Catsfield

Two Important Annual Meetings: The Annual Parish Assembly will be held next Thursday 23rd April in the Village Hall at 7.30pm and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting will take place in the Church at 7.30pm on Monday week, 27th April.

Spring Show: There was a definite change in the weather from the previous few days of warm spring sunshine on the morning of the Catsfield Horticultural Society’s Spring Show, held in the Village Hall last Saturday. Temperatures had dropped and it rained as the exhibitors arrived during the early morning with their entries. Chris Parkes and the Committee had everything organised and in place before the hall was closed for the judging at 10.30am. In the afternoon the sun had come out as a steady stream of local residents, competitors, their families and friends strolled around looking at the exhibits to see who had won in the various classes, followed by tea and cakes either inside or sitting in the garden. The judges had made some difficult decisions, as the standard of the entries was very high although numbers were slightly down on last year. Sadly, very few children had entered, although all those who had taken part had made some excellent exhibits. The winners were rewarded with cash prizes and there were rosettes for them all. It was yet again, a delightful village event and we look forward to the Fete and Summer Show at the playing field in August.

Sports News: If you live in the village and belong to the cricket club do not answer the phone when you know a scarifier has been hired, otherwise you could find yourself like Sean working on the square on a bitterly cold, wet Saturday morning. In the end the rain stopped work, a great relief to Keith, Mike, Ann and David who struggled on a very muddy damp square for an hour and a half before calling it a day. Work resumed on Sunday morning in bright sunshine and thus the first part of getting the wicket ready has been done.

The footballers enjoyed a great victory at Herstmonceux 4 - 3 with goals scored by Colin White, Louis Bradbury, Tony Luke and David Booth. How marvellous to finish the season on a win, resulting as it does with 7th place out of 9 teams in the table and the prospect of next season continuing in the same division. Walking around the Lime Cross area, we were dismayed to see the placards opposing a massive housing development of 70 properties in a precious field half way round the football field. We seem to be surrounded by huge proposed developments, Ninfield in particular, with two sites under threat and the proposals for Catsfield. Every month the WI sing about our “green and pleasant land”, is there going to be any left? Where will all the traffic go? Surely our roads and services cannot cope, especially considering the massive development already proposed behind the new link road.

Jill Jarrett

Broadview, Bexhill