Catsfield

The Easter Sunday Family Service was such a joyful occasion and the church was beautifully decorated with spring flowers after the six weeks of Lent with no decoration at all. There were many families with young children present and the sermon held young and old in the congregation fascinated, as Father Michael kept everyone guessing with a box full of eggs, one of which he tossed down the aisle and fortunately it bounced! As the adults enjoyed coffee after the service, the rain held off long enough for the children to scramble around outside on an Easter Egg hunt.

The WI meeting on May 1st will be the Resolutions Meeting and after discussions there will be a game of Bingo. Would members please remember to bring their entry forms to this meeting for the Fun Flower & Produce Show to be held in June, so that the necessary paperwork can be prepared in advance.

The football season is nearing its end for the first team who played at home on Tuesday 15th when they beat Ninfield 1 - 0 and on the 19th we beat Windsor also at home 2 - 0 with Tony Luke and Andy Atkin scoring our goals. Their last two fixtures are on 23rd April against Hawkhurst away and at home on 26th versus Wittersham. At present they are mid-table and will probably end the season in that position. The second team would have played FC Westridge at home on Easter Monday with no result to hand and they play Battle Baptists away on the 26th. The second team are presently top of the table.

A few loyal cricketers appeared on Saturday to roll and scarify the wicket and it looks as though they got a huge amount of moss and debris out of the turf. The whole of the Playing Field has now been rolled by the sporting volunteers and we are very grateful for the free use of a roller. Whilst doing this work, they also picked up a vast amount of old barbecue trays, food bags, cans and general rubbish.

As most people know, there is no rubbish collection on the Playing Field and it is beholden to all users to take away their own rubbish.

I have been asked by a regular village dog walker to include the following message -

Be aware! People are walking large dogs off the lead in the woods and the village. The owners are quite often out of sight therefore the dogs are not under their control. This causes issues for dog walkers with gentle/elderly dogs which can be overwhelmed by large dogs ‘only wanting to play’. It can ruin the enjoyment of dog walking when one is constantly on the look out for aggressive dogs. Many owners will say “It’s a rescue” - as if that’s an excuse for bad behaviour. Surely, if you have an aggressive or over boisterous dog, you should have it on a lead in public areas.

Jill Jarrett

Henley Down Cottage