After the recent national commotion about catering standards in some NHS hospitals it is nice to see a report made last week to the Community Health Council, two of whose members made an unannounced visit to Hill House. They found a large and well-equipped kitchen, with everything spotlessly clean. Hospital patients get three freshly-cooked traditional meals a day, seven days a week, and there are also freshly-cooked midday meals for the children at the school. There is a separate menu for staff, and arrangements for special diets. The visitors' only criticism was that the unheated trolleys transporting food to the wards meant that the meals were not as hot as they might be by the time the patients received them, and this is being looked into. (The visitors did have reservations about plans for "healthy eating" menus due to be introduced shortly - will the patients like them? An eye is being kept on this.) "The kitchen staff" concludes the report "are to be congratulated on the high standards attained."
No road accidents, we asked, studying the police station press book which showed very quiet week in the town? It seems not; those who did have to go out at the weekend were being very careful, those who didn't were sensibly staying at home. Inspector Northern told us that there were problems first thing on Saturday and Sunday - Rye Hill was impassable for an hour or so on Saturday morning; but ESCC soon had the main roads clear, though even on Monday some side roads were still difficult. We heard (not from the police) a scary story about the turn from Rope Walk into Cinque Ports Street on Saturday morning: the main road was gritted, Rope Walk was not, and the only way for cars to get up the final slope was to retreat back to the fish shop and take a run at it - and from the fish shop, of course, it is not possible to see what is coming from the right...
An indignant Estate resident said to us bitterly that "as usual everyone else was cleared before the Estate". However, this was not so; ESCC were concentrating on through roads, and cul-de-sacs on whatever scale were getting left until last - there were equally bitter complaints from North Salts and from Watchbell Street: Pavement clearance seems to have been largely in the hands of those whose doors opened on to them, or their kind-hearted and fitter neighbours.
Saturday's Model Exhibition at Thomas Peacocke School was cancelled; it will probably take place in April. The ATC's Bisley excursion was also cancelled due the weather (it was on their way to Bisley that the minibus came to grief a month ago), but they will get another chance in March.
In the hope of encouraging more parents to take an interest in the PTA, Thomas Peacocke School PTA Committee will be holding one of its meetings each term in open session, to which all parents who have children at the school are invited. Obviously the committee don't expect them all to turn up - meetings will not be held in the cavernous hall, but in more welcoming surroundings, and arrivals at the main entrance will find instructions where to go. This new idea does give parents who aren't able to attend the AGM, and who may be feeling particularly out of touch with the school under the present difficulties, a chance to make contact and find out what is (and isn't) likely to be going on.
The first of these open meetings is on Tuesday, 4 March, at 7.30 at Upper School. If you are likely to be able to go (and are not already pledged to the inaugural meeting of the new MS Society Branch, or the AGM of the Friends of Rye Art Gallery) do note the date down now in your diary, and please tell other parents, as it is not clear if a notification will go out direct from school.
Readers will have noticed that we keep clear of the teachers' strike action; this does affect Rye, as it does all state schools, but the rights and wrongs of it are beyond GAZETTE level.
2.
Mrs. Ivy Gill, who died in Rye Hospital on 3 February at the age of 85, leaves a more than usually large number of relatives and friends in and around Rye. Born into the Pulford family, she was one of eight children brought up first at Bartlett's Buildings and then in Ferry Road. She was particularly close to her sister Gladys; on leaving school, she worked for a time for Johnny Clock (John
Neve Masters), but then joined Gladys in service with Miss Powell. The two girls met their future husbands, both Peasmarsh men, on the same day, and were married at a double wedding in St. Mary's in December 1928. Mr. Gill, who died in 1966, was a milkman for Winters Dairies for most of his working life, and he and his wife lived for 30 years in Ashenden Avenue. In her mid-seventies, Mrs. Gill moved to Badger Gate, where she spent some happy years; illness three years ago kept her in Rye Hospital for some time, and early last year she went to live at Greyfriars. Two months ago she was taken ill again and was cared for in Rye Hos- pital until her death; donations in her memory may be sent to the hospital's League of Friends, c/o Lloyds Bank, Rye. Mrs. Gill is survived by her daughter Josie (Mrs. Whiddett) and her son Norman, and she watched with pride the progress of her five grandchildren. Her family are deeply grateful for all the care which enabled her to keep for so long a home of her own in the town which she loved all her life - and to the family's doctor, the staff of Greyfriars and everyone at Rye Hospital who showed her so much kindness. "She was such a gentle little lady", a worshipper at St. Mary's, and a regular member of the Monday Club; she will be much missed. The funeral has taken place.
