The chain-link fence erected on Thursday evening to block both entrances to the Gas Works car park - reinforcing the original orange ribbon barriers - does not indicate the sudden discovery of anything nasty there. Chris Judge, the Gas Board's PRO, made enquiries at our request, and assures us that the fence was put up purely to keep out trespassers while the tests are proceeding - if the engineers did have to come back for more samples, he said, they wouldn't want to find the drilling sites disturbed by unlawful entrants. Fifty separate soil samples were taken, and twenty tests are done on each - standard procedure by the Gas Board labs whenever there is any question of safety; the work is likely to last another three weeks, perhaps more, before a decision can be taken about what should happen next.
As for the itinerants, after they were ejected from Battle they paused briefly in Camber - but Johnson's Field has a specific no-camping bylaw, and when Rye police arrived to point out that this could mean arrest, the convoy departed unto Kent. (The moral of this whole affair seems to be that padlocks, should be kept padlocked!)
The Salts were used for parking last week - all three Rye Councillors entered strong protests about this at a Rother Council meeting, and George Shackleton (who goes home along Udimore Road) was able to point out that Gibbet Marsh had not been full. On Sunday, the Fair arrived to take up its legitimate Salts booking, and will be here for a fortnight, so Rother is now in the midst of arranging with ESCC to use the Freda Gardham School playground (just over Monkbretton Bridge) in emergency. Assuming the negotiations succeed, the park will only be opened up when the town looks like being full, probably starting tomorrow, and is expected to attract visitors coming in for the day from the Kent side of the town; it will in any case be open only from 9.30 to 4.30, and the attendant will lock the gate when he goes home. On days when the playground is to be opened up, there will be temporary-type notices displayed.
An intriguing historical note on parking appears in an ESCC planning document for Rye published in April 1967. Having listed the off-street parking spaces which were available in 1966, it then estimates what they will be fifteen years later - by street rather than by site, so our guesses follow in brackets. In 1981 there were expected to be 45 spaces in Cinque Ports Street (Town Wall), 80 in Crown Field (Goods Yard), 40 on the north side of Fishmarket Road (Bedford?), 175 on the south side (Lucknow Place), 90 in Rope Walk (Cattle Market) and 45 on the Strand. Then optimism takes over: 130 spaces on railway land to the east of Ferry Road and 80 ditto to the west of it, 110 in Cyprus Place, and 390 in Rock Channel (presumably there was a plan to use the allotment land). The Gas Works site, already disused in 1966, is not mentioned - could this have been the home for the 110 cars improbably listed for Cyprus Place, with access at the railway end of this very small street?
The arrival of a Bardens site hut and office in the Goods Yard led to hope that at last we might learn the name of the eventual supermarket tenant. However, although the huts in their wired enclave are indeed related to the supermarket development, final signings have still not taken place.
A minor hiccup for the developers comes before Rother's Planning Committee tomorrow. The original permission included the use of a particular type of clay tile on the roof, but the builders have now found that this is only made in batches of 5,000, and they reckon to need at least 100,000. Also, they would prefer to use a cheaper tile since so much of the roof will not be visible from nearby. The Planning Officer is not keen on the alternatives suggested; tile samples will go before tomorrow's meeting, and we will report next week.
2.
On Monday evening, 4 August, all the Cinque Ports churches with bells will be ringing them, starting at 7.30, in celebration of their Lord Warden's birthday. The St. Mary's ringers are not guaranteeing a quarter-peal, but there will certainly be "some suitable ringing" promises Canon Maundrell.
The Mayor and Town Council have sent a card to the Queen Mother with greetings from the town; it shows the Mermaid Hotel, where the is known to have had lunch on several occasions.
Hannah Marie Tarrant decided that she would like to be born on Royal Wedding Day, and kept her parents Stephen and Mandy hanging about for a couple of weeks after her due date in order to achieve this! Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Tarrant junior, and also to Mr. and Mrs. Tarrant senior, of The Kettle o' Fish, on their new grandchild, a sister for Daniel.
By Wednesday's early delivery round, the number of shops with Royal Wedding windows had grown considerably; as well as those we listed last week, we noticed appropriate displays in Dress Sense, the Mint Arcade, the Black Sheep, EMBS, Hamiltons, the Wool Shop, Rye Tiles, Crafty and Rye Cleaners (Rosemary Griffith tells us that Rose-Anne veils were out on loan all over the town!). Official and unofficial flags were flying; most people just had one, but the NatWest Bank had three, a patriotic display was visible at the turn of Huck-steps Row, two strings of bunting stretched across Mermaid Street, and the Ship Inn was dressed overall in appropriately nautical style.
