The forerunner of Rye News

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In our February 3, 2022 issue, Dennis Leeds-George took a glance at the some of the local news publications which pre-dated Rye News. The one that was most formative in our own history was that published during the 1980s. From September 1982, The Rye Gazette was produced almost single-handedly by Mrs Mary Owen, who lived at 94 Udimore Road before moving in 1984 to Cyprus Place.

It continued for nearly six years with 48 issues per year until the last one on June 29, 1988 shortly before Mary Owen moved away from Rye.

Initially, covering four sides of A3 paper, the newspaper quickly increased in size to six and then to eight pages as more local news was gathered. The philosophy was simple: “Rye news for Rye people, with no front page leads or huge headlines.”

Price per copy payable by subscription was 20p per week in 1982, rising to 30p by January 1986. It was registered as a newspaper, and photocopied by Cinque Ports Stationers of Rye.

An astonishing range

It was very much in black and white, with no photographs, but the range of coverage was astonishing, concluding each week with a bulletin board that invited contributions and information from its readers. Its tone was conversational and reflected the interests of its editor. The length of each article was generally much longer that one would expect today, not best suited for smartphone consumption.

The complete collection is held by Rye Museum in East Street and is available for inspection. My copies of later issues came in 2012 from Mrs Edna Adamiw of Market Street, at a time when the Rye and Battle Observer was losing its grip on local newsreaders and reaching towards 70p per copy for very little Rye content. This was the moment for re-imagining a local news service.

A lasting impression is of professionalism, using the tools of the time. There was as much going on in Rye as ever there is today, and the bringing of news and information depended then as now upon the preparedness of residents and voluntary organisations to share their stories and, of course, the band of volunteers to make Rye News happen.

Image Credits: Kenneth Bird .

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1 COMMENT

  1. Thank you Kenneth for your article on The Rye Gazette …
    Brought back so many memories..of all those mentioned in your article and enlarging the actual copy added more names that I recall. It was good that some mentioned are still living in Rye and area..

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