Mr. John Edwards, of Cadborough Cliff, died suddenly at his home on 7 February after an illness. He was 84. A Catsfield man, Mr. Edwards had been on the staff of the National Westminster Bank at various of its branches in the south-east before coming to Rye. He served in the Home Guard during the war. After he retired from banking, he became an invaluable Monday Club helper, giving his services as a driver - a job which he only relinquished when his eyesight began to fail. Mr. Edwards is survived by his wife Joan, their son and daughter, and four grandchildren. The funeral takes place today (Wednesday) at 3.15 at St. Mary's; donations in his memory to Cancer Relief may be sent c/o Mrs. Ellis, Cadborough Cliff, or left with Mr. Howard of Ellis Bros, Cinque Ports Street.
Over the past six years, the Christian Lunch Club's Thursday meetings, at monthly or more recently two-monthly intervals, have been of great value to many people in Rye; members have met at the Community Centre for a simple meal and a talk on a broadly religious subject.
The Club has been run throughout those six years by the same committee, three of those members are now giving up because of other commitments. This means that future arrangements for the Club are unsettled. Speakers already booked for meetings in the coming year have been cancelled, anyway for the moment. Any new plans will be announced in due course.
It looked like a backstage scene at the start of an amateur musical comedy production: two dozen circus characters, from lion (smartly dressed in a morning coat) and glamorous trainer (ditto), via an assortment of clowns, two strong men and a bearded lady, a dog act, a lion-tamer who had obviously come off worst, an African snake-charmer ("I bet there's a draught under your sitting-room door tonight", joked Alan Jones, looking at the knitted snake round her neck), a couple of cowboys, a bareback rider (sans horse), and even a popcorn seller! Organising the proceedings were the management: a super-clown with enormous trousers and dishmop hair, a curly white poodle and a plump pink elephant. Underneath the finery were the girls and officers of the St. John Ambulance Nursing Cadets, all set to enjoy their party on Friday night. Somehow Alan fitted them all into a jigsaw group for a photograph which will doubtless appear elsewhere; prizes were awarded, but the judging was so impossibly difficult that we are simply not going to list the winners - just to say that it was a very warming occasion on a chilly night.
3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 12 February 1986
Mrs. Newman, whose Flair dress-shop is only temporarily housed in the old Anglia office, tells us that she would very much like to stay in Rye, but it seems impossible to find a suitable shop for sale in a good position in the town. Dewhursts are not at all forthcoming, she has found, about their plans for the old butcher's shop (which might have suited her nicely) - so what, she asks, is the position about Rye Havana?
A lot of other people have been asking this lately. Extensive repair work was done on the cliff side of 113 High Street several years ago, and there were also internal alterations including a separate access to the flat above. A surprising entry in the current (1984) phone book reads "Watson RR (Solicitors), 113 High Street", and certainly there was the possibility that the former Southern Rentals shop was about to become a solicitor's office. Then, about a year ago, some very handsome and expensive fittings were installed, a rather less handsome fascia sign appeared, and we all waited hopefully for the arrival of this obviously high-class tobacconist. And waited. At Easter? No... At Whitsun, then? No… Certainly in time for the summer holiday trade? Still no. Christmas, perhaps? Not so far! It remains locked, empty and littered.
