Coast to Coast last Thursday provided viewers with graphic illustrations of what the south-eastern railway network could look like if the various options of the Serpell Report were adopted. At worst, our nearest stations could be Ashford and Brighton! Both Hastings and Eastbourne are apparently vulnerable, specially the Hastings line via Tunbridge Wells, and the Coast to Coast report said gloomily that our own little line would almost certainly be doomed.
There are around a dozen daily commuters from Rye to London (doubtless more join the trains at other stations along the line), but many more workers commute just to Hastings or Ashford. A large number of schoolchildren travel by rail, mostly Thomas Peacocke pupils both from the villages and (paying their own fares) from Hastings, and also some Rye children who go to school in Ashford.
Many readers will remember the successful fight led by Councillor H.J. Everest which resulted in the saving of the Hastings to Ashford line some years ago. Since, this time, the cuts would be nationwide, its chances don't look very good (please let us be wrong!). However, if the worst did happen, Rye people would be luckier than some. Local coach-hire firms will obviously be considering what could usefully be done to provide a direct service to Ashford - one operator referred to the County Council grants already offered to some private firms supplying non-viable services. The GAZETTE would, of course, publicise regular and occasional car-sharing offers.
The Serpell Report has been ("greeted" is hardly the word) confronted with almost universal protest, and of course 1983 could be a General Election year... On the other hand, the loss figures quoted are so astronomical that to our local small-scale world it seems unbelievable that they can have gone on for so long already. A half-joking reference in a recent GAZETTE to the possible closure of the railway seems rather nearer the mark than we expected - though we are relieved to think that it was not us, as one reader indignantly suggested, who put the idea into BR's head.
Comments from visitors, official and otherwise, throughout the summer confirmed the success of Rye Town Model in its second season at Alsford’s - who generously charge only a peppercorn rent for the premises in The Deals. Figures from the Town Clerk's office show total takings of £7,800 for the April-October opening period. Financially, attendance at the longer morning shows and the short afternoon ones was split more or less equally, and sales - including the County Council's Rye Town Walk, two maps of the town (plain and coloured), Adams' and Martello's guides and Rother's leaflets - totalled some £1,300.
Running expenses were nearly £6,400, but this figure included various sums for legal expenses, a new carpet and advertising sign boards which will not recur; on the other hand, careful bulk buying of sales material the previous year meant a smaller outlay here than in 1981. A higher figure for wages reflected the longer opening period.
Taking everything into account, the Model showed a profit of around £1,500 for 1982, which means that it could in fact now be paid for entirely - although for accounting reasons Mr. Baker says it is better that Rother's loan should be paid off over three years. In any case, this is obviously a most gratifying result.
Both the Town Model and Rye Museum feature on a new advertising leaflet and poster recently launched by East Sussex County Council for, presumably, national distribution showing the "top 20" tourist attractions in the county. It is lucky for us that the leaflet's layout is such that the pictures of the Model and the Museum are visible even when it is folded!
We think that the town should be most grateful to Joy and Ted Harland, who brought into being this money-spinning miniature marvel.
2.
Mr. Peter Ovenden, who died suddenly last weekend, had been in ill health for some years, but was still employed as caretaker at Thomas Peacocke Lower School at the time of his death. Mr. Ovenden, who was 55, lived with his mother in Cinque Ports Street. As a young man he worked for Mr. Richards, the Iden builder, and later for Burnhams; for a while he was employed by Battle RDC at Camber, and ten years ago he became assistant caretaker at Thomas Peacocke Upper School, moving to Lower School within the past four years. Mr. Ovenden was a talented painter, studying under the late William Warden at evening classes in the late 1950s. The sympathies of all their friends go to Mrs. Ovenden, to whom he was a most devoted and caring son. Cremation takes place at Hastings today.
The unexpected death of Mr. Ronald Collyer, of Springfield Cottages, Playden, has brought sadness in Rye football circles. Mr. Collyer, who was 60, had been connected with the East Guldeford and Camber Club for 40 years. He was also the Secretary of the local farmworkers' union and had himself worked on the land until ill-health brought about his early retirement. He leaves his widow, three sons and a daughter, and six grandchildren. Cremation took place on Tuesday, followed by a service today at Icklesham, the family's parish church.
