There was a certain unease in Rye on Monday, caused by media reports of a gas leak from Dungeness A Power Station. However, it was not as bad as it sounded. Indeed, said the CEGB's Mr. Welsh rather sadly, it wouldn't have been news at all if there had been anything more exciting happening anywhere! On Sunday, a faulty rubber seal led to the release of 1,000 cubic metres of carbon dioxide gas over a half-hour period. The gas was slightly radio-active, but not to a measurable degree; the quantity was roughly the same (and of the same degree of radio-activity) as is regularly released in the course of each day. Even to staff on the site, let alone to people living round, there was no danger at all from radio-activity. What brought firemen wearing breathing apparatus to the power station was an escape of oil which, running over hot metal pipes, could have led to a fire; the breathing apparatus was to protect them from the effects of breathing carbon dioxide in concentrated form, before it had dispersed into the air. It was, said Mr. Welsh, the sort of thing that can happen on any industrial site, and not in the least worrying for the public.
Incidentally (and it really is incidentally, the date having been booked some time ago) the Town Clerk and the Mayor are meeting Rother and ESCC officers this week to discuss emergency contingency plans for Rye; a report on the discussion will go before the Town Council in due course. It would certainly be helpful to local people to know what arrangements have been made for our area. GAZETTE enqdries to County Hall in December 1986 produced the information that a leaflet was in preparation and would be ready for ESCC approval in March (1987). Whether or not it was approved, we don't know; but it still doesn't seem to have escaped from County Hall, more than nine months later...
In ecclesiastical terms, Rye is looking forward to a very big day indeed on 2 March. That is when the town will be visited by regional leaders of all five churches represented here. As well as the Church of England Bishops of Lewes and Chichester, the group will include the Roman Catholic Bishop of Arundel & Brighton, the Rt. Rev. Cormac Murphy-O'Connor; David Helyer, Provincial Moderator of the United Reform Church; Peter Tongeman, the Baptist General Superintendent; and Peter Sutcliffe, Chairman of the London Methodist South East District. Most of the day will be taken up with private meetings, but at 6.30 at St. Mary's everyone meets for half-an-hour of worship followed by group discussion with the leaders. Although this is still some time off, even fringe churchgoers may like to keep the date.
More details of this visit will be given at the Rye Council of Churches AGM at the Baptist Hall tomorrow, when information will also be available about the Lent Discussion Groups - the nationally-produced material is entitled "Who on Earth Are You?". Ash Wednesday is not until 17 February, so those who have to miss the meeting still have lots of time.
Mrs. Nellie Affleck (nee Bayley), of Windsor, Ontario, was in Rye over Christmas for the first time for 35 years; she hadn't been here at all since 1975. She has kindly written to the GAZETTE about her impressions. She had a wonderful visit, she tells us - everyone was so kind, and she particularly mentioned those who had been decorating the Christmas tree at St. Mary's. But the general state of the cemetery shocked her - not just the storm damage. There were "so many new faces" in the town, too - and so many gift shops and restaurants, and so much more traffic. And the one-way street system was entirely new to her (when was that brought in?). We do hope she wasn't deterred from coming back!
2.
