Catsfield

2 Twisly Cottages, Potmans Lane, Catsfield and there will be balloons hanging by the entrance. Do come along and help raise money for this wonderful charity that Catsfield always supports and see if it will beat last year’s total.

WI: The September meeting of the Catsfield WI began as usual with Jerusalem, sung surprisingly well considering the number of members who were missing and sent their apologies. After hearing the minutes of the last meeting in July read by the secretary, the president then reminded us of all the summer events that had taken place since then – sadly, mostly in the rain but nevertheless enjoyed by all who attended. As this was the ‘At Home’ meeting, members were invited to tell the meeting about their careers and working lives. There was no lack of volunteers and Ann kicked off by telling us that she had been an actor and had appeared on Children’s Hour with Violet Carson (who went on to become Ena Sharples in Coronation Street shortly afterwards), she was in Z Cars and also had done some Irish dancing. She and her husband moved to Canada where she became a puppeteer and learnt how to create puppets and how to bring them to life, she brought along some she had made to show us.

Diane is now a breeder of Miniature Dachshunds and whenever she has a new litter, a team of photographers spend a day in her house turning it into a photographic studio to take innovative and cute pictures of the puppies. These are used for calendars, greetings cards etc and she brought a selection of the most delightful pictures of some of her ‘babies’ before they went off to their new homes.

Frances told of her long career as a special needs teacher, which began at a convent in St Leonards, where she helped maladjusted girls with the most challenging behavioural problems, mainly from London. She often hears from former pupils, sometimes via Facebook or from meeting them face to face in various places and she told very movingly, how they thank her for helping them get in control of their lives and some achieving great success after coming from dreadful home backgrounds. She later worked in Tunbridge Wells where she taught pupils of 16yrs – 19yrs with learning difficulties and autism.

Ann was a GP in North London from the age of 26 until she was 60 and said that she had always loved going to work. She related many amusing stories of the practice where she was taken on by two ‘old school’ gentlemen family doctors and of home visits that she made in the days of mini-skirts and very different patient attitudes to their doctor than those of today.

Jane entertained us in her inimitable way with stories of working in Boots in Soho, then doing some office work before becoming a full-time mum. When the children grew up, she worked as a hospital receptionist, a job that she really loved, first in the Fracture Clinic and later in the Diabetic Clinic, which she said that she preferred because the patients didn’t get better and so she got to know them and watch their progress in life.

Sandra was the last speaker that we had time for and she challenged us to recognise a wooden ‘mushroom’ on a long stick and guess who her employer was at that time. Apparently it was a piece of equipment known as a ‘water listener’ used by the water board to listen to water flowing through a pipe. Her boss was anxious to enter a team of girls performing a man’s job in an annual male competition known as ‘Tapping and Listening’. Sandra and some colleagues were trained how to drill into the mains lead pipe and a tapper fitted a meter box. They didn’t win the competition but they performed very well, beating some of the men’s teams.

It was tea-time almost too soon because we were enjoying learning more about our fellow members and hearing their interesting stories. However we all manged to tuck in to an excellent tea before heading home at the end of most enjoyable afternoon. The next meeting will be on Thursday 5th October at 2.30pm when the speaker will be Lady Crabtree telling us ‘How to Grow Old Disgracefully’ – intriguing!

Sport: A good weekend for football. Three of the ex-players went to the Amex and enjoyed seeing Brighton beat West Brom. They also enjoyed the pies and chocolate; an excuse to escape the weight police! Catsfield were away to Ticehurst and beat them 4 - 0, now fourth in the table after two games. Which cliche fits this situation? ‘Early in the season, but the boys have made a good start’? This week we are at home to Pebsham Sibex and hoping for another win.

Sunday saw the first games for the Pass and Move boys who now regularly use our facilities on Sunday mornings. Extremely well disciplined, they take great care of the pitch and pavilion and give our local children the opportunity of joining in. They have some very talented youngsters, who are taught to play with skill and sportsmanship. We believe Pass and Move will be running the football training at the school. If only the cricket organisations were as forward-thinking, village cricket generally would be in better shape.

A lot of work has been, and will be done to the cricket pitch over the next few days with the help of some expert advice.

Mobile Library: The East Sussex Mobile Library will be in its usual place outside the Village Hall today Friday 15th September from 11.55am until 12.30pm.

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