Fairlight

MOPPs: Today, Friday, February 19, the entertainment is by the choir Friends Unlimited. Afterwards, lunch consists of steak pie, with fruit jelly to follow. Next Friday, February 26, the always popular Celia King will be along with her chair-based exercises. And there’s free hearing-aid maintenance available, too. Lunch follows, with gammon and parsley sauce, and Eve’s pudding for afters.

Show your interest in our village: Do go along to the Open Day drop-in session being hosted by the Neighbourhood Planning Team at the village hall tomorrow, Saturday, February 20 from 10.30 am to 1.00 pm. Also present will be Action in Rural Sussex, the consultants to our Neighbourhood Planning team. You’ll find out which sites could be used for the up to 40 new properties which the village is obliged to supply over the next 15 years. Will there be new facilities and open spaces provided in Fairlight? The consultation phase of the Neighbourhood Plan continues, as this session demonstrates. Have you wondered about the outcome of the recent survey? You’ll be able to examine the priorities expressed by your fellow Fairlight residents. There will be free refreshments.

Our First Responders: Don’t forget that our First Responders will be holding a pop up refreshers session for CPR at the Coastguard Tearoom tomorrow, Saturday, February 20 from 10 until 11 am. Their thanks go to tearoom owner Zoe Darroch for agreeing to this session. You’ll be able to meet your local community responders, and ask any questions you may have about cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). You can also actually have a go at CPR – or you could just watch the goings-on.

Speakers Corner: Their first February meeting was a relaxed and very interesting talk by Ken Brooks, an expert communicator, who spoke of Pompeii AD79, dwelling on the infamous volcanic eruption of Vesuvius which engulfed the town and many others in a deep layer of ash, pumice and smoke. Pliny the Younger actually witnessed and wrote about the eruption, but the town was largely forgotten for 1500 years. Gradually farmers dug up odd bits and pieces when ploughing and occasional excavations started in the hope of finding valuables. In the 1900’s organised work started and they excavated the town house by house, having to remove four metres of ash and even more in several sites. Large parts of the town still remain to be excavated. Ken finished with incredible pictures of the culprit, Mount Vesuvius.

The group’s next meeting will be on Wednesday next, February 24 at 2.30pm and will feature Richard Filmer talking about Kent & Sussex Trades, Crafts and Industries. It’s only £2 for visitors, so give it a try.

Disco night: Have you got your tickets yet for the Residents Association’s 60’s and 70’s Disco Night in the village hall on Saturday next, February 27, starting at 7.30 pm. It will only cost you £5 per head, and there’s to be a bar and a raffle. Please feel free to take along your own food. The tickets are at the Post Office, and all proceeds are going to the Cliffs Preservation appeal fund.

One week to go…: The Fairlight Playgroup and Nursery Jumble Sale is on Saturday, February 27, from 10 am to 12.30 pm in the village hall. Admission is 50p, and if you’ve been before, as so many have, you’ll know that this event usually opens its door to an eagerly waiting queue. There will be tea, cakes and loads of bargains! Profits will help administer this excellent nursery facility.

And before that, through nearly all of next week from Monday 22 to Thursday 25 February, between 9.30 am to 12.30 pm each day, you will be able to make your donations to jumble, by leaving useful items of clothing, toys and books, or small household items which you can spare for this good cause. No electrical items, video or audio cassettes, I’m afraid.

Parish Council meeting: The February meeting of our Parish Council will be held in the village hall on Tuesday next, February 23, commencing at 7.15 pm. The Agenda appears interesting, although there is nothing particularly disturbing awaiting attention. There will be a discussion on amounts to be vired, under the financial heading, which means the reallocation of sums destined for one area to be reassigned to another, a balancing exercise to adjust the books. It does not entail any additional spending. Cllr Carole Gallagher will be reporting on the meeting with Natural England and Hastings Borough Council about the Firehills, and the meeting will note the report from Haydon Luke updating what is happening with Hastings Country Park

Cove quiz night: The latest in the series of quiz nights at the Cove comes up on Wednesday next, February 24. The fun starts at 8 pm. Why not give it a go?

The Floral Club: will be having their February meeting next Thursday, February 25. It will be in the village hall at 2.15 pm, which will be a practical meeting entitled Winter Wonderland (which may be the reason why the weather has suddenly turned a lot colder!) New members are always welcome at this excellent club.

The sparkle of diamonds: We join the many in congratulating Ken and Marjorie Galloway, Fairlight residents for 24 years, on celebrating their Diamond Wedding Anniversary. They met in August 1952, when Ken came to Hastings for a pre-season football match. Another player, John, had brought his two sisters along, one of whom was Marjorie. Marjorie and Ken didn’t get on at all at first, but by the end of the day things had changed. They courted for three and a half years, against Ken’s parents’ wishes, as they thought he was too young, (I expect they said ‘it’ll never last!’), and married on February 11, 1956 in Clapham. In six years they had a son, a daughter and another son, though they sadly lost the youngest in his mid-teens. They have now added five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren! During the time from 1972 to 1987, when they had a static caravan in Hastings, they discovered Fairlight and vowed it was the place to which they would retire. This happened when Ken was made redundant in 1992. And they still love the village – and are, indeed, an excellent advert for it!

Seen everything now: Parking can be chaotic in Broadway when there’s an event on. But in the daytime last Saturday one owner, of a smallish silver VW, earned the prize for the most selfish and appalling piece of parking ever observed. The front bumper was in line with the edge of Waites Lane carriageway, and its nearside was just under two feet from the kerb. This made the roadway barely one lane wide, inviting those sweeping into Broadway to smash those caught in the long, narrow funnel approaching the corner. No doubt someone will do something corrective as soon as a serious accident occurs. They may not have long to wait.

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