Since there has been no formal request from voters for an election to fill the vacancy on Rye Town Council created by Francis Rowe's resignation - let alone any interest shown in becoming a candidate - there will be no election, and the Town Council is now empowered to co-opt someone to fill the seat.
For the vacant Rother Council seat (Frank Dowdeswell's) there has however been a formal request for an election. Notices will go up in the town next week. Nominations must reach the Town Hall at Bexhill by 8 July (and this does mean, the 8th, not a casual day-or-two later), and if there is more than one nomination there will be an election on 4 August.
There was an unpleasant incident in the town at the weekend. An elderly couple staying overnight had parked, admittedly rather awkwardly, in the small Strand car park, intending to make a better job of it in the morning. When they returned, they found foul language scrawled on the windows and three nails through one of the tyres. They were so distressed that (presumably having changed the wheel) they left the town immediately and went to Tenterden to buy something to clean off the windows, rather than shop here. Although we would be unwise to say who did this, it is known who it was - and it was not the usual drunken teenager this time. The business community, we understand, is putting word around, as something like this reflects shame on the whole town.
Rye Memorial Hospital League of Friends are of course very much against the closure of the accident and emergency facilities there; quite apart from the immediate inconvenience, they regard the loss as the thin end of a wedge which may cause the whole hospital service here to crumble. So they are opening an appeal for money to keep Casualty open for a further year, while the HHA reconsiders; they understood the cost of this to be £25,000, which is what they hope to raise - though in fact the consultation document (available at the Library) says it would be £22,000, and doubtless the Friends would be happy with this sum. A good start has been made with £1,500 from the Hacking Darts League and £1,222 from the Fete, says Mrs. Lawson-Tait, but they hope that people will either give money outright or hold a fund-raising event.
However, as we reported last week, the cash is not the only reason that the HHA has given for closing the casualty service. Alan Martindale was away on Monday, but a HHA spokeswoman confirmed what we suspected, that if the Authority were to be offered £22,000 to keep casualty at Rye open then the position would be looked at carefully - but it would still not be a certainty that the money could be accepted, as there are other considerations too.
Ken Warren raised this point direct with Mr. Martindale last month, and Mr. Martindale's reply summarises the matter. "With regard to the financial aspects, this is only one factor. Both the professional medical and nursing opinion is that such minor A & E departments are unsafe; there is no doctor on duty, no special equipment and other than for very minor cases, all 'proper' casualties go straight to RESH". Mr. Martindale goes on to point out that it is normal in most parts of the country for "first-aid" services to be provided by local GPs and in fact this does happen in Northiam; and he suggests that holiday-camp owners ought to make special arrangements for their customers. (But there are, of course, plenty of summer visitors who don't stay in holiday camps but still come to grief in minor ways.) Mr. Warren wonders that "a hospital such as Rye with all the problems Mr. Martindale records should have been allowed to remain open for so long. I am amazed that if 'professional medical and nursing opinion' is such as to consider the hospital 'unsafe', then it is incredible to find that the service it has unfailingly rendered could be so popular. I am very suspicious of general reasons like this without proof", he concludes.
2.
Mr. Bob Morphy, who died in hospital in Hastings on 16 June after some months of illness, lived in Sea View Terrace. Aged 78, he was a widower and leaves no children. Through his mother, a Curd by birth, he was a member of a Rye family which could trace its origins back for nearly 300 years in the town; and his grandfather was the captain of one of Vidlers' trading vessels. Mr. Morphy worked for Rye Golf Club before the war (as assistant professional, succeeding Henry Cotton), and was a pillar of Rye Old Boys Football Club though not himself an outstanding player. During the war he served in the RAF. He was deeply saddened by the deaths in action of his two best Rye mates, "Scotchie" Smith and Leslie Edwards; and, much later, the death of his wife was a loss from which he never recovered. Rye has cause to be grateful to Mr. Morphy; fifty years ago he started collecting old photographs of the town. Over the years the collection grew to such an extent that latterly he began to find it a worry, and he therefore handed it over to his brother James - who appreciates its great interest to local historians and has it quite safe. Mr. Morphy's funeral takes place tomorrow at 1.30 at Hastings Crematorium.
Fiona Gasson would like to express her most sincere thanks to both of her families, and her dear friends, for all their kind help and support over her very sad loss. Thanks must also go to Canon Maundrell and St. Mary's Church for a beautiful service, and to Ellis Bros and Rye Police for their quiet reassurance and understanding.
