SUBSCRIPTIONS: we reminded readers last week that next quarter's subscriptions were about to fall due - £3.25 for 13 weeks to 28 March, cheques payable to THE RYE GAZETTE, please. Those who have paid already will find their copies ticked; all receipts will be issued with the 4 January edition.
Rye has its first Mastermind - maybe the first of many, but not under the same management, since Mesdames Sarrieddine and Bromley say this will be the last of their fund-raising ventures for the present. Jane Rowley, a comparative new-comer to Rye, won the title; a former teacher, she has made a study of linguistics and was assistant editor of the recently published Concordance to the Good News Bible. Barbara Fearon and Alan Crick tied for second place, with Mrs. Fearon winning the play-off. Jo Kirkham and James Menhinick both gave a good account of themselves, and it was a pity that a business trip to Venice removed Kate Davson from the contest. Sir Brian Batsford was a most careful question-master, Mrs. Mussett kept the score, the Mayor presented the Mastermind Plate to the winner - a plate specially designed, made and given by David Sharp (who is very much alive and well, despite a misleading news report to the contrary the other day!).
The large audience much enjoyed the intellectual challenge - more particularly the general knowledge questions, with plenty of sotto voce competition from the body of the church. It also enjoyed what must have been one of the very few two-course evening meals with even mildly alcoholic refreshment served in St. Mary's for very many years, even perhaps centuries! The church's electrics did not in the end permit the use of heated trolleys so the meal was a cold one, but despite the new heating draughts did drift about, and the hot spiced apple drink was very welcome (grateful acknowledgements from the organisers to Spots Farm Vineyard at Tenterden). Geraldine did the cooking, and this involved 20 chickens, 10 lbs of rice, 25 lbs of red cabbage, 35 pints of custard for the trifle and 6 gallons of the fruit cup. Another thank-you from Rachel and Geraldine goes to Laurie Suker, in charge of all the lighting and sound - "we couldn't have done it without him", they said.
144 people bought tickets for the event, and cheques for £200 each have gone to the Additional Curates Society and Brother Jonathan's Children's Home; the five events (two jumble sales, a supper and musical entertainment, last year's coffee morning and Mastermind) that Rachel Sarrieddine and Geraldine Bromley have run since 1979 for these and other charities have raised altogether £2,000!
Rye Town Council has a special meeting on Monday to formulate its answer to the D o T's request for its views on the Winchelsea proposals. Rother Council has also been asked to comment, and the Planning Committee will be considering its reply at tomorrow's monthly planning meeting. Rye people will be heartened to know that Mr. Powell's recommendation to his committee is "that the Department of Transport be requested to bring forward options for a Rye bypass so that they and the Winchelsea proposals may be considered together. Until this is done the Council feel unable to commit themselves to support any of the options." Of course the committee may not accept the recommendation; but anyway Mr. Powell himself is clearly on our side.
Several Rye people have recently wondered audibly whether we want a bypass at all if it is at the cost of a split town and homes knocked down. How much of the traffic, they ask, is genuine "through traffic", as against cars with business in Rye or HGVs starting from, finishing in or delivering to the town itself? This is something that doubtless the D o T can tell us, if they will; what about that informal meeting, Dorking?
2.
Mr. George Joseph Cade died suddenly and peacefully in hospital on 7 December; he was 83, and had recently returned to Rye after a two-year absence. The funeral took place at St. Mary's on Tuesday. We shall have a full obituary next week.
To judge from GAZETTE feedback (see no. 60), not one of our readers listens at all regularly to Radio Sussex! It can't be as bad as that really, but it does seem that the programme has not yet made much impact over here. Could this be because the occasional local interest story is lost among endless items from other parts of the county? Would listeners prefer it if all the stories from this remote end of the station's area - apart, of course, from hot-news items of interest to the whole county - were grouped together at the same time each week? (Preferably on Tuesday mornings because that's the only day the Editor can listen!) Over to you, David Arscott.
There is still no Radio Sussex Rye correspondent, but we do now have one for the Sussex Express, Mrs. Yvonne Metcalf. The Metcalf’s have a daughter at Thomas Peacocke Upper School and another at Freda Gardham, and as well as having a stall at the FEC monthly craft market, Mrs. Metcalf helps with Junior Club and at Hill House, and is the Rye Chairman of the Friends of St. Jude's at Bexhill. She is keen to get Rye affairs better represented 'n the Express - aren't we all! - so do contact her with your news and forthcoming events.
