hands and could peel a grape with a scalpel and his stitching was so fine that he said God was coming down his right arm. A great leader, he built a team of dedicated and excellent people around him and treated over 600 patients (his “guinea pigs”). He ran his ward in his own way - for instance there was a barrel of beer in it and he insisted on pretty nurses - and he gave his patients hope. He became very famous, almost iconic, but sadly died at 60.
And finally we had the tragic story of the lifeboat Mary Stanford. On 15 November 1928 the Rye lifeboat was called out early in the morning to help a stricken vessel from Riga. The 17 lifeboatmen struggled to launch their boat in the rough waves and onshore wind. Shortly after the lifeboat was launched, the coastguard tried to recall it as the vessel from Riga had sunk and its crew had been saved, but the message could not get through because of the storm and high winds. For 4 hours the lifeboatmen rowed their boat in vain trying to find the vessel, and then tried to return to Rye Harbour. Turning into the river Rother, the boat was hit by a large wave and turned over, and all 17 of the crew were lost including the coxswain Herbert Head and his 2 sons, and two sets of 3 brothers.
There is a touching memorial to this tragic and unnecessary accident in Winchelsea church, commemorating these 17 heroes who responded to the cry of humanity above the roar of the sea. Michael Goolden
OUTINGS
Saturday 5th April Winchelsea
Following on from our talk by Malcolm Pratt on 12th March he will act as our guide on this trip.
The coach departs from the Greyhound at 08:45 and on arrival in Winchelsea we have an introductory talk in the Lower Court Room followed by a look around the museum upstairs. Next Malcolm takes us around the mediaeval town which will include a visit to the church and the gate/s.
Following our lunch break we resume with an hour tour of some of the inter-linking cellars of the town. Smuggling comes to mind here!
Departure for home will be around 15:30. The cost, excluding lunch, is £16.50.
Saturday 14th June Winchester
Depart from the Greyhound at 08:00. Hopefully on arrival there will be time for a coffee in the Cathedral Refectory before our conducted tour. This will take one and half hours and will be in small groups of 12 people. We will see too the 12c Winchester Bible, the Crypt and Library.
After a lunch break we board the coach for the mile and a half journey to The Hospital of St. Cross, the oldest and most beautiful almshouses in England. Two guides will accompany us at St Cross where we will see the mediaeval hall, the church and other buildings.
We shall depart for home at approximately 16:30. Cost, excluding lunch but to include a cup of tea at
[cont. on p 128]
An imitation George III spade guinea
The Billy and Charley story is entertaining; the following is a summary of 'The Billy and Charley forgeries', written by Robert Halliday, published in the Winter 1986 edition of 'The London Archaeologist'.
DURING THE MIDDLE of the 19th century the London archaeological community was disrupted by a controversy over the authenticity of a large number of supposedly medieval leaden objects that appeared for sale. They eventually proved to be forgeries and have since been called "Billys and Charleys" after their manufacturers.
William Smith (Billy) and Charles Eaton (Charley), the eponymous forgers, are shadowy figures. It is even uncertain if Billy's name really was William Smith. Charley was born in about 1834; Billy was probably born a few years earlier. Most of their life was spent in the neighbourhood of Rosemary Lane (now called Royal Mint Street) in Tower Hamlets. They were mudlarks who searched the Thames for items of value. William Edwards, a London antique dealer, made Billy's acquaintance around about 1845, and he met Charley some years later. He paid them for items of interest that they found, thinking of them as "his boys".
Billy and Charley earned money from this until 1857, when they decided to counterfeit antiquities. They cast objects from lead (or lead alloys such as pewter), cutting dies into plaster of Paris moulds with nails and knives, and bathing the finished items in acid to simulate aging. Their commonest products were medallions, of between two and four inches in diameter, with small loops attached to form hangers. Because of the primitive casting technique, they were generally thin, with poorly defined edges and pitted, uneven surfaces.
Billy and Charley were illiterate, and the inscriptions on their forgeries consisted of meaningless jumbles of letters and symbols, while dates in arabic numerals ascribed manufacture to the years between the 11th and 16th centuries, although Arabic numerals did not come into use in Europe before the 15th century.
Billy and Charley claimed to have found their creations at Shadwell, where a new dock was being built, and they found a ready market. The materials
The Billy and Charley Story [cont from p 125]
Future publication
Task Groups are now working away on the 2008 book, which will cover the impact of World War II on Wadhurst by looking at the period immediately before the outbreak of war, wartime itself, and the immediate aftermath - as Wadhurst changed from an agricultural community to one that became
