Chailey Village News

REPAIR CAFÉ is at St Peter’s Church, BN8 4DA, this Saturday (January 11) from 10am to 1pm. The Repair Café does not charge, but invite a donation towards costs. Refreshments available. Email [email protected] for more detail.

St Peter’s CHURCH services this Sunday (January 12) are Holy Communion at 8am and Parish Communion at 10am. See St Peter’s newsletters at http://www.stpeterschailey.org/ for more information.

CHAILEY FREE CHURCH service is at 10.30am this Sunday (January 12). Previous sermons are available

at https://www.chaileyfreechurch.com/.

OPEN DOORS Chailey Free Church (BN8 4AN) is open every Wednesday from 11am to 3pm and is a place to sit, chat, with free light refreshments. There is free WiFi, board games and puzzles.

MESSY CHURCH is at the Free Church, South Chailey, on Monday January 13 at 4.30pm. Messy Church is for families and is a combination of activities, games, teaching and singing followed by a meal together. It is suitable for pre-school, primary school and teenage children as well as the grown-ups of the family. Just turn up, all that is asked for is a donation of £1 from each family to help cover costs. For more details visit https://www.chaileyfreechurch.com/.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS Residents across the Lewes district are being encouraged to take part in the latest stage of consultation on Lewes District Council’s Local Plan. The Local Plan sets out where future developments will take place, such as new homes and locations for business growth, as well as the local policy requirement against which future planning applications will be judged. It is important that residents have their say on the Local Plan and there are a couple of important things for you to note to enable you to do this: Lewes District Council will run an online public webinar on Tuesday January 14 at 5pm. Further details to come; please check the Parish Council’s website – www.chaileyparishcouncil.gov.uk (under Latest News). There will also be a series of in-person drop-in events; the drop-in event for Chailey residents will be held on Saturday February 1, from 10am to 1pm, at Newick Village Hall. This is a combined event with our neighbouring parishes of Newick and Wivelsfield. This event will be attended by the Planning Policy Team from Lewes and members of your Parish Council. You are encouraged to attend this event if you can. As the consultation progresses, the Parish Council will update the website, under Latest News, and social media. For more details contact Bettina Newell, Clerk to Chailey Parish Council, (days of work: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) via email [email protected] or 01825 722388.

CHAILEY EVENING WI meet on Tuesday February 4, at 7.30pm, at the village hall and the speaker David Droscher will talk on ‘Willow Weaving’. You will learn how working with willow connects us with history, nature and ancient craft traditions, as basketry pre-dates pottery. Up until about a hundred years ago most villages would have had a basket weaver, who would perhaps have combined this craft with another trade. Willow is a favoured material because it grows so rapidly, only the most recent year’s growth is sufficiently flexible to be used for weaving baskets. It is a sustainable material and is coppiced, which is a traditional method for managing woodland and is good for nature and the environment. Willow is an incredibly tactile material to work with and there is enormous joy and satisfaction to be gained from weaving as you will see. Everyone is welcome to attend what is sure to be a most informative and enjoyable evening. All that is asked for is a voluntary contribution towards refreshments. For more information call Mandy on 07546 592739.

CRAFT ‘N CHAT is at the Free Church on Thursday February 6, from 7pm to 9pm, and all are welcome, under 18s to be accompanied by an adult. Do go along with your craft or join in with the ‘craft of the month.

CITIZEN’S ADVICE BUREAU Lewes District Citizens Advice, a local, independent charity, is offering free, confidential and impartial advice at St Peter’s Church, Chailey, on Friday February 7 from 10am to 1pm. Giving help with benefits, housing issues, cost of living, debt, energy and much more. Do call in for a chat.

HORTICULTURL SOCIETY NEWS ‘The shortest day, Christmas and the New Year have all passed. The days are slowly beginning to lengthen although it remains cold and wet. Hopefully you have cleaned the greenhouse and poly tunnel and all your utensils are sparkling! Early planting really does need a propagator especially as they provide heat from below. Aubergines and chillies require a long growing season and are best started off in late January or February. The same goes for tomatoes to be grown on in a greenhouse. I dealt with tomato and chilli varieties last month. For aubergine try Money Maker for large round fruit and Long Purple for a more sausage shaped product. Remember that when potted on they will still need extra heat and maximum light to avoid the plants going leggy. Chillies and aubergines will be grown on in pots but tomatoes may well go into the greenhouse borders. It’s probably wise to change the soil in the borders every 3 or4 years to avoid the build up of disease and depletion of nutrients. Always incorporate well rotted horse manure and if possible wood ash and soot to ensure the best flavour. The real enthusiast can go and collect seaweed to shred and dig in to provide the very best in flavour. After all tomatoes originate from the coastal plains of Peru and Chile. Add lime pellets to correct the pH and prevent blossom end rot and magnesium sulphate to ensure good flowering and healthy foliage. Keep checking stored garlic, onions, shallots and potatoes. Order your seed potatoes following the recommendations from last month. As soon as they arrive set them out to chit by placing the eye end uppermost. Old egg boxes often work well. Then they need to be in a frost free but light environment. By the end of February they can be started off in potato sacks provided they can be frost free with plenty of light.It’s always fun to go through the catalogues to see what’s new and on offer. Most gardeners are quite wisely fairly conservative and stick to what they know works but every year try something new either in a crop or variety. Outside cut down autumn fruiting raspberries to ground level and then I give the ground a good covering of whatever is available such as odd bits of manure and garden compost. This helps keep down weeds, feed the canes and prevent the rain from washing out the nutrients. Prune apples and pears but leave stone bearing fruit until the spring and attack the fig tree in March. Collect your schedule from a committee member or The Five Bells and prepare for our spring show in March. Happy New Year and good gardening.’ For more details contact Peter Estcourt via [email protected] or 07803 179708.

GOOD NEIGHBOURS SCHEME provides transport from Newick and Chailey for appointments to doctors and hospital etc. It is a registered charity and all activities are risk assessed. New drivers are always needed, especially for Chailey. There is no specified commitment, the system allows you to accept or refuse a journey depending on your availability. If you would like to know more please contact Bea Annis on 07837859750 or email [email protected].