News from around the clubs - April 16

Bexhill Art Society

THE meeting held on March 6 opened with new Chairman Leni Turner who welcomed all members and distributed a newsletter giving a short resume of future plans.

Christine Maclean, Nina Grayling and Pam Smith were made Honorary Members in recognition of their hard work for the club over many years.

The demonstrator was Mark Fisher who painted a scene of the South Downs in acrylics which proved very interesting.

Artist of the month Delia Emblem's work was very much appreciated.

Winner of our competition for painting The Old Gaffer being Steve Cheeseman.

Our meeting of 3rd April had Harley Crossley demonstrating in oils, his work and humour being one of the best experiences our society has had.

Artist of the month was Peggy Lewis with her beautiful paintings of various ruins.

Winner of our competition titled The Old Ruin was Doreen Swonnell who painted the face of an old woman (which she laughingly added was a portrait of herself).

Bexhill Senior Citizens Club for the over 55s

MARCH was a particularly busy month for the club, with several special social events. The newly-formed drama group, led by Elizabeth Allday, put on its first and very successful show.

The programme consisted of a series of hilarious sketches performed by talented club members, which was very much enjoyed by an appreciative audience.

The club's Isle of Wight spring holiday also went very happily, thanks to good weather, a good hotel and not least the excellent organisation of Jim and Kath Haggata. Members are now looking forward to November's Turkey and Tinsel break in Blackpool.

Meanwhile, Richard Eager's popular monthly themed social evenings are well attended, with a Spanish evening due this month.

In addition to the social events, the club's various activity groups continue to be enthusiastically supported.

For more details of this friendly and lively club, please call at 45 Eversley Road on any weekday between 10am and noon, or telephone 01424 212911.

Subscriptions are still only 12 a year, and new members are warmly welcomed.

Bexhill Hanoverian Study Group

OUR March talk, given by Rev James Bogle, was a detailed account of the introduction of the Guelphic Order and Medal and its award to several members of the 2nd Light Battalion of the KGL for their gallantry.

The evening was further enhanced by a new member, Mr Michael Moores, bringing along a selection of medals including a Guelphic medal.

This month, our speaker, is Mrs Julia Page, whose talk last year From Wellesley to Wellington attracted an excellent audience. On this occasion, the title of her talk is The Jigsaw that was Charles Cocks.

Charles Cocks was one of the heroes of the Peninsula War (1808-1814), and, in Wellington's opinion, was destined for high rank until an unlucky musket ball killed him.

Mrs Page describes her research tracing the life of Cocks from ancestry, originating in Kent, and birth through to his time in Spain. She has published his Peninsula War letters and diaries in a book entitled Intelligence Officer in the Peninsula, since when her work has been acknowledged as the definitive source of information on this fascinating officer.

As usual, all are welcome to join us at Manor Barn at 7.30pm, Tuesday April 20.

Royal British Legion Bexhill Women's Section

Our chairman, who welcomed members and our speaker Alan Malpass before we stood for the exhortation, opened our meeting on April 6.

Alan then gave his talk, with slides, about Highwoods through the seasons. Pictures of different animals, butterflies, trees and shrubs were shown to us with Alan's very knowledgeable explanation. After thanking Alan, we had our tea, with cake, which had been supplied by Rae, who had celebrated her birthday on April 1.

After washing up, we carried on with the rest of our meeting. Joyce, our chairman and Betty, our vice-chairman, thanked us for their get-well cards. Both had been unwell but were recovering nicely.

We listened to reports from our chairman, our treasurer and secretary, who told us she had provisionally booked a stall, for us, at Mais House fete on July 10.

A more general discussion, about various items in the news followed, before we had our raffle and the closing of the meeting.

Our next meeting is on May 4, and is a talk and presentation on The Bluebell Railway from David Jones.

New members are always welcome. For further details and our programme for

2010, please contact either Joyce Chapman on 01424 731200 or Gillian Bull on 01424 845130.

Little Common Horticultural Society

SUCH beautiful pictures!

This is what we saw when Colin Page came to talk to us on A Garden for All Reasons.

We saw trees, plants, gardens and various wildlife (including the hated slug) but all shown to us almost as an art exhibition although Colin had a great knowledge of plants and how to plant them in the best way for colour and size range.