Like Bunty's, this could be another High Street shop which is doomed to end up as an office without ever being openly advertised for use as a proper shop. What, we wonder, has happened to Rother's investigations into a shopping plan for the High Street? The success of Cinque Ports Stationers proves that new service shops in Rye can do well if they find a gap and fill it to the public satisfaction. Let's have some more like that.
Before Christmas we congratulated Trevor and Janet Paine, of Goose Bay, Labrador, on the birth of their daughter Richelle Sarah-Lynn - who looks a great deal like her grandmother, Mrs. Betty Paine of New Road, and a little like her great-grand-mother Mrs. Sarah Cutting, for whom she is named. Mr. and Mrs. Paine spent Christmas with Trevor and his family - the entertainment included catching cod through the ice and going into the wilderness on snowmobiles!
Trevor, a Thomas Peacocke pupil who sometimes helped out with PE teaching at Freda Gardham, went into the RAF; while he was stationed at Goose Bay he was offered the job of Government Manager of the Sports Training Centre there, which he still holds. But for the past year he has been the Director of the Labrador Winter Games, which involves 700 athletes competing in 14 different sports over a period of seven days, working with a budget of 420,000 dollars. Once this is over, he goes back to his Sports Centre; his wife expects to return to teaching at the end of her maternity leave; and they have recently bought a new four-bedroomed house. They hope to come back to England for "a good long visit" next summer.
From October to May, says Trevor in a most interesting letter to the GAZETTE, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is "blessed with more snow than you can ever imagine" - 786cm of it in 1985 (getting on for 9 yards!), and temperatures from +34 in the brief summer to -80 in the depths of winter. "There is only one way into Goose Bay during the winter and that is to fly" - but most of the snow is gone by June when the first ferry enters the harbour accompanied by coastguard icebreakers. This amazing place is enlivened by the presence of military training aircraft from a number of countries, with the prospect of a big NATO unit as well. Local boy clearly makes good!
The GAZETTE is always very pleased indeed to hear what Rye's children are achieving in the big world outside. Not everyone's career is quite as spectacular as Trevor's, but we would love to hear about other people now doing unusual jobs o or doing them in unusual places. The story may not go in the same week; but it will.
We shall shortly be printing an appendix to our recent list of the year's events; please, if you have fixed something within the last three weeks, ring Rye 222303 to make sure it's in.
4.
The prospects for Rye Hospital came up for discussion at the 4 February meeting of the Community Health Council, when the Council's own working group reported and the Council studied the Action Group's submission concerning the possible closure of the hospital - a threat now mercifully dormant, but likely to be revived in a few years' time.
The Action Group report is signed by its chairman Jake Jacobs, its secretary Mrs. Muriel Mayer, and the other members: Mrs. Maureen Hinch, Dr. Jeelani, Mrs. Sue Thomas, Ed Wiseman, and Mrs. Gill Wood. It was written as a result of their own researches, helped by letters from members of the public.
The report recalls that the Hospital was built in 1921 by public subscription as a war memorial, and even after it was taken over by the NHS in 1948 it continued to provide cottage hospital facilities for the area. In 1963 and 1975, extensions - again funded by public subscription (through the League of Friends) – provided out-patient and day-hospital facilities. It has two wards of 7 beds each plus 1 separate room; the bed-occupancy figure of 81% given in the report dates from 1984, and we suspect it may have improved recently. There are clinic facilities for visiting consultants in six specialties, with approximately 160 out-patient consultations a month during 1984/5; a 24-hour casualty service used by up to 250 patients a month - the demand rises considerably during the tourist season; a day hospital which caters for some 40 patients a week, with a waiting list; and other facilities including physiotherapy, GP minor operations, a dietician, a mortuary, a base for the local community nursing service, and a limited X-ray department.