• Congratulations to Rob and Christine Scott of Maison Fleur on the dramatic improvements they have made to their shop in Market Road. The back workroom has been incorporated into the main shop, with mirrored walls and a false ceiling with inset lighting, almost doubling the size of the sales area; there is also new lighting in the front of the shop, fresh paint everywhere, and the floor covering is due to be laid in a few days' time. Display stands for the flowers and adjustable shelving mean that there can be a much greater choice (and more space to browse) for customers, and there is still room to make up the Interflora bouquets and arrangements which from time to time arrive at lucky local homes. Alex Murtagh put Mr. and Mrs. Scott's ideas into professional shape; Ellis Bros have done the work.
• Rye Goldsmiths is now open under its new owners, Geoff and Christine Powell (of Iden and before that Peasmarsh) - who will be living over the shop from now on, joining the rather select band of resident High Street shopkeepers. Mr. Powell has been in business in Rye before, when he had the Central Garage before Tim Ledger, so his face will be unexpectedly familiar to some of the Rye Goldsmiths customers. The business will continue much the same as before, and will still be taking in repairs (though it would be nice if people would collect them in due course - there is a rather pathetic boxful of bits and pieces, mainly dead watches, whose owners never bothered to come backs). We obviously don't need to welcome Mr. and Mrs. Powell to Rye, since they know it well; but we hope they will enjoy becoming jewellers here, despite not having a duck in the shop...
• The June planning meeting at Bexhill takes place on the 30th (the day our furniture goes!). So we shan't be able to report on the success of several interesting planning applications which may by then have worked their way to the top of the list - including the development of the garden in The Mint, and the plans for the Old Dairy Yard and the land behind it. But there is no reason why anyone, from the Monday afternoon following the planning meeting, should not ring up Bexhill (9.216321), ask for "planning for Rye", and find out what the verdict was on any application due to come before the committee. To check which ones are due, consult the Planning Committee agenda, available in both Council Offices and Library on the Monday before the meeting.
Only one local application in the current list, for renewal of permission to use land at 43 Winchelsea Road for cars awaiting the attentions of Harbour Body Panels.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 22 June 1988
David, younger son of Peter and Sheila Dee of Udimore Road, and Elinor Openshaw were married at the church of St. John the Evangelist in St. Leonards on 4 June. Theirs was a real office romance, since both work for the TSB - Elinor in St. Leonards, and David at Eastbourne until recently, though he has now been moved up to Tunbridge Wells. Elinor wore an embroidered white satin dress, and her bridesmaids (her sister and a friend) were in cerise taffeta; Mrs. Dee's outfit was turquoise and white, and the menfolk were in top hats and morning coats.
David's best man was his brother Richard. The reception was at Manor Barn in Bexhill, the honeymoon in Italy, and David and Elinor have bought a flat in St. Leonards.
Martin, son of Jean and Dennis Kemp of New Road, and Mary Marriott were married at St. Clement's Church in Hastings on 25 May. Martin's best man was his brother-in-law Tim Parker, and Mary was attended by her sister and Martin's niece Katie Hauff. The reception was at the Masonic Hall, St. Leonards. There will doubtless be much lamentation over this wedding in 2247 Squadron ATC: Martin works in RAF Border Radar, and as he is stationed in Northumberland Mary is hardly likely to be continuing as a member of the Squadron staff in Rye!
Surprises work both ways. Last Wednesday evening, Michael and Sheila Bourn of Udimore Road were throwing a surprise buffet supper at the Ypres to celebrate Michael's thirty years' service with Rye Fire Brigade, of which he has been Sub- Officer since 1979. They invited the firemen and their wives (without whom, of course, no retained fire station could function), up to the Wipers "for a drink" after a normal session down in Ferry Road; some ex-firemen were also among thedguests, and of course members of Michael's family. It was a beautiful supper, and Julie Stonham was responsible for the red-and-white Fire Brigade Cake, complete with fire engine. Everyone was gratifyingly surprised.
But word got out. Michael and Sheila were innocently hosting their surprise party when there was (metaphorically speaking) a roll of drums, and the Mayor and Mayoress arrived, followed by the lurking press. From under the bar appeared a very handsome Iden Pottery plate, suitably inscribed and decorated with the East Sussex Fire Brigade crest, and an enormous bouquet for Sheila. These were duly presented, with appreciative words, by the Mayor, on behalf of Michael's fellow firemen. Alan Jones had his camera ready; and earlier, Andrew Heather had taken pictures down at the fire station which are to ornament the walls of the new station due to open in October.
