Catsfield

Catsfield Remembers: On Saturday 10th November in the Village Hall at 7pm there will be an event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of WWl. This will include an Act of Commemoration, a '˜Trench-style Meal' and a period entertainment. Tickets cost £12 each and are available from Sandra on 0142477708, but only one or two places are left so hurry and book now if you would like to come.

This will be followed the next day by a special Remembrance Sunday Service, held in the evening this year at 6.20pm as part of the Nation’s Tribute entitled ‘Battle’s Over’. This will include the Last Post being played in the churchyard, the lighting of a memorial beacon at 7pm and followed by the joyful sound of the church bells ringing out for peace. The ceramic poppies recently made will be on display too, especially those named and dedicated to the fallen servicemen of Catsfield in both wars.

It was good to see one of the poignant ‘There but not There’ figures standing by the lychgate to St Laurence Church as one walked up the path on Sunday. It was given to the church by Brian Basham from Crowhurst. There are many more of these figures displayed around Crowhurst village.

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1st Ninfield Scouts: On Friday 16th November in Catsfield Village Hall the 1st Ninfield Scouts will be holding their AGM. This will be followed by the Grand Autumn Raffle and the 1st Ninfield Explorers will be having a Charity Race Night with all bets £1. No tickets are required, but it would be appreciated if you would notify Dick Creasey on 07970559226 or Carol Hodgson on 07967116972 if you are coming. Refreshments, snacks and hot dogs will be on sale and doors open at 6.15pm. Join them for a fun night out and support the local Scouts.

Christmas Market: The St Laurence Church Christmas Market will be held on Saturday 24th November in the Village Hall from 10am – 2pm, entrance 50pm, children free. There will be all the usual lovely stalls – plants, cakes, books, tombola, gifts, bathroom stall, raffle and Christmas fayre. This is the biggest fundraiser of the year for St Laurence Church so do come along and bring your friends to buy Christmas gifts and enjoy coffee or tea, cakes and lunches and support our village church. Donations of homemade cakes, raffle prizes and items for all the stalls are needed please, contact Jane on 01424 893431.

Craft Fair: Last Saturday’s Craft Fair held in the Village Hall and organised by Helen and Janet was once more a very successful day and thanks to everyone’s generosity, it raised £200 for this year’s charity - the National Deaf Children’s Society. They would like to thank everyone who supported them including those who had stalls selling their beautiful wares, those working so hard in the kitchen providing great food for everyone, all those who provided raffle prizes and of course all of the people who came along to support them. Without you all there could not have been such a successful show.

WI, Village and Sport News – by Ann Davey: The WI are meeting in the village car park at 9.45 am on Tuesday 13 November to go on a visit to Hastings Museum, where we hope to follow-up Penny Philcox’s talk by seeing some of William Markwick’s drawings. We will also be seeing the collection of locally made iron firebacks and, of course, the Brassey memorabilia including the Durbar Hall. In our 100th year, all of our events have been historical and although we cannot claim our December entertainment of blue grass music conforms to this, it is by a local band led by Dave Jones, and we believe is in the spirit of bygone events held in the Hall when the villagers provided their own music.

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Thinking of the village boys who went to the First World War, they would have been used to hard physical work and fairly primitive living conditions, but not the noise, danger and brutality of what they experienced during the conflict. I imagine they came from large families, living in tied cottages with no electricity or running water. We know that both the cricket and football clubs have been running here for centuries, so they would have played when not needed for the Harvest, perhaps biking to matches, worked on farms, forges, forestry, been wheelwrights, attended church, known all their neighbours, married local girls, gone to the pub or the Hall for their entertainment.

Which leads me indirectly to the groundsman, who I know has a bit of a following and is very much still a village boy. Disconsolate at the state of village sport (no match last week because a team had withdrawn from the league) and news that two of our local cricket opponents are no longer able to play on their village grounds. We don’t know why. Fortunately, our Parish Council know how important it is to encourage organised sport on the Playing Field and how precarious the situation is, with fewer villages using their grounds. What will happen when the groundsman is no longer able to keep the pitches in good order? Village life is changing rapidly from the days of the First World War, most of it for the good, but we are still a close-knit village and traditions must be upheld or they will be lost forever. We will be at home tomorrow playing old rivals Crowhurst in the Sussex Junior Cup, the groundsman will have done his work and for a while all will be well.