The hospital is staffed by 18 nurses at present (the equivalent of just over 14 full-timers) but is allowed 161 whole-timers, plus 7 whole-time and 3 part-time community nurses (some of us still think of them as District Nurses). 10 GPs work within its catchment area, 7 based in Rye and 3 in Northiam, and the area - 12 miles x 8 miles - includes some parishes in Kent which are served by one of the Rye practices. Its normal population is somewhere over 15,000, rising to around 50,000 in the summer. The public transport in the area, such as it is, is focused on Rye, and many people in the villages depend on the goodwill of friends and neighbours - who might well be less keen to take them to Hastings for treatment or visiting.
Having described the hard facts, the report goes on to refer to various policy documents, and then considers the question of costs. Since it was prepared to fight off an immediate threat, the figures given may well no longer apply when the 1992 closure is considered; but the point made is that although closing the hospital would save money, costs elsewhere would rise to such an extent that the (temporary) closure would in fact save only 20% of the direct running costs. The authors then consider other implications of closure, and it is hardly necessary to remind Rye readers what these are. The difficulty and expense of getting to Hastings; the relief offered by short-stay and day-hospital facilities to patients' families, without the patient feeling that he or she has been pushed out of the local community; the chance of earlier discharge for patients from a cottage hospital, since the GP in charge of the case is able to assess from his own knowledge of the available community services just what can be done from home... Cver 8,500 people (only 400 of them from outside the district) signed the Group's petition, and they received 140 letters of support from all sections of the community; some of these, with the petition forms, were attached to the report which rent to the CHC, though not to our copy. Moreover, the RDA's commitment to "the sustenance and improvement of local services" adds force to their arguments.
The report makes several proposals, including alterations to the accommodation for men patients so that women can be housed in the male ward when the female ward is full. It hints that the problem over the Northiam practice's use - or lack of use - of the hospital ought to be resolved. It suggests that a new mobile X-ray machine could usefully replace the present ageing one; that a lift should be installed; and that a new heating system would reduce the running costs - and that the money for all this could probably be raised locally.
(continued...)
5.
Finally, the Action Group - and the CHC's own working group - would like to see a predominantly lay management committee for the hospital, as envisaged by the NHS at the time of the 1982 reorganisation.
Among the seven appendices to the report, all of which back up aspects of the conclusions reached by the authors, is a statement by Mr. Fooks outlining the difficulties which the school would experience if the hospital casualty department were to close. Every one of the numerous minor accidents now dealt with at Rye would require treatment similar to that of a major accident - either the ambulance or (more probably) a staff member would have to drive the victim 24 miles to Hastings and back and wait while (until?) treatment was given. Mr. Fooks estimates that if just 50% of the school's minor accidents had to be taken over to Hastings by staff, the direct cost over a year would total 25% of one teacher's salary, and the indirect cost in general disruption to the timetable would be "astronomical". As he said at the original Town Hall meeting, it would simply shift the burden of expense from the Health Service to the Education Authority!
The CHC unanimously approved the excellent preparation and presentation of the Action Group's report - still available for study at the Library (ask at the desk). Its working group will investigate further a number of the points raised; now that the immediate threat is removed, this can be done at leisure and in detail.
There is a new manager this week at the George Hotel: John Pearmain - "born and bred a THF man" - who has been working in the Ipswich area and in James Herriott country before that. His wife Elizabeth and three sons (10, 8 and 6) will be joining him as soon as the family can find a house, probably in one of the villages - he would be delighted to hear immediately from people with one to sell.
Adam Terpening's friends were all sorry to say goodbye to him, but after a comparatively short time at Rye promotion within the THF group has come his way, and he has gone to manage the Avonmouth Hotel at Mudeford, near Christchurch in Dorset. There his guests will tend to be families staying for a week or two rather than the George visitors who mostly spend just a couple of nights in Rye. Adam says he will miss the big banqueting room at the George - Dorset dinners for 40 will not offer quite the same challenge as for 80 or 90 here; but the new hotel is larger, with 41 bedrooms and a swimming-pool - and a lovely view over Christchurch Harbour. He will be very pleased to see friends from Rye who may happen to be in that neighbourhood; he has much enjoyed his time here.