Mrs. Stella Bates, who died recently in Rye Hospital aged 81, had only been back in Rye for a few months after an adventurous life. Born in Kipling's India, she was widowed shortly after WW II and spent much of her time farming in Africa with her son. She had been the wife of Mr. Guy Bates, grandson of the Rev. John Lockington-Bates who was Rector of Iden from 1864 to 1924, and will be buried in Iden churchyard.
Miss Elsie Weeks, of Pottingfield Road, died suddenly in hospital on 17 January, aged 81.
Mr. Maxwell Milham, of Marley Road, died suddenly at his home on 18 January.
Mrs. Margaret Doust, of Camber, died recently aged 74; she was the wife of Rye's former harbour-master Mr. Jack Doust.
Following the recent death of Mrs. K. Fairhall of Iden, her family wish to thank all relatives and friends for their kind messages of sympathy, and for floral tributes, and ask that this announcement should be accepted as their personal acknowledgment.
Rye Police are looking for some very special people - but not for the usual reason! The station needs more Special Constables; there are nine based at Rye at present and they would like three or four more. Duties are varied, and although in theory they can be asked to go anywhere in the county there is in fact plenty of work for them in and around Rye - a current job is fitting 64 door chains to the homes of local pensioners. The work is unpaid, though uniform is provided plus a £20-a-year allowance for shoe leather; eight hours' service a month is all that is required, and Specials are always asked if they can help with a particular job, not just told to turn up - so family and business commitments can still have priority. Work is often at weekends and evenings, since many of the Specials are in full-time jobs during the day. They have, incidentally, the same powers of arrest as the regular police force - we rather think, however, that they do not carry arms.
Both men and women are required for this unusual and worthwhile form of public service. Recruits must be under 50, and women should be at least 5'4" tall and men 5'6" - though "father of the Specials" Gordon Stanbridge didn't seem too worried about an odd half-inch. There is a year's probation period, fortnightly lectures during the winter on all aspects of police work, and the opportunity for an occasional weekend course at police at Lewes.
The TSB has had a window display about this service for the past few weeks; the police would of course be pleased to meet anyone interested in joining.
Incidentally, Rye Police ask us to point out that the wearing of seat belts for both driver and front seat passenger is compulsory from next Monday, 31 January.
THE RYE GAZETTE, 26.1.83 - page 3
Horse racing in comfort comes to the Camber Sands Leisure Park on Saturday, 19 February, at 7.30, when Round Table and Rotary are again holding A Charity Race Night. The system is very ingenious, and an amusing evening is obviously in prospect.
Martyn Channon, who is running this year's racing, is inviting local organisations and firms to sponsor one of the eight races to be "run". Individuals are then able to enter, for a fee of £3, a horse of their choice - the entry includes the horse's name plus its sire and dam, which leads to plenty of opportunity for advertisement, innuendo or just plain jokes. Every horse in a race then gets a number. So far, normal - except, of course, that the horses are mythical.
(Entries should reach Mr. Channon at Rye Cattle Market by the previous weekend.)
Come the night, the organisers will produce 8 films of horse races which they have received in sealed cans, so that even they don't know which actual races they will be showing, let alone in what order. Numbers of the horses entered locally will correspond with the numbers of the horses actually shown running; and when each film is over, the owner of the horse with the winning number will be £12 better off.
Whether or not you have a horse running, £2.50 will buy your ticket which includes, a buffet supper. The Leisure Park owners are giving the use of the hall, and of course providing a bar. There is also a raffle for a £50 note - and we don't see many of them round here. Last year's event made £500 for local charities, and they hope to better it this time. It should certainly brighten up a boring old February!
