Catsfield

Flower Festival: What a spectacular success the Flower Festival was and how beautiful the church of St Laurence looked after all the skilful and artistic hard work by so many enthusiastic flower arrangers. The interpretations of the theme ‘A Work of Art’ were cleverly and imaginatively displayed to illustrate the work of various artists from painters to a gardener, a builder and a furniture maker. There was musical entertainment in the background, also special performances by the Hand Bell Ringers and other musicians to sit and enjoy with tea and homemade cakes throughout the day - even a piper in full Scottish attire playing the bagpipes around the stalls and tables in the churchyard. Congratulations to Sandra Shoobridge for organising such a wonderfully successful event and to all the many people helping her who have worked tirelessly throughout the three day weekend, they must all have been exhausted. Their hard work gave much pleasure to a lot of people and hopefully raised a lot of money for our beautiful old parish church.

Summer Concert: The concert by Lucy Ashton on Saturday evening as been described to me as ‘like being at a special performance held in a country home’. Lucy looked delightful with flowers in her hair and charmed the audience with her lovely voice. She sang the work of a wide selection of composers accompanied by Bob Andrew, who also played solo. The second half of the concert was in the style of ‘The Last Night of the Proms’ and Lucy made an excellent Britannia! A lovely way to spend a summer’s evening.

September WI Meeting: To all WI members – don’t forget that the next meeting on 4th September at 2.30pm will be our ‘Tribute to WWI’. We are all asked to bring any memorabilia or family stories about this period in our history and to share them with everyone. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings – why not come as a visitor with a view to becoming a member if you like what we do?

Sport: Our last cricket match at home resulted in an emphatic win against Parkhurst. Derek Fuller with 80 runs, Connor Earl with 30 and a 50 from Martin Gurr contributed to our total of 223 for 5 at tea. Parkhurst only managed 76 all out, with Nick Gurr in good form finishing with figures of 5 wickets for 18 runs aided by Andy Williams 4 for 7. The final match is on Sunday away against Netherfield, always an enjoyable fixture when we meet up with old friends. Football this weekend is another friendly before the competitive season begins, so we hope the boys are fully fit and raring to go!

Ploughman’s Lunch Event: Tomorrow, Saturday August 30th from 12.00 to 3.00pm the fundraisers at St George’s Church are holding a Ploughman’s Lunch at “Southerndown” Forewood Lane, Crowhurst, courtesy of Hilary and Tony Leslie. Tickets cost £10 and children £5 to include a lunch and a drink. There will be a Raffle and Produce stall, for which donations would be gratefully received. There will be marquees on the lawn, but it would be helpful if you could bring your own chair please. This event is to raise funds to help complete the extension at St George’s Church. Tickets available from Frances (830461), Val (830246), Hilary (830244), Wendy (830438).

Autumn: How quickly the school holidays have gone by and the summer as a whole in fact, but until this week we have had some beautiful weather to enjoy and hopefully there is still some more to come. The hedgerows are gleaming with blackberries, hawthorn, sloe and elderberries and the orchards are laden with fruit. The farmers have been harvesting crops for a couple of weeks at least and sadly the nights are already drawing in, how surreptitiously the seasons change!

Jill Jarrett

Broadview, Bexhill