Fairlight

The Pantomime Group: There’s under a week left before this year’s panto, Rapunzel, opens its doors from Thursday 22 to Saturday 24 January. Tickets are available at the Post Office at £6 for adults and £3 for children for Thursday, Friday and Saturday matinee, and £6 for all seats on Saturday evening. Book now or you’ll regret it!

MOPPs now and then: Now being today, Friday, January 16, when the members can enjoy Bob and Dec’s Famous Quiz, with a roast beef luncheon to follow, with fruit jelly for pudding. Then is next Friday, with Keith Osbourne’s Music for Health. Next Friday’s meal will be bacon pudding, with banana custard to round things off.

Quiz night: Yes, there’s another Quiz Night at the Qove, sorry, Cove. It starts at 8 pm on Wednesday next, January 21, and will only cost you £1 to participate, a humble fee that includes free sandwiches. The quiz supremos are Bob and Dec, but don’t go along if you’ve heard their quiz at MOPPs today thinking you’ll know all the answers– they’re sure to have different questions!

The Players: The group’s new play, The Cat and the Canary, has begun its journey towards an April run, with a read-through last Monday and the auditions last night. Next week it is hoped you will learn who will be entertaining you on those warm, balmy post-Easter evenings. The play features some shocks for those who welcome a quick adrenaline boost, but there are as many laughs as shrieks in store.

The Tuesday Ladies Club: has its first meeting of 2015 on Tuesday next, January 19 at 2.15 pm in the village hall. The subject will be Hearing Dogs, which are those remarkable animals that are able to help humans who are hard of hearing, not the sounds you cannot escape when trying to sleep on a hot summer’s night. Also on the agenda are Margaret Pulfer’s hats, the charitable hat hire facility run in the village, unsurprisingly, by Margaret Pulfer.

Speakers Corner: Next Wednesday, January 20, the group’s speaker will be Helena Wojtczak on the subject of Notable Sussex Women. It’s in the village hall at 2.30 pm.

One to go!: To complete the Emergency coverage, Cllr. Jennifer Annetts is still seeking the final Emergency Street Warden to cover the section of Pett Level Road from the corner of Waites Lane to Wakehams Farm Shop and to the boundary of Fairlight. If you feel you can take this on or know anyone who can, please contact Jennifer on 812476, or by email to [email protected]

The Playgroup’s Grand Jumble Sale: Always extremely popular, this year’s annual fund-raiser is on Saturday, February 28 from 10 am to 12.30 pm. However, to make sure it continues the success established by their previous events, the Playgroup needs your sensible, desirable donations to make it work for the hordes of customers they are bound to attract. So, start your spring cleaning early, have a good turf out of good stuff you no longer need, and call Nicole on either 814284 or 0778 890 1009, and she will arrange for collection. Electrical items, I’m afraid, cannot be accepted.

Your Community Shop: Don’t forget the next Community Shop Information Event from 10 am to 12 noon on Saturday, January 31 in the village hall. There, you will be able to find out about the vision and services for the community shop based on the business plan, and have the opportunity to try some food from potential suppliers. There will be the chance to invest and influence the future of the shop for as little as £10 to become a member, with the launch the community shares scheme. So far, the Management Committee is shaping up well with a range of skills and expertise on board. Their Business Plan is complete, alongside the Community Investment Prospectus. Fairlight Village Shop Ltd. has now been officially registered as an Industrial and Provident Society for Community Benefit. Now that the legal structure has been established, they are in the position of being ready to start the planned fundraising process for purchasing Fairlight PO and Shop. We are pursuing a range of finance sources to acquire and develop the proposed venture. The committee has secured its first £2,000 grant from The Plunkett Foundation which is paying for an independent valuation of the asset, the Post Office Consultant, and the fees for the company registration. They have been invited to have their first meeting with the Power for Change Grant Scheme, which should take place this month. They will be sending round the Community Investment Prospectus a few days before the event for you to review.

Recycling collections: Eight days ago, Kier finally got round to the collection of Broadway’s Christmas recycling and bottle waste, a 23 day turn-round that should have been 15 days. Once it was all gone, you tend to forget the irritation of having a full bin and boxes parked on the perimeter of the property for all that time. However, I for one would be very wary if I were to be invited to a booze-up in a brewery if I learned that Kier were organising it. And perhaps this proves my point - as this copy prepares to wing its way to the Editor, this week’s recycling collection is already a day behind. I’ll be watching the bin through the day. Once more!

Pothole purgatory: The prime offender remains on the west side of Martineau Lane, on the straight, open stretch shortly before the tree tunnel. It is becoming a genuine rim-wrecker, and will catch you unawares if approaching traffic prevents your avoiding it. When it has rained (and when, lately, has it not rained?), it has the look of a smallish puddle – another trap for Ethelred and anyone like him.

Assault and Battery Hill: Added to the Martineau Lane horror, the south side of Battery Hill, nearing St Andrew’s, is attacking all vehicles going up the road towards Ore. Not merely unpleasant to drive over, it seems to be affecting basic vehicle stability, which must be bad news when ice and worse can be expected any time soon.

Keith Pollard

Brookfield, Broadway