It was almost a full house at the FE Centre on Friday, when Museum Curator Mr. Geoffrey Bagley showed the Museum's series of slides taken by two Hastings photographers working in and around Rye in the early years of the century. The tone of the evening was set by the superb wood-and-brass "magic lantern" lent by Mr. Barry Funnell (the slides won't fit a modern projector), originally intended for arc lighting but now adapted for electricity. It still gets hot, however, and an interval was necessary to let it cool down; this gave the audience the chance to admire some of the Frank Golden stock-in-trade which Mr. Healey had presented to the Museum when the shop closed (GAZETTE nos. 10 and 11).
The beautiful quality of the elderly slides was much admired, and there was a continuous hum from the audience giving little coos of remembrance at the sight of some view now vastly different. Perhaps the sight of a pawnbroker's traditional three golden balls in Watchbell Street was the most unexpected revelation to a non-Ryer!
A very interesting evening - and the March meeting promises to be another in the same vein, when Mr. Laurie Band will be showing his slides of Rye with a maritime flavour. The February speaker will be Mr. David Martin - the subject of his talk "Buildings in their Social Setting" will, we think, be a little less intellectual than its title implies. Non-members are always welcome.
Rye and District Bonfire Association has: now distributed all the money collected on Bonfire Night, as follows: Firemen's Benevolent fund £80, Police dependents fund £80, St. John Ambulance £80, RNLI £90, Lions £104, NSPCC £72, Chailey Heritage £113. It will be remembered that the Bonfire Boys, as well as making donations to those who have helped them, return money collected to the charities who provided the collectors.
New Bonfire Association Secretary Joan Parkes is slightly apprehensive about her job, but promises some fund-raising and public relations events during the year.
- to Mr, Wells, whose butcher's shop window, was deliberately damaged by vandals in the early hours of Sunday morning.
THE RYE GAZETTE, 26.1.83 - page 4
Rye Council for Voluntary Service's open meeting at the Town Hall on Thursday had almost more apologies for absence than it had audience. However, those who were there heard Mr. Neil Weatherall, in charge of the social services for our area, set out very clearly the responsibilities of Social Services generally.
He emphasised that Social Services was different from Social-Security; the latter deals with the money, and Social Services with the people - families with children, the elderly, the physically and mentally handicapped and the mentally ill. They also supervise fostering, and check on playgroups, etc. Mr.Weatherall described the two kinds of "care" for children those in care with the agreement of their parents, and those under a court order. But, he said, half their £27m budget (the education budget is £240m) is spent on looking after the elderly - the aim is to keep people in their own homes for as long as possible, with the help of the WRVS meals on wheels service and the home helps, who sometimes visit two or three times a day, seven days a week.
At grass-roots level, the service has a network of "patch teams" based on and responsible for a fairly small area, and in the spring our team will have its own offices in Cinque Ports Street, where the Renault showroom was until recently. The Rye team consists of three social workers and a home help organiser, and its area stretches from Camber to Northiam to Broad Oak to Fairlight, and of course includes Greyfriars. The new office will be open five days a week, with a duty social worker available every morning. It was clear from what Mr. Weatherall said that the object of the team is to keep not only the elderly but all its charges in their own homes whenever possible, and this will doubtless be easier when they are on the spot so that people don't have to find their way over to Bexhill for help. In this connection, Mr. Weatherall tossed at his audience the possibility of day care in Rye; it was not greeted with enormous enthusiasm, but it was obviously something that would be a blessing to some people, who are otherwise restricted to the loneliness of their own homes.
Elizabeth Goldsworthy then spoke about the work of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. She referred very movingly to the problems which this still mysterious disease of the central nervous system can provide for sufferers and appealed for more Rye volunteers to help both with fund-raising for research and with welfare work and visiting MS victims - 17 at least in this neighbourhood. What they need most, she said is help to live like ordinary people as far as possible. (If you can help, phone Mrs. Goldsworthy at Iden 312.)
