Fairlight

This Sunday is Gift Day Sunday, and also the day before St Andrew’s Day. Any extra financial gifts would be appreciated on or before this day. They will be used to build up the work of ministry in Fairlight.

Last Saturday’s Christian Aid Fair raised an excellent £553.75, and through the support of the UK Aid Match Scheme, the total sum which the charity will receive from our village church will be in excess of £1,000. The UK Aid Match Scheme is a Government funded scheme which supports international charities, meaning that all donations made by the UK public in support of Christian Aid will be matched pound for pound by the government during the three month period from September 15 to December 15.

MOPPs: Today, Friday, the entertainment will be by Keith Osbourne with his Music for Health, followed by a lunch of sausage, egg and chips, and then bread and butter pudding. Next Friday, December 4, it will be guitarist and vocalist Tim Gibson who will be entertaining the members, and a star prize for the raffle as well, and lunch that day will be chicken chasseur followed by upside down pudding, (a well known culinary term, not an accident in the kitchen).

LADIES CLUB: The Tuesday Ladies Club open afternoon last week was a great success with 29 visitors, including a good sprinkling of menfolk. The meeting started with wine and snacks, followed by a talk on the well known Mary Stanford Lifeboat Disaster given by Jackie Stanford. There is no known connection between Jackie and the name on the lifeboat, apart from the coincidence that her husband’s name is John and it was a John Stanford who paid for the lifeboat and named it after his mother, Mary. Jackie is a Parish Councillor for Rye Harbour and has given up an enormous amount of her time to ensure that the Lifeboat House at Winchelsea Beach has not been knocked down. She persuaded the Environment Agency to help with urgent work on the structure and it is now a Grade II listed building. Last December the Friends of the Mary Stanford purchased the building, and are hoping to restore and open it as a museum with exhibits about the brave men who gave their lives on November 15, 1928. Her talk covered the history of Rye harbour since 1805, when one only man, known as John All Alone lived there and of course covered the disaster in detail. The club’s next meeting will be for members only, being their eagerly anticipated Christmas Tea when the music will be provided by our own ever-popular Jim Saphin. It’s at 2.15pm on Tuesday, December 15, and Carols will be there, too.

THE BEST CADET IN SUSSEX: Village resident Tasmin Paige has been awarded the prestigious trophy for the Best Air Training Corps Cadet in Sussex. The trophy came about when Don Mabey, President of the Royal Society of St George and recipient of the MBE when he was 92, then died at the age of 93 in 2007, leaving some money to the Society. They decided to honour his memory by giving a trophy to the Sussex Wing Air Training Corps for the Best Cadet in Sussex. Don had been in the RAF, flying many missions in his role. He left in 1946 as a wireless operator/air gunner with the rank of Warrant Officer. The book Dinghy Drop was given to Tasmin by the society as something to keep as she is required to return the trophy next year. The book, which concerns 279 Air-Sea Rescue Squadron, one of the two air-sea rescue units, has a lot of information inside it regarding Don’s missions and also has many pictures details of his experiences. You will find items of interest about Don’s Society at www.royalsocietyofstgeorge.com/

VALERIE TRYON: Recital Room of Fairlight Hall: If you weren’t there you missed a treat. Valerie Tryon gave a scintillating recital in the delightful setting of Fairlight Hall, playing Scarlatti, Ravel, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Gershwin and, loveliest of all, the Liszt arrangement of Schubert’s Ave Maria which sounded as if not one, but two pianos were playing, playing of true virtuosity by Valerie. Refreshments were enjoyed by all, and they helped to keep them warm on such a cold and blustery evening. Congratulations go not only to Valerie, who, several said, has never played better, and who next plays at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon on December 1, but also to Geoff Wyatt, whose enterprise brought the renowned artiste to our village for a second time. Proceeds will go to support St Andrew’s church.

GOING? GOOD: Tomorrow night, Saturday, it’s the Activate and Fairfest Race Night in the village hall at 7.30pm. What? You haven’t got you ticket yet? Don’t read another word until you’ve phoned Jennifer on 812476 or Wendy on 812297, and made sure you’ll be there. They’ll cost you a mere fiver each or £3.50 for your under 16’s. For this you will also get a ploughman’s supper and, contrary to the info in the FRA email, a dessert. There’s a bar and a raffle, and you’ll need some spare dosh to patronise the tote. Tickets are now on sale at the Post Office, or they can be reserved from Jennifer on 812476 or Wendy on 812297.

CHRISTMAS FAIR: Only a week now to the Fairlight Village Hall Christmas Fair, usually packed with eager customers, eating their lunches, drinking their mulled wine, having a try the tombola, a bash at the booze box and the multitude of other games and stalls, and finish up with a sobering cuppa and a cake. It starts at 12 noon and runs until 3pm and do go along, you certainly won’t be alone.

And don’t forget that, for the first time, there will an opportunity at the Fair to make your suggestions for input you would like to see in our Neighbourhood Plan, with cash prizes going to the best three ideas

HEY! WE’RE ON THE BRINK OF DECEMBER: There’s a Grand Christmas Quiz coming up on Wednesday, December 23 at the Cove. 7.30pm until late, so a diary note for Christmas Eve Eve will help you remember.

Also, later in the month, of course, there is to be much activity in the church. Details of the full list of dates, times and places will be delivered to each household in the village but we will, obviously, highlight several of them here in forthcoming Village Voices.

SAM SCRAM ON THE LATEST SCAM: News of a courier scam, a seemingly creepily familiar scenario, tells of the company which calls to make sure you’ll be in to receive flowers, wine, whatever, all at no charge and unsolicited, and the driver turns up, asking for a humble £3.50 payment which will confirm delivery. No, he can’t accept cash, could be dangerous, open to fiddling, it has to be your credit card, easier to make and keep records. Oh, and your PIN. One couple enthusiastically observed every point, only soon to find their account had suffered a £4,000 loss. Please be wide awake to this type of scam. In this day and age, not only are there no free lunches, but also very few free anything. And never, ever disclose your PIN to anyone for any reason. Now the ha’penny has gone, you must keep your hand on your PIN. Many don’t even share it with their other half.

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