The Express's Rye-and-Battle reporter, Nick Hart, tells us that those who want to speak to him personally will usually find him at the Hastings Observer office (the Express's sister paper) between 9 and 9.43 am; ring Hastings 51351 and ask for extension 226, or leave a message asking him to ring you back. And to contact the free paper (East Sussex News) ring Hastings 52811 as usual. Any enquiries about advertisements go to a quite different set of phone numbers - see the paper concerned for details.
TVS will be in Rye twice in the course of the coming week, filming Ryesingers carolling in and about the town. On Sunday (18th) they will be outside East Guldeford Church as the choir arrives there for the 2.30 carol service; and on Tuesday they will be filming the singers on location in the cobbled streets. Lesley Brownbill is told that the pictures will probably go out on Friday (23rd) in Coast to Coast.
(Footnote: in a recent speech, the chairman of a large provincial newspaper group said that to serve their communities fully, newspapers needed to have editions for very small areas; what local-paper readers wanted, he said, was local news "although other factors, including bingo, played a part". The GAZETTE, of course, entirely agrees with him about very small areas; but we regret to say that readers requiring bingo must look elsewhere!)
Good prices were obtained at Vidler & Co's special evening sale last week, and doubtless some of the attractive items on offer will make their next appearance on Christmas morning!
Up in the high prices were three rugs (£850, £450 and £400); two sets of six dining chairs, one elaborately carved Victorian oak (£460), and one Hepplewhite-style (£480); an antique oak bureau-bookcase (£620) and an Edwardian mahogany bookcase-cabinet (£600); a four-drawer chest containing 98 pieces of table plate (£500); a pair of Doulton-style jardinieres (£400); a mahogany partners desk (£440); a sapphire and diamond ring (£600); a long-case clock, c.1800, by William Hay (£600); a Wellington chest (£440); and, top price of all, an early Georgian mahogany card-table which went for £1,100. (A coloured lithograph by Sir Frank Brangwyn fetched an unremarkable £30 - what was impressive was the list of letters after the artist's name: RA, PRBA, RE, HRMS, ROI, ERSA, RSW, ARWS!)
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 14.12.1983
A cheerful crowd of supporters turned up at the Town Hall on Wednesday when the League of Friends of Rye Memorial Hospital held their annual reception and charity auction sale. Leslie Stutely of Messrs. Vidler & Co was, as usual, the auctioneer, and skilfully wheedled good prices from his bidders, outstandingly so in the case of three books signed by author Alan Sillitoe which brought surprisingly high bids; a fur stole, a hamper of groceries, one of Norman Jagger's woodcarvings and some soft toys also attracted the money. The event showed a profit of more than £600.
The Friends are still hoping to be allowed to add a ward to the hospital; we shall have more on this in the near future. But not all the League's funds are on ice for this, and Mrs. Lawson-Tait tells us that this Christmas they have given the hospital their customary cheque for presents for patients, for a party for the day patients, and also for a staff party. The League also pays for the portable telephone (very useful for outpatients and casualties as well as for those in bed), and also for the hire and licensing of the television sets. And they supply the materials for the Red Cross volunteers who run make-up sessions for the patients. The Treasurer is currently waiting for the bill for a somewhat specialised instrument which will be useful in the outpatients department.
So many people are worrying about the state of Conduit Hill that we are repeating (having checked back a second time) that the County Council Highways Department really is going to replace the cobbles once the handrail has been put up in the New Year. The Gas Board's infill of 6" of rubble and tarmac will be removed and the cobbles put back in the normal way as soon as all the digging operations are finished. As for the bollards at the top, we understand that the emergency services would have ways of dealing with these should they need access to or from the High Street in a hurry; and there are now "no parking" notices in force for the area uphill from Turkeycock Lane.
In the course of the past year Rye has seen the urban heron, the urban fox, the urban mink - and obviously intelligent seal, who has found at the Fishmarket the best restaurant for miles. It has been there for about a week, and on Sunday feasted on eels for the benefit of a crowd of admirers, while it obviously enjoys the friendly greetings of the Freda Gardham children who wave to it from the bridge. It has marks on one side of its neck which could be the equivalent of an ear-tag or a bird's leg-ring - but wherever it has come from, it is obviously quite free to return on the high tide twice a day, and in the meantime, it is giving a lot of pleasure to people at that end of the town. Now, a seal colony - that would be a tourist attraction!
