Etchingham

Paulette commenced duties last week and is based at the Parish Office at the new Community facilities at Parsonage Croft. Paulette is replacing our current Clerk, Bob Hodgson, who will be leaving us after the Annual Parish Meeting in April.

Paulette will be available at the Parish Office 10.30am to 12.30pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.

New contact information is as follows; Ms. Paulette Barton, Etchingham Parish Council Office, Etchingham Village Hall, Parsonage Croft, Etchingham, East Sussex, TN19 7BY

E-mail: [email protected] Telephone 01580 819048. Please update your address book accordingly.

MOTHERING SUNDAY SERVICE: This Sunday (March 15) is Mothering Sunday, there will be a special Family Service in the Church at 11am. The Service will take the form of a celebration and thanksgiving for the old school, after 150 years of service to the village, as the present pupils and staff settle in to their brand new premises. There will be a display of photos and memorabilia, with pictures and items from the last 100 years, as well as the usual posies of flowers for Mothers. Refreshments will be available after the service, providing a chance to chat and reminisce. Tell your old school friends and anyone who has been connected with the school over the years, everyone welcome.

THE NEW VILLAGE HALLS: There are two halls at the new community complex at Parsonage Croft, one is shared between the school and the community and the other serving the community. It has been decided to give them names. The shared hall will be known as the Ahrens Hall and the smaller hall as the Parker Hall.

The Ahrens and Parker Halls will be open for viewing tomorrow (Saturday March 14), 2pm to 4pm. Do pop in for a cup of tea to see our fantastic new facilities.

PARSONAGE CROFT: I have been asked by Amicus Horizon to inform village residents that one of the three bedroom shared ownership homes at Parsonage Croft is still available, details are on the village website www.etchinghamvillage.co.uk/new-hallschool/parsonage-croft/shared

LENT LUNCHES: Following the success of the Lent Lunches last year, you are invited to join in the lunches again this year on the following dates and venues. Dates are March 17; Alison Vernon, Sevenacres, Sheepstreet Lane: March 24; Caroline Kenny, Russets, Straight Mile. Each meal will be a simple one, consisting of soup and bread & cheese, starting at 12.30pm, with a donation to a charity to be confirmed. Numbers are limited for each meal, there will be lists in the Church to sign up for a meal or contact the relevant hostess direct.

CHURCH WEBSITE: The Church now has web pages built into the village website, with information about the Church and services, the address is www.etchinghamvillage.co.uk/church

ROAD CLOSURE: The A265 will be closed at the level crossing from 10pm tomorrow Saturday March 14 to 5am Monday March 16 for Network Rail engineering works.

NEW GROUPS: The new community facilities will soon be in full use, so it is quite likely that in coming months there could be new groups and organisations formed and making use of the new facilities. If you are starting up a new organisation in the village send me the details so that I can tell everyone about it here, also send the details to [email protected] so that the details can be added to the Organisations section of the village website.

ETCHINGHAM CLUB: The Etchingham Club has new opening times, Mondays and Wednesdays, 7.30pm to 10.30pm. Fridays, 6.30pm to 11.30pm. Saturdays, 7.30pm to 11.30pm.

For more information on Etchingham Club, email [email protected] 01580 819240 also on Facebook www.facebook.com/etchinghamsocialclub

MOBILE LIBRARY: The Mobile Library now visits Etchingham once every three weeks, on Tuesday mornings 9.55am to 10.35am.

From march the library future will be at the new village hall.

You might like to put these dates in your diary; March 31, April 21, May 12, June 2, June 23.

If these times are not convenient, or you miss the Library when it visits, it will be at Hurst Green village hall, 1.30pm to 2.15pm on the following dates; April 2, April 23, May 14, June 4, June 25.

ETSR EVENTS: ETSR fundraising is ongoing to equip and maintain the new hall.

Look out for details of the next Quiz Night with Steve and Terry in the new hall March 28.

Put the date May 9 in your diary, that is when ETSR will be hosting a Barn Dance with the ever popular Catsfield Steamers. Now we have fantastic new facilities, the village will be able to host a lot more events, fundraising needs to continue to ensure the running and maintenance of the new halls. If anyone is interested in joining the fundraising team for the new facilities please contact Nicky Menzies.

PROMOTE YOUR ORGANISATION: Do you want to get new members for your group or organisation? Want to tell people what your group does? If you are connected with a village group or organisation send me some details and I will publicise your group in this column. Send me details of what your organisation does, when you meet, how to join, who to contact and any other details that you would like to add, I will then add details of your organisation, as space allows, over the coming weeks.

INFORMATION: If you have given me details of your event to put in this column, please remember to send me some details after the event so I can let your supporters know how successful the event was, how much you raised, interesting facts etc. Your supporters will be interested to know how you did. Get information for this column to me as soon as possible, if you have a diary of events planned for the year let me have the dates and I will put in a list of village events for the year so that people can put the dates in their diaries. There are several ways to get your info to me, but email is preferred because there is less chance of errors during copying. I need information by 10pm on Monday to be sure it will be in time for inclusion, I can sometimes add extra items on Tuesday morning, but this cannot be guaranteed. Just a little reminder, I get plenty of information about events that are taking place, but I get very little follow up information, after your event try and remember to send me brief account of how successful your event was, it can be as simple as a thank you to those that attended and how much money was raised etc. You can deliver to 2 Park Farm Close, telephone 01580 819532 or 07941 786244 or email [email protected] .

Colin Boylett

2 Park Farm Close