Catsfield

Summer Fete and Flower Show: The Catsfield Horticultural Society’s Summer Fete and Flower Show will be held at the Playing Field on Saturday 4th August, gates open at 1.30pm and the show tent will be open from 2pm – 4pm. The schedules are available in the Village Store, so don’t forget to pick up a copy and decide which classes you’d like to enter, its great fun taking part and you don’t have to be an expert to win prizes. Wendy and the Committee would welcome any offers of help with the Fete please. Raffle & Tombola prizes, Bric a Brac, Books, Bottles and Cakes will be most gratefully received on the day for the various stalls. Entry is £1, no charge for children and free car parking. Its uncertain at going to press whether there is to be an evening event in the marquee, so watch this space.

Ruby Kiley: A reminder to all friends and villagers that dear Ruby’s funeral is today (20th July) at Hastings Crematorium at 12.30pm.

WI Outing: Last Tuesday fifteen members of the WI spent the afternoon at the White Rock Theatre, Hastings. We went in a small coach, which dropped us off outside the theatre a little bit early so we took a stroll to the end of Hastings pier but were pretty unimpressed – although all agreed that it was far better than looking at a burnt-out ruin. We were greeted in the foyer of the theatre by a former long-term employee there, who guided us up and down countless flights of stairs, through many passageways until we were completely lost. We were regaled with anecdotes of days gone by at the White Rock, which was formerly a sanitorium and we visited the dressing rooms for the performers, which made us realise how very careful with both costumes and property they all have to be when crammed together. Amongst the fairly large staff, there are six permanent full-time electricians working in and around the stage area and they were busy with the lighting whilst we were on stage. At the end of our tour we enjoyed a wonderful tea of sandwiches, jam and cream scones and cakes in the café overlooking the sea and all agreed what a very interesting and pleasant afternoon it had been.

Re-cycling in the Village: Have you noticed how the bottle bank in the car park seems constantly full? We haven’t become a village of drinkers, it’s just that some publicans are using these banks to take their empties rather than pay commercial rates. Rother have noticed this and are thinking of removing the recycling facilities from our car park. If you have any views on this loss of our amenities, please get in touch with our ESCC representative Kathryn Field or one of the Parish Councillors.

Sport: Our cricketers played a 25 over game at home last Sunday on a rock-hard pitch which made fielding extremely difficult. We batted first and were 108 all out at tea in under 23 overs. Top scorers were Paul Cruttenden 22, Andy Williams 20, Nick Gurr 18 and Martin Gurr 11. The speed with which the ball was coming off the bat meant several welcome breaks for the fielders searching for the ball in the cool bracken and ditches. Otherwise it was baking hot. Crowhurst easily passed our score without loss and we were all able to leave in plenty of time for the World Cup Final, which of course was the idea of starting play at 11 am. What to do about tea? It couldn’t be tea of course at that hour, so resourceful Chris Cook decided to provide a ploughman’s lunch, which proved extremely popular. The groundsman kept sneaking off into the pavilion hoping he wasn’t being watched, but it was too hot to remind him of his earlier resolution to eat less. This Sunday we are away at Ashburnham.

Our football team have been promoted to the second division and are looking forward to starting again in September.

End of Term: School term finishes today (20th July) and we wish all their pupils and staff a good break and good luck to the leavers going on to senior school. Usually this is the time for rain, but there seems little chance in the forecast.

Farming: The rape has been harvested in clouds of dust and the wheat is ready early. Did you know, only a kilo of rape seed is needed for one acre of ground? Like the rest of the country, farmers are anxious about the arrangements for Brexit. They have to make decisions about what to plant very shortly with the uncertainty about the CAP, grants and where they will be able to sell their exported grain.