Mr. Philip Noel Ellis, Phil to his huge circle of friends, died in St. Helen's Hospital on 20 January after a brief illness. He had celebrated his 80th birthday on Christmas Day. Phil and Rusty Ellis have meant at least as much to the town as any other couple in recent memory, and it is hard to think of one without the other. Phil was the son of George Ellis, Rye's best-known Liberal and twice Mayor of the Borough; he was born in the High Street, and grew up in Tower House as one of ten children. (Four of them survive him; of the rest, all except one lived into their eighties.) He was a pupil at Rye Grammar School before going to Bethany School, near Goudhurst; and when he left, in 1925, he was apprenticed to the ironmongery trade in Bexhill. He then found a job in Bedford, where he met and married Miss Bessie Keech in 1936, and they lived near Bedford until 1951. In the interval, of course, came the war; Phil volunteered, and served with the RAOC until he was demobbed in 1945. In 1951 they returned to Rye, to join the family business of Ellis Brothers (Ironmongers) at 1 High Street, which Phil took over when his brother-in-law died the following year. Those who shopped in Rye in the 1950s and 1960s will remember the shop with delight; normal ironmongery filled the shelves, but the store-rooms must have been stuffed with the outmoded stock of centuries, and the most obscure requests were often filled after prolonged forays into the basement. After twenty years, Phil and Rusty sold the business and retired, moving up to live on Cadborough Cliff. Both before his retirement and afterwards, Phil was deeply involved in public affairs in the town. He first stood for the Council in 1962, topping the poll that year and again in 1965; in 1968 he was elected Mayor, and served again the following year. He retired from membership of Rotary when he gave up the business, but was for many years a Deacon of Rye Baptist Church. The Rye Liberal Party rotated around him. His main charitable interest was the Rye Memorial Hospital League of Friends; he was a member of the committee for 18 years, and chairman of it twice (once during his Mayoralty) - and the present chairman, Mrs. Lawson-Tait, tells us that his loss will be keenly felt by the members of the League, for which he was still working devotedly up to the time of his death. Another group which will sorely miss him is the Monday Club; wet or fine, Phil provided transport for Club members who would otherwise have been unable to attend meetings - despite being himself of an age to qualify a a member rather than a helper. The funeral takes place today at the Baptist Church at 12.30; it seems likely that there will be more mourners than seats, since Phil Ellis will be greatly missed in Rye, both for what he did and for what he was.
We are sad to record the death of Richard Cartmell, aged 19, of Iden. Driving along Military Road towards Appledore at 8.10 on Thursday morning, his car went out of control and into the dyke beside the road, and he was unable to get out in time. Police say that the road surface was badly affected by frost and ice that morning. (This is not the first tragedy of its kind along that stretch of road, which can obviously be a great deal more dangerous than it looks; please, please take care.)
The family of the late Mrs. Margaret Carter, of Kings Avenue, would like to thank all friends for their kind messages of sympathy, which have been a great source of comfort at this sad time.
There will be a memorial service for General Sir Charles Jones at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, at 11 am on Thursday, 18 February. Those not able to get there may like to know that there will be another later, the date as yet undecided, at Playden Church.
Leah Mercedes has now reopened the Peacock Wine Bar in Lion Street, after redecoration and some interesting changes to the menu. We hope to talk to Leah next week, when she has got over flu; in the meantime, the wine bar is open for lunch from 12 and dinner from 7 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; for lunch only on Sunday and Monday; and closed all day Tuesdays.
- 3 - THE RYE GAZETTE, 27 January 1988
This week sees a loss to Rye - though Winchelsea is the gainer. Sir Brian and Lady Batsford are giving up their lease of Lamb House (the property of the National Trust) and moving to a home of their own - not least of its advantages being that it has a garage. We are glad to say that the Batsfords expect to be in and out of Rye several times a week, and are certainly not severing their connections with the town. There is no immediate news of a new tenant for Lamb House; Sir Brian tells us that it was eight years ago that he and his wife started negotiations for the lease, and they have in fact been there for longer than anyone else since the Trust took over. All the tenants so far have had literary backgrounds - and, in Sir Brian's case, an artistic background as well, which has undoubtedly influenced his work on the garden. We hope the Trust will be successful in finding a new tenant to suit the house - but the Batsfords will be a hard act to follow!
In November we reported with satisfaction that BR had at last dealt with the difficulty about private-car parking outside the station. The lettering which had said either TAXIS ONLY or PARCELS had been altered, so that there were two unlabelled spaces within a yellow surround which were for the use of private cars collecting or delivering passengers. The next six spaces were for taxis (the station tells us that six taxi firms have the right to wait) and the last was for parcels traffic.
Unfortunately, BR's black paint wasn't waterproof! By the beginning of this month, people were complaining that all the spaces were again marked for taxis (or parcels) - and sure enough, the original lettering is clearly visible. Indeed, from the top of Station Approach we watched a car start to drive into one of the "yellow" spaces, hesitate, and then drive away; the taxi-drivers parked alongside just watched. The station staff say that their regulars are aware of the position, but that is no help to occasional travellers.
