Catsfield

to stage your entries between 8.30am – 10.30am, after which time the hall will be closed for judging. It’s always great fun to go back in the

afternoon and have a leisurely stroll around, looking at the entries in the various classes and seeing who has won what, before sitting with a cup of tea with friends! There will be a raffle, plant and cake stalls and of course, teas will be available.

• A reminder that next Monday April 15 at 7.30pm the Annual Parochial Church Meeting will take place in parish church of St Laurence. This meeting will begin with the election of church wardens and will be followed by the accounts, the Rector’s report, reports from other parish groups and the election of members of the Parochial Church Council.

• Not much time left to get your tickets from the Village Shop for the Victorian Magic Lantern Show on Thursday April 18 at 7pm for 7.30pm in the Village Hall. Tickets cost £5 to include a glass of wine. The slides were taken between 1895 and 1906 from the book published by Lady Annie Brassey of her family’s voyage around the world on their yacht, The Sunbeam. The evening is open to all and there will be a special raffle to raise money for the WI charity Demelza House Children’s Hospice. There will also be an exhibition staged by the local History Group in association with the voyage.

• Thursday April 4 was a very special day for Catsfield WI, who were holding their birthday party. The hall was full of members and visitors,

including the County Chairman, Kathryn Hutson and members from Bexhill Seagirls and Little Common and Ashburnham WIs. The President, Ann Davey welcomed everyone, including two new members and told of the formation of our WI, a shortened version of which follows, as I’m sure it is of interest to villagers in general. “The WI had been formed in 1915 and the Catsfield WI began three years later in 1918, thus today we are celebrating our 95 th birthday. In 1918 the world was in turmoil. The Russian revolution was well underway and in July 1918, the Tsar and his family were assassinated. The First World War was nearing the end of its terrible term, although no one knew this at the time. The Royal Air Force was formed and King George V and Queen Mary were on the throne. Thomas the 2nd Earl Brassey, a man of immense political and economic influence across the world lived in Normanhurst, a big estate in the village. He died in February 1918. This Hall, given to the village by the family, had been in operation for twenty years and the ladies in the village, notably Lady Idina Brassey now a widow, formed the Catsfield WI. The village was thriving at this time with many opportunities coming from the Normanhurst estate, so it could be assumed that membership of the WI consisted of landed gentry, farmer’s wives and wives of the men employed on the estate. My grandmother joined the WI a little later and she told me that the women used to bring their knitting to the meetings, because they had little time to sit down and liked to be busy, often being told off for nattering during the meetings. Not much has changed!”

• Margaret Merifield gave an interesting review of the Annual Council meeting at Eastbourne. A most enjoyable entertainment followed given by ‘The Melody Magpies’ - three lady singers and a pianist, suitably dressed to match the period of our inauguration and singing songs from that era, punctuated by one or two recitations. An excellent tea and raffle followed, provided and served by the committee and once again, Ann Clegg’s beautiful birthday cake took pride of place. It was a delightful celebration of this major event in the WI’s calendar and everyone had a wonderful time.

• As far as I can make out from the new schedule for the Mobile Library, the next visit to Catsfield will be on Wednesday April 24, when it will be outside the Village Hall from 3.45pm until 4.15pm.

• Sporting news in the village commences with the news that after their draw in Belgium, we were unable to capitalise on the form displayed and lost 2 - 5 against Eastbourne Albert at home. It was a pleasant change not to have to inspect the pitch and to play on a lovely spring afternoon, but even that failed to inspire the team. Saturday they play Bexhill Athletic away with only two more fixtures to go in this disappointing season.

• Cricket nets started on Sunday, although there has been no work on the pitch at all this winter. It will be a rush to get the ground ready for the first match on 28th April against Ashburnham, but this fixture is nearly always in doubt.

• The Stoolball Club held a very successful fund-raising quiz on Saturday with 11 tables of participants enjoying Tim Holland’s entertaining quiz. It was good to see so much enthusiasm among the players and the magnificent £295 raised will go towards equipment and general expenses.

Jill Jarrett, Henley Down Cottage