Chief among the guests was Michael's father Frank - a Rye fireman for 36 years and Station Officer for 18 of them. (Michael's sister Margaret, who had also worked at the fire station keeping the records, was on holiday with her ex-fireman husband.) Michael joined the fire service when he was only 17, and soon afterwards was away from Rye for two years' military service, so his first fire was in 1956, 32 years ago - the big one at Walter Stocks' furniture shop.
We doubt if it will have any impact on Rye, but the firm chosen to operate the new Eastbourne & Hastings local radio station is Southern Sound. This is the Brighton station which is obviously looking to expand its territory, and which will graciously be setting up a "contribution point" in Hastings after six months. It is also the firm which thinks the same sort of people live in this area as in Brighton - which God forbid... (Ken Warren has sent us an enthusiastic press release about the choice, but maybe Hastings is expecting better things than we should here.)
People who get Radio Sussex on 258m, medium wave, might like to switch on tomorrow morning at 8.30 when "The 258 Alternative" is coming directly from the Town Hall. It will be an early start for three or four local people, but even earlier for Angela Davies who is coming over to talk to us all. (The BBC2 "Weekend" programme last Friday was not the Rye one; maybe this Friday?)
4.
• Leigh Popple is 17½, and has just left Thomas Peacocke for a first job doing exactly what she wants to do - looking after mentally handicapped people. Buckets & Spades is a holiday home, for children during school holidays and others the rest of the time, run by a charity in St. Leonards, and they advertised for a care assistant aged 18-plus. However, Leigh - who has had work experience at Hill House, and also helped with the Hastings playscheme for mentally handicapped youngsters - secured herself an interview, went over with her mum Linda in tow, and got the job. We wish Leigh the very best of luck in this demanding career, and greatly admire her for taking on something which most people would funk.
• "This England" is a quarterly glossy magazine with a big overseas market, so John and Paddy Aiken have a very far-flung readership for their joint essay in the Summer 1988 issue, "Who named England's wild flowers?" John, a botanist by inclination if a chemist by profession, wrote the text, and Paddy is responsible for seven beautiful wild-flower photographs.
• Budding journalist Michael Camier has now had a second double-page article published in "Shooting News" - this time an account of a ratting expedition, as an assistant to a terrier called Brock.
• Maxwell Hamilton of Udimore Road, now 20, is studying computer graphics at Epsom College of Art, with another year to go. But he has already won £200 in a competition organised by Gibson Games Ltd. of London, to redesign the boards and packaging for four of their games - halma, chinese chequers, ludo, and snakes and ladders - and his designs will be in the shops in good time for the Christmas trade.
• Wendy Harvey of Spin Off goes to Harrogate for three nights next week, as one of six prizewinners in a slogan contest connected with the Needlecraft Exhibition there. She is taking her daughter Julie straight from A-levels, leaving her husband to cope with family and shop this end while she and Julie stay in a luxury hotel.
• Mary Lestocq has done it again - a second Merit award from the Professional Photographers of America. Last year it was the "Hats" portrait; this time the winner is her portrait of the two young violinists from Staplehurst, Kevin and Jackie Sparks, which has already won her two awards in this country. The picture will be shown at the Society's annual convention in Orlando next month. Mary is now getting clients from places as far away as Tunbridge Wells, since one satisfied customer - who may simply have liked the look of the window on a visit to Rye - tends to bring others from the same area. She is, incidentally available as a speaker to groups of professional photographers.
Kenneth Clark's latest publication is "Winchelsea - the story of an historic town" (published by Anthony Neville at L1.50, and on sale from his shop in Market Street and elsewhere). Mr. Clark starts by firmly identifying the site of Old Winchelsea as being approximately where the village of Camber and Rye golf course are now situated - which will come as a surprise to those of us who always thought vaguely that it was somewhere out in the Bay! From there, he goes on to set out the history of first Old and then New Winchelsea. The sections speak for themselves: foundation, government and administration, fishing and commerce, defences and raids, decline, and architecture; and then Mr. Clarke deals with the period from the seventeenth century onwards - dropping some very famous names when he writes about turn-of-the-century residents and visitors. Finally "after the first World War the professional literary and artistic thread was broken and Winchelsea adopted its present pleasant role... as a town where the young grow up undisturbed by urban ugliness, the middle-aged spend leisurely weekends, and the retired enjoy an environment provided by an historic township perfectly preserved" - it all sounds rather like "Camelot" but is, we imagine, a fair description of our fellow Antient Town, seven hundred years old this summer. The book has 28 pages, 6 illustrations and a map.
