Fairlight

In our churches this Sunday… we have Parish Communion at St Andrew’s at 10.30 am, and then there’s Evening Prayer at St Peter’s at 6 pm. This will be a special service at which St Luke, who was a doctor by profession, will be remembered. Members of all churches in the Rye deanery are invited. Rector Richard Barron will be leading the service, with Kay Burnett speaking.

On Sundays, October 20 and 27, they are going to be looking at the subject of Giving to God and, pertinently, the church treasurer will be giving an update on the latest financial situation at the church.

Spring Forward, Fall back… from November 3 until the end of March 2014, the 6 pm services at St Peter’s will actually commence, as last year, at 4 pm. A repeat of a highly sensible move.

Don’t miss, tomorrow… the Autumn Fair in aid of St Andrew’s Church, which will be taking place at the village hall from 11.30 am to 3 pm. Christian Aid Coffee Morning last Sat Autumn Fair VH 11.30 am to 3 pm. There’ll be stalls, cakes, games, raffles and all sorts and, from 12 noon, hot food!

Wear your poppies with pride… it’s that time of the year again, and the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeals Co-ordinator for the Five Villages, John Pulfer, tells me he is presently five door-to-door collectors light for this season’s campaign. He could really do with two collectors for Guestling rounds, two for Pett and one for Fairlight. No round is enormous and, although each patch is allocated to an individual, it is quite common for those doing the job to go round with their partner. The commitment is to cover your allocated area on Saturday and Sunday, October 26 and 27, and then on the two weekends following. Please try to help this most worthy of causes, and give John a call on 814866.

The Preservation Trust... has it’s AGM this Sunday, October 20 in the village hall at 2.30 pm. This work they get through on your behalf is never-ending, and we should all try to be there. New members are welcome, but they are not permitted to vote. See you there, then?

The latest lunch… for Marsham Conservatives is just over a week away, on Saturday, October 26 at the village hall – in Pett this time. Our own MP, Amber Rudd, will be there, and the guest Speaker will be Tunbridge Wells’ MP Greg Clark, a very active campaigner for improvements to the A21. Greg was appointed a Minister of State ten days ago, on October 7. The cost of the lunch with drinks included is £12 a head, and as the event has been publicised for some time already, one imagines Anne Bird, on 813636, would like to know PDQ if you’d like to attend.

Is a puzzlement… at the Residents’ Association Trivia Quiz in the village hall tomorrow, Saturday, October 19, at 7 for 7.30 pm. Tickets are £6 each, which includes food. You take your own drink and glasses. They are looking for teams of six, and they really wanted to know numbers by Wednesday last to aid the catering side. If you meant to book and forgot, give a committee member a call pronto, and you just might get in!

Still not had enough questions…? The next Cove Quiz in the on-going series at the pub will be on Wednesday, October 30 at 7 pm. Definitely the season for wearing thinking caps…

Incidentally, on the Wednesday before the Quiz, October 23, they have another of their extremely popular acoustic nights.

Players’ please… with their latest Murder Mystery plus supper, which was a sell-out last Saturday, and a lot of eager beavers presented very convincing answers to the whodunnit – and several of them actually got it right! The idea of freshly cooked fish and chips was also a success, despite some customers having a bit of a wait. 103 meals take a bit of doing!

So that’s one murder finished with, but there’s another on the horizon in the shape of their November production, Prescription for Murder, by Norman Robbins, which will be on-stage from Thursday 7 to Saturday 9 November at 7.30 pm each evening, with a 2.30 pm matinée on the Saturday. As ever, tickets are available from Fairlight Post Office, still priced at £6. Regulars will be aware that there’s always a licensed bar for the Friday and Saturday evening shows.

In the past, local residents have been most helpful in loaning the Players items for set dressing – usually furniture – that the group are having difficulty in locating. November’s production is short of a glass fronted bookcase, not too large, and a fairly compact two seat sofa. Carol Ardley is dressing the set, and if you could help out, please give her a ring on 814178.

Fairlight’s branch of the Trefoil Guild… meets next Wednesday, October 23 from 10 am to 12 noon. After an ‘away’ fixture in Icklesham last month, they’re back on their home patch next week in St Peter’s Church. The theme for the morning is Sugar is Sweet, and it’s all about cake decorating. Pipe down at the back there!