It was a most enjoyable evening.

Notices were given about the LCCA Spring Fair on April 24, where we will run a plant stall, and details of a Sri Lankan evening at St Martha's on 7 May, where Lal and Gloria will offer curries in the Sri Lankan style, entry 10 per person.

Our Chairman will be leading a bluebell walk on Thursday May 13 from Friars Charm, with refreshments on return.

Both these events will be raising money for our 65th Anniversary Show, East Sussex Decade of Gardening, to take place at Stone Cross Nurseries on June 19-20. A board was passed round at the meeting asking for stewards for this event.

It is hoped that all members will wish to offer support in some way, particularly as we need stewards for the sideshows we have acquired, and also for the two show marquees.

There are still a few places left for the half-day outing on June 2 to Latchetts and Wych Cross Nursery. Please contact our organiser for details.

The next meeting on May 14 is Thanet Earth when Judy Whittaker will explain the complex system of growing vast amounts of vegetables with no earth!

Society of Bexhill Museums

THE Bayeux Tapestry as an Archaeological Artefact was the topic of Heather Grief's talk to the society, and was the second of two evening lectures held in Bexhill Museum's new education room so far this spring.

Mrs Grief described how the 11th century tapestry had survived down the centuries, weathering the vicissitudes and turmoil of revolution and war.

Created in the 11th century to record the Norman Invasion of England in 1066, it was next mentioned in an inventory of Bayeux Cathedral artefacts in 1476.

It was later overlooked by plunderers during the French Revolution, and was then used by Napoleon as propaganda for his projected invasion of England, being put on show in Paris.

Much damaged by storage for viewing on a rotary device, it was returned to Bayeux and in 1842 was displayed behind glass.

It was hidden during the Franco-Prussian War and then in 1871 photographs were taken of the tapestry for display in the newly-built South Kensington Museum, now the Victoria and Albert Museum.

A replica of the 75-yard-long tapestry was produced in 1885/6 by the Leek School of Embroidery and this is now housed in Reading Museum and Art Gallery.

Mrs Grief explained how the type of linen used had been made, describing the various stages it would have gone through.

These included processing the flax plant, distaff spinning of the web, weaving and sun-bleaching to achieve the material's cream colour.

Members of the audience were invited to try weaving for themselves on two small looms made by Mrs Grief's family. They were also shown many illustrations to help them better visualise the Bayeux Tapestry's creation.

Hastings Senior Men's Forum

On Tuesday April 6 our speaker was Robin Harris, who talked and showed many excellent slides of the countryside, the plant life and the animal life of the nearby Darwell Reservoir, a great stretch of water one and a half miles long, 500 yards wide and, in winter, 50 feet deep.

Not only does this reservoir provide a great deal of water for our neighbourhood, but is also a very beautiful site of wildlife and plant life. It is one of Mr Harris' favourite places, and he showed many pictures of all sorts of wildlife, ranging from dragonflies, butterflies, snakes, sheep and lambs and a profusion of wild fowl.

Also in his pictures were a great variety of plant life and flowers, as well as trees and bushes, all of which contributed to the beauty of this piece of landscape, all much appreciated by our audience, which seems to grow in numbers with each meeting.

Bexhill Photographic Club

CLUB members have achieved a county competition win for the second time, but for the first time with slides (the first being with prints).

This was achieved in the Kent County Photographic Alliance Annual Battle of the Slides, at West Malling.

The judge for the evening was the national judge Clive Tanner FRPS who gave his experiences and critique on the evening.

Six slides where entered by 10 clubs from Kent and Sussex.

Bexhill club was not only awarded two of the three maximum scores, but was also in first place ahead of strong Kent clubs

which included Ashford, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks and our local adversary from Eastbourne.

The two photographers awarded 20 were Brian Reeve with a Blue Tailed Damselfly and Norman King for his Alicia Moliks running forehand, Paul Hutchings scored 19 and 15 while Ray Noble scored a 16.

Norman scored a 16 for his second slide. Very well done Bexhill, the trophy was presented to Norman King by the judge.

The last projected Digital Image competition took place last Thursday the judge for the evening was Nick Wiseman.

