Fairlight

Next Wednesday is the first in the month, and that signals another bash at the Messy Church. Regulars will know that it takes place in the village hall, not St Peter’s. A wise move, I’m sure.

And remember that a fortnight tomorrow, on Saturday, October 17, it will be St Andrew’s Autumn Fair in the village hall from 11 am to 3 pm, with lunches starting at 12 noon. The fair includes stalls, a tombola, games, a mini-auction and a raffle. All proceeds to St Andrew’s Church, a most deserving cause in our village.

MOPPs: Today, Friday, October 2, the Regency Singers will be entertaining the members, and there’s a star prize for the raffle. Today’s lunch consists of roast chicken followed by trifle. On Friday next week, October 9, well-known local speaker Ken Brooks will recount ‘The Rock-A-Nore Story’, and the lunch will be bacon pudding plus rice pudding and jam to follow.

Saturday night at the movies: A week tomorrow it’s the Players’ singalong with the Meryl Streep musical film Mamma Mia showing at the village hall at 7.30. Your £7 ticket includes selected cinema snacks, so get along, clear your throat and get singing. You know all the tunes, and the words will be on the screen if you’ve forgotten any of them. Tickets are at the Post Office, or they can be reserved by calling Carol Ardley on 814178.

Saving Corfu Donkeys: After a generous response from residents, the hall was well and truly filled last Saturday with raffle prizes and loads of tasty cakes, and the organisers waited for the crowds. Unfortunately only a dozen people turned up! At the end it took over two hours to clear the hall, leaving a big load of items. Nevertheless, many thanks are due to all those who donated items, and all unsold items were re-donated to the RSPCA and other charities.

Harold Road Surgery at Fairlight: OK, you missed the first of the season’s ‘flu jab sessions yesterday. But there are still two more to come, on October Thursdays 15 and 29, between 10 and 11 am on each occasion.

First Responders: Tomorrow, Saturday, October 3, it’s the time for our First Responders to hold their Coffee Morning in the village hall, from 10 am to 12 noon. Time to brush up your knowledge – or learn from scratch – life saving techniques over a cup of coffee. Chokin’ Charlie will be awaiting your attention! Always a popular event to attend, and more basically beneficial than many others. Certainly not one to be missed!

Rosemary Lane closure: As we observed last week, Rosemary Lane will be closed next week for three days on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, October 7, 8 and 9. The daily closure each day will be from 9.30 am and 3.30 pm. A diversion using Battery Hill and Peter James Lane will be in place.

The Real Deal: The Bowls Club’s winter series of fortnightly Whist Drives starts at 7 pm sharp next Friday, October 9. Those intending to participate should get there between 6.30 and 6.50 pm. The evening will cost £4 for you to take a hand. These card evenings are usually very well supported, so if you want to be part of it, do get there early.

A Ramble for Children in Need: Inspired by a prompt on the BBC’s CountryFile, village resident Malcolm Cleaver is going on a ramble, starting from the village hall at 10.15 am on Saturday next, October 10, and making its way to Rye Harbour to raise funds for Children in Need. He’s not intending to go on his own, and if you’d like to take part, please give Malcolm a call on 814326, or drop a note through his door, at 25 Lower Waites Lane. Keen ramblers should thoroughly enjoy this event, especially if the weather stays as it has been for the past few days, but please remember that it is not merely participants who are important, but sponsors, too. For them, the same details apply for calling Malcolm or leaving a note. Please support this initiative.

Burger Bash and Bop: Fairfest have re-scheduled their rain-soaked Summer Bash, making it an event safely indoors at the village hall on Saturday, October 24, commencing at 6.30 pm. First up will be the Rye Ukulele Experiment, right from the opening, with the Kytes following at 7.30 pm. Also starting at 6.30 pm along with the ukuleles will be the barbeque and the bar, and your ticket will see you get a burger or sausage with salad. It promises to be a fun evening with plenty of opportunity to sing and dance – whatever takes your fancy! Tickets are on sale at the Post Office, price £8 each. If you can’t get to the Post Office, call Jennifer on 812476, or by email to [email protected], or contact any Fairfest committee member. Don’t miss this Bap and Bop night!

Gardening Club: October’s meeting will feature Christopher Rudd, talking of ‘The Weald of Kent and Sussex’, which includes Bateman’s and Sissinghurst. It starts in the village hall at 2.30 pm on Monday next, October 5. As usual, visitors are welcome at £2 a head.

Apart from the monthly meetings and the area enhancing containers of flowers, the Club’s most notable presence in the community is the two hours each Saturday when the Club trading hut is open, just south of Fairlight Gardens. And this is to remind you that tomorrow and the following four Saturdays in October are the final chances to purchase all your autumn gardening requirements before the hut and its rostered staffing take a three month break. Get your soil improvers now!

Parish Council Meeting: September’s PC meeting was chaired, smoothly, by Cllr Rev Val Gibbs, with Cllr Andrew Mier away on his hols. 11 members of the public were present, and possibly the most important item, in the light of the ongoing furore about the 101 bus service, was the announcement that Stagecoach’s Operations Manager and/or the Assistant Operations Manager will be coming to the October meeting on Tuesday 27. Just as at their bus stops, you can expect queuing in all parts! It was noted that the refurbishment and restoration of our fingerposts (signposts to you and me!) has been accomplished to excellent effect. The removal of the old dog bins has been completed, this being the old bins for dog waste, not the bins for old dogs. The need for a bin with a lid at the children’s playground on Wood Field rec. was reiterated, with only local foxes objecting. The salt bins have not been replaced as yet, though the actual replacement models have been selected, and plans to lay the bases are ready. The problem, and it is quite a big one, is that the old bins cannot be moved without a lot of very hard work to empty them of the heavy solid mass of supersaturated salt and water. Perhaps the Manager of the Dead Sea would like to take the contents away, or would that be a bit like coals to Newcastle? You would need a chain gang to clear each bin, and they are in short supply locally.

The invaluable clearance and tidying of various parts of our section of Knowle Wood undertaken by Cllr Dave Thatcher with Paul Reid and their trusty team was rightly praised. Even their bonfires are discreet and inoffensive!

Autumn Migration Watch: The Friends of HCPNR invite you to join local ornithologist, Andrew Grace, for a gentle walk through the Country Park Nature Reserve to observe the movements of various migrating birds from different vantage points in this scenic area. It will be on Saturday next, October 10 starting at 8 am. You should meet at the Hastings Country Park Visitor Centre, Lower Coastguard Lane, and there is a charge of £2 to take part, though the event is free to Friends of HCPNR. If you’d like more details, call Jill Howell on 815256, or visit the Friends’ website, which is to be found at www.friendsofhastingscountrypark.org

Stage III of the Cliff Preservation Scheme: All the pledges of financial support have now been honoured, apart from one, which is on the way. It is disappointing, though not wildly unexpected, to learn that the price of the rocks needed to infill the gap between the two existing berms has increased. One hopes this will not impede progress after so much work and willing support has been forthcoming to date in the cause of saving Fairlight from a watery end.

Battery Hill: Nothing has happened to improve the ghastly state of the ascending side of this road, under the darkly overhanging canopy approaching the Coastguard Lane turn. One wouldn’t expect an instant solution, but it would be reassuring to learn when remedial action might be on the cards.

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