Etchingham

2 Park Farm Cottages

Last Saturday evening close to 500 people gathered in the Lambing Field for the annual Etchingham Bonfire and Fireworks, which is one of the most popular village events of the year. The food tents were kept very busy during the evening serving sausages, burgers, soup, wine and beer. Frank Brophy and his team provided another fantastic firework display, and thanks to Paul and Bill and their team we were treated to another great bonfire. Many thanks to everyone who gave up their time to help set up and help on the evening, and thank you to St John Ambulance who were in attendance ‘just in case’. There are too many people to be able to thank them all individually, but you know who you are, so many thanks for helping to make the evening another great success.

Maybe you did not manage to get there and would like to see pictures, I have uploaded all my pictures to a set on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ttelyob/sets/72157631924871952/ , this year I have also included some video clips of the evening, these are in another set http://www.flickr.com/photos/ttelyob/sets/72157631934707765/ the still pictures look best viewed as a slideshow (the link is at the top of the set page) but most people have found that the videos work better if viewed individually.

The Experimental Traffic Order, with the yellow lines and parking restrictions, have been in place since July, East Sussex Highways will review the scheme in early February and take into account any comments or concerns received from the public, if they do not receive comments they will assume everyone is happy with the scheme and make it permanent in its present form. If you have comments, concerns or suggestions regarding the scheme, please put them in writing to Highways, so that they can be included when the scheme is reviewed. Send your comments to East Sussex County Council, Legal Services Department, County Hall, St. Anne’s Crescent, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1UE, please also send a copy of your comments to the Parish Clerk for the information of Parish Council, send to Bob Hodgson, Etchingham Parish Clerk, c/o 17 Barnfield Close, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 1TS.

Following the resignation of a Parish Councillor, there is a vacancy on the Parish Council, if you might be interested in the vacancy please contact the Parish Clerk, address as above, or telephone 01424 716232, email [email protected]

A number of youngsters from the Etchingham area are involved with Wadhurst Football Club. A fun pre-Christmas party is being arranged in Wadhurst Commemoration Hall on Saturday November 17 to raise some funds for the club. The band on the evening will be Ignite, many of you will already know of them from the Etchingham Big Party, tickets are only £10. For tickets or more information phone 01580 819070 [email protected]

Etchingham Church continues to arrange a weekly services, from November 18 Sunday Services will return to 11am. Children’s services will continue on the second Sunday, with the exception of this Sunday (November 11) which is Remembrance Sunday. A Christingle Service is planned for Sunday December 2, more details nearer the date.

The Church is now open to visitors every day from 11am to 4pm. If you have any queries regarding the Church contact the Churchwardens Mary Barnes 01580 819142 or Geoffry Lucas 01580 819439.

The Remembrance Service is on Sunday (November 11), everyone is welcome to assemble at the War Memorial in time for the service to start at 10.45am.

The Friends of Etchingham School Christmas Bazaar will be held in the School on Saturday November 24. Bookings are now being taken for stall holders, spaces are limited so get your request for a stall in as soon as possible. email [email protected] or telephone 01580 819317. Full details of the event next week.

Do you want to contact PCSO Tom McAspurn regarding Policing matters in the village, or just have a question for him, you can contact him on his mobile number 07810813409 if he is on duty he will answer, if not it should be switched through to the office. Tom also has a regular ‘Meet and Greet’ session at the Bistro, when you can meet Tom, ask him any questions or let him know of any concerns you may have, the next one will be November 20 at 9.30am, my Parish Councillor portfolio includes community safety and Police liaison, so I will try and join Tom at these sessions, you can then make me aware of any community safety issues that you want Parish Council to be aware of.

Full details of the local Policing team can be found on the Sussex Police website www.sussex.police.uk go to the link for ‘Your local team’, select ‘Rother’ then follow the link for Etchingham. Remember if you want to contact the Police with a non-emergency matter, the number you need is 101, as always if it is an emergency 999.

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]