General Class; Promise of a New Day by Vanessa Parker LRPS scored the only 20 in this class and was awarded the best image of the evening.

Nature Class: this attracted 16 entries just two less than the General, but three

photographers scored 20. Mating Common Blues by Brian Reeve, Cheetah by Paul

Dunmall and Meadowsweet by Dorothy Reeve.

Record Class: The top score (20) in this class was by Bob Butler showing us The Central Dome of the Berliner Dom.

Creative Class: Two photographers scored 20, Cliff Willard with De La Warr Handrail and Paul Carrington with Dungeness Lighthouse Reflections 2.

The next meeting on the April 29 is an illustrated talk with prints entitled Fleeting Light by another Kent Fellow, Patricia Jones FRPS.MPAGB.APAGB.EFIAP.

This is followed a week later with the Print, Slide and PDI of the year competition.

All details about the club can be seen at www.bexhillphotoclub.co.uk or from our chairman John Bryant on Bexhill 730758.

Highwoods Preservation Society

WHAT'S around in April:

Spring had a lot of catching up to do following the worst winter for 30 years.

As the weather warms up vegetation, which has been held back, it will burst forth apparently overnight. April comes from the Latin Aperire meaning opening of leaves. Trees display a wonderful array of delicate spring greens.

Many birds will be nesting and our resident birds will be joined by migrants from the southern hemisphere. April is the month for the cuckoo, which in the woods, will be searching out the nests of dunnocks in which to lay their single egg. blackcaps will be singing their beautiful songs from the tops of tree. They are a dull brown bird with the male having a black top to its head and the female one of russet brown.

Squirrels may have young before the end month end. Listen out for strange squeaks from their drays (which look like giant bird nests) of which there are several in the woods.

In the ponds look out for newts which regularly come to the surface to breath. Both common and palmate (with webbed back feet) are present in the woods.

Butterflies to be seen this month include orange tip (an April speciality), small copper in the open areas, and speckled wood along the woodland paths.

Many spring flowers start to bloom including wood sorrel, woodanemone, lesser celandine, yellow archangel, bluebells, etc.

Our special spring flower walk this year is on Saturday May 1, starting at 10.30am.

Hastings Senior Men's Forum

Nearly 80 of our members at our meeting on Tuesday March 23, enjoyed a veritable feast of nostalgia when Ken Brooks came to talk and show excellent pictures of the cinemas in Hastings, from the earliest days of this form of entertainment to almost the present day.

Those of us who are relative newcomers to the area were astonished to see so many of these buildings, most of them now demolished or converted, and those who are natives, or long-term residents found themselves nodding their heads as memories of happy times as children and grown-ups came flooding in when we were shown pictures of the Roxy, the Orion, the Curzon, the Elite and many others, almost every one now a thing of the past.

Altogether a really interesting afternoon, thoroughly appreciated by a large audience, who showed their thanks with a hearty vote at the end.

Cooden Millenium Afternoon Townswomen's Guild

RECENTLY our chairman Mrs Kaye Murphy welcomed 48 members and two visitors to our AGM meeting. The chairman expressed her gratitude to the work of the committee and to all members for their support in making the guild a nice place to be associated with. The present committee stood down as is the procedure and with the addition of two new candidates were reinstated.

The guild was delighted to meet Mrs Julie Brett, a representative of St Michael's Hospice team, who explained some of the work that was undertaken by this excellent organisation. With spiralling costs nowadays and a greater demand for their help some services had had to be curtailed With changes in demand it was with regret that St Augustine's nursing home had closed as it was running at half capacity causing a drain on resources.

Last year the Hospice made a 520,000 loss so vigilance was necessary. Mrs Murphy presented a cheque for 600 to our visitor which had been raised for this charity over the past year by members.

Mrs Brett thanked the guild for the splendid effort and explained the amount would provide for 30 hours of nursing care at the hospice. A further cheque for 40 was also donated by our accounts auditor in lieu of his fee in memory of his wife.

On April 19 the local guilds are having a Music and Drama event at St Peter's Hall, Old Town, from 10am to 4pm. Last year it was great fun and again this year guilds will vie to provide the most entertaining interlude.

