Catsfield

WI: The first meeting of the Catsfield WI after the summer break was our ‘At Home’ meeting. Annually there is a time when instead of bringing in a speaker, the members make their own entertainment and this year we were invited to bring an example of our hobbies and talk a little about it. Well, what a variety of talents we have amongst us! Victoria’s collection of so many key rings surprised us all with its wide selection of styles from all over the world – many with a story behind them. We discovered that we have several very talented painters with different styles of working and in various mediums. There were lovely examples of wool crafts, both knitted and crocheted with some lovely garments on display and sewing skills shown in cross stitch, embroidery, patchwork and collage. Both Ann and Beryl talked of their love of history and delving into the past, many of us are enthusiastic gardeners (not easy to demonstrate to the meeting) and Nicky and Victoria had displayed their beautiful flower arranging talents at the wonderful exhibition in Ninfield the previous weekend. Thora told us of her love of bowling and what a great social activity it is and several other members play regularly too. Photography, writing, travel, acting, singing, music and creating beautifully delicate flowers from icing sugar were a few of the other hidden talents of our members and the afternoon passed very quickly as we learned more about our friends and what a talented lot they are. Before tea, Gloria accompanied by Barbara on the piano, entertained us with three lovely songs with her beautiful soprano voice.

Earlier we had heard that fundraising events in the past two or three months had brought the total so far to over £1,000 for the Air Ambulance Service, our charity for the year and we hope to raise even more. Our next WI event will be an ‘American Picnic Lunch’ to be held at Beryl’s on Wednesday 16th September at 12.30pm. Everyone will contribute something to the menu and we’ll all share an enjoyable meal together to celebrate the actual day that the WI was formed one hundred years ago. The next member’s meeting will be on Thursday 1st October at 2.30pm when our speaker, Gary Enstone, will talk to us about ‘Rudyard Kipling – His Remarkable Life’.

Quiz Night: The Village Hall was full to bursting on Saturday night with sixty-five eager players taking part in another quiz night organised by Sandra Shoobridge. We all love John Overall’s quizzes with his lovely assistant Jane keeping the scores. John had a good mix of topics and here are a few - “Women Politicians”, “Important dates”, “Dancers who also sing”. Ten teams took part and the winners were a team from Bexhill called “Five a day” closely followed by a village team “The Magnificent Seven”, who were unfortunately not quite magnificent enough to win! It was a lively affair which raised £488.60 for the fund raising in aid of St Laurence’s church and a spontaneous rendition of “You’ve lost that loving feeling” epitomised the spirits of the participants. We look forward to whatever else Sandra has in store for us.

Sport and Village News: Up at the Playing Field, the cricket and stoolball equipment has been put away and out comes the football gear. Our first football match ended in a 0 - 2 loss, but we often start slowly and go on to a better finish. The cricket wicket has also been put to bed, with loam and grass seed being spread on the damaged ends. The Parish Council have provided a much needed large waste bin, which will save us all taking home the rubbish from the pavilion and children’s playground.

It is not only the Church and the school which mark the changing seasons in the village, the Village Hall is also getting ready for its busiest time. Elaine is tidying up her wonderful garden, the inside of the Hall has been decorated, the floor polished and a new hot water boiler installed in the kitchen. The latter will ensure a constant stream of hot water in a much safer way, extremely useful for pantomime, WI and party catering.

Coffee Morning: Gwen’s stupendous Coffee Morning will take place on Friday 25th September at Glebe Cottages between 9am – 12 noon. This is Catsfield’s part of the ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ held annually to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support and will feature those famous meringues!

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