By Jimper
The night was so calm. The sea just sat there and shivered. The old trawler I was alone in was thumping its way west. The trawl was working rather efficiently tonight and producing a lovely lot of fish. Now with the decks cleared I had thirty minutes before I hauled the net once more to empty on the deck. Continue reading Asleep on the Job
We youngsters turned our hands to anything for a bob, from killing rabbits to catching butterflies. There is nothing more different than a butterfly from a kicking bunny. Next door to us is now a pair of houses, but in those days it was two acres of market garden run by an old man who did gardening, woodcutting and rabbiting for a living. As he got older so he let his pals have a rod or two of garden. It was a good time to be alive. Continue reading Jimper’s Early Years Part Two
THE DEMON BARBER OF GEORGE STREET
DID JACK THE RIPPER LIVE IN HASTINGS?
By Helena Wojtczak In 1888 a serial killer called Jack the Ripper terrorised the streets of London’s East End. He was never caught and his identity remains a mystery to this day. More than 170 names have been put forward as possible suspects, including Queen Victoria’s grandson the Duke of Clarence and the artist Walter Sickert. But many people believe that Jack the Ripper was a man called George Chapman, who worked for a time as a barber in George Street, Hastings. Continue reading Hastings Ripper
Slicing up flocks of Canadian geese as they wing their way across Romney Marsh is one way to keep bird flu at bay. But this underestimates avian intelligence. Migrating birds only fly along the English shipping lanes because the French peasants are gunning for them on the other side of the channel. Birds are quick learners which is more than can be said for the human species. Continue reading The Politics of Wind Farming
By Jo’ Vincent
What gives Rye it’s special appeal? Some say the magnetic quality is centred on the Quarter Boys who guard the Church Clock and ring out the quarters. Old Rhodes did say “The sound of the Quarter Boys will draw you further than gunpowder can blow you”. This has proved the case so many times when old Ryers, who have spent many years overseas return to the town where they were brought up. Continue reading The Magic of Rye
