Etchingham

2 Park Farm Close

The village summer fete is in Queen’s Garden tomorrow (Saturday July 6), 2pm. A Fancy Dress Parade will start from the village hall at 1.45pm, the theme this year is 1950’s Rock and Roll, to celebrate 60 years of the Etchingham Improvements Committee which was founded in 1953.

Coconut shy, bouncy castle, hoopla, horseshoe throwing, bowling for the pork, hot dogs and burgers, beer Ttnt, Pimms tent, tea tent and cakes, Raffle with £100 cash prize and many other stalls by local organisations.

Photo display in the church all afternoon while the fete is open, pictures from village events, including Jubilee events from last year, if you were in the group photo taken at the Jubilee Picnic last year this is your chance to order a copy of the picture. Also on show will be a collection of old photos and postcards of Etchingham and the area from the last 100 years and historical items of village interest.

Etchingham Music Festival will be held in the church from tomorrow July 6 to July 14, Saturday July 6 - 7.30pm; An evening with Jim Mullen Organ Trio and friends. A programme of classical and original jazz songs with the distinguished jazz musician Jim Mullen (guitar), Mike Gorman (Hammond organ) and Matt Skelton (drums) together with the vocalist Emma Smith and the legendary Stan Sulzmann (saxophone). Tickets £16 and £14 concessions.

Sunday July 7 - 7pm; The Mitrea Quartet returns to Etchingham. The youthful Mitrea Quartet, led by pianist Florian Mitrea - they never fail to excite! They will play: Beethoven’s Ghost Trio, Frank Bridge’s Sonata for cello and piano, Enescu’s second Piano Suite and the Piano Quintet in F minor by Brahms. Tickets £16.00 and £14.00 concessions.

Wednesday July 10 - 8pm; Passamezzo: In Peascod Time. A 17th Century musical evocation of summer and the harvest with ballads, words and music performed by Passamezzo, the dynamic Early Music Ensemble. They are guaranteed to dazzle with an array of Renaissance instruments. Tickets £16 and £14 concessions.

Thursday July 11 - 7pm; A fond farewell to Peter Katin. The Festival’s distinguished Patron, Dr Peter Katin, will perform his Farewell Concert this year. He will be playing: The Bach Partita no.1 in B flat, Schumann’s Kinderzehnen, Debussy’s Suite Bergamesque and Three Lyric Pieces by Grieg. Tickets £16 and £14 concessions. Saturday 13th July - 7.30pm; An evening of operatic love. The welcome return of pianist Elizabeth Burgess with baritone Sam Queen (who delighted us two years ago when he stepped in at the last minute) and three colleagues.They will sing arias and ensembles by Mozart, Puccini, Handel, Verdi and Wagner. Not to be missed.

Tickets £18.50 including supper.

Sunday July 14 - 4pm; From Byrd to Beatles and back again. The festival’s final concert for 2013 will be by the Elizabeth Consort, a choral group from Cranbrook School led by Michael Warren. They will sing contrasting works ranging from Byrd to the Beatles.

The tickets are free but there will be a collection for our Parish Church to show our appreciation for the use of this marvelous venue for the Festival. Booking has now started and booking forms can be downloaded from the Festival website www.etchinghammusicfestival.co.uk

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]