Rye Pottery certainly had its ear to the ground over souvenirs. The Pottery planned a commemorative range including its regular fat little mug, a dish, and a large plate inscribed "Prince and Princess Andrew"; these are already on sale or specially ordered, and the pottery in Ferry Road has some mugs seconds as well. Then, a week before The Day, there was a rumour that a Royal Dukedom could be imminent. Wally Cole, who designs all these items for the pottery, rushed out just two "Andrew and Sarah, Duke and Duchess of York" plates. One is in the pottery's shop-window in Wish Ward - the other Tarquin took with him to a trade fair in Harrogate, and produced with considerable pride on the morning the announcement was made. It was promptly sold to a shop in York but of course more can be made to order.
Annalisa Dowdeswell of Cinque Ports Street was one of two Venture Guides from Bexhill chosen to sell programmes for the Royal Wedding in Whitehall. All the sellers had to be at the Guildhall at 5.30 am; they sold until 10.30, and she was back home by 4.30 - not really feeling her best after a TVS camera fell on her head during the morning!
Friends of Rye Art Gallery - and their friends - have cause to thank the committee members and their friends for two most enjoyable events at the weekend. Having teased during the morning, the weather on Friday settled down to allow the FRAG Summer Party to overflow from the two galleries into the terrace garden between, so that there was room to move around and admire the view as well as the pictures. Graham Clarke and a friend provided the music, the wine flowed with decent restraint and the food was delicious.
Next day, too, there were qualms about the weather, but grey skies from time to time did not deter a steady flow of visitors to the four Church Square gardens which were open to the public. Mr. Banks, Mrs. James, Mr. and Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Proctor received their guests with - we feel sure - much pride, which was completely justified; all four gardens looked beautiful in their very different ways. Tea was served at The Jolly Sailor, and Barbara Fearon even managed to lure in a passing team of morris-dancers from Kent, who were kind enough to give a brief performance. The afternoon raised £235 for Art Gallery funds.
3 THE RYE GAZETTE, 30 July 1986
Although the lack of a suitable shop for the St. Michael's Hospice Appeal has proved something of a barrier to regular fund-raising in Rye, the Appeal is the Mayor's Charity for the year - so we are glad to report that the Hospice Roadshow, the appeal's publicity van, will be on the Salts on Saturday, and possibly taking part in the Carnival procession first. It will give a chance for local people to meet the fund-raising team and find out how the appeal is getting on. The latest newsletter lists various pieces of equipment which will be needed, and suggests that groups from individual shops or offices might like to get together to provide a particular item; the Roadshow van on Saturday would be the place to talk about this.
Visitors to the Rye Art Gallery's current show "The Cinque Ports" have been puzzled by an 1893 William Narbeth etching of the Strand Quay warehouses. It looks familiar - and yet just isn't right. The picture shows the big doors of the brick warehouse (now Iden Pottery), with the Borough Arms in the background, the little kiosk beside it, a corner of the Mint Stores just visible, and then a detailed view of the building which now houses the Garden Shop and the Quayhole cafe. Everything is professionally drawn, and looks very much the same then as now, including the complex timber warehouse roofline – but the entire view is the wrong way round! The big doors are on the left of the picture and the roofs on the right, with the order of the background buildings also reversed. (Try it with a handbag mirror...) Margaret Casson, who arranged this pleasant exhibition, assures us that doubtless the artist simply drew the view that way because he preferred it. But we wonder if perhaps he was a stranger to Rye, worked from a photograph, and didn't realise he had printed the negative back to front?
Another puzzle hangs beside the Narbeth etching in the Gallery's first room. Undated, it is by George Graham, who lived here and painted a great many pictures of the Rye area between the wars and doubtless before WW1 as well. The mount is labelled "Rye Mill" and at first glance the painting shows the Mill viewed from the Strand side of the sluice. But none of the rest of the buildings look right, and we would be very interested in the views of anyone who remembers the scene before the old Mill (the one shown is not the present replica) was burnt down. Could it be an entirely different mill, somewhere else? An artist has, of course, every right to put what he likes in a picture and to leave out what he dislikes - but the exercise of this right can be dreadfully misleading for subsequent historians!
Long notice for something that will give great pleasure: on Wednesday evening, 10 September, the Salvation Army Band from Hastings is giving a recital at St. Mary's. When they wrote to Canon Maundrell to suggest the visit, they said they would like to express their gratitude in this way for the support they have had from Rye in the past.