5.
The painters have been busy in and around Cinque Ports Street lately: The Social Services offices were scraped down to the bare wood and repainted a few weeks ago (and we would not like to have been the chap up the ladder on that very precarious bit of pavement); the Cinque Ports Hotel at the top of Station Approach has now reverted to its original white; the Crown Inn has also been newly painted, with a much more attractive colour scheme than before; and work has been completed on the railway station, which has been undergoing a major redecoration job for a couple of months. Here a cheery steam-engine red has replaced the mildewed-burgundy on the woodwork, lamp-standards, etc.; the brickwork has been cleaned up, and the rest of the paintwork re-done in white and cream on both sides of the line. It all looks lovely.
But there is deep sympathy (from those of us who regularly walk past) for the staff of Vidlers - who really are working under difficulties at the moment. It was in September that the business was bought by the Prudential, but only now has the time come for the promised face-lift - perhaps re-bore might be a better word, since that is what is happening. The whole of the inside of the building is being reconstructed, while the firm is continuing to sell houses as usual. Colin Stutely tells us that the four front offices will become one large reception area, while in the auction rooms a corner is being converted into a separate sale-room office. Since the work is expected to last for several more weeks, we shan't be here to congratulate the firm on its new look - so we can only wish them luck until the worst is over, and then every success in their new elegance. It would be nice to think that the Pru will retain the Vidler name (as Lloyds Bank has done with Geering & Colyer) - but that remains to be seen.
When, last September, Sheila Brown (ex-Swan Cottage tea room) showed us round her new acquisition, Holloway House, we really thought she had taken on more than she could cope with. Everything needed doing before she could turn it into the hotel and restaurant she envisaged. She hadn't even had a survey, because the verdict was all too obvious.
Last week Mrs. Brown showed us round again. She refuses to advertise until everything is completely finished, but we are at last allowed to write about the restoration work - and there is a certain satisfaction in describing Jeake's and Holloway in successive weeks, both now earning their keep in catering! The top floor, Mrs. Brown's own quarters, is just not identifiable as the warren of attics we looked at nervously nine months ago. On the first floor are three of the biggest bedrooms we have ever seen outside a stately home, all with double beds and their own bathrooms; one has a huge antique four-poster, another the Victorian fireplace discovered boarded over in the butler's pantry, the third with pretty Empire-style furniture. Sheila made the hangings for the four-poster, and all the heavy curtains with their swagged pelmets. She, Louise and Tracy did all the inside decorating except for the double-storey hall ceiling, which needed serious scaffolding. Everything is white plaster to set off the dark beams, with rose-beige carpet upstairs and deep red on the ground floor; there are glass chandeliers throughout, including an enormous one in the hall which has to be lowered on a pulley from the attic to change a bulb.
Derek Bull, Bob Vincent and Robin Paine were the professionals who put Sheila's ideas into practice when the job was beyond even her personal capabilitiy. On the ground floor are three dining-rooms, including an oak-panelled one at the back which is ideal for private entertaining; the butler's pantry is now a television lounge, and the kitchen has been transformed to meet catering standards - gone are the days when Sheila and her daughters slept in it in case the storm-damaged chimney-stack should crash down through the roof of the main houses
As an example of what a determined and enterprising woman can do in less than nine months, Holloway House needs to be seen; as the newest hotel and restaurant in the town, it deserves to be welcomed. Accommodation and restaurant are now open full-time, and Mrs. Brown has just applied for a licence to sell drinks. Phone number is Rye 224748.
6.
From time to time at the end of July the GAZETTE has had occasion to record that senior members of Thomas Peacocke School's staff are leaving (the junior staff seem to come and go so fast that we lose track of them entirely!).
This year the school is to lose Stan Jones (Deputy Head) and Peter Boyce (Senior Master), both of whom are retiring. As a TPS parent from the day when the school first went comprehensive, the Editor is aware how much Thomas Peacocke - staff, parents and pupils - owes to Mr. Jones and Mr. Boyce, and how much their wisdom and experience will be missed; we would like to wish them both a long and very happy retirement.
One summer day in 1940 a young Spitfire pilot came back across the Channel low on fuel; he had to land his plane urgently, and found a likely field on the outskirts of Rye. He refuelled and took off again - and Rye saw him no more until one day last summer, when he called at the police station on the offchance that someone there might have been here during the war. He wanted to show his wife the field that was his salvation.
