Fairlight

Next Wednesday sees the latest in the fortnightly series of Midweek Meetings, at St Peter’s from 6 to 8 pm. Those intending to attend are asked to read Acts chapter 3 and 4, vv 1 – 31. The meeting will be led by David Hornsby and Kay Burnett.

In the middle of a busy month on Saturdays in the village, Saturday, October 17 will have the village hall hosting St Andrew’s Autumn Fair from 11 am to 3 pm. Lunches will be served from 12 noon. A number of attractions will be welcoming you, and persuading you to part with a bit of cash, all in support of St Andrew’s Church.

MOPPs today and next week: Today, the well-known local speaker and author, Ken Brooks, will tell the members ‘The Rock-A-Nore Story’, with a lunch of bacon pudding and then rice pudding and jam for afters. Next Friday, October 16, Keith Osbourne will be along with his popular ‘Music for Health’, which will lead on to lunch, consisting of fish and chips with fruit pie and cream to follow.

There’s no plaice for us tonight: It was odd to read last week, in another Village Voice, mention of Dean, ‘our’ fish and chip man. Well, tonight, Friday, Dean is very much ‘ours’. Except that he’s not, for the Fish and Chip van will not actually be with us this week, so I’m afraid you’ll have to make alternative arrangements. Hopefully for one week only!

Hastings Country Park Migration Watch: A pleasant and instructive morning is in store for those who join local ornithologist, Andrew Grace, for a walk through the Country Park Nature Reserve observing various migrating birds from different vantage points in the park. It’s tomorrow morning starting at 8 am from the Hastings Country Park Visitor Centre, Lower Coastguard Lane, and it’ll cost you £2 unless you’re a Friend of HCPNR. Jill Howell on 815256 has further details, but time is running out…

Mamma Mia meets its Waterloo: Sadly, a message from the Players announces that, due to various unexpected factors, they have regretfully had to cancel their plans to show the singalong film musical Mamma Mia tomorrow evening. Apologies are sent to all Abba fans who were looking forward to having a go at this event, especially those who have already purchased tickets. Tickets may be returned to the Post Office for a full cash refund, or alternatively please contact the club secretary, Carol Ardley, on 814178 to arrange reimbursement.

The Wine and Social Club: The Club’s October meeting on Monday next, October 12 at the village hall, will feature, most appropriately, a wine tasting, masterminded by Trevor Lewing. Sounds like great fun for those with the stamina. Pace yourself!

Children in Need Ramble: Don’t forget that Malcolm Cleaver is running, well, walking a ramble tomorrow, starting from the village hall at 10.15 am, and wending its gentle way to Rye Harbour, and all with the aim of raising funds for Children in Need, an initiative suggested by CountryFile on the BBC. Potential ramblers – and sponsors – are asked to contact Malcolm either on 814326, or by dropping a note through his door, at 25 Lower Waites Lane. But get your skates on – it’s tomorrow!

Bowls Club Whist Night: Tonight, prompt at 7 pm, the Bowls Club Whist Drives, which have been so popular and well supported over recent years, begin their fortnightly series at the village hall. You are advised to arrive between 6.30 and 6.50 pm to ensure that start really is sharp to time, as there’s a very full evening in store. It’s £4 a head for a hand.

Bash and Bop: Summer’s over? Well, yes, that’s as maybe, but for Fairfest, forced to forgo their Summer Bash due to some appalling weather, that Bash will now be taking place in the village hall on Saturday, October 24, at 6.30 pm. The Rye Ukulele Experiment will open the proceedings, to be followed by The Kytes from 7.30 pm. There’s going to be a barbeque and a bar, and you’ll get a burger or a sausage plus salad along with a lot of fun having a dance or two. The £8 tickets are on sale at the Post Office, or you could call Jennifer on 812476,

First Responders last Saturday: An interesting morning in support of our First Responders, that smallish group of dedicated, trained and qualified practitioners who provide an invaluable service within our community. Interesting, certainly, but in the event vastly undersubscribed with only a few souls keen to learn, or revise, how to use the defibrillator, or to stop someone choking. Need for either technique could easily hit anyone, any time. If the Responders undertake a similar exercise in the future, go along and learn what to do. It occurs to me that the young and the elderly may be particularly susceptible to choking, though I’ve got no statistical basis for this supposition, and it would be terrible to think of a relative or friend suffering serious complications just because I selfishly hadn’t bothered to understand what the necessary procedure should be. Think about it.

Speakers Corner: The first of this winter’s fortnightly programme is coming up on Wednesday next, October 14 at the village hall at 2.30 pm, when the speaker will be Sam Langley, telling ‘All About Hastings’. Though visitors are always welcome, it makes excellent sense to join at the start of the season, as the whole programme then becomes almost unbelievably cheap.

Battered Hill: Battery Hill was inspected again yesterday, Thursday, and hopefully the dangerous potholes and poor quality surface will soon be dealt with. On the general pothole front, white aerosol spray paint has gone round the burgeoning eyesore just north of the Cove, and on the opposite side of the road. This is a notorious and practically unsolvable perennial problem, largely because it is the exact spot where one of Fairlight’s many underground streams comes up for air. Whatever they do, just wait until some autumn rain and frost get into it, and it’ll all begin again.

