Fairlight

Brookfield, Broadway

Two services this Sunday… June 2, firstly at St Andrew’s at 10.30am, when there will be an All Age service, and then later, and down the hill, at St Peter’s at 6 pm, when it’s an Informal Communion service.

Absolutely incredible… At the end of this year’s Christian Aid Week, many very grateful thanks were expressed in church to all the collectors - and to the villagers for their unparalleled generosity. Including gift aid on a number of envelopes (it’s always nice to get a bit out of the Government!) the total amount raised in Fairlight alone this year was in excess of £5,400 - a truly wonderful sum!

MOPPs today… will see Celia King with some chair-based exercises and Pilates. Appetites should be good for a lunch of bacon suet pudding followed by rice and fruit.

Tomorrow, Saturday, June 1… or today if you bought your paper a day late, it’s the Village Hall’s Summer (ha!) Fair, from 12noon to 3pm. Always a popular and well-attended event, this one should be no exception. There’s lots to see and spend a few bob on, starting with those filled jacket pots, which always go down well. As does the Pimm’s! The tombola attracts many customers, as does the Booze Box, with odds of about 200 to 1, compared with over 1,000 to 1 on the National Lottery for a prize of similar value. Try the games, too, somebody is going to be a winner. And the more you try, the bigger the village hall will be the winner, too – which is what it’s all about.

There’s a Charity Auction at the Cove tomorrow night, Saturday, June 1. It starts at 6 pm, so get your wallet, purse and family and go along!

The Gardening Club talk this month… is on Monday next, at 2.30pm in the village hall. It will be Jacqui Aviolet with a botanical quiz. Jacqui gave the members a very entertaining afternoon last year, so this repeat visit is one not to be missed.

It’s time to start thinking about what you are going to enter in the Garden Club Summer Show this year, which will be on Saturday, July 20. See your schedule for details of classes or ring 814178 and Carol will be able to guide you. The show is open to all; it’s a fun competition which includes classes for all the family.

Advance notice… that there will be a Macmillan Coffee Morning to be held in the village hall on Saturday, September 21, from 10am to 12noon. Betty Snow and Sue Clarke are planning a communal event, and they’re hoping all residents will turn out and support it. As usual, this is not really to remind you to go along – that will come later – but to see if you would care to volunteer to be of very real help by running a stall, or providing items for sale, or baking a cake. Betty is on 812694 and Sue on 813006 if you’d like to make contact and a promise to help. After all, the fantastic support Macmillan gives those in need deserves all the support we can give them.

Fairlight Outings are at it again… This time with the offer of a trip to the Robin Cousins’ Ice 2014 Ice Show at the Brighton Centre on Saturday, January 25 next year. The tickets reserved are central gold range tickets at £26.50 each adult plus price of coach and so on. Children’s tickets are £16.25 each, again plus the price of the coach. The trip is to the 4 pm performance. As Christine says – yes, it’s a long way off, but to ensure good seats it is essential to book early. Christine certainly picks a wide variety of events and offers them at reasonable prices. Interested in this one? Contact Christine at email [email protected] or phone 813538.

And in case you’ve forgotten… there’s a trip to the Brighton Centre on Tuesday, October 1 to see The Seekers - the Farewell Tour. Tickets are available for the 7.30 pm performance at £40 each, plus coach and extras. You know the drill by now - contact Christine Jones either by email at [email protected] or phone her on 813538.

Pipped at the post… the Gardening Club’s outing to the Ardingly Show has been postponed as there were insufficient people eager to go. No doubt the unpredictable weather had a lot to do with this. Never mind – there’s always next year…

The Tuesday Ladies Club… were lucky to enjoy a hilarious talk by Frank Rowson dealing mainly with his time as a structural engineer in the Civil Service. Even though Frank was living at the time in Manchester, he started off his career in Hastings, which accounts for his ties to our town. This was in 1969 and he told the Club about the quite ludicrous set-up that was the Civil Service in those days. One can only hope that things have improved! An individual’s office was carpeted according to their job title - vinyl for the minions, a square of carpet for the next promotion and, finally, wall-to-wall when you made it to the top! Frank gave the assembly an example of the sort of problems encountered by building engineers - the famous Sydney Opera House, where the Danish architect had submitted a drawing on an envelope with no proper drawings or building detail. This left the builders facing a nightmare. The shell-shaped roofs are made up of circles of differing sizes and the building still isn’t finished. Frank did not actually work on this project, but cited it as a typical example of architects, who ‘have the dream and builders have to build them – (or live in them)’.

Trevor Lewing joined the meeting to show us his 2012 Fairlight scrapbook which is well worth a read as it is a lovely record of that momentous year.

The ladies club’s next meeting will be very special as they have been lucky enough to get Fiona Hosford to come along and play her harp. They hope that many people will take advantage of her visit and enjoy this special treat. Wine and a finger buffet are included in the £4 asking price. The meeting date is