The band's visits to the town from time to time, notably playing carols in the run-up to Christmas, have been much appreciated. But older people have thankful memories of the Salvation Army in the town on a much wider scale. Mrs. Bourne of Mill Road was telling us recently how as a child she enjoyed the activities the Army arranged for the young; the Citadel was in Rope Walk, in what is now part of Anne Lingard's shop where it still shows its ecclesiastical origins.
Now Ron Woodcock of Clifton, Nottingham, "a Salvationist with over half a century of service with that congregation" writes to Canon Maundrell to ask for information about the Salvation Army in Rye. Mr. Woodcock is compiling a list of places where the Army once had an active witness but is now no longer represented. He will be very glad indeed to hear (c/o the Rectory, the Gungarden, Rye) from anyone with memories of the Army's witness in Rye. We hope that he will let the GAZETTE have the results of his enquiries, in due course.
4.
• Congratulations to The Old Forge in Wish Street, where Derek and Jennie Bayntun will be celebrating the restaurant's twentieth birthday on Sunday. (It would normally be shut on a Sunday, but they are opening specially for a Tennis Club dinner.) The restaurant originally consisted only of Mr. Mushett's old smithy, but about ten years ago the Bayntuns were able to add the premises next door which gave them not only extra space downstairs but also first-floor storage (the smithy, of course, goes right up to the roof - like a mediaeval hall, but with better smoke-clearance arrangements!) The Bayntuns had originally intended to have a party at home on The Birthday; because of the private booking, they put this forward a week, and on Sunday evening 80 Rotarians and their friends and families greatly enjoyed a barbecue in the Point Hill garden, which raised around £150 for a Rotary International project to improve dairy breeding-stock in Third World countries.
• The latest addition to Rye's range of eating-places is named, quite simply, "The Kaff". It opened ten days ago on the ground floor of David Sharp's pottery - with an entrance down from The Mint, another up from Wish Ward, and (as soon as the ramp is finished) a third for wheelchairs with a wider doorway opening from the little yard by the pump. The room has been completely refurbished, with white walls (indeed, the Town Wall on one side), a cheerful terracotta ceiling and tile-effect floor. The high-backed benches (made to David' design by County Joinery) are arranged in pairs for privacy, and each can seat two adults or several children, while the width of the room allows for wheelchairs or pushchairs at the end of each table.
The Kaff will be open seven days a week, from 8.30 to 6, serving tea, coffee, cakes, sandwiches and snacks - and as from this week, a cooked breakfast ("though if you want bacon-and-eggs at two o'clock in the afternoon you can have it" Mrs. Sharp tells us),. There are four kinds of soft drink on tap, plus milk, which will please parents; indeed, family groups are very welcome, and since the food is displayed in a cold cabinet even the smallest customer can choose for himself.
Mr. and Mrs. Sharp would like to say how very grateful they are to all those responsible for getting The Kaff ready for opening day - just three weeks from the day the planning permission went through!
• Tony Neville of Winchelsea tells us that his antiquarian and second-hand bookshop at 15 Market Street (opposite Durrant House) is now open, every day except Tuesday from 9.30 to 5.30. His stock includes books on art, cookery, natural history and travel as well as fiction and biography, with a small selection of books on Sussex and Kent. Mr. Neville is interested in buying good-quality hardback books, and will also be pleased to try and find old or out-of-print favourites for customers - but of course cannot guarantee quick results.
• Peter Dennett of Butler & Hatch Waterman reports that all four of the houses converted from the former Colebrooke factory are now sold. The developers are S.L. Pope Constructions, of Peasmarsh, and Mr. Pope's mother is living in one of the flats - two of the other three owners are also local people. The numbering continues that of the white-boarded Strand houses - 9-12 The Strand. It seems to be generally agreed that Mr. Pope has done a good job in retaining as far as possible the original character of the factory building. (And, of course, he knew better than to interfere with the cliff!)
• The Rye Society of Artists 35th Summer Exhibition opens to the public on Saturday, once more in the Boys Club half-way down Mermaid Street. It remains open until 6 September (so as to run through Rye Festival Week), every day including Sunday from 10.30 to 5.30. Those thinking of buying pictures, pots or sculpture should pay an early visit; much of the work on show acquires a red "sold" sticker at the private view or soon afterwards, though exhibits are normally left in place until the end of the exhibition.
5.