At the desk, Gordon Stanbridge was intrigued but couldn't help, but he took the pilot's name and phone number and promised to make enquiries. Could we put something in the GAZETTE? We did better; we asked Clifford Bloomfield - who almost unbelievably, had actually watched the plane come down. The field, saiu Clifford, was one of Bert Catt's, so we put the pilot in touch with Mr. Catt. A fortnight ago there was a small pilgrimage. The pilot and his wife were taken by three generations of farming Catts (Bert, Alan and Ian) out to the spot where both Bert and Alan had witnessed the landing; then the visitors had lunch and departed. They were anxious that there should be no publicity over the visit, so we are not identifying the pilot. But it is really rather remarkable that after almost fifty years (and within 24 hours of the original enquiry) Rye was in a position to reunite the Spitfire pilot with his field!
Now we have two more requests for help, which we hope to resolve in the same satisfactory manner.
In July 1948 Derek Young from Barnsley was getting married, and his best man was an army mate from Playden, John Menzies - then a corporal in the military police in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Young celebrate their Ruby Wedding this year, and would like Mr. Menzies to come to the party, but they have lost touch with him. His address in 1948 was 4 Playden Cottages. If any reader who was living in Playden then is still in touch with the Menzies family, or can give Mr. and Mrs. Young any information which would help them complete their anniversary celebration, please get in touch with them: Derek and Marie Young.
The second problem is rather less straightforward. Some three months ago, a small box was left on the 799 coach from Rye to Worthing. The driver handed it in to lost property, but it was not claimed and in due course was returned to him. It was a black box, a little larger than a cigarette-box, and had the intials EDR embossed in gold on the lid. Inside were old snapshots (some taken in Rye), several good-conduct medals issued by the London County Council in the years before WW1 (possibly school medals), and an old-style British Legion badge. The medals bore the name "E. Riley". The bus driver handed over the box to the Rye British Legion Club, in the hope that they might be able to identify Mr. Riley and return his property - but there is no such person in their records, nor is there a Rye Riley in the phone book. Of course it is possible that the box was lost by someone going home from Rye - but the treasured photographs were taken here some years ago. Could it be that Mr. Riley's married daughter (with, of course, a different surname) now lives here and left the box on the coach? Anyway, anyone entitled to claim the box and its contents should contact the British Legion Club in Landgate (Rye 222564), who would be glad to return it to its proper owner.
7.
• Congratulations to Mrs. Emma Lampon of Grove House, whose cake sale in aid of the Church of England Children's Society sold out within two hours and raised £101. We felt dreadfully guilty when we realised we had left this out of last week's Diary, having written it up several weeks ago - but it obviously didn't matter. Mrs. Lampon wants to thank all the cake-makers who supported her; she has had a busy time lately - representing Landgate WI at the Albert Hall, then off to Denman College for an excellent study course on the Georgian period, back to Landgate to report on the WI AGM, and then raising this handsome sum of money with the cake sale which she organised single-handed.
• Dance enthusiasts will particularly enjoy the new exhibition at the Easton Rooms by four young women from Hastings, since dance (in the ballet rather than the ballroom sense) is the theme of the show. In fact "ballet" is hardly the word either, since there was hardly a tutu in sight; there were, however, some sample garments by Pat Bennett, who designs dance costumes to order. Pat, Kate Adams and Brenda Godsell were all showing paintings or drawings full of movement, and there were also some most attractive statuettes in ceramic by Carol Sheldrake. Across the courtyard at the Stormont Studio, the South East Arts Craft Collection seemed to sit perhaps a trifle uneasily in company with a selection of paintings from the gallery's permanent collection.
• In the course of their regular programme of visits to Health Authority establishments, a Community Health Council team recently went to Hill House Hospital. Their report showed that at the time of the visit only 24 patients remained at the hospital, and of these four were due to move to other areas. The two new houses to be built on the hospital site, just beside the road, will accommodate 12 of the 15 patients from Iden and Camber wards who have behavioural difficulties. There were also seven blind or partially-sighted patients still at the hospital. The team "were heartened by the marked improvement of several severely handicapped blind patients, arising, almost certainly, from additional attention as a result of reducing numbers".
• When Magdala House in Ferry Road was demolished, Rother salvaged the cast-iron railings which held the window-boxes, and the little ex-fountain; but it is now clear that neither can be returned to the site, which has no garden space at all. Colin Hudson of the Parks Department has the fountain put away safely, and is considering where it could suitably be set up somewhere else in the town. The railings (about ten five-foot lengths of Victorian cast-iron, 13" tall) are also safe, and now in need of a good home. Rother would like to see them on some public site in the town, and would be glad to give them to a body such as the Conservation Society which might feel able to raise money for their re-erection and repainting. (If - and only if - there is no chance of this at all, they might be available for sale to a private local purchaser.) Suggestions, please, to Mr. Bowtle at the Battle office (Battle 3371).