An outing to Wisley is planned today (Friday). The National Federation AGM will be held at Birminghan on June 1.

Society of Bexhill Museums

THE society's first outing of the year took place on March 23 when 39 members went, first of all, to the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, London.

The museum was founded by the Victorian tea trader Frederick Horniman in 1901, since when it has had a 13 million Centenary Development, finished in 2002.

There are three floors which include an aquarium and a natural history gallery, and a very large and fine collection of musical instruments from around the world.

The museum is also popular with school groups of all ages, and there were 10 groups there during our visit.

During the afternoon we went on to the Dulwich Picture Gallery to view the long-established permanent collection, but also a special exhibition of the work of Paul Nash, a well-known English artist of the early and mid 20th century, particularly famous for his war illustrations.

We left for home at 4.45pm after an enjoyable day out.

Bexhill Oddfellows

KELLY Richards, niece of the late popular singer Anne Shelton, was the speaker when the Bexhill branch of The Oddfellows friendly society met at the Albatross Club on Saturday, March 27.

No niece could have done more to keep alive the memory of her aunt than Kelly has.

She has written her aunt's biography, issued CDs of her singing, campaigned for the blue plaque that now marks her old home in Dulwich, and organised a charity concert last year on the 15th anniversary of her death.

Kelly said Anne Shelton's first break came in 1940, when dance band leader Ambrose heard the 12-year-old filling the newcomer's spot on the popular Monday Night At Eight radio show.

Four years later she had become one of the first British Singers that Glenn Miller asked to guest with his legendary American Band of the AEF.

Winston Churchill had also chosen Anne Shelton to sing the English version of the German marching song, Lili Marlene, which was a hit with both Axis and Allied forces during the Second World War.

During the 1950s Anne had scored her own number one hit with Lay Down Your Arms, but unfortunately she hated the song!

More recently she had done a lot of work with the Not Forgotten Association which helps disabled military personnel, and in 1990 this brought the award of an OBE.

Kelly said Anne would have liked to have become a Dame, like her contemporary Vera Lynn, but reconciled herself to the lesser honour.She joked that had she been made a Dame, her husband would have been Buttons.

The next Oddfellows meeting in Bexhill will be on Saturday, June 26, when Bexhill Museum Curator Julian Porter will talk about the town's history, from dinosaurs to De La Warrs.

Allan Bulla, Oddfellows branch secretary, can be contacted on 01424 210410.

Hastings, Bexhill Organ and Keyboard Society

AT last month's concert, Daniel Watt played a Wersi Spectra Golden Gate Organ which he bought in kit form and built himself.

In addition to his obvious talent as an organist members were impressed with his array of cameras linked to an overhead projector.

This allowed the audience to see both hand and foot movements in greater detail.

At the end of the concert the delighted audience were generous with their applause and wanted more! Daniel duly obliged with an encore.

The artists performing at our next concert on Thursday April 29 is the very popular Penny Weedon playing her new Yamaha Stagea ELS-01 C Organ.

Penny was born in Buckinghamshire to a musical family, and started piano lessons at the age of four.

Tuition on violin, cello, classical guitar, trumpet, and church organ followed.

When she was 18 she went to the Royal College of Music to study piano, organ and composition.

In addition to playing at organ societies and venues at home and abroad Penny has worked as an examiner for the London College of Music, and has lectured and adjudicated at most of the major keyboard festivals and has led holidays for adult education bodies such as HF Holidays and the RNIB.

Our concerts take place on the last Thursday of each month, and are held at the Pebsham CP School, School Place, Hastings Road, Bexhill, at 7.30pm.

New members and visitors are always welcome. For further information and a free introductory ticket, please ring 01424 214152.

Little Common Probus Club

RECENTLY members of Little Common Probus enjoyed an excellent talk on Ceremonial London by Anne Carter.

Miss Carter told us of her time in London where she worked for many years as a press agent and personal assistant at Horse Guards in London.

She was very knowledgeable in all areas of ceremonial life in both Westminster and The City of London and took us through her personal calendar of a typical year.