Another ex-member of the George staff, at a more lowly level, is also starting a new job. Andrew Denny, son of Steve and Janet, can shortly be found in the kitchens of Rules, near Covent Garden, a very old-established restaurant with a strong theatrical tradition. Accommodation in London is always a problem for the young, and though Andrew does have somewhere to lay his head at first, he would be glad to hear from any of his fellow-pupils at TPS who may happen to have a spare bed in a shared flat.
Last week the Movie Society members enjoyed a rare treat - a real privilege, Fred Masters told the GAZETTE enthusiastically: a slide show given by Frank Palmer, showing Rye past and present. (When are the rest of us going to see this, Councillor Palmer?)
Mr. Masters tells us that Frank - with the perfect showman's control of his slides - provided a most interesting commentary to a fascinating series of slides: "he seems to have researched more of the history of Rye in the short time he has been here than I have in 65 years" adds Mr. Masters ruefully! The shot of the Electric Palace, the town's original cinema in Landgate, brought back memories. "We as boys spent Saturday afternoons there ... Teddy Axman at the piano had us sitting on the edge of our seats in the dramatic parts, and at intervals a young lady would go round spraying with a large syringe to freshen the air - all for three old pence!"
6.
Ever since her elder daughter Kim - now in her second year at Polytechnic - went to Thomas Peacocke Lower School, Pat Baker of East Guldeford has been involved in the TPS PTA refreshment business in one form or another. She was responsible for the start of the very successful tuck shop at Lower School (now run by Mrs. Bruce) which has provided from its profits a great deal of equipment at Ferry Road; and when Anne Wood gave up as the PTA's tea-lady-in-chief, Pat took her place. But Pat's younger daughter Jane leaves school this summer, and once the Barn Dance supper on 8 March is out of the way Pat is hoping to ease someone else into her job.
Desolation on the PTA Committee, most of whom can barely remember a time when Pat wasn't in charge of the refreshments, from lowly coffee-and-biscuits to a well-filled supper-plate! They now have to look for a successor - who need not be personally present behind the trolley at every event but who will organise the helpers so that someone is. She (or of course he) will have the use of the PTA's cash-and-carry card when required, for a major event - but Pat says that most of the smaller-scale shopping can be done just as cheaply locally. Anyone interested in taking over is most welcome to ring Pat (Rye 223160 and ask to be put through) to discuss just what is involved.
The regular St. John Ambulance meeting on 27 January was in fact a rather special social evening - a farewell party for Alan Webb, who resigned as Divisional Superintendent at the end of 1985 after nearly 30 years in the job (GAZETTE no. 159). Representatives at County level joined local Brigade members to thank Alan and his wife Janet, and to present him with a cake-slice and cheese-knife with handles in Crown Derby, while Janet received a bouqet. Alan's successor, Mrs. Margaret Farthing of Peasmarsh, tells us that he is giving up both as Superintendent and as a member of the Brigade - but, she says thankfully, he is still going to be there in the background on an unofficial basis.
Two years ago Robert Breare bought up the FJ Parsons newspapers, including the Sussex Express and the Hastings Observer, from Westminster Press. In mid-November 1985 Mr. Breare added to his mini-empire the Impact News group which publishes the East Sussex News - a transaction variously described as "a merger" or "an acquisition" depending which paper you were reading! Now the whole Senews group has changed hands again, with Ladbrokes (who are not just bookies nowadays) laying out a reputed £9m on a 75% controlling interest but leaving the present management team in charge of production and planning, as a Ladbrokes spokesman made clear on Radio Sussex yesterday when interesting hints were dropped about a new regional and perhaps national Sunday paper to be produced from Hastings.