There is also a problem with the potato-patch beside the parking area. This has a lamp-post in the middle, surrounded by mud (known as "landscaping"). If the post had been more sensibly sited, at least one more parking space could have been provided. As things are the potato-patch provides the only footpath to the station steps from the main approach, when the car park is busy - and London travellers in smart shoes have been far from pleased to have to walk through the muddy puddles.
David Woodhouse's successor as Area Passenger Manager at Ashford, Stephen James, tells us that "the parking area designations will be attended to, once the weather becomes drier". As for the potato patch, he will contact the contractors to ascertain their plans, and if they have nothing in mind the area will be paved over, or laid with concrete. We await developments...
Readers may be sorry to hear that the lure of three-plus small grandchildren in Shropshire is proving too strong for the GAZETTE; the paper in its present form will close later this year, with the Editor moving to Shrewsbury. Publication may continue until September, or could possibly cease at the end of June; it depends how our house-selling goes. The outlook should be clearer by mid-March when, as usual, we shall be setting out the new subscription arrangements.
It seems possible that someone else might like to try their hand at running a community newspaper for Rye? If so, we will gladly explain how we do it - not necessarily the way anyone else would choose. It really needs two people, one able to type (shorthand, however rudimentary, is also a help). Someone usually at home during the day to answer the phone would be a great advantage. Experience of local government procedure is useful, but can be acquired; local knowledge and local contacts are essential. Unless a new management decides to take advertisements, the paper pays pocket-money rather than wages - but it is a lot of fun, and a real community service. Any interest?
Movie Society's guest night, FEC
WBL nearly-new sale and coffee morning, FEC, 10.30 Sea Cadets jumble sale, CC, 2
Pancake Race, High Street/Community Centre, 3.30 Conservative Association AGM, George Hotel, 10
RAFA film show, CC, 7.30 (see page 6) FRAG Folk and Blues night, Studio, 8
Greenpeace jumble sale, FEC
Town Council Bequests Committee senior citizens party, CC
Ecumenical service at St. Mary's, 6.30 (see front page)
WI Market AGM, CC
Conservative Association, "Meet your MP", Elizabethan, 7
Ryesingers, Gilbert and Sullivan Evening, CC
Winchelsea Floral Group jumble sale, FEC
Ryesingers, Gilbert and Sullivan Evening, CC
TPS PTA Barn Dance (Catsfield Steamers), Upper School
WI Market reopens for season, CC (and every Friday at 10) National Trust, "Old Maps of Sussex" (D. Kingsley), CC, 2.30 WRVS AGM, FEC
TPS School Play, Upper School
RNLI Dinner, George Hotel, 7 for 7.30
Museum Association, Rev. Brian Soper on "The Glory that was Greece" (with slides, postponed from October), FEC, 7.30 TPS School Play, Upper School
Coffee morning for FEC funds, FEC, 10
TPS PTA jumble sale, Lower School, 10.30
Sussex Trust for Nature Conservation, slides, CC, afternoon
TPS School Play, Upper School
Catholic Church jumble sale, CC
WI Group Crafts Show, FEC, afternoon
WI Market (instead of Good Friday), CC, 10
Ploughman's lunch, Greyfriars League of Friends, CC, 12
Multiple Sclerosis Society AGM, Social Services, 7
Ratepayers Association AGM, TH, evening
One-day school on fabric printing and painting, FEC
PTA Model Exhibition, TP Upper School
Craft Market reopens (normally last Saturday in month), FEC, 11
Open Day for FRHNR, Leasam House (provisional)
Community Health Council meeting, TH, 2.30
One-day school with Ken Clark on Rye and Tenterden, FEC
Coffee morning, Riding for the Disabled, TH Concert by Southampton orchestra in St. Mary's
United evening service, Baptist Church.