The Fairlight Floral Club… was thoroughly well entertained last month by ‘Sophie’s Choice’, a demonstration given by Sophie Beaney, which led to a superlative choice being available when her arrangements were raffled at the end. This month’s meeting is coming up next Thursday, October 24 at 2.15 pm in the village hall, when there will be a practice meeting entitled ‘Halloween’. Visitors are assured of a very warm welcome in an informal atmosphere. A note for your diaries that a Christmas demonstration of floral art entitled ‘Five Gold Rings’ will take place on Thursday, November 28. If you’d like more details, please call Norma Huntley on 01797 223923.

Blind or partially sighted…? Cllr David Thatcher reports on an informative speech given by Derek Brookbank of the East Sussex Association of Blind and Partially Sighted People (ESAB). The Association offers a wide range of services to people, if anyone wants to contact them or knows of someone for whom this could be of benefit the contact details follow. There is an annual membership donation required, though this is small. Among the benefits they offer are an initial visit to your home, offering practical advice and information; training courses to develop skills and confidence in the home; access to aids and equipment, advice, demonstrations, and training; an extensive audio and video library; access to ESAB’s 15 Social Groups.

You can call the ESAB on 01323 832252, or email them at www.eastsussexblind.org,

If you still favour snail mail, their address is East Sussex Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted People, Prospect House, 7-9 George Street, Hailsham, BN27 1AD, Sussex.

Bowler Crab, the Three Oak’s open air Shakespeare company… have been advertising their third production, Measure for Measure, to run on the afternoons of October 26 and 27, and November 2 and 3. However, the run has, prudently and with a possible degree of prescience, been postponed before any number of local Shakespeare aficionados can succumb to hypothermia. Watch this space for rearranged arrangements!

The Tuesday of next week… is the fourth of the month, and that means it’s Parish Council monthly meeting evening, in the village hall at 7.15 pm. Unfortunately, I’m not able to bring you advance notice of the business to be discussed. So you’ll just have to take pot luck, turn up and hope for something gripping and fascinating on the night! Recycling and rubbish should be on the agenda – that’s as a subject, not the content, of course.

At MOPPs today, October 18… the food is an all day breakfast followed by bananas and custard, and Celia King will be along with some chair based exercises. For Friday next, October 25, there’ll be chicken casserole, and then apple and blackberry pie. Entertainment will be from the Puppet Theatre Workshop, though this is to be confirmed (when they’ve pulled the right strings, no doubt!)

Keep your hand in… at the Bowls Club’s Bridge Night. Running in the village hall every other Friday through the darker months, and the second session in this year’s series is this evening. It’s a 6.45 for 7 pm start.

A foretaste of Things to Come…? Monday night saw the first, albeit brief, power cut of the winter. They’re just practising, perhaps…

The Literary Society… meets on Wednesday next, October 23, when the subject will be The History of the Houses of Parliament, with Kevin Gordon the speaker, (of the talk, not the House, though I’m sure he’d be better than Squeaker John Bercow) The place and the time are the village hall at 2.30 pm. Guests are welcome.

Waites Lane racers… were out in force on Sunday afternoon, coming down the hill like it was a F1 home straight. Roll on the day when someone can catch them before they plough in people or horses or horse and trap.

‘Tis the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness… and of embryonic pot holes, growing apace as the nights draw in, the rain falls and the temperature drops. Perhaps the first frost will accelerate the decline, but in the meantime, it’s doing very nicely, thank you. Waites Lane and Broadway are the stars so far, unless you know different. This winter, let’s hope we can get ahead, and not keep playing catch-up, as we so often do.

What’s on, and what was on…? There are several faithful supporters of this column whose much appreciated contributions ensure that their ‘special event’ gets good coverage and publicity in advance – always providing they remember that it takes 5 days to go from my computer to the published, printed page. What is not always forthcoming is the follow up when it’s all over. This is important, because people like to know how much was raised, or how successful it all was. This is especially true for those who went along, but a follow-up also lets those who didn’t go know what they missed, and prompts them to attend when the next event comes along. While the material you read here is almost exclusively Fairlight, you don’t have to live in the village to read it. I believe that many in-village events are attended by people from Hastings, Bexhill, Rye and many other further flung places on the map, just because they happen to have read about them in a Voice. Please keep up the good work by supplying me with notes of your upcoming function – you’ll find it pays off!