Category: Local interest

Pen & Ink

Dear Editor,

On Saturday the 13th August My son and his family came to visit me in Main Street Beckley, during the afternoon my son took his children to the Jubilee playing fields in Main Street Beckley, he laid his rather large bunch of keys down next to the swings whilst he played with the children. There was no one else in the playing fields at the time. When he got back to the house he realised that he had not picked the keys up. He went straight back to the playing fields but the keys had gone. We are prepared to offer a small reward for the safe return of these keys. If you should hear of anyone having found these keys, please could you put me in touch with them. Telephone either 01797 253344 or 01797 260886.

Ms Jones

Dear Editor

Could you start a subscription for me. Due to problems with my leg I am now housebound. Doesn’t time fly, I had a subscription in 1966/67 when I was in the Army stationed in Germany.

The articles are very good, together with the photos and drawings. I found the piece on H.M.S. Rye and her part in the Malta Story especially interesting. I have read “Forgotten Voices of World War Two” and there was a mention of HMS Rye told by a sailor on one of the other ships.

Its nice to the occasional mention of my Uncle Bill (Blower) Pierce. Nice to send to my son and grandchildren who live in Stoke on Trent so that they can know something of their roots. It is good that they can see we have Potteries in Rye, no so big as in their ‘Potteries’, but excellent pots have been produced down here.

Gordon Pierce                                                        Broad Oak

Dear Editor,

I was shocked to receive an e-mail today with regard to assault on the cleaner at the toilets at Rye Station Approach. You can be assured that Cllr Souster and I will do what we can to alleviate this problem. I shall personally be speaking to the police. It occurs to me that in the longer term there has to be CCTV surveillance at this spot to back up the police presence, as most of the trouble in Rye appears to be in this area with the nearby bus shelter also being vandalised. Please pass on our sympathy to the cleaner who was attacked and assure him that we will do what we can to see that at the very least the police are watchful at locking up time to protect him in future. Sadly at the moment many members of the police force have been taken away from Sussex to bolster the Met in London during this time of terrorist crisis. Community Support Officers are having to take the strain.

District Councillor Granville Bantick.

“Rye’s Own” September 2005

All articles, photographs, films and drawings on this web site are World Copyright Protected. No reproduction for publication without prior arrangement. © World Copyright 2017 Cinque Ports Magazines Rye Ltd., Guinea Hall Lodge Sellindge TN25 6EG

Jimper’s Jottings August 2005

The debates rumble on. he list is endless and it will forever be so until a group with some sense and no axe to grind takes over to plan Rye for the benefit of the town and the people who live here.

Lets face it, Rye lives as a viable place because of its tourists, the town must become even more friendly towards them. Continue reading Jimper’s Jottings August 2005

Building The Regent

 By Arthur Woodgate

Following the article in the May issue of “Rye’s Own” I feel it is my duty to record my part in the history of Rye’s Picture Theatres, safety on building sites and building repairs. Continue reading Building The Regent

Things Long Ago

Jimper Reminisces on a Lost World

Once on Romney Marsh not so long ago, it was a very unhealthy place to live. There was a dreaded thing that was called the Ague, a disease we now know was a type of malaria, caused by the mosquito which lived in the water that covered a lot of the flat land. Continue reading Things Long Ago

Pen & Ink

Dear Editor,

Reading about the various bus services in and around Rye reminded me of our first holiday at a simple holiday home on Front Ridge at Winchelsea Beach in 1962. We could see the bus arrive through the kitchen window and made a mad dash along the little road to catch it at the terminus – an excellent service. The children loved that dash and also having the beach ‘over the ridge’!

My mother and her sister moved to Rye a few years later and we then spent our holidays with them with a backdrop of Camber Castle.

But then in the late seventies my mother rang to say that on her visit to doctor’s surgery, which was next to the Red Cross in the High Street, she had met Dr. Cardew. He had been our G.P. when we lived in Dormansland in Surrey in the 40’s and 50’s. It turned out he was the locum and lived in the area! He used to play cricket with my father Alf Craft and later my future husband. When, in the early 80’s, I came to take care of my mother Dr. Cardew was very kind to us and surprised by the coincidence. I wonder if he is still around and, if so, perhaps someone in your office will be able to pass on my thanks to him.

We still have an old friend of ours of 91 who still lives comfortably at St. Bartholomews Court and we miss Dot Sargent who died at Christmas time but we love Rye and hope it is not spoilt and we still hope to continue visiting for some time yet!!

I shall certainly keep up my subscription to “Rye’s Own” as it is such a good read and for reminding us of the past and keeping us up to date with current events in Rye

Jean Saunders (Nee’ Craft) Weston-super-Mare

Dear Editor,

I used to live in Rye from 1975 to 1981 before moving to Bexhill . I now live in Lowestoft, Suffolk and am keen to trace Adrian Sams who I have tried contacting through Friends Reunited. I attended the Thomas Peacocke Community College and left in 1981. Please could anyone pass this on to him who knows him as I think he has changed email address. Thanks.

Chris Anley (Saunter)

Dear Editor,

I first found out about “Rye’s Own” when my family sent me a June copy and I came across the article about the local buses.

I knew Len Skinner and Stan Jempson well when I worked on East Kent during the sixties.

In 1977 I moved to Shepton Mallet in Somerset and lost most of my ties with Rye.

I would really like to get in touch with anyone from those good days on the red buses. I can be contacted through “Rye’s Own”

Jerry Dowell    Shepton Mallet.

Dear Editor,

I would like to record how much I enjoyed Jimper’s first novel, “Moon Girl” which I came across in a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye during the summer.

I did not connect it with Jimper Sutton from Rye until I saw his photo on the back cover. I read it from cover to cover without putting it down and was much moved by the ending.

I knew Jimper back in the 1960’s and spent many happy hours watching him fish his nets on the beach at Winchelsea.

I have had the occasional “Rye’s Own” sent by friends in Rye over the years and always read his articles with interest.

He seems to have become very famous over the years. I was amazed to see him on television twice in one month and have heard of his exploits second-hand from a friend who still lives in Rye. She told me he was once a Rye Councillor but I think she may have been telling fibs about this.

I live in Wales now but I often think about those lovely teenage years spent at Winchelsea and of the handsome young man who was so country wise and always full of interesting anecdotes. I regret once refusing his invitation to take me dancing at Winchelsea New Hall, shyness I suppose. I am still too shy to reveal my name but I wish him a long, successful and happy life.

“Bashful” Wales.

Rye’s Own July 2005

All articles, photographs and drawings on this web site are World Copyright Protected. No reproduction for publication without prior arrangement.