Catsfield Village Voice

The Fundraisers of St Laurence Church are holding a Harvest Supper to be held in the Village Hall tomorrow, Saturday 4th October at 7pm. Tickets are all sold out.

On Sunday 5th October at 9.15am St Laurence Church will be holding a service of thanksgiving for the harvest, it will also be the family service after which refreshments will be served. As with all services, everyone is welcome to come and join us. The church will be decorated for the Harvest Festival this morning and if you wish to contribute harvest gifts, please could you bring them along to the church at 9am or leave them inside the church if later.

It is with great sadness that Catsfield has heard that Patricia Jackson, more widely known as Pat Speedy, has recently died. Pat was a well-known and stalwart member of the village community for over forty years and still has many close friends here. There were few aspects of life in the village in which she was not involved. She was chairman of the Parish Council, president of the WI, editor of Village Voice for over twenty years and the Parish magazine. She was inaugurator of the Book Club, the Catsfield Friday 55 Lunch Club and the History Group and leader at St Laurence Church of the annual Womens’ World Day of Prayer. She took a huge interest in the Brassey family and Normanhurst Court, carrying out much research into their history, writing about them and becoming an expert on the subject.

I know very little of Patricia’s background, other than having been told that she went to Kings College, became an English teacher and taught at Wadhurst school at some stage in her career. The son of a friend who was taught by her remembers even now the influence she still has on his choice of literature, forty-five or so years later. She lived at Longstone in Powdermill Lane for very many years with her husband Roger, a retired local farmer and she threw herself into village life, even more so after Roger sadly passed away. She regularly attended St Laurence Church and had many friends.

In 2012 she moved away from the village to start a different life in Exmouth with her soon-to-be husband, Peter Jackson and she handed Village Voice over to me and the Parish Magazine to John Overall. Patricia and Peter married in 2017 and were very happy together in Exmouth but sadly, on a return visit to Sussex, Peter became unwell and they hastily drove back to Devon. Within a couple of days he was on life-support and died a day or two later, they’d been married for barely a year. Many Catsfield friends drove to Devon for the funeral.

Patricia continued to live in Exmouth for a few more years, where she had many friends and interests. She eventually decided to return to Sussex to be near her son Michael and his family and for six months she happily rented a cottage in Henley Down, whilst she searched for a property in Bexhill. She bought a flat literally on the beach at Cooden Beach and was extremely happy there with her little dog Rocky whom she adored and used to walk on the shingle in all weathers until quite recently. In 2023 she invited a large number of Catsfield friends and her family to her 90th birthday celebration lunch at the Powdermills Hotel, which was such a lovely occasion and one that we all remember very fondly.

Patricia was a most remarkable lady, as can be seen by all that she achieved in her retirement years alone. Our Tree Warden John Feltwell was grateful for her support in promoting the parish footpaths organising many walks. She also had a keen understanding of how the various paragraphs applied when the new Hedgerow Regulations came out in 1997 and thus the hedgerows in the parish remain conserved, an even more vital nature resource today. Patricia became President of the WI and was involved in many of the Jubilee celebrations. At the same time, she belonged to a writers’ group in Battle publishing many stories and articles and was a keen member of the U3A. There was a time when the village shop was in danger of closing and how kind and generous she was, using her considerable energies in the struggle to keep it open.

The origins of the Catsfield 55 Lunch Club started when Patricia organised ‘Meals on Wheels’ to be delivered to the Village Hall so that for one day a week, the elderly people living in the bungalows opposite could all sit down to a meal together instead of always eating alone. The idea grew and Patricia turned it into a regular Friday 55 Lunch Club for any older village residents to come to the hall and enjoy a meal cooked on the premises and served by local volunteers. Libby Curtis was the cook, aided on occasion by Pat and a delicious two-course lunch with coffee or tea was served to about thirty diners for a paltry contribution towards expenses. There was a great atmosphere of camaraderie and fun. After Patricia moved away, the numbers gradually dwindled and the club sadly folded.

The Catsfield History Group was started by Patricia and one or two other residents of the village who were interested in local history as a project for the Millenium. Volunteers were recruited and set the task of recording various details of the village such as the type and construction of the properties, a survey was done of the cemetery and a map made of the position, names and ages on the various graves. Guided walks were led with commentary on aspects of the area given by the volunteers. A smaller version of The History Group still exists today and meets regularly to take care of the village archive, updating it as necessary and it is kept in its own room in the Village Hall.

The Book Club was organised by Patricia and was held in Hermon Cottage for a group of about eight local members. Pat would order copies of the book to be read, chosen by her from Battle library for each of the members and they would meet monthly to discuss the book. She was really quite strict and everyone had to speak in turn with no exchange of ideas, so by the time it got round to Gill Malins as the last contributor, most things had already been said. Anita took over when Pat moved away and it folded when she had to give up driving because no one was willing to organise the book collection.

During the later years whilst still living in Catsfield, she was diagnosed with cancer. She fought a private battle with the disease for which she was treated for many years as it slowly spread but she never complained. She was always bright and positive and treated everything with enthusiasm and as a challenge to be overcome, relying on her faith to see her through. A good friend and an example to us all.

Patricia’s funeral is to be held at 2pm on Friday October 17th at Eastbourne Crematorium.