There were already plans in the group for expanding the areas covered by the News enterprise as well as by the Express, but as we heard it this territory lay to the west. Now, with the new Ladbrokes money behind the group, could something better perhaps come our way? The hard line of the Kent-Sussex border has already been blurred by the RDA. With Ashford already reported as bouncing with excitement at the prospect of becoming the business centre for Chunnel activities, might Rye attract come of the commercial spin-off - including more enthusiastic attention from Senews? Or will they now be too big to bother?
Another ten years' hard (and another replacement sought) At the recent annual dinner of the Chamber of Trade, members thanked their retiring Secretary, Mrs. Amy Breeds, for her ten years' service to the Chamber. Mrs. Breeds - who is, of course, our Mayoress - was presented with a suitably inscribed Rye Pottery plate. Chamber of Trade Chairman Roy Barnes (of the Merrythought, beside the church) is still looking for a successor for Mrs. Breeds; it is, he says, a very suitable post for someone with young children who would like to use her secretarial skills without the tie of a day-time job, and there is a useful honorarium of 1,250 a year.
7.
Minor changes to the County Rider bus service take effect from Monday (17th). They come as a direct result of suggestions and comment from County Rider users.
On the whole, it seems that Udimore (and hence Cadborough Cliff) gains at the expense of Northiam. Udimore gets three new services:
Monday-Friday only, Broad Oak 7.05 - Rye Station 7.25 Thursday only, Broad Oak 11.10 - Rye Station 11.30
Non-schooldays only, Rye Station 16.03 - Broad Oak 16.22.
The two latter services have been re-routed via Udimore instead of Northiam, which means that the 11.10 from Broad Oak to Rye via Northiam on Thursdays is withdrawn, as is the 16.00 from Rye to Broad Oak via Northiam. The Saturday services presumably not much used - from Rye to Broad Oak at 7.25, and from Broad Oak to Rye at 17.45, are also withdrawn.
On Tuesdays - when the timetable is affected by the demands of the Day Centre's clientele - the 10.47 from Rye to Hastings will run 10 minutes later (10.27 Rye, 11.20 Broad Oak), but will still reach Hastings at 11.45.
Every day except Tuesday the afternoon bus from Broad Oak to Rye will run an ur earlier (Broad Oak 13.40, Rye 14.00); this will cut the big gap in the middle of the day down to four hours - even less on Thursdays, see above.
Finally, the 15.02 from Rye Station, which anyway runs to Tilling Green and then continues on to Udimore if a passenger wants to go that far, will now continue to Broad Oak ditto - but it is, of course, no good for someone in Udimore counting on it taking them to Broad Oak unless there is already a Broad Oak passenger who got on in Rye; if not, it won't appear at all!
• Our enquiry last week about Peter Bottomley, MP - our new man on the bypass - brought in a very good reference for him from Mrs. Joan Stanton of Military Road. The Stantons come from the Eltham constituency which he won from Labour in a by-election seven or eight years ago, and they were very impressed with his energy and keenness. (His wife Virginia is also in Parliament, having joined her husband there a couple of years ago.) They remember him as undoubtedly the kind of person who does get a move on. Let's hope he still is!
• Our recent reference to the annual Hangar Dance at RAF Biggin Hill prompted Gordon Stanbridge to tell us that he has some tickets for this at the moment, but he doesn't expect them to hang about. Anyone interested in a nostalgic evening in June in aid of the RAF Association should contact him as soon as possible . The £10 ticket price includes a chicken supper and a night's dancing to the music of Joe Loss - who comes in person (and gives his services free). With over 2,000 dancers, "it's a bit crowded" says Gordon - but a really good night out.
• It is nice to report that the Post Office scales have been restored to the customers' side of the counter, so that those who just want to weigh letters can help themselves. There is, too, a clock, at the back of the counter area, and visible from outside - though it will be better when the big one is replaced. What would still be useful is a Canterbury phone book; last week, anyway, there wasn't one among the trough which holds a dozen or so in stout (but mostly unlabelled) plastic covers. The West Middlesex book isn't all that helpful when one simply wants a Lydd address!