We wonder if it might be possible to reunite railings and fountain in the Baptists' burying-ground at the end of Watchbell Street - or could St. Mary's find room for them, or the Museum garden?
• There were not many prospective Friends of the Lions at the Queen's Head on Wednesday while we were there, but perhaps some turned up later. Men who become Friends may well get elected as proper Lions later, Peter Chantry told us; women are never elected, even as Lionesses, but are just invited to become what sounded to us suspiciously like hangers-on. The problem is that the 13 Lions are mostly businessmen whose time is limited during the day, so they do need people who can help then. In return, the Friends can take part in the lesser social activities - there is usually something once a month. The Lions have the Raft Race on 28 August, and a 50:50 Auction on 24 September; just before Christmas, over a week, they carol-sing (with the music taped) in the villages, and later take 200 elderly and disabled local people to a show, with tea. For details of Raft Race entries and Friends, see Colin Sayell at the Ice Box or Kelvin Care at Care's Clothing, both in Cinque Ports Street.
Rye A259 Action Group's first AGM, FEC, 7.30
Greenpeace film night ("Commandos of Conservation"), free admission, Stormont Studio, 8 for 8.30
Bowls Club coffee morning, Red Cross (not Town Hall), 10
Open Day for TPS Rural Studies Department and FRHNR nature trail, displays, refreshments - Leasam House (down the lane by the Hospital) from 1.0
Open gardens (18 Church Square and 11 High Street) for National Gardens Scheme, 2 to 6 (£1, children 20p, teas)
• Details of the above events appeared in last week's GAZETTE.
• Did you use the phone box at the foot of Conduit Hill on Tuesday evening last week? Did you happen to pick up a small address book with a green furry cover left there by a visitor who is desperate to get it back? She asked the police, the surgery, the Council Offices, all without success; her phone number is 0860 418416 (leave a message).
• Mr. and Mrs. David Piggott have been very much touched by the kindness of Mr. Piggott's Peasmarsh milk-round customers; goodbye-and-thank-you present included a clock and a pewter tankard, as well as smaller personal gifts.
• Landgate WI members were inspired by Beryl Rixon "to try more than dumping flowers in a vase" when she demonstrated arranging summer blooms at the June meeting. "Once again a skilled demonstrator made it look deceptively easy to achieve stunning results" says WI correspondent Christine Butcher. Members are volunteering to provide morning coffee at the Town Hall on Armada Day - in fancy (though maybe not strictly Elizabethan) dress.
• This weekend the EF Benson Society holds its annual summer pilgrimage to Rye.
• The RNIB house-to-house collection a couple of weeks ago, in Rye, Winchelsea, Brede and Icklesham, raised a princely £1,060. Hilda Nelson-Barrett is particularly pleased that this is only £200 down on last year when they had a flag-day, and £460 up on 1986 which was also just a house-to-house year. There was a very generous response from Tilling Green Estate, but unfortunately the successful collector there is soon to leave Rye; the committee very much hope that someone living on the Estate will offer to take over the job next year, or perhaps two people sharing?
• Saturday's results: the Summer Fair for Great Ormond Street made £200, the Scouts' jumble sale £62, and the Cadborough Jubilee Social Club sale £192.
• What were all those policemen doing on Gibbet Marsh last Monday evening, people kept asking us? So we asked the police; they were looking for a local youth, who later presented himself at the police station of his own accord.
• All Bernie Fiddimore's friends will be delighted to know that she has found her cat, after three weeks' absence; obviously trying to make its way home (it had already been found once and lost again) it was heard crying, trapped but not damaged in a rabbit snare, by visitors at a neighbouring farm.
• Many thanks to Mr. Gard of Present Company in Lion Street, who kindly copied our tape reels onto audio-cassette for us (thanks too to young Martin Bayntun for his offer). And Barry Rivers has produced the basic tape-recorder we were looking for after his Panasonic delivery arrived months late.
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. This is the last normal issue; the final one will come out next Tuesday and will only have room for urgent announcements - which must reach the Editor by Saturday this week without fail. As usual, spare copies (45p) will be available from Young Ideas (children's wear) 7 Cinque Ports Street. (Copyright Mary Owen 1986)