Fairlight

Christian Aid Week 2014 is coming to an end, having begun on Saturday last with the traditional Coffee Morning at St Peter’s, which raised an incredible £295. Let’s hope that the village has responded during the last six days in bumper style yet again.

Next Sunday, May 25 you may like to go on the Rogation Walk. This will start from St Peter’s at 3 pm and wend its way to the boundary stone outside Pett Village Hall, across the fields. Following a brief service at the boundary stone at 4 pm, all will repair to the Methodist Hall for refreshments. Other walks will commence at St Nicholas, Pett Level at 3 pm and St Mary and St Peter, Pett starting at 3.40 pm. Pets are welcome and will receive a blessing at the short service. Walking shoes are advisable if the weather has been wet. Maps are available in church or you can receive one by email from [email protected]

The Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS) is looking for volunteers to help with Summer Holiday Ventures between 26 July and Aug 10. The kind of help required is peeling spuds, helping supervise games and acting as general dogsbodies to assist wherever needed. Just like being at home, then. If you are interested, or would like more information please either call 0300 123 0780 or email [email protected]

It’s Vegas Night tonite… which may just about warrant the slick, pop spelling (which actually only saves you one letter!) because there’s bang up-to-date fun to be had at the village hall this evening – you can bet on it! £7.50 gains you admission to the world of roulette, blackjack, magic, a bar and a buffet. It’s a Fairfest event, so you’ll be in good hands. You play for tokens, and he or she who amasses the most will win a prize.

Additionally, this event is marker for the count-down to Fairfest proper, the third iteration of the manifairfestation that is our very own biennial music and arts festival. Only ten weeks to go come Sunday for the main attraction this year which is on Sunday, July 27, for a very full ten hours starting at midday. Much more on this great day out nearer the time

The Tuesday Ladies Club… meets next week on May 20, when Graham Albon’s talk is entitled Coast to Coast in Costa Rica. Capital of this smallish country, sandwiched between Nicaragua and Panama, is San José, which may make you remember the Burt Bacharach and Hal David song Do You Know the Way to San José, a massive hit for Dionne Warwick. Well, you can forget that link, which would not be out of place on Radio 2, ‘cos the song is about the other San José, the one in California. Oh, just go along and hear Graham. He starts at 2.15 pm, and non-members, including the gentlemen, are welcome on payment of a small fee.

You have only got this weekend… to get your nominations in for the John Lutman Award for Community Service, made each year by the Parish Council in honour of the late John Lutman, a Parish Councillor for over 30 years and a past Chairman of Rother District Council. Nominations are sought for this year’s award, and the closing date for their receipt is Monday next, May 19. There are paper forms in the Post Office for you to complete, or you could email Council Chairman Andrew Mier at [email protected]. Apart from Parish Councillors, who are not eligible, anyone who has given community service in Fairlight could be in line to receive the award. The award consists of a shield, which is held for a year and a cheque for £100 payable to the good cause of the winner’s choice, and all will be revealed and presented at the Annual Parish Assembly on Friday, May 30 at 6.30 pm.

The Floral Club meeting … on Thursday next, May 22, will consist of an imposed practice - making a hat for Ascot. Take along your normal floral toolbox, five or six flowers and two or three leaves of ivy or suchlike. A pedestal or tall, slim vase is best for this sort of arrangement, and the rest of your requirements can be supplied at a small cost. The Club’s normal sales table will be running for those items you’ve forgotten or run out of! If you don’t wish to take part, still go along and lend your support to those who do.

You won’t have forgotten that the following Thursday sees the Club’s outing to the Flower Festival in Chichester, leaving the Circle at 9.45 am. You’ll be back home at about 6.30 pm

Sounds fishy…? And so it should, because it’s the Fishy band we’re talking about and they’ll be in concert on Saturday, June 7 at 7.30 pm at The Coffee Box, The Hastings Centre on the Ridge.

Tickets are £5 each from The Centre or Stone Corner, High Street, or from members of Fishy, or please contact Wendy Hatch at [email protected]. Fishy have performed at Fairfest in the past; they are a local worship band who sing and play various types of music. Joining them will be guest singer-songwriter, the popular Aidan Tigwell of Dorey the Wise, the young local band with a burgeoning reputation. Aidan will be performing both with Fishy, and solo. Profits from the event will go to Christians Against Poverty and The Food Bank. An altogether worthwhile evening is in prospect. Better get your tickets soon.

Kier and/or Southern Water… are to be congratulated on providing another twist to the never-ending saga of temporary (ha!) signage on Waites Lane, round the area of the collapsed bit of sewer opposite the hairdressing salon. The strong winds have laid waste the barrier around the hole, plus the two downhill warnings of (in)activity and road narrowing. They now constitute three separate dangers in their own right, and as it is plainly an offence, as everything seems to be these days, for the public to ‘interfere’ and move stuff to its correct placing, all remains where the wind has kindly left it. The only possible solution is for the contractors to come and place further signs to warn us of the dangerous signs. A few more sharply breezy days and we could have signs warning of signs warning of signs etc. all the way back to Battery Hill. Why is the road collapse not being attended to? Could it be because, as rumour has it, the sewer chamber itself has only three brick sides and not four, the one outside and parallel with Waites Lane being missing. Whether this is due to a failure, or because it was never built in the first place is not clear. There should be some head scratching going on somewhere…

Keith Pollard

Brookfield, Broadway