Market shoppers on Thursday may have noticed an unusual Hastings & Thanet bus parked in Station Approach. A 35-seater, it was here on a regular Thursday run from the Combe Haven Holiday Park (though on days when the weather looks entirely reliable, they use the open-top bus). What is special about Thursday's visitor is its age: registered CHL 772, it was built by Daimlers in 1949 for a firm in Yorkshire, and spent the next 18 years ferrying passengers around the Featherstone and Wakefield areas. In 1967 it was bought by a school at Nelson in Lancashire, and five years later they sold it to a dealer, who in turn sold it to a Coventry man keen to preserve it. Adam Yates of Hastings & Thanet isn't entirely sure what happened to it next, but late last year the bus company bought it - "and a lot of love has gone into it since then" he told us.
The present driver says that the name Alice was that of the first driver's wife, and has remained with the bus for nearly 40 years - now it is painted on the side, complete with a Tenniel Alice to back it up. Another relic of 1949 is the notice facing down the length of the bus - "No Spitting"; modern buses apparently don't have this, which is perhaps a pity...
Old-bus addicts, if there are enough of them, can hire Alice for outings, just as they can hire any other bus (phone Hastings 433711). Individuals can take their chance on a Hastings round-the-town trip on a rainy day (here again, the open-top does the run when the weather is fine). Alice is likely to be putting in an appearance at Rotary Country Fair on 10 August - and perhaps Rye Carnival too, we asked? Mr. Yates is looking into it; wait and see.
On Friday, if you see a team filming in the town, please be nice to them because they have done all the right things and consulted ESCC Highways and the police to make sure that they won't cause problems. Ralph Olesen tells us that the small group is from Aspen Television, doing a promotion for the new Canon video camera, and they have planned a long day - starting at Camber, arriving in Rye at 11.30 and filming at the Landgate, the Gungarden and St. Mary's, and then lunching (still filming, apparently) at Shades. After that they have a visit to the Town Model, more filming at the Windmill guest-house, and then they go on to Tenterden for a trip on the Kent and East Sussex Railway!
The recent reference to a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the garden of Magdala House prompted Clifford Jordan of Military Road to look in his archive collection for a programme. Clifford played Puck - a very young Puck, still at Playden School, but blessed with an exceptionally good memory for a long part. He is fairly sure that one of the Bowen brothers was present, which would set the date in the very late 1940s or possibly 1950. The actors were the Winchelsea Players, plus pupils of Michael Stayre - the stage name of Bill Turner of Mermaid Street, who died in 1955. Mr. Stayre played Oberon, Muriel Parker Titania, John Masters Philostrate, Peter Chappell Theseus and Pat Aldington Hippolyta (at very short notice when the original actress had to drop out). In fact the production was dogged with problems and the programme leaves blanks against several characters, including one of the two remantic leads! Mr. Stayre collected his cast from villages round as well as from Rye, and Clifford is not sure who some of them were; but since many of the fairies will have changed their names at the altar since then, we thought they might like to be remembered in print: Pat Dunlop, Joan Parker, Wendy Cammack, Hazel Davis, Margaret Masters, Linda Bagley, Stella Harwood, Beryl Cutting, Julia Hackett, Janet James, Ann MacPherson, Beverley Sales, Cynthia Smeaton - and Amy Yates, whose mother's chance remark started all this.
The dances were arranged by Pamela Tichband, who had a dancing school in Tunbridge Wells; stage manager was Charles Standen, Doris Smith was wardrobe mistress, and Michael Stayre produced. There was, Clifford recalls, a summer- house in the garden which made an invaluable backdrop and base for the play.
6.
In GAZETTE no. 184 we wrote about the history of Lloyds and Natwest in Rye Lloyds founded by Daniel Gill in 1790 (and a reader tells us that she knows one of Gill's descendants), and Natwest opening in 1846, though neither bank then bore its present name.
Barclays arrived here between the wars, and was Barclays from the beginning. The branch was opened on 2 December 1930, and the manager was Mr. G. Baxter Loads. The bank had leased Longer House in the spring of that year from Jesse Deacon, the prominent printer and stationer who was by then retired, and they bought it after his death, from his daughter Frances in 1936. When Barclays took it over, Longer House had been unoccupied, but the previous tenant was a Major Eric Leigh Douglas Forster.
