Category: Local History
Almost 50 Years Since The First Rye’s Own
Back in 1965, as Bonfire Night approached, a new magazine appeared in the newsagents of the town. “Rye’s Own” was born. Volume 1, Number One, it read on the cover, the price was two shillings (10p). Rodney Booth, now manager at Skinner’s Motors, was among the Bonfire Boys featured on the cover at their secret hideaway where the torches were made to light the procession on the great night. Continue reading Almost 50 Years Since The First Rye’s Own
Between the Zeppelin and the Doodle Bug
By Arthur Woodgate
On 16 October 1917, I was taken to the Lion Street School and settled in a class taught by a Miss Jordon. Miss Longley was the Headmistress and with a long wooden corridor she could be heard coming with loud creaks all over our infant school. Continue reading Between the Zeppelin and the Doodle Bug
Alf Horner – Noble Hero
By Jim Hollands
Pictures from the Horner Collection
Just recently, John Horner, who now lives in Hastings, loaned me two albums packed with photographs of his father and events in Rye and the local area in the 20th. century. Many are previously unpublished.
Alfred Horner, known to all Rye as Alf, was a friend of my father. They both worked in businesses in the town and later had their own grocery shops. They were in the Home Guard together in the war years and continued running shops in Rye until they died, within two months of each other, in 1969. Continue reading Alf Horner – Noble Hero
The Engine that Brought Down a German Bomber
By Jim Hollands
On the morning of 27 November 1942 an English train driver and a German pilot set off to work. By the end of the day one of them would be dead! Continue reading The Engine that Brought Down a German Bomber
Cinque Ports Nonsense
By Jim Hollands
“What is all this Cinque Ports nonsense” I was asked by an old ‘Cockney’ gentleman the other day.
“Not half as complicated as the origins of the old ‘cockney’ tradition of sewing hundreds of buttons on jackets, trousers and hats.” was all I could think of as a reply.
Woodchurch Warbirds
This account of the Woodchurch Warbirds is used by kind permission of Rob Davies & Bob Gaylor
One of the two most southerly ALGs in the grouping used by the USAAF west of Ashford, Woodchurch was originally planned to support light bombers and thereby would need a bomb store near the site. Continue reading Woodchurch Warbirds
The Bus Went to the Cinema
The bus that went to the cinema, or almost, as can be seen from the picture (Electric Palace in the Landgate is the building just beyond the bus with the coloured electric light bulbs in the shape of an arch). It was an East Kent converted charabanc on the Camber Rye Harbour service. Continue reading The Bus Went to the Cinema
Summers On the Home Front
By Beryl Dale
I was born in May 1938 on Romney Marsh near the Military Canal and when I think of the summers of my early childhood the sun seemed to have shone all the time. It is especially strange as those years were set against the back drop of war and all that entailed. We lived within walking distance of Rye, close to the Kent Continue reading Summers On the Home Front
Unknown Rye Hero
By Jim Hollands
When Arthur Woodgate, who at 100 years of age is the magazine’s oldest contributor, mentioned an ‘unknown Rye hero’ in his War & Peace article back in April it was a long shot to expect that after 74 years the identity of the people involved would come to light. Continue reading Unknown Rye Hero