full Council meeting on Monday, the condition of the Great Warehouse (nos. 4 and 5 on Strand Quay) was discussed, and it was resolved that the Council should serve a repairs notice in respect of the two properties, should appoint consultant architects to prepare a scheme for "the conversion and re-use of the warehouses to a standard sufficient to form the basis for applications for planning and listed building consent", and should investigate the cost of purchasing the freehold and leasehold interest in both warehouses.
6.
• At a very poorly-attended AGM of Rye & District Ratepayers Association at the Town Hall on 15 April, the committee and officers were re-elected, with the exception of James Menhinick who has resigned as secretary (anyone who would care to take on this not very arduous job should contact the chairman, George Shackle-ton - Rye 223081). People and organisations with whom the Association has been in correspondence will undoubtedly miss Mr. Menhinick's very individual style of letter-writing (they may even be able to manage without their dictionaries again) - but, seriously, Mr. Menhinick's work for the Association has been much appreciated, and the committee is proposing to present him with an inscribed tankard.
The Annual Report and Accounts were approved. But the chairman commented on the poor attendance; is 1990, he said, there would be no more "ratepayers" as such, and he wondered if there was much point in continuing with a watchdog organisation at all after that, on present showing.
Those who were present, however, were given a very clear account of the new proposals by Mr. Willis, Rother's treasurer. As well as the Community Charge, he described the Uniform Business Rate, and answered a number of questions. Those not present may well be sorry later, since there are various things which are likely to come as a horrid shock to people living in our area. One will undoubtedly be the increase in the standard amount payable, directly attributable to the high cost of collecting the new charges (Rother, for instance, is going to need not just more staff but a new building to house them). Mr. Willis and his assistants expect to have their hands full - but not half as full, he said, as those of a colleague who does a similar job for one of the London councils!
• In contrast, the Town Hall was packed for the AGM of the Museum Association the previous evening. The draw may have been the new constitution, but more likely it was the promise of Frank Palmer's thrilling slides of mountaineering here and abroad; Mr. Palmer, Mayor Elect, was an adventure training instructor for the Metropolitan Police for over 20 years until his retirement (at, of course, the statutory early age), and some of the slides were taken while he was working with police cadets - who were a lot braver than most of his audience, we suspect. Incidentally, those who complain about the hill-climb to the Library (about 75' above sea level) might like to know, he said, that the top of Snowdon is 3,5600' and the top of the Matterhorn 14,680' above sea-level!
Earlier, the business of the meeting continued much as usual. Eric Le Fevre is replaced in the Chair by Maureen Getley, head of history at TPS. Thanks to the efforts of Rother's representative on the committee, George Shackleton, the Council has given two de-humidifiers for use in the Museum, in the hope that the persistent wetness there will prove to be condensation rather than the rain getting in (though, as Mar. Shackleton said to us later, it is remarkable that "condensation" always occurs just after driving rain and at no other time!). Thanks were expressed to the small band of "regulars" who keep the Museum going in their various ways - their work is really appreciated, and over the Easter weekend there were more than a thousand visitors to the Ypres Tower.
There followed a discussion about some aspects of the proposed new Constitution, in particular whether the Town Council's representative on the Board of Trustees should have to be a Mayor or former Mayor as proposed by the committee (the idea being to ensure that the town's Trustee was a senior councillor). This was finally approved by a close vote, though it appeared afterwards that not everyone had been quite clear what the options were, and the vote could easily have gone the other way if they had been.
Rye Harbour lifeboat was called out by the Dungeness coastguard on Tuesday evening to the aid of Paul Sharp, who was alone in his boat hauling in his gear when a rope flew off the winch and broke his thumb. The lifeboat took out a relief skipper, and ferried Mr. Sharp back to shore to have his thumb attended to.
7.
• As from yesterday, The Old Vicarage in Church Square is under new ownership new to The Old Vicarage, but not new to Rye since the incoming proprietors are Julia Lampon and Paul Masters, ex-Durrant House. Julia tells us that the guest-house will continue as before, complete with four-poster beds; she is keeping on her London job as well, but Paul will be there all the time. Ernest and Ruth Thompson, who built up The Old Vicarage from scratch to its present award-winning status, will remain in Rye while they decide what to do next.
• As far as we know, the only Rye runner in the London Marathon this year was Colin Twamley of Fair Meadow. He was not seeking sponsorship, but simply running for the challenge of it - and he completed the course in 3 hours 14 minutes, almost exactly the time he had estimated.
• Seven members of the Rye branch of Inner Wheel (wives of Rotarians) attended the national Inner Wheel conference last week, held this year at Bournemouth instead of the traditional Blackpool. Pat Ciccone enjoyed herself very much - but told us that although the hotel bookings were exemplary, no-one had thought to mention to the Chamber of Trade that 4,000 women were due to descend on the town that week. The shops and taxi-drivers were completely overwhelmed by the influx: all those ladies in hats, they said - what was going on?
• Ken Warren has had a letter from Peter Bottomley reiterating that the DoT will not consider treating Rye and Winchelsea as one problem in terms of the A259. "A bypass for Rye could commence at any point along the eastern part of the proposed Winchelsea bypass" says the Minister, "leaving the 'superseded' section of the road to serve as a much needed highway into Rye." (But we have five highways into Rye already; why waste money on a sixth?) "I hope to make further announcements on both schemes later in the year" says Mr. Bottomley in a very non-committal way indeed.