Barclays' present manager Mr. Jeffrey has gleaned this information from the bank's Archivist, who is clearly intrigued to notice from the deeds that Bank House was the name of the property next door. Bank House was of course the beautiful town house which housed a convent school, and was demolished to allow the building of Woolworths (imagine that happening now in the Conservation Areal) Would someone like to tell us why it was called Bank House? We had assumed it was because the predecessors of Barclays were based there and then moved next door, but this is obviously not so. Is there perhaps a connection with Bank Chambers opposite?
The Trustee Savings Bank opened its present branch office at 106 High Street on 6 May 1968. But there is a lot more to it than that. A year earlier it had amalgamated with the Rye & Winchelsea Savings Bank, which had been in business at Bank Chambers for the previous 149 years, and the TSB continued to operate from Bank Chambers until the new office opened. The merger was marked by a lunch at the Mermaid, and Ted Hickmott of Dawes Prentice & Herington (who, with Geoffrey Prentice, was a joint actuary of the Savings Bank at that time) has sent us an account of the occasion. The Mayor, Councillor Macer, was present; Savings Bank representatives were its chairman, Alderman Candler, Councillors Horner and Ellis, and Messrs. J.W. Foster, H. Thompson, B.F. Odell, A.E. Hackman - all of whom were Trustees, and well known in local business circles.
Mr. Hickmott tells us that the Rye & Winchelsea Savings Bank was founded on 5 October 1816, and the Dawes family, so deeply involved in the life of the town, was closely connected from the start. The Sussex Express reported at some length the funeral of Captain Edward Plomley Dawes in 1961 - Captain Dawes had been a joint actuary of the Bank from 1907 until his death. (An account of the Dawes family through at least four generations would be an interesting and worthwhile project for a local historian.)
In the previous article we said that the Midland Bank appeared in Rye after WW2, in premises formerly part of 11 High Street. If their Archivist has anything to add, we would be glad to include it in this brief record of banking in Rye.
The Press Book shows its standard crop of vandalism and thefts this week. £100-worth of repairs will have to be paid for by ratepayers as a result of a break-in at Freda Gardham School. Clothing and personal possessions were stolen from Camber Beach; the Guide Dogs for the Blind box was stolen from the Ship Inn; a chequebook and wallet were stolen in Udimore Road on 22 July, but there is no indication whether a pickpocket or a burglar was responsible; and two separate thefts from cars over the middle of the day on 20 July seem likely to be related, since in both cases the thief broke a rear window to get at bags left inside. One was a beach-bag, with beach-bag-type contents; the other a leather shoulder-bag containing the usual cash-cards and other papers plus a small amount of cash. ("Lock it or Lose it" is the current slogan; perhaps "Take it or Lose it" would be even safer.)
7.
Readers with visitors during August might like to be reminded of forthcoming events, which this year have spread themselves evenly over the month. For the coming week, see the back page. Thereafter, the Country Fair is on Sunday, 10th; there is a coffee morning for ARC on the 13th; the Women's British Legion have a sale on the 16th; Rye Racers run their annual Silly Race on the 17th; the NSPCC has a coffee morning at 11 High Street on the 20th; the Raft Race, also for the NSPCC, is on the 24th; and the Museum Association has a Connoisseurs' Evening on the 29th, the day before Rye Festival opens (see below). The Rye Society of Artists show continues all through the month; the Tuesday Painters hold their annual exhibition from 20 to 30 August. J. Alsford Ltd. have very kindly offered Mencap the use of their premises next door to the Town Model as a charity shop for two weeks from 18 to 29 August, Monday to Friday. Finally, the St. Mary's Flower Festival will be held over the Bank Holiday weekend.
We enclose this week a brochure for Rye Festival. If you pass on your GAZETTE it would be kind if you could pass on the brochure as well; more copies are available at the Easton Rooms, the Library and the Council Offices. A quick look will show that there are plenty of events for all ages, and most people will find something to appeal to them - for instance, the Sunday afternoon concert in the Gun Garden by the Eastbourne Silver Band, which is free and is sponsored by the GAZETTE. Bookings this year are being taken at Bridgland Insurance Brokers, 103 High Street, and the box office opens to the general public on 11 August.
• The Social Services Patch Office in Cinque Ports Street is looking for a new member of the Home Help team, to start as soon as possible, working in Rye for a 25/30-hour week; hours are flexible to include weekends on a rota basis. The pay is £2.32 an hour. Applicants must be on the telephone and have a car - we checked back, and this really is important. Further information from Mrs. Rose Kent or Miss Sylvia Shaw.
