Fairlight

A note about the Ascension Day service at St Peter’s on Thursday, May 10. This will start at 10.30 am, and not 7.30 pm as previously understood.

Christian Aid, always rightly and strongly supported in the village, has its customary opening Coffee Morning in St Peter’s from 10 am until 12 noon on Saturday, May 12. This is in parallel with another event, in the village hall.

At Pett Methodist Chapel this Sunday, the 10.45 am worship will be managed under a local arrangement.

MOPPs today and next Friday: Today, Friday, April 27, the entertainment will be by Celia King, with her ever-popular chair-based exercises. Lunch will be fish, with a herb crumb topping, and trifle to follow. Next Friday, May 4, will see Sharon Sellens as the guest once more, not singing as she did on a very recent visit, but talking on the subject of Dementia Friends. Nicola will be along that day as well, with her Age UK toenail cutting service. JJ Fashions will be there, too. The lunch that day will be sausages and mash, followed by meringue nests with fruit and cream. All sounds good to me!

Holiday Walking for Health: By one of those weird coincidences, May’s first Health Walk with Cas and Ian Barlow, leaving the village hall around the 10.30 am mark on Monday, May 7, is the third such walk this year to fall on a Bank Holiday, no doubt enhancing the beneficial effect for all the participants.

The John Lutman Award: Time is running out for nominations for this year’s John Lutman Award, given to the resident who, in the opinion of the judges, has done the most in the service of the community. The closing date for nominations is Tuesday, May 1, and before this date you should fill in a form – obtainable at the Post Office – or communicate your selection direct to either Cllr Andrew Mier, Chairman of the Parish Council and Chairman of the panel of judges, or Parish Clerk Pauline Collins. The Chairman’s email address is [email protected] Few rules apply, but councillors are not permitted to be nominees (or winners!) The winner will receive a charitable donation of £150 which will go to the charity of his or her choice. The Award will be presented at the Parish Assembly on Friday, May 18, starting at 6 pm.

The Parish Council: The Council will have met, on the Tuesday of this week, by the time this Voice is published. It is the first experimental lay-out session that will incorporate both the Agenda Item 3 opportunity for the pubic to comment on up-coming agenda items as well as a general Open Forum after the meeting proper is closed. Over recent months, there has been talk at parish council meetings of the need to restrict the input of public speakers to a maximum of two minutes each.

Possibly some training from the vast experience of 94 years old Nicholas Parsons on Just A Minute would enable our officers to wield a speedy buzzer of admonition in the case of any Repetition, Deviation or Hesitation!

The Residents Association AGM: Next Wednesday, May 9 at 7.30 pm in the village hall is the date, time and place for the FRA AGM. Not merely because the Association, in its present format, has so recently celebrated its anniversary, but their public persona is probably more open and direct than it has been for some time, and so it is thriving. If you are a member, do go along to the AGM and express an opinion on what and when they are organising for the public.

After the meeting, guest speaker Michael Plumbe will be talking about ‘The little bits of Hastings you see but never notice’.

Another of the Playgroup’s renowned Jumble Sales: This time round the Playgroup finds they have two full weeks prior to their jumble sale at the village hall for storage of the very best and choicest donations. So, the donations will be accepted at the village hall beginning Monday, April 30 on Monday 30, Tuesday, May 1, Wednesday, May 2 and Thursday, May 3 mornings from 8.30 to 1.30 pm, and the following week on Tuesday 8, Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 mornings also from 8.30 to 1.30 pm. They are obviously unable to accept anything on Monday, May 7 as it is a Bank Holiday, and because of the law of the land, they cannot accept any electrical items or child car seats, or video cassettes, which are impossible to sell on. Like you, I’ve got hundreds… If you have large items, they will be able to tell you who, how and when they will be able to collect them. All of which tells how they intend to stock up with all those irresistible goodies and bargains you simply have to buy. When you buy them is between 10 am and 12.30 pm on Saturday, May 12 in the village hall. See you in the queue!

The Art Club’s annual exhibition: It’s that time of the year again when the likes of me, a potential company artist to Bryant and May Ltd, can wonder at the remarkable output of several local artists, and even part with very little cash for something so attractive you’ve just got to take it home. The Saturday evening, on May 19, runs from 6 until 9 pm, with cheese and wine to dull the pangs of envy of all the talented practitioners after a good browse round the exhibition. Tickets for this Saturday session are £4 in advance – from either the Post Office or Carol on 814178 – but they’re £5 if purchased on the door on the day. Sunday, May 29 is a drop-in open studio event, with free admission from 10.30 am until 4 pm, and with refreshments served throughout the day. You’ll be amazed…

Kerbing our enthusiasm: As you stroll round the village, still with your windcheater on I’m afraid, you can’t help but notice how evocative are the rustic setts bordering so many of our roads. Except these rectangular granite lumps often, now, look like the teeth of an elderly fellow with a dread of dentists. Loose, missing or wonky. Could we please have a senior Sussex sett setter take some swift steps to reset our setts? And not just put a bit of asphalt in the gap so that it slides away in a hot August, like the icing when someone’s left a cake out in the rain in MacArthur Park. A note of caution. Please attend only to the granite setts, not the setts that are the cosy subterranean homes of our badger friends. These particular setts are a much hotter potato.