Catsfield

JUMBLE SALE: Tomorrow, Saturday, in the village hall from 10am to noon, entrance 50p. Donations of jumble gratefully received from 9am and proceeds go towards the upkeep of St Laurence’s church.

CRAFT FAIR: With Christmas not too far away, Janet and Helen will be hosting another of their popular Craft Fairs on Saturday October 31 in Catsfield Village Hall from 10am until 3pm so maybe a good opportunity to do some gift shopping. This time it is in aid of the British Heart Foundation and there will be a variety of stalls of handmade arts and crafts by local makers. They are also having a table with an array of card making material for people to ‘have a go’, a bric-a-brac table and a raffle. There will be refreshments with homemade cakes and entry will be free (there is, of course, free parking).

LOVE IN A BOX: Ann Carter has asked me to remind you that it’s time for the annual Love in a Box to be filled with items for children of various ages. The Mustard Seed charity collects filled shoeboxes to send to under privileged children throughout Eastern Europe. They have sent on average 50,000 boxes each year and each one is individually received by a child. Each box is sent to the charity with a Love in a Box leaflet, which has suggestions about the items you could put in your shoebox. This can be downloaded and printed off from the website - http://www.msrm.org.uk or telephone Ann on 01424 892627 for further details. A donation of £3 per box is requested as this goes towards some of the transportation costs and the filled boxes can be left on the piano in the church.

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AGM: The AGM of the Catsfield Horticultural Society was the usual happy village occasion, but this year the number of people attending went far beyond just the usual regulars which was great to see. This enabled a much fuller discussion and a search for solutions to the annual problem of the Village Fete and Flower Show and the huge expense of hiring the marquee. It was generally agreed that a dance in the evening following the show to help offset the expense was not well supported, which was probably not surprising considering how tired everyone is after an early start and a long day spent at the field running stalls for the Fete or organising the Flower Show. It was agreed that it was not an option to separate the two events and hold the Flower Show in the village hall, so for next year at least they will continue as usual but without an evening dance. Two or three solutions were suggested from the audience and the committee will be studying these before deciding if they’re are viable.

Once again, but this time with absolute determination, Vanessa has said that she will definitely stand down as chairman after this year. She was again thanked and applauded for the remarkable way in which she has undertaken all aspects of the job with great skill and good humour and inspired others throughout the difficult times to stage wonderful shows twice a year. All the committee members agreed to stand again for another year and there were two or three others who volunteered to join them, so with a strong team and a healthy bank balance the Society anticipates another successful year. Cheques for £200 were presented to each of the village organisations who helped with the Fete as a thank you for their participation and an encouragement to help again next year. They were WI, Cricket Club, Stoolball, the Church, Pre-school, Social Club and CADS.

FARMING AND SPORTS NEWS: Are you watching the fascinating programmes on the BBC about the harvest? Although the farms are smaller and more mixed in this village, the problems are just the same. Yields have been good, but prices are down, particularly for lambs. All these lovely grass fields we see around us have to be used for grazing and with no milking herds left, sheep and beef are the only alternative. The arable farmers are getting their field beans in and the buzzards and gulls will soon have to look for other food. Now it is the battle of the farmers versus the slugs, pigeons and of course the weather.

At last a win for our footballers, 3-2 at home in the Hastings Junior Cup, hopefully we are now on a winning streak ready to play Westfield Thirds in the Wisdens Cup at home tomorrow.

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ROAD CLOSURE: East Sussex Highways Department will be closing the road from just beyond Great Park Farm to Tellis Coppice for five days starting on November 9 from 9am to 5.30pm. Diversion to Battle will be via Powdermill Lane.

APOLOGIES: In last week’s Village Voice I mentioned the Carols by Candlelight concert to be held in St Laurence’s Church on December 11 at 7.30pm and I mistakenly said that as well as The Rother Community Choir, the Catsfield Church Choir will also be taking part which is incorrect.

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