Last summer we reported on a public relations exercise for the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, when County, District and Town Councillors were invited to see over the Reserve and hear about the work being done there. Obviously, the few Rother Councillors who were able to attend were impressed, since its Policy and Resources Committee last week agreed to increase the Reserve's grant for the current year from the estimated £450 to £1000, and to give it the same amount next year if funds allow.
The Reserve's Management Committee had put in a very explicit application for an increase in grant to pay the salary of the (part-time) Assistant Warden. The County Council pays the Warden's salary, but the area of the Reserve has increased four-fold since it started, and for the past two years the Friends of the Reserve had managed to pay the extra £1,200 salary. But the Management Committee pointed out that the Friends' funds would be more suitably spent on conservation projects on the reserve if Rother could help over the salary. It is a pleasure to record such a successful outcome from the application to the Council; thank you, Rother.
4.
Thomas Peacocke School says goodbye this term to another of its very long-serving staff members. Mr. Harold Pearce almost but not quite equals Mr. Huxstep's record of 37 years teaching at the same school; it is 35 years since Mr. Pearce came to Rye to teach at the Secondary Modern School in New Road under Mr. Blackman. Mr. Pearce is an Eastbourne man, and was at grammar school there, followed by teacher training at St. Paul's College, Cheltenham. During the war he was in the Royal Artillery Education Corps and settled in Rye after a short time at Hailsham.
The Pearce's moved to their present home at the top of Udimore Roadc almost 20 years ago. Mr. Pearce has been School House master for 8 years from 1974. He has recently been concentrating his teaching time at the Lower School, where he took the opportunity to start a Stamp Club, something the school has lacked for a long time. However, this is not the first school club he has set up; in New Road in the Fifties, he ran a very successful chess club, which played clubs from other schools in the area. He is a member of the Hastings stamp club which also covers the Rye area; and a keen gardener. Cadborough Jubilee Club members know him as a very expert caller for their bingo sessions - a talent he used in aid of school funds back in the New Road days. So he is going to find himself with plenty to do when he gives up teaching Maths.
He and Mrs. Pearce (who is not proposing to retire from her job at Woolworths, where she is by their standards still a new girl after only ten years there) have two grandsons in Worcester and hope to see more of them and also of their daughters Elizabeth and Camilla. We wish Mr. Pearce a long and happy retirement (and may perhaps just whisper, that a presentation is planned, and those who would like to be associated with it should get in touch with the Headmaster at the Upper School).
Trains: Hastings passenger information says that there will be no trains at all on 25 and 26 December; a Sunday service on 27th (Tuesday); normal services minus some commuter trains for the rest of that week; and a Sunday service on both 1 and 2 January (Sunday and Monday).
Buses: None at all on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (25th to 27th); Saturday services on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday (28th to 31st); no buses on Sunday (1st), and a Sunday service on Monday (2nd) and an Iden bus
One of our readers has asked us to clarify the position about the 15.30 bus from Rye to Iden (and thence to Wittersham, Tenterden and Maidstone). This is the no. 12 route, and is run by Maidstone and District, whereas under the new management scheme most of the Rye buses are run by Hastings and District. We therefore asked the Tenterden bus office for information.
The 15.30 bus used to run Mondays to Saturdays; but in September it was taken off on school-days. It continues to run on Saturdays throughout the year. During school holidays it also runs on Mondays to Fridays. But, oh but! Remember it is a Maidstone bus; Maidstone is in Kent; and Kent schools very frequently differ by as much as a week from Sussex schools in the dates of their holidays. So, if you want to go to Iden at 15.30 on a weekday during our school holidays, it would really be advisable to ring the Tenterden office (0577 2123) just to check whether their kids are in school or not!
Fuggles Garages also run buses through Iden to Rye, taking the school children and the general public early in the morning and at school turn-out time, and also a Thursday trip for market shoppers. They are sending us their timetable, not at present on display in Rye, and we will give details when we receive it. Their non-Thursday buses run only on school days; but since they bring the Iden children into Rye, we assume they work to Sussex school dates.
STOP PRESS; Playden Oast gets its cowls back - by crane - tomorrow morning c.10.0; a sight worth standing about for - story next week, we hope.
5.
