Catsfield

Carols: A relaxed and informal evening of carol singing will be held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 20th December. The St Laurence Church Choir will be there to lead us through all the traditional favourites, which as usual no doubt, will be sung with great gusto fuelled with mulled wine and mince pies. Everyone is welcome to drop in and out as they please between 6.30 and 8.30pm and join in this great way to begin the celebrations of Christmas.
Catsfield newsCatsfield news
Catsfield news

St Laurence Church: The Crib Service will take place in the church at 3pm on Christmas Eve and this year the Midnight Mass will be held at St George’s Church Crowhurst at 11.30pm. On Christmas Day the Family Communion Service will be at 10am in Catsfield. This month’s Parish Magazine and the Parish Christmas Card have details of all the Christmas church services.

Burns Night: The fundraisers for St Laurence’s Church will be celebrating Burn’s Night on Saturday 21st January at 7pm in the Village Hall. Enjoy a three course traditional Burn’s Night Dinner and a ‘wee dram’ for only £10 per person. Booking opens on 1st January, contact Sandra Shoobridge on either 01424 774708. Those of you who have attended this event on previous occasions will know what an enjoyable evening this is and I’d advise booking as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

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Catsfield 100 Club: As usual January is the time to renew your Village Hall 100 Club subscriptions and Victoria will be writing to you and waiting for your payment of £12 per number. There are monthly draws with a prize of £25 and three special draws during the year of £100. Remember, over £800 is annually given to the Hall and this sum helps keep down the hiring charges. For ticket sales or further information contact Victoria on 01424 893711 or email [email protected]

Sussex Harmony: Last Saturday’s Carol Concert by Sussex Harmony in the Village Hall was an absolute delight, a really great evening of wonderful singing and music with a happy, informal, relaxed atmosphere. Lead and inspired by their dynamic leader Rachel, playing the oboe and conducting, about sixty or so musicians and singers filled the stage and the front of the hall, filling the air with their harmonious playing and singing. What made this performance so special was that before 3pm that afternoon, about FORTY of those on the stage hadn’t seen the music, sung or played together before, the other twenty were the actual Sussex Harmony group. Throughout the afternoon they had all been put through their paces together by Rachel as they learned the complicated harmonies of this music. It originated in the 18th and 19th centuries and used to be sung in country churches and chapels to the accompaniment of a village band comprising fiddles, clarinets, oboes, flutes, the odd brass instrument and even a serpent! Therefore most of the tunes are joyful folk melodies, some of which have come from Catsfield’s own manuscripts now housed in the Archaeological Society’s vaults in Lewes. They were meant to be sung with great enthusiasm and they certainly were, some with audience participation. The youngest musicians playing were Naomi aged 10 playing the flute and Ben aged 8 on the cornet. Along with the adults, they had learnt and rehearsed the music all afternoon and played skilfully without flagging alongside the other musicians until the end which was about 9.45pm– quite a feat for two so young. The only pity was the lack of public support for this event, I didn’t count but I should think that there were only about twelve in the audience which was a great shame. I hope this won’t put off Sussex Harmony returning next year and hopefully those who didn’t attend will realise what a joyful event they missed and will be there next time.

WI: Last Tuesday the ladies from Catsfield WI enjoyed a Christmas lunch amidst the beautiful setting of Ashburnham Place. It’s always such a delight to drive up the long driveway to the house with its beautiful views and to be greeted in the entrance hall by a magnificent Christmas tree and a glass of warm punch. We had a room to ourselves this year with round tables most attractively laid and a glass of wine as we took our places. We’d made our choice of food in advance and in case we couldn’t remember what we’d selected, Ann C. had made decorated green cards for everyone with their name and what they’d chosen from the menu. Tucked away inside was a raffle ticket for the free draw at the end of the meal with some lovely prizes to be won. The food was delicious, the company was great and everyone had a most enjoyable time. Many thanks to the committee for organising it all for us.

Sport: We think the threat of abstaining and training over the Christmas break, spurred our team on last Saturday when they beat Sedlescombe 3 - 1 away. It hasn’t moved us up the table as we are still fourth from the top, but perhaps tomorrow’s match at the Polegrove versus Bexhill United will bring another win and a giant leap towards dizzy heights. This match will be followed by the annual Christmas do for the team at The Azure Saturday night, when no doubt there will be very little abstaining. Happy Christmas from the boys.

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Mobile Library: The East Sussex Mobile Library will be in its usual place today, Friday 16th December outside the Village Hall from 11.55am until 12.30pm. Its next visit will be Friday 6th January 2017 at the usual time.

Village Voice: There will be no Village Voice next Friday 23rd December so I’d like to wish all our readers a very happy and peaceful Christmas from Jill, Ann and Mike.

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