The last speaker (the Library was unfortunately not represented after all) was Ray Fooks, who reported on the progress of the YOP scheme, the original object of the CVS. It now has 4 or 5 supervised teams, plus some individual placement of young people; but the bosses, Manpower Services, are about to launch a new training scheme and he was not entirely sure how it would work out in Rye, where there seemed to be no suitable premises. Mr, Fooks thanked all his committee, but particularly: Mrs. Jean Bull-Marshall who has paid the wages and kept the day-to-day accounts since the scheme began; Adrian Perry, in charge of the overall accounts; and Ivo Fowle for legal advice. One or two questions were asked about what YOP, with some 20 to 25 members in Rye, could and could not undertake; the scope is limited because of obligations to the unions - but one can always ask.
Next open meeting will be on Thursday, 23 June. Copies of a list, prepared by Mrs. Bull-Marshall, of contact names and addresses for local organisations of all kinds were distributed.
Dignitaries of Church and Town were guests of Canon and Mrs. Maundrell at a party at the Town Hall on Tuesday last week, given to mark the departure of Stephen Seamer and his family from Camber to his new parish. This occasion was the Seamers' farewell to Rye; there is still a party and presentation due at Camber before they finally leave the Rye group of parishes where Mr. Seamer has been a very popular member of the team ministry.
5.
On Monday, 14 February, the Tuesday Painters Club of Rye looks forward to a visit from R. Eyton, ARA, who will be talking about his work and showing slides. Club Secretary Miss Kaye Diggle tells us that the Club usually has three visits from professional artists during the year, as well as its very successful Summer Exhibition at the FE Centre. Founded over 21 years ago at the instigation of Mrs. Bea Cunningham, artist sister of the present Chairman Capt. Martin Evans, RN, the Club grew from the Tuesday afternoon art classes. Membership is open to those living within 7 miles of Rye and is limited to 200 - otherwise the talks, exhibition, and the three painting weekends would be unmanageable. The majority of members simply paint for their own pleasure, but there is a leaven of art school graduates which sets a high standard for the whole group, and several members have had pictures in the Academy recently. Anyone interested in joining should get in touch with Miss Diggle at Brede 882447.
The presentation of the infant Christ in the temple to the old priest Simeon is traditionally celebrated on 2 February as Candlemas, and the Rye Deanery commemorates it each year with a special version of Evensong. This year the service takes place in St. Mary's at 7.30, and will include a hymn by local writer Jan Struther and another by Bishop Bell of Chichester whose centenary falls two days later. Representatives of the other parishes in the Deanery, and of the other denominations Rye, will be present.
We would like to remind readers that next week's issue will contain the first of our fortnightly advertising supplements (details in GAZETTE no. 18). We had hoped to photocopy this in Rye, but the arrangements collapsed; fortunately, however, Winters' Dairies have an electronic stencil-cutter which, in combination with their duplicator, should produce equally satisfactory results. (This is, incidentally, a commercial service on offer in the normal way - Rye 2220.) The deadlines are midday on Friday for displayed advertisements with copy ready for reproduction, and midday on Saturday for personal announcements, though it would be worth phoning Rye 2303 during the weekend to see if something urgent could be fitted in. All copy should be delivered to 94 Udimore Road, together with the money (£2.50 or £2, or £1 for "classifieds") unless other arrangements have been made in advance.
With a good deal of flu about, this seems a good moment to say that if you don't get your GAZETTE on a Wednesday it means there is trouble at Udimore Road. If the Editor should be laid low after an issue is printed, we would try to have copies for all subscribers at the pick-up points as follows: Ashenden Avenue and beyond, Cadborough Stores; Ferry Road as far as Bannister's Corner, Hazel's (not open on Thursdays); Cinque Ports Street, High Street, The Mint and Strand area, The George (opening hours only); Rope Walk, Eagle Road and Landgate, Landgate Freezer Centre; Citadel area, above the High Street, the Tuck Shop. Very many thanks to those concerned, should this occur. If anything goes wrong on a Tuesday so that we cannot print, there would be a double issue the following week or subscriptions would run for a week beyond the stated time. (If the paper appears but seems slightly incoherent, it probably means that the Editor ought to have been in bed on Monday!) The remaining possibility is that our photocopiers might be out or action, in which case you would get a duplicated emergency edition.