• Radio Sussex (26 Gildredge Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4SA) offers a 35g study kit to go with its Lent course "What on Earth is the Church for?" which is being followed by groups in the Rye area for the five weeks starting 20 February (Thursdays, 8 pm). (Postage 24p first class, 18p second - just send the stamp.) We mention the course here for the benefit of readers who prefer to stay home in the evenings; churchgoers will already know about it.
Rye Coin Club, FEC, 7.30
Civil Service Retirement Fellowship AGM, FEC, 11 Nat.His.Soc. "In the Andes" (John Watson), FEC, 7.30
Women's British Legion Ploughman's Lunch, FEC canteen, 12 to 2 Town Council Bequests Committee senior citizens' party, CC, 3.30
Camera Club, "Development of the Camera" (Ray Bird), FEC, 7.30 Town Council committees, TH (for times see Town Hall board)
Thrift Shop (receiving only), Red Cross, 10.30 to 12.30
Landgate WI, demonstration of pastry cookery, CC, 10.30
Community Lunch Group, Clinic, 12.30 to 2 (the speaker will be Lynda Pembleton of Rye Memorial Hospital)
• Congratulations to Martyn and Jo Channon, of Northiam and Rye Cattle Market, on the birth on 8 February of their son James Richard, a stepbrother for Patrick, Nicola and Daniel.
• Most local readers will by now be aware that Councillor James Menhinick, the chairman of Rye Town Council's planning committee and prominent in other organisations in the town, is seriously ill and in intensive care in Hastings. Mrs. Menhinick asks that cards, flowers, etc., should not be sent at present. We hope very much to have better news of Councillor Menhinick next week.
• Rowena Varley of the Sports Centre Steering Committee tells us that pitches for the Boot Sale on 22 March are not bookable in advance; it will be first come, first served.
• Planning: after last week's full-page list, just one application this time for modernisation work including a two-storey kitchen and bathroom extension at 101 Winchelsea Road.
• The recent NSPCC jumble sale hardly had room at the FEC to admit the enormous queue, let alone allow them all to pick over the goodies in comfort; some simply gave up and came back later! Profit, after expenses, was over £150.
• Saturday, 22 February at 8 is a diary date for anyone looking to be cheered up at a bleak time of year. At Thomas Peacocke Upper School hall (The Grove) the Kingpins (Tom King's successful group based in Northiam) are putting on a Variety Night for Rye Lions, who intend to give the proceeds to the Guide Dogs for the Blind. Tickets are available at the Ice Box in Cinque Ports Street (closed on Wednesdays at present), price L4 including a salad supper; there will be a bar, and a raffle.
• British Rail announce diversions and delays on Sunday between Hastings and Tonbridge and between Ashford and Charing Cross. Our timings may well be altered; check before you travel. Maintenance work will take place on the night of 17/18 February "between Rye and Hastings", and they apologise for the noise.
• Louis Turpin's major one-man show at the Beaux Arts gallery in Bath opens on Saturday. After his show at the Easton Rooms in November, Louis found himself with just seven paintings in his studio. He had ten weeks - with Christmas in the middle. On Monday he went down to Bath to hang the van-load of pictures - all 42 of them! (Ah, youth...)
• Speaker at the NSPCC AGM at the FEC on Wednesday, 19 March at 3 is Mr. Kevin Pettican, Professional Adviser to the Society's Child Care Director. This unfortunately coincides with the WRVS AGM, to be held at the Saltings. Please don't anyone fix anything else that afternoon!
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye (Rye 222303) and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers, Rye. News ittms for inclusion are always welcome - deadline Monday afternoon, Tuesday 9 am at latest and only for real emergencies. The GAZETTE costs 30p weekly and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday. A few spare copies are available from Squirrels, 9-13 Cinque Ports Street, and back numbers from Cyprus Place. (Copyright Mary Owen 1986)