Playden WI fair, FEC, morning
One-day school, Wildlife of RHNR, FEC and visiting Reserve
Rye Hospital League of Friends, Summer Fair, FEC, morning
Conservation Society AGM, TH
Stowmarket Schools band concert, St. Mary's
Catholic Church coffee morning, FEC, 10
MSS garden party, 149 Pottingfield Road, 10
Drama evening, TPS Upper School
Rye Carnival (afternoon)
Rye WI Summer Fair, TH, morning
Rotary Country Fair, New Road (all day)
Rotary Country Fair, New Road (all day, with vintage cars)
Ploughman's Lunch, Greyfriars League of Friends, CC, 12
Tuesday Painters exhibition opens, FEC
(provisional date for Lions' Raft Race)
Rye Festival opens (until 10th)
Catholic Church jumble sale, CC
TPS PTA Michaelmas Fair, afternoon
Rye Flower Club show, FEC RNIB coffee morning, FEC
Conservation Society, members' gathering, TH
Saturday, 26th Catholic Church Christmas Fair, CC.
... and we have no non-regular dates booked in for DECEMBER yet.
(This list is intended as guidance for those with events to arrange, in the hope of avoiding clashes of date; it does not include regular club meetings and other standard events. Secretaries will notice that in many cases the actual time is missing, and we would appreciate this information as soon as possible.)
The Action Group's wine-and-cheese at the Town Hall on 8 January was a useful fund-raiser, bringing in over £100 less hire of hall.
The following week's wine-and-cheese, for the St. Michael's Hospice Appeal, raised £133. Osma Jones would be glad to hear from anyone who would like to hold a coffee morning or similar event for the Appeal.
Saturday's filthy weather did not defeat Playgroup supporters, who rallied to the Clinic jumble sale to raise £160 for the building fund - a sum helped along by a particularly good cake stall.
Finally, triumph for the Action Group's 50:50 Auction on Saturday; it is expected to add somewhere over £750 to funds, thanks to the generosity of donors and buyers.
6.
Although the annual dinner of the Northiam & Rye Branch of the RAF Association, at the George Hotel last Friday, was a thoroughly enjoyable occasion, there was just a tinge of sadness about the proceedings. The group's Chairman, Brian Sealy, was proposing the toasts for the last time; he and his wife are moving very shortly to Cornwall, to be nearer their son Douglas and his family. Mr. and Mrs. Sealy were presented with a silver carriage clock, and a bouquet - and the heartfelt thanks of the group for their long years of service.
Mrs. Monica Oliver, the Branch President (and ex-WAAF as well as Mayor of Rye) in her speech recalled the enduring comradeship which was generated by wartime service. This was, in an unexpected way, exemplified by the guest of honour, W/Cdr. Button from Rolvenden. At a reunion, only a few years ago, at RAF Mildenhall, he had been introduced to an ex-WAAF who had also been posted there in his day: "I was her boss - then!" he said amid laughter - and she is now his wife. But W/Cdr. Button's RAF career went back long before the war. He had joined as a boy in 1921, had been policing Iraq in 1927 (it seems an odd thing for the RAF to do?), had flown an Arab king across the desert - and collected the wrong VIP from the end of Gosport pier (the disconcerted Admiral had only nipped ashore to get his hair cut!). He had also just happened to be at Eastleigh when the first Spitfire was rolled out of the hangar to make its first flight... The pages of RAF history rolled back as he spoke; his upright stance belied what must have been his true age.
Mrs. Button, writing as Archie Harris, is the author of a paperback book of WAAF wartime reminiscences put together with the help of some fifty ex-WAAFs. Called "They Were Also There", it must make fascinating reading for those who were. Since it is not always available from bookshops, it can be ordered direct from the publishers, Merlin Books, 40 East Street, Braunton, Devon, a £3.95.
Branch secretary Gordon Stanbridge gave a tempting commercial for a fund-raising venture next month. On 26 February, at the Community Centre, there will be a showing of a vintage film, "Now it can be told", made just after the war with many of the genuine participants re-enacting their experiences with the Special Duty Squadrons which dropped agents into occupied Europe; someone who dropped in by mistake - and managed to get out again - will speak in the interval. Tickets, nearer the time, from EMBS; details nearer the time in the GAZETTE.
