Catsfield Village Voice

Catsfield Ukealongians – on Monday 14th April from 7pm - 9pm in Catsfield Village Hall we will be holding our next fundraising charity event in aid of "The Willow Tree Trust" in Battle. All family, friends, and charity supporters, as well as the general public will be very welcome to join us for a good play and sing-along. It is very informal, fun and free admission with refreshments available too. All we ask for is a generous donation to "The Willow Tree Trust". Please note East Sussex Highways will be carrying out work on Church Road and closure signs will be up, however I am assured that access to the village hall and residents will be catered for.

Catsfield Horticultural Society Spring Show – from Victoria – What a wonderful day for the village, a huge thank you from the committee to everyone who supported the show with their generosity, donating cakes, plants and raffle prizes and those who came on the day to buy, eat and enjoy them! With the added bonus of seeing the exhibits. 64 people entered 177 classes filling the Village Hall and Hermon Cottage with fabulous exhibits. There were 40 cash prize winners and many certificated ones too!

In addition to the ordinary classes, Catsfield CofE School entered 96 pieces of stunning artwork the topic “Self Portraits on a Spring background” A lovely red rosette for each first prize winner, will be handed to Rufus, Sylvie L, Kitty & Rowan in school. The Children’s classes were very well supported, with gratitude to their elders for their encouragement, such creativity, time and effort was plain to see. The wonderful, pretty fairy cakes, decorated hard boiled eggs, Easter cards, potato print pictures, and spring flower arrangements were a joy to see. In the Handicraft section the Catsfield Pre School’s little darlings produced adorable “Sock Puppets” all of whom were awarded a rosette and a gold star.

Parkgate Manor astounded us with fabulous Easter Bonnets, some in the style of a Mad Hatters Tea Party. Certificates of Achievement given for each entry. Bird Feeders: Five ingenious creative and colourful styles were displayed which I think the RSPB ought to show on their website. Winners included Janet W, Tony, Julie, James and Victoria. With Tony pointing out that his was “rat, rain, and squirrel proof!” Janet Woolf’s was definitely rainproof with its Wallace and Gromit theme. Julie’s was a delightfully pretty work of art complete with seeds! James had worked hard sawing open his coconut and had given up several spoons full of his favourite peanut butter to the fat and seed mix. Having said all that, mine was obviously the best, cos it won! Although it didn’t look half as interesting as the others, it did have a supporting photo of the birds feeding from it, maybe that helped?

In the Flower Classesthere were many magnificent blooms and Rosemary had even forced her rhubarb to enter! There was a sense of fun rivalry between a few WI ladies, they won some and they lost some. The same applied to village buddies. Fr Michael would have been so pleased to see his magnificent Camelia from the Rectory garden win first prize as it used to in his time here. This year for the first time, Fr Robert entered it, and it got a first yet again! Divine intervention or what!? The overall winner with the “Best in Show” was Margaret Emeleus for her “One stem each of as many varieties of daffodil/narcissus found on the day”. A stupendous display, well done Margaret!

In the Decorative Classes I had tried to encourage others to have a go at doing “Ikebana” a centuries-old Japanese art of arranging flowers. The practice, which roughly translates to “making flowers come alive,” uses carefully selected blossoms, greenery and other flora to convey a specific feeling or emotion to an observer – just as a painting or sculpture might. For which I had quite a few inquiries and shows of intent. At the end of the day just two entries, mine and Laura Hoy’s! Well done Laura, we got a first and second respectively. Pauline rose to the occasion coming first in each of the other three classes with exquisite arrangements, with Margaret running in second place and me panting in third!

Photographic Classes:- “Spring is here” was won by Rosemary showing Gorse in full Spring time flower with a coastal backdrop. Second place went to Sue Duggan with a charming photo of a lamb chatting to her grandson, Third place to Chris Thomas, a lovely woodland scene of primulas and celandine. “Peace and Tranquillity” first prize Janet Woolf, A long shot of farm land with grazing sheep in the foreground and a patch work of fields as far as the eye can see. Second prize to Julie Roberts with photo of ‘Christ the Redeemer’ in Rio de Janeiro. Third to Sue Duggan for her dirt track with a sea view.

Last but not least the Cookery section & Jane Overall picked up a prize for her delicious marmalade, Jill Woods for her Victoria sponge, Penelope Walters (who at 14 years of age) is an aspiring cook, taking first place for her fantastic Mediterranean loaf and a second for her lovely big Bakewell Tart! Pauline and Rachel both picked up prizes for their crisp, well-flavoured shortbread and fruit scones. Keeping the cooking skills in the family, Thea aged 11 won with her beautifully decorated cupcakes. Very well done to all the exhibitors. In several classes there were many highly commended awards given as the standards were very high. The Summer Show will be on 2nd August in the Village Hall. Volunteer manpower permitting!

Jan writes – Much is made of the fact that at eighty, Angela Rippon can still kick her leg up in the air as she did in ‘Strictly.’ Also, at ninety, Mary Berry continues to bake on TV and write cookery books. However, I also admire the unsung heroes of a certain age who are beavering away in their communities not expecting recognition but gaining satisfaction from their efforts. I have a friend who in her ninetieth year is still working in her allotment and also continues to write books. These people are the salt of the earth and the cogs in the wheel.

Farming and Sport – from Ann - Farming news is better this week as the ground is drying up, lambs and calves are being put out to grass and most of the spring planting has been done. Sadly, some of the wheat planted in the winter has failed to grow, probably due to the cold and wet, resulting in re-planting which is a costly business. The spring sowing of barley is in and fertiliser spread, but guess what is needed now? Would it be rain I wonder? Not just any rain though, soft gentle spring rain, which probably most of us gardeners could do with, but let's go for overnight rain, then at last we can forget about all about worldwide problems and just enjoy a Sussex spring.

Our footballers are still languishing near the bottom of division 2, which probably means they will go back down. Much work will have to be done to the cricket square before the season starts and if I remember rightly, the groundsman would have been ringing his mate with a roller volunteering to spend several hours rolling the Playing Field, which judging by my garden, it sorely needs.