We are sorry to say that our sixth pick-up point, Rye Print and Publicity (Formerly Fagins) have left 7 Cinque Ports Street. The firm is continuing in business in Udimore and will be pleased to take orders on Rye 4102 for the present; in mid-February their number will revert to Rye 5140. They offer to collect and deliver work from Rye free of charge.
The library photocopier is, of course, still with us, though not on Tuesdays and maybe not on another day as well if the cuts go through - Marion Lovell is hoping to organise a petition against the reduced hours, and we shall have details of this next week. Does any firm in the town with a photocopier offer the use of the machine to outsiders on a commercial basis?
6.
Thursday, 27th Muscular Dystrophy Group AGM, Tower Forge Cottage, 7.30
"Pirates of Penzance", Ryesingers, CC 7.30 (seats still available)
Friday, 28th Natural History Society, "Spring Flowers in Crete", FEC, 7.30
"Pirates of Penzance", Ryesingers, CC 7.30 (few seats left)
Papa Joe's film: "Ordinary People", Pizzeria, 9
Saturday, 29th NSPCC Second-hand Bargains Sale, FEG, 11 to 3
"Pirates of Penzance", Ryesingers, CC 7.30 (sold out)
Monday, 31st WRVS lunch club, CC, 12.30
Ratepayers Association AGM, Town Hall, 7.30 (see below)
Council of Churches Annual Meeting, Baptist Hall, 7.30
Tuesday, 1st FRAG talk, "Churchill and his Generals", Town Hall, 8
Wednesday, 2nd Candlemas service, St. Mary's, 7.30 (see page 5)
• We beg to remind our dozen or so monthly subscribers that their 80p for the four February issues is now due (to 94 Udimore Road or 5 Bridge Place) – individual reminders are not being sent. March will, in due course, cost £1 for five issues.
• Streets in the town centre may well be lively on Saturday evening when something called the Grand Order of Guisers proceeds from the station (at 7) via the Landgate to the Union, the Mermaid and eventually the Strand. Morris dancing is involved and audience participation apparently invited. We do hope it keeps fine!
• Rye Ratepayers Association AGM last year covered a wide spectrum of Rye affairs, and this year's should be equally interesting (Town Hall, Monday, 7.30); after the formal business, the Association's Councillors will report on the year. Membership is open to all Rye residents, and with an annual subscription of 50p no-one need feel excluded.
• Blood donor sessions will take place at the Baptist Hall on Thursday and Friday next week (3 and 4 February), from 2 to 4.15 and 5 to 8 each day.
• The Fish Shop in The Mint is now closed for staff holidays, and will reopen on Wednesday, 16 February.
• Police press book: £100-worth of malicious damage to a car parked overnight in Udimore Road on 17/18 January, and £5 stolen from St. Anthony of Padua on 20th.
• Mrs. Penny Moir, of 8 Rope Walk, tells us she is available for part-time, occasional or temporary shorthand and typing work; she has a car - phone Rye 5801.
• No planning applications for Rye in this week's list, though the proprietors of Fletcher's House are applying to the Magistrates for a restaurant licence.
• Rye Racers, who "walked the plank" so entertainingly in the summer to raise the cash, are holding their annual Senior Citizens party on Sunday 27 February at the Community Centre. Anyone wishing for an invitation should contact 77 Udimore Road or 12 Nutley Close by Monday 14 February.
• The clerical assistant job at the Town Hall is still unfilled, and we hear it is to be re-advertised; four people were short-listed the first time.
• There was a disconcerting Kent Police presence in Rye Market on Thursday, in connection with the murder before Christmas of an elderly lady in Tonbridge. It seems they came in the hope that someone on the regular market circuit might recall seeing a suspect van and its occupants, known to have been in Tonbridge on that town's market day.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. It is published by Mrs. Mary Owen at 94 Udimore Road, Rye (Rye 2303), who is always glad to receive news
items for inclusion. It costs 20p a week and is normally delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday; deadline is Monday afternoon - first thing Tuesday morning for emergencies.
Photocopied by Sussex Secretarial Services, 11 Claremont, Hastings (942 2633).