Wish Ward is a very narrow street, with narrow pavements - and a 6'6" width restriction, emphasised by bollards at the Pipemakers end. But since McCarth3 & Stone started work on the old Alsfords site, the street has had to become accustomed to heavy traffic. Concrete-mixer lorries come and go; and last Thursday, we watched a Plant & Tools lorry try to turn in from Cinque Ports Street. It couldn't get past the island, so went up on the pavement and drove along only inches away from the cottages. This is, of course, illegal; if the lorry couldn't get past the bollards, it surely had no business in the street at all? The site manager is only there on Wednesdays, so we wrote to McC & S's head office at Eastbourne to complain.
Eastbourne say that whenever possible they arrange for deliveries to be made early in the morning, to avoid problems in Wish Ward. But why couldn't they use the normal entrance onto the A259, as Alsfords did, we asked? Because their planning permission says otherwise. (Highways objected to this at the time, but Rother over-ruled them.) And they are indeed having problems with getting past the bollards - so they are applying to Highways to have them taken away! True, they only want them gone on a temporary basis (about nine months) and there was some vagueness about whether the width restriction itself would be removed (though doubtless it would come to the same thing). If the bollards do go, there will be no impediment to even heavier traffic making use of the tiny street, with no refuge for people trying to cross it. Those who object should write to Ralph Olesen (Sidley Depot, Bexhill) and say so, quick.
7.
• Last week's Planning Committee made the following decisions on Rye applications (taken from the draft minutes only, so wait until you get it in writing before you start work!). The proposed annexe at Saltcote Place was deferred for a site inspection. Permission, subject to conditions, was given for a new building for Spun Concrete, and also for this month's biggie, the Tollgate Garage development which we described in detail last week. Subject to reconsultation with neighbours about amended plans, and to some minor amendments, the planning officer can give permission for a new house at the foot of the surgery garden in Fishmarket Road. The "doll's cottage" workshop at Paygate Yard is still under discussion; the rebuilding at Abbey Autos is approved subject to an amended plan; the alterations at Black Lantern Cottage are deferred for further discussion; and surprise, surprise - the Hope Anchor can't put up six flagpoles along the edge of the cliff (nor can they have an internally-illuminated RAC sign outside the building). Permission under the delegated procedure has already been given for a porch at 12 The Strand, and for use of TPS land for a week-long caravan rally in August. An appeal in respect of an application to build four houses in Tram Road, which had been turned down by Rother, was dismissed by the DoE on grounds of over-development of the site.
• Last week's note about the HHA's plans to build on the Hill House site now has a postscript. The main building, which the DoE looked at (at the request of the Health Authority) has just been listed - mid-nineteenth-century Tudor Gothic. It seems likely, therefore, that when the hospital closes next year this building may be converted rather than replaced. The lodge is not listed specifically, but does stand "within the curtilage of a listed building" so is also protected to a certain extent; this is something which will have to be sorted out between Planning and the HHA, which wants to demolish it.
• One Rye planning application this week - from Seeboard, who want to put up new white fascia signs with internally-illuminated orange lettering on both frontages of the shop, plus an internally-illuminated projecting sign at fascia level on the corner (950mm x 400mm - roughly 36" wide by 16" high).
• No-one in Rye can have failed to notice the impressive timbering which will support the tiled roof of the new supermarket in the Goods Yard - it will be truly a vast roof covering Rye's new grocery store and the two shops beside it. The developers are now working towards a handing-over date in June. Budgens, who are still the prospective tenants despite rumours to the contrary, will then have to fit out the store, so presumably it will open early in the school holidays.
The financial press records almost daily the ding-dong take-over battle between Barker & Dobson and Dee Corporation. Barker & Dobson owns Budgens; Dee owns Gateway, which was to have been the tenant here until Dee pulled out of all its small sites. This is a David-and-Goliath struggle with B & D, the assailant, being much the smaller company. Presumably the matter will be resolved before the summer - whether it will make any difference to the style of shop we get here, remains to be seen.