• Those who find cooking no problem might like to call at Quenchers in the High Street and talk to Tony or Anne Wills about joining the team of out-worker cooks who supply the restaurant. They need people who can cook cakes and quiches on a regular basis - and it is, says Mr. Wills, important that all their cooks understand the laws relating to health and hygiene, which apply to home kitchens where food for sale is being prepared.
• Hastings Community Health Council has received a consultative document on the possible closure of the Pembury Radiotherapy Unit, prepared by Tunbridge Wells Health Authority. The time for consultation is very short, and the Council would welcome the views of the public to enable it to prepare its case. If you have strong views, or would like a copy of the document, ring Hastings 433221 or write to the Secretary, CHC, St. Helen's Hospital, Hastings TN35 5AH.
• Kenneth Herbertson, the only remaining member of the original Rye Art Gallery Trustees, has recently retired as chairman and is succeeded in the post by Canon David Maundrell. Mr. Herbertson, who lives in Sevenoaks and was the solicitor to the late Mrs. Stormont who endowed the gallery, continues as one of the Trustees; the others would like to record their appreciation of his hard work as chairman during this period of considerable change in the administration of the two galleries.
• A visitor not very likely to return to Strand Quay lay moored beside one of the SWA's new ladders on Monday: "Antares II" (RQYS, Brisbane). Her sleek lines are in contrast to the tubbier vessels designed to cross the Channel; built in Germany, she is being sailed home to Queensland by the owner and his wife. Doubtless their two small children are the reason for the firmly netted rails! Bon voyage to this enterprising family...
Vidler & Co's monthly auction sale, 10
Rye Society of Artists private view (by invitation) - see p.4
Rye Carnival (GAZETTE no. 186) - procession leaves Tilling Green at 1.30, proceedings on the Salts from about 2.
Hearing Circle coffee morning, Red Cross, 10.30 to 12
Flower Festival coffee morning, St. Mary's, 10.30
• Landgate WI picnic for members' children, Salts Mrs. Marian Shephard and her children have been quite overwhelmed by the letters of sympathy and appreciation following Peter's death, and she cannot possibly answer them all in the foreseeable future. She therefore asks their friends simply to accept the family's gratitude for all the sympathy which has been such a support at this sad time, and also for the donations to the RNLI in Peter's memory.
• The Town Clerk will be on holiday for a fortnight starting next Monday. The office in the Town Hall will not be manned during the usual hours, but the Mayor intends to call in each day and deal with urgent mail.
• Congratulations to the Rye Branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, who collected £580 in the town on Saturday. It was the new Rye Branch's first street collection, and chairman George Cumming is most grateful to everyone who contributed in time or cash to its success.
• Advance notice of a private-house invitation for a good cause: on Wednesday, 13 August, Mrs. Joan Edwards of Cadborough Cliff will hold a coffee morning for the Arthritis & Rheumatism Council.
• The Queen's Head in Landgate holds an RNLI evening on Friday, Joan Parkes tells us, with a late licence applied for, a disco, free buffet and The Grand Opening of the Bottle at about 10 pm - with a bottle of Glenlivet whisky for the customer whose guess comes nearest to the amount of money collected in it.
• The RAFA is running a coach outing to the Duxford Air Show on Sunday, 14 September; ring Gordon Stanbridge on Brede 882589 if you would like to go. The coach seat will cost E4, plus £4 entrance to the Air Show (L2 for OAPs and children).
• Rye Library, normally closed on a Tuesday, will be open on 5 August from 11 to 11.45 for a story-time session for children aged (roughly) 4 to 8 - all are welcome and booking is not required.
• Bowls: last Wednesday Rye won at home against Beckley, and on Sunday were just - only just - beaten by Alexandra Park, also at home.
• A GAZETTE reader who has recently bought an Amstrad PCW 8256 word-processor would like to hear from other enthusiasts to exchange views.
• Congratulations to Kim Baker of East Guldeford and Tracy Kirkham of Cadborough Cliff, who with two friends won a car rally organised by the 18-30 Club and last week enjoyed £500-worth of free holiday at the Club's Middleton centre.
• People seeing Rye Scouts in action with their trek cart may like to know that they are practising for a sponsored push to London in aid of the BBC's Christmas "Children in Need" appeal. It will take them four days, and they will, be sleeping in Scout huts along the way, collecting money as they go.
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, TN31 7DR (0797 222303), and printed by Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. News items for inclusion are always welcome deadline normally Monday afternoon. The GAZETTE costs 30p weekly and is delivered to subscribers and pick-up points on Wednesday. Spares and back numbers from Cyprus Place, while they last. (Copyright Mary Owen 1986)