Aided by an excellent slide show, she explained many of the ceremonies and histories surrounding the Queens actual and official birthday's, the Duke of Edinburgh's birthday, Trooping The Colour, the Lord Mayor's Show, the Ceremony of the Keys, Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace and much more in and around the capital.

Filled with personal insight and full of interesting anecdotes, the talk which lasted well over an hour and a quarter gave us a very enjoyable and interesting insight.

Little Common Probus meets monthly, every second Thursday at The Little Common Royal British Legion Club. We are a club for retired professional and businessmen.

For membership details and an application form, please contact Johnny Johnson on 01424 846129.

Bexhill Association of National Trust Members

The BANTM Bridge Drive at the Grosvenor Park on Friday March 26 was a great success. There were 14 tables. Anneli Barnett did a magnificent job organising the afternoon and everything went without a hitch. The tea was delicious and copious. Robin Barnett was in charge of the raffle and there were many prizes. The Bridge Drive raised 362 for BANTM.

There are still places available on the Ightham Moat outing on Monday, May 15 and on the Sissinghurst outing on Tuesday June 22. Please phone Mr Brian Wilson on 01424 213596 if you are interested.

The ever-popular BANTM spring coffee morning and plant sale will take place on Saturday April 17 from 10am to 12noon at the Little Common Community Centre, Shepherds Close. Admission will be 1 for both members and non-members to include tea/coffee etc. There will be a variety of stalls, a raffle and a tombola.

BANTM welcomes new members. Please phone Mrs Sonia Vincett, our Membership Secretary, on 01424 844843 for further details. You will be assured of a warm welcome and a variety of interesting activities.

NHS Retirement Fellowship

The next meeting of the fellowship will be held on Monday, April 19 at the Bexhill Hospital Health Centre at 2pm, when we will welcome all members and guests to our AGM, together with a social afternoon, with tea and biscuits and an attractive raffle and lovely prizes to be won.

Come along and meet old colleagues and friends for an enjoyable afternoon. If you have ever worked for the NHS and would like to know more about our group, our activities and the speakers we regularly enjoy, please contact the secretary on 222246 or 210934.

Rotary Club of Senlac

FOLLOWING the Rotary Club of Senlac's vocational programme it was a pleasure to welcome David Shore (a chartered civil engineer), director of operations, South East Water, to present an illustrated talk outlining: Where Does Water Come From; Supply of Water in the Future and What We Do. Mention made that privatisation took place in 1989 (29 supply companies), leaving 14 (mergers/acquisitions). S.E. Water serves 2.1 million customers with 900,0000 connections in east and west Sussex, using 560 million litres of water per day. Overall now the second largest water company in the UK (160 litres of water used per head, per day), serviced by four reservoirs - Arlington, Ardingly, Bewl and Pembury. Reservoirs provide 25 per cent of resource capacity. Interesting to learn of the water treatment process (coagulates, sediments, disinfectants and storage). Where Does Water Come From led to knowing five companies amalgamated through integration. Water resources confined to Zone 3, predominantly Arlington, Eastbourne Chalk, Hazards and Wallers Green. Bewl and Darwell reservoirs certainly are important and included in a 25 million development scheme. Supplying into the Future involves planning ahead. Through public enquiries and the work of DEFRA (2007 and 2009) water supply demand has to be anticipated now; 2015; 2025 and 2035. Metering is a progressive change with 40 per cent of consumers being metered. Leakage is a problem and effective repairs are crucial to preserving water. With increasing demand for water it is conceivable more reservoirs will be needed. On basis of usage of 160 litres, per head, per day - machines, swimming pools and patios (cleaning) being examples of water requirements. Households are recorded as being smaller, rather than larger. Climate change - hotter summers and more use of water are ongoing considerations. Future Investment - For 2008/2009 the operational profit was 80.1 million; turnover 172.6 million with 83 million being spent on new and replacement capital assets. Ongoing efficiencies are always uppermost in discussions and planning. As to be expected numerous questions followed and allowed a better understanding of knowledge related to water being a daily need which we all rely on! Rotarian David King spoke of how the presentation had opened so many doors to the organisational process of receiving water from our domestic taps. A cordial Vote of Thanks was accorded to David Shore, for his approach to the presentation and ability to communicate so positively. Join Rotary: Peter Stiles: 01424 733692