Fairlight Hall Lunch and Lecture Series: The penultimate date in this series comes up on Tuesday next, October 13, when, from 10.30 am to 2 pm, the Hall’s Head Gardener Peter Godwin, will be shedding light on the Seaside Garden. This will cover the preparation of the ground, assessment of local conditions, how to cope with wind and salt, the creation of shelter, a seaside design, seaside-proof plants, and the choice of the right plant for the right place. The cost is £35 per person. The final talk in this year’s series will be in November, and we’ll tell you all about it later on.

What? When? Where?: That’s your first three questions, then, ready for the What? of the Residents Association Quiz, which is When? on Saturday, October 17 from 7.30 to 10 pm at Where? why, at the village hall. Tickets are £4 each, though you have to take your own food, drinks and glasses. There’s a very good suggestion that you make up a team with like-minded souls from your own club or society. We haven’t mentioned the Who? which is quizmaster Alan Grant, posing the problems for all to solve. Those tickets are, inevitably, available at the Post Office.

Valerie Tryon at Fairlight Hall: As previously, Geoff Wyatt is behind Valerie Tryon’s forthcoming second Fairlight piano recital. She will play at Fairlight Hall on Saturday, November 21 at 7 pm. Tickets are £23 each, a sum which includes a programme, a glass of wine or a beverage or juice. Valerie’s programme will include pieces by Scarlatti, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Ravel, Gershwin and Chopin. Those tickets are available by post from G.Wyatt, 33 Waites Lane, Fairlight, TN35 4AX. Please makes cheques payable to Fairlight P.C.C., and ensure that you enclose a stamped addressed envelope. All profits will go to St Andrews Church Structure Fund.

Fairlight Preservation Trust AGM: This always-on-a-Sunday event will be with us on Sunday week, October 18 in the village hall at 2.30 pm. The Trust thanks Fairlight Bowls Club for the latest donation arising from local clubs, societies and events, and their £100 has been added to the Partnership Funding, now totalling nearly £4,000 for the Coast Protection Works, Stage III. The Trust has, as ever, been very busy on our behalf in the last twelve months, so diary that AGM time and date now, and don’t miss it!

The Marsham Conservatives’ Autumn Buffet Lunch: is a fortnight away tomorrow, on Saturday October 24 at the village hall. The speaker will be The Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. She is, more familiarly, ‘our’ MP, but this event is notable for being probably the first time a full member of the cabinet has made a formal appearance in our village. (Unless you are better informed than I am) (Last year, the Chief Whip, Sir George Young Bt CH MP, came to the Spring Lunch, but although the Chief Whip attends Cabinet Meetings, he is not usually a full member.) Cost of the lunch is £12 per ticket, so no inflation there! Tickets for the event can be reserved by calling Ann Bird on 813636. Better details follow next Friday.

Village choir: The Village Choir will be presenting a concert in aid of St Michaels Hospice a week tomorrow, on Saturday, October 17 at 7 pm in Pett Parish Church. Despite the time clash with the FRA Quiz, it’s nice to have options and if you’d like to ‘get with the beat’, you know where to go…

Busyart: This local art and craft club for children still finds itself with some spaces for a few more budding artists. Children of 5+ just love this kind of activity, and they should tell their parents that the club meets each Monday afternoon at 3.45 for an hour. The cost is £2, and the kids have fun with all sorts of materials and then produce some amazing works of art! All children aged 5 and over are welcome. Contact Wendy on [email protected] for more details.

Macmillan Coffee: An update on Fairlight’s Macmillan Coffee Morning, for which Sue Clarke tells me the funds have been swollen since the event, and the new total is now £876.50 – an excellent outcome. Meanwhile, we learn from Lisa that Hairbase had been running an ongoing coffee and a cake event for their customers, with the amount collected totalling an astonishing £190.82. Brilliant!

Speedwatch: Many of us stare in wonder while walking Waites Lane, astonished that vehicles can reach Brands Hatch speeds on a poorly surfaced village main artery. The risk to life and limb is considerable, and several people may feel they’d like to do something about it. Now there comes a note from Cllr Chris Saint, pointing out that the chance is there, if you would care to join the team of 23 people on Speedwatch. He points out that the times of the monitoring sessions are variable and can easily be tailored to fit in with your normal domestic life. You’ll be trained to use the equipment and able to swap sessions with other team members in adjacent parishes, should it be necessary. And finally – and contrary to folklore – you will be appreciated by the vast proportion of the community and often thanked by drivers as well as passers-by.

Cliff Report: A report on the state of the cliff erosion and its management, with our Laurie Beetham as one of the three authors, has been released for all to read. Among many fascinating details, it highlights the fact that the village has put itself firmly behind the ongoing scheme, now at Stage III. Please read it – you will learn much about the problems Fairlight faces. Laurie Beetham is a volunteer who monitors the cliffs and the performance of the protective pumps, and also takes parties down the cliff so they can examine things for themselves. He is truly one of a kind, and deserves all the thanks and plaudits we can give him!

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