• We were tremendously impressed to hear that Guy Simpson of Mermaid Street is now sous-chef at the Athenaeum Club in London - at the special request of the new chef there.
• It is a relief to record that ex-Dewhursts in the High Street has at last ceased to be an empty shop. The window had been whitewashed since the butchers closed (after amalgamation with Baxters) in July 1985! First it was "Lease for sale" and then "Freehold sale", but almost from the start local enquirers were told by the Eastbourne agents that it was not in fact available. Anyway, it is now the town's fourth estate-agency - what is nowadays called GA and used to be Braxtons, hitherto represented locally only at Northiam.
• Friends of Rozel Poole of New Road will be glad to know that her mother's book, "A Family of Ginger Griffins" by Pamela Lattimer (Regency Press, £7.50) is now on sale in Rye, at D & P Street and at Adams. Mrs. Lattimer writes with charm of her family's life with her Colonial Service husband, before, during and after the wart and the book ends with a brief account of her return to Singapore after thirteen years to stay with Rozel, by then married and living out there. The book will be of particular interest to Colonial Servants of Mrs. Lattimer's generation.
• Crime: a Yamaha 8hp outboard (£250) was stolen from Seacruisers' moorings between 16 and 18 April, and a Mercury outboard (£2,000) from moorings at the Harbour on 19/20 April; a 35mm Ricoh camera (£140) was stolen from a car parked in the High Street on 22/23 April.
• Landgate WI were "an enthralled audience" last week for Sue Perry from The House of Colour at Battle, demonstrating colour co-ordinating; she showed how everyone has "a season of colour", and her guinea-pig, Shelley Jebb, turned out to be "a winter person". Fascinating!
• Rye now has twelve mini-Rainbows - the pre-Brownie group, aged 5 to 7, which meets at the FE Centre on Saturday mornings from 10.30 to 11.30. Heather Howard of The Grove has nearly finished work on twelve little red tabards, the Rainbow uniforms.
Thursday, 28th Landgate WI coffee morning (stalls), Red Cross, 10.30
NSPCC Annual Meeting (speaker, Peter Dale, East Sussex team leader), FEC, 3
Chamber of Trade "Trees for Rye" Appeal, wine and cheese party (GAZETTE no. 267, and below), Town Hall, 7.30
Mencap film and social evening, Ypres, 8 (GAZETTE no. 267)
Friday, 29th Rye Labour Party public meeting (speaker, Bruce Kent, the chairman of CND), Town Hall, 8
Saturday, 30th Bowls Club coffee morning (bring-and-buy, cakes, plants, bric-a-brac), Bowls Pavilion, 10
St. John Nursing Cadets Attic Sale, Conduit Hill HQ, from 10
ARC coffee morning, Re& Cross, 10.30
Craft Market (first of season), FEC, 11 to 5
Scouts jumble sale, Scout Hut, 1.30
Monday, 2nd St. Anthony's Church, bring-and-buy stall (if fine) in front
(BANK HOLIDAY) of Gungarden Lodge, from about 10
Tuesday, 3rd FRAG talk, "The Genius of JMW Turner, RA" (Stanley Warburton, chairman of the Turner Society), Stormont Studio, 8 (t2)
Wednesday, 4th Hearing Circle coffee morning, Red Cross, 10.30
• Job-hunters are reminded that Budgens' recruiting team will be at the George on Thursday (9 to 9) and Friday (9 to 5) - GAZETTE no. 267.
• Despite the loss of its green for the whole summer, Rye Bowls Club - with a coffee morning on Saturday at the Pavilion - has a full programme ahead; the difference is that all its fixtures have to be "away" matches. The Club is most grateful to Peasmarsh and Westfield Clubs, who are allowing Rye the use of their greens on Monday and Thursday evenings respectively, and there are also daytime facilities at Peasmarsh on Mondays.
• If the Chamber of Trade can raise £200 for their "Trees for Rye" appeal locally, they will qualify for a further £100 grant from the Sussex Men of the Trees. Chairman Clifford Wall wasn't saying how much is already promised, but if any individual or organisation is still thinking about presenting a cheque at tomorrow's wine and cheese party at the Town Hall, Mr. Wall would be glad to know beforehand (Rye 223340 in office hours) to help with the organisation. £20 will buy and plant a tree.
• BR will run a Sunday service on Bank Holiday Monday - this means two-hourly on our line. For an unspecified reason, they are running extra trains between Eastbourne and Hastings (and vice versa) over the middle of the day on Saturday.
• The blood transfusion service will visit Rye on Friday, 13 May, from 2 to 4 and 5 to 7.45 at the Baptist Hall as usual. (Perhaps by now they have improved the situation which we described on page 7 of GAZETTE no. 255!)
• Mencap's Friary Gardeners project is about to start, and Vickie Piper would be thankful to hear from anyone who might have some tomato plants surplus to requirements which they would sell or even give the group, as they are now too late to sow their own. Ring Mrs. Piper.
• Several people have asked us to commend Rother's long flower border by the Town Wall car park - it is a blaze of colour, and a real credit to the Council's Rye gardening team.
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 second post on Monday for each Wednesday's delivery to subscribers and pick-up points; spare copies (45p) are available at Young Ideas, 7 Cinque Ports Street. (Copyright Mary Owen 1988)