"Toad of Toad Hall" was one of Lower School's most ambitious productions, and certainly among the best. A complete contrast to last year's "Cinderella", there was much less dancing and more acting this time, with a thread of music throughout and some very pleasant singing voices revealed. Barnaby Dellar and Becket McGrath were notable as the Broker's Men last year, and this time they played together again as Mole and Ratty, with Andrew Colegrave - a memorable Ugly Sister in 1982 - presenting a superb Toad. Carlton Relf completed an excellent foursome as Badger. Philip Gray sounded suitably resigned from inside the front half of the horse. Simon Collins made the most of a large and comic policeman, teamed with David Als's Usher and Jonathan Alexander's Judge. Phoebe and her washerwoman aunt were delightfully played by Fiona Ramus and Tracy Jenner, and Sharon White was a good uppish bargewoman. The villains - Weasels, Stoats and Ferrets, led by Jake Bowers Burbridge, Duncan Fryer and Darren Moore - threatened, gloated and ultimately cringed to good effect, the Black Rabbits lolloped about very pleasantly, and the Fieldmice carolled with enormous charm. A high spot was the operatic quartet as our heroes worked themselves up into a frenzy before the attack on Toad Hall, but there were plenty of other very good moments - a lot of them from Toad, whose headpiece/mask was a work of art (but why didn't Mole have a mask like the others?).
Mr. Lewis was in charge of the complicated and very successful production, Mrs. Bush was musical director and Miss Marshall arranged the dances; Mr. Beckwith had the help of Vth and Vlth year pupils over the stage management, and Mr. Martin saw to the lighting. Decor, costumes and props came from the Art Department (the riverbank set was lovely) and from a group of parents. As someone remarked of the staff play a few weeks ago, "It's going to be hard to better this next year”.
Much sympathy for the Robus family who run "Wood'n Things" in Landgate - a disjointed pipe in the roof poured water into the building last week, completely ruining months of decorating work with what they reckon must have been a four-inch-deep flood in the roof-space! Fortunately the family had not yet moved into the living quarters, and the actual shop and its stock were not affected (once the electricity had been made safe), so there is plenty of choice for those seeking personalised Christmas presents and useful household items made of wood, and the shop will be staying open over the lunch-hour, from 11 to 4.50 between now and Christmas.
There was a pleasant ceremony at the Fire Station on Saturday evening when Sub-Officer Michael Bourn presented Rye Majorettes' annual awards to Michelle Cutting (8), who won the cup for effort, and to Sharon Oliver (15) and Emma Wood (9) who shared the Attendance Shield. In return, the firemen were very pleased to receive a present from the Majorettes: a handsome brass wall-clock to replace the moribund one in their restroom, complete with an appropriate inscription round the rim. Thanking the Majorettes, Mr. Bourn recalled how the girls had met and escorted the firemen on the final stage of their sponsored push earlier in the year; this is recorded in a film made of the firemen's off-duty activities, which we hope might have a public showing before long?
Woolworths had yet another wet night for its late opening on Thursday; but this did not deter the elderly or disabled shoppers whom they welcomed to the store to do their Christmas shopping. Parties came from Icklesham, Northiam, Peasmarsh and even Westfield, and one visitor arrived from Greyfriars, with of course contingents from our own Badger Gate and Devonport House. The staff reckoned they served mince pies, sausage rolls and cuppas to over 80 people! Four St. John nursing cadets were there to help with the wheelchairs, and as usual Rye Lions arranged the transport, and the evening was greatly enjoyed - by, we suspect, the staff as well as the shoppers.
6.
