Jimper’s Jottings

2014 and already our food growers are wondering what is going on. The second week of January saw my gooseberry bushes bursting their buds to form leaves. A blackbird built its nest in the ivy on an old damson tree and laid four blue speckled eggs. All the mallard duck were paired off by the end of the month, as the shooting season closed a good month off other years. In my wild-bird seed mix a certain brand includes peas, even in January, any of the peas that fell to the ground and were not eaten by the pheasants started to sprout. Continue reading Jimper’s Jottings

Going Home to Rye

 

By Beryl Dale

I went down to Rye with my daughter to discover more about the exceptional circumstances which had led to my parents’ house being flooded in November 1960.

I had been living in London at the time and had just completed the preliminary exams which took place half way through my Physiotherapy training. I was desperate to go home to unwind and relax. On the morning of that day I woke with a start to the strident ringing of the telephone. I had glanced at my watch as I stumbled out of bed 6.30am! My brain froze – who would be ringing at that hour Continue reading Going Home to Rye

What’s in a Name

By Arthur Woodgate

At 6.30 am. off we went along Wish Street where we met up with a friend of my mother, a Mrs Milton. We then met up with mother’s sister, Aunt Martha (I wonder why they called me Arthur!) and a crowd of Ryers. At the bottom of Leasam Hill – we all went up the grassed hill – how they got me up there, I don’t Continue reading What’s in a Name

The Flooding Situation

From Rye’s Own April 2010

By Jim Hollands

The water has gone but the message is clear, serious flooding in Rye is not a probability any more, it’s almost a certainty. Continue reading The Flooding Situation

Rye in 1941

BY Clifford Bloomfield

From Jo’ Kirkham’s Rye Memories Series

Very soon after Christmas – in January 1941, when I was 14 years old, I took a job at the Rye Post Office, then in the High Street, as a Telegram Boy. I was given an official arm band and a typically heavy red bicycle with 28 inch wheels. The saddle was let down to its lowest position as I was a short young lad. Continue reading Rye in 1941