In October 1986 we wrote about a course held in Rye by the Health Promotion Unit from Hastings - "Look After Yourself", a complete health and fitness course comprising instruction in safe exercise and coping with stress, and information on health generally. Your reporter blushes to admit that she was a drop-out, but those who continued with the course spoke well of it afterwards.
Now the team is proposing a repeat performance, starting here in April (day and time to be arranged as suits those taking part). So they would like to hear now from those who would be interested; please write to L.A.Y. Project, 4 Holmesdale Gardens, Hastings TN34 1LY (Hastings 437066), saying which days you couldn't manage (eg. not Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon? - or whatever) There is nothing to pay; and you do feel tremendously virtuous, as well as fitter!
Rye & District Council of Churches AGM, Baptist Hall, 7.30
NSPCC jumble sale, FEC, 2
United service, St. Mary's, 6.30
Camera Club, members' challenge evening, FEC, 7.30
Deanery Candlemas service, St. Mary's, 7.30
FRAG: Ken Clark, with slides, on the Cinque Ports Confederation, Studio, 8 (entrance £2)
• People who normally collect their GAZETTE from the Tuck Shoppe should go to the Library for it next week - the shop is closing all week, so that staff can take their winter holiday break. We are most grateful to the Library staff for their hospitality.
• Congratulations to Christine Sealy of Broad Oak and Christopher Wilkins, at one time of Brede, who were married in Heathfield on 9 January. Christine wore "black and shocking pink - a real Christine colour" says her mother! Christine has just given up teaching, and Christopher drives a lorry - but they are aiming to run a smallholding. The honeymoon was spent skiing in Yugoslavia - we do hope they managed to find some snow there.
• Heartfelt sympathy to Rother's refuse-disposal staff, who had a particularly nasty job down at Camber last Wednesday - removing a 10-foot pilot whale, not just dead but very dead! Interment took place at the Mountfield tip.
• Congratulations to Dr. Kathleen Goldie-Smith, of Military Road, who has just received an award from the British Entomological and Natural History Society in support of her studies on the eggs of British "meniscus midges". There are 14 species, and the eggs are all slightly different - she is looking forward to using the Sussex University electron micrograph equipment on them.
• Landgate WI members sampled goats'-milk cheese and yoghurt at their January meeting; the speaker, Mrs. Willcock, had brought samples made from the milk of her Nutley herd, to go with her slides and demonstration. "For many of us" says WI correspondent Christine Butcher, "it was the first time we had tasted products made from goats' milk, and everyone enjoyed it."
• It sounds like a really good party at the Bedford Arms on Saturday week, 6 February. Sandra is planning a "London Night Out" with all the traditional Cockney trimmings, and those who feel brave can come in fancy dress (a Fagin is guaranteed). First prize in the raffle is two tickets for the 4pm show- on 12 March of "Me and My Girl" (the musical at the Adelphi) with return train tickets thrown in. All are welcome, the party will be in full swing from around 8, and profits will go to TVS's Telethon 88 Appeal, for children and old people in need. What a splendid way to brighten up a dull month!
• The proprietors of Durrant House, as well Rye Police, would very much like to know the whereabouts of a man who left the hotel without paying a £44 bill. Giving his name as G. Lumpey, with an address in Minehead and a false car number, he was aged about 40, 5'10" tall, slim-built, with a dark complexion and thick dark hair going grey.
• Condolences to Leah Mercedes, whose much-loved blue MG sports car was vandalised in the railway car park on the night of 15/16 January; thieves slashed open the soft-top to steal the radio. (It has been noticeable, since that car-park opened, that vehicles left there overnight seem to be more prone to maltreatment than elsewhere in the town.)
THE RYE GAZETTE is registered as a newspaper with the Post Office, published by Mrs. Mary Owen, 2 Cyprus Place, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7DR (0797 222303), and printed through Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye. Deadline is second post on Monday for each Wednesday's delivery; spare copies (45p) are available from Young Ideas, 7 Cinque Ports Street. (Copyright Mary Owen 1988)