JANUARY;
Wednesday, 4th Term begins
Friday, 6th Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale
Monday, 9th Rye Town Council meeting
Tuesday, 10th Parents' evening, TPS - Lower Vlth
FRAG talk, "Gardens of Delight" by Charles Lines, TH, 8
National Trust slide show by members, CC, 7.30
Friday, 13th Nat. Hist. Soc., "Excursion to British Columbia, Part 2", FEC, 7.30
Wednesday, 18th Muscular Dystrophy Society AGM, Tower Forge House, 4.30
Saturday, 21st Chamber of Trade dinner and dance, George Hotel
Tuesday, 24th Parents' evening, TPS - 2nd year
Thursday, 26th Ryesingers present "HMS Pinafore", CC (also 27th and 28th)
Friday, 27th ATC Open Evening
Nat. Hist. Soc., "A New Look at Dinosaurs" by Michael Tweedie,
FEC, 7.30
Friday, 3rd Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale
Lower School jumble sale, Ferry Road, 6
National Trust, "Bridges of Britain" by Marc Ferdman, CC, 7.30
Saturday, 4th NSPCC jumble sale, FEC, 10 to 1
Monday, 6th Parents' evening, TPS - 1st year
Tuesday, 7th FRAG talk, "Battle Abbey & Camber Castle" by Jonathan Coad, TH, 8
Friday, 10th Nat. Hist. Soc., "The Camargue" by John Trowell, FEC, 7.30
Friday, 17th Museum Association, "Worms and Epitaphs" by Stella Pigrome, FEC 7.30
Saturday, 18th Mayor's party for Rye's elderly people, CC
Monday, 20th Half-term week
Friday, 24th Nat. Hist. Soc., "Mountains and Wild Flowers" by Frank Palmer, FEC, 7.30
Friday, 2nd Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale
Tuesday, 6th Friends of Rye Art Gallery, AGM, TH, 8
Friday, 9th Nat. Hist. Soc., "Flowers of the Roadside" by Trudy Side, FEC, 7.30
Sunday, 11th Attic Sale, CC, 10 to 1
Monday, 12th Rye Town Council meeting, TH, 6
Thursday, 15th Parents' evening, TPS - Upper Vlth
Friday, 16th Museum Association, Laurie Band's slides of maritime Rye, FEC, 7.30
Saturday, 17th National Trust, "Behind the scenes at the NT", Norman Price, CC 2.30
Wednesday, 21st Parents' evening, TPS - 3rd year
Friday, 23rd Natural History Society, AGM, FEC, 7.30
Saturday, 24th Catholic Church jumble sale, FEC, 2
Thursday, 29th TPS presents "Guys and Dolls" (also 30th and 31st)
Friday, 30th Ratepayers Association AGM (speaker, Ken Warren MP), TH, Evening
Saturday, 31st Rye Group of WIs, annual Craft Show, FEC, 2.30
(LONG NOTICE DEPARTMENT: We will give a list of the major events already booked for later in 1984, sometime in January; if you want to check on possible clashes in the meantime, please ring Rye 222303 - early evening is best.)
7.
Congratulations to Bertie Bull of Leasam Farm, whose pair of Texel lambs entered in the Maidstone Christmas fatstock show not only gained him the Supreme Championship but then sold (and to a butcher, not for breeding) for a record price of £102 each! Jean tells us that, as usual, spring has started early down Leasam Lane - their first lambs were born on 5 December.
All 250 children in Freda Gardham Junior School joined to present a Victorian musical entertainment to parents and friends last week; demand for seats was such that an extra performance had to be arranged (thoughtfully, on the Monday so as not to clash with the two Lower School evenings later in the week). Our drama critic was unfortunately otherwise engaged, but we hear that all three performances went off very well. The first-year pupils, dressed as street urchins, presented songs from "Oliver"; the second-years were "Beside the Seaside" in appropriate costume; the third-years visited the Strand (London's, of course, not Rye's) in 1880; and the fourth-years performed a melodrama and then told the story of Grace Darling. Fourth-year pupils also painted the backdrop of a 1905 London bus.
The NSPCC has benefited by a quite astonishing £550 from a coffee morning held recently in Winchelsea, organised by Mrs. Marguerite Fuller in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Jempson. A week later, another £280 came from the Society's coffee morning and sale in Rye at the FE Centre; and on 3 December a cheque for £663 was presented to the Branch by the organisers of last August's Raft Race. The Branch's next event is a jumble sale on 4 February - and regulars will agree that this one is always well worth queueing for.
Geoffrey Bateman has sent us one of his regular analyses of the signatures in the St. Mary's visitors' book. During the year ending 5 December, 18,326 people signed the book, about 3,000 fewer than last year - but the following nationalities were represented this year but not last: North Yemen, Cayman Islands, Paraguay, Martinique, Botswana, Ethiopia, Lesotho and the Dominican Republic! These figures, and the more detailed breakdown which we hope to have later, represent an enormous amount of work on Mr. Bateman's part - just think of counting and classifying 18,000 names!
A recent coffee morning in Winchelsea Road raised £56 for Action Aid's water fund. At 50p a head, this means that over 100 people in the Third World can be given a proper water supply, and in fact local organiser Mrs. Anne Wall has sent £73 to the fund's HQ including money from collecting boxes in the area. Action Aid also has schemes for sponsoring a child and for village neighbour links, and Mrs. Wal1 (Tangleweed, Sea Road, Winchelsea) will be glad to give further information to people interested in joining these schemes.
1983/4 Chairman of Thomas Peacocke School PTA is Mrs. Rowena Varley, of Winchelsea Beach (we feel sure she won't insist on being referred to as Chairperson) who replaces Mrs. Sue Schwalbert of Pett; Mr. Jerry Kind of Pett replaces Mr. Tom Collison of Iden as Treasurer, and Mrs. Hilary McDonald of Brede continues as Secretary.
In his report presented to the recent AGM of the Community Centre Association, Mr. Brian Chapman lists the regular users of the Centre: Junior Club, Bingo Club, Rye Dance Centre, Silver Star Disco, Badminton Group, WI Market, Dog Training Class, Weight Watchers (who have just moved to the Clinic), WRVS Lunch Club (which will resume in the spring), Christian Lunch Club, and a second season of Embassy Study Tours classes for foreign students. The Centre's stage has been much appreciated by Rye Festival, Rye Players and Ryesingers, and Rye Majorettes; and other occasional users of the hall have been Rye and Winchelsea Flower Club, Inner Wheel, the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council, the National Trust and various jumble sales. The Centre's own Attic Sales on occasional Sundays (quarterly next year) are proving very popular. Mr. Chapman thanks the Centre's regular staff and all those who help with the various groups; the Junior Club needs more helpers, and the Karate Club has closed for lack of an organiser - any offers on either?
NO GAZETTE ON 28 DECEMBER - all information for next two weeks in by 19th, please.
8.
Thursday, 15th Draw for Town Lottery £1000 prize, TH, 7 (postponed from 9.12)
Friday, 16th Upper School carol concert, The Grove, 7.30
LAST DAY OF TERM
WI Christmas Market, CC, 10 to 10.45
Freda Gardham School carol service, St. Mary's, 11
Rye Playgroup Christmas party, FEC, afternoon
FRAG party (members and guests), 0ckman's Lane, 6.30
ATC enrolment and party, The Grove, 7
Rye Movie Society guest night, FEC, 7.30 for 7.45
Saturday, 17th Rye Sea Cadets Christmas Fair, CC, 2
Celebration evening: Dom Benedict Heron on "Renewal" at 4 and
on "Healing" at 7.30, Methodist Church
Christmas music by Madrigalia, Playden Church, 8
Sunday, 18th Carol service, Methodist Church, 11
Ryesingers at East Guldeford Church, 2.30
Festival of nine lessons and carols, St. Mary's, 6.30
Carols by candlelight, Baptist Church, 6.30
Rye Racers' OAP party, The Grove, 5 (they expect 180 guests!)
Monday, 19th Monday Club, Clinic, 2
Rye Town Council meeting, TH, 6
Tuesday, 20th "Make a paper hat" - Kitty French entertains under-14s at the FEC at 10, £1.25 for FRAG funds (bring needles, cotton, scissors).
Carol evening with United Reform Church, Methodist Church, 7.30
• Just a reminder: no Thrift Shop this month.
• Mr. Vic Rootes of Ashenden Avenue has now been moved to Rye Hospital, where he is looking forward to seeing his friends in the day room.
• Pet-owners should note that the Rye veterinary surgery times will be changed from 2 January onwards. The lunch-time surgeries will be discontinued, and Monday to Friday surgery hours will be from 9 to 10 am and from 5.30 to 6.30 pm, Saturdays 9 to 10 am only.
• Rye Camera Club were the winners of a slide competition last week vs the Ore and St. Helen's Club.
• Is there anyone in Rye, one of the villages or even Hastings, who would be willing to let a bed-sitting-room to a lad of 16, starting as soon as possible? Cooking facilities would be appreciated; his parents could help here. Phone Rye 222061 in the evening.
• RNLI Christmas cards are still obtainable from Branch Secretary Joan Parkes; ring her on Rye 222717.
• Crime: the press book shows a series of thefts from cars, and one theft of a car, from a car park in Rye - a green Morris 1000, 234 GFJ.
• Does anyone have, either for sale or to lend, the February and July 1968 issues of "Rye's Own"? Thanks to Frank Palmer's reservoir of back numbers, the GAZETTE set is otherwise complete, but the Editor would value the opportunity either to buy these two numbers or simply to borrow them to see what they say.
• Rye Festival Council made £90-odd at its coffee morning on Saturday, thanks to Anne Wood and her helpers who organised the Town Hall event.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, and published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 94 Udimore Road, Rye (Rye 222303). News items for inclusion are always welcome - deadline Monday afternoon, Tuesday 9 am for emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 25p weekly, and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday; extra copies and back numbers can be ordered from 94 Udimore Road, while a few spares are available at Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Porte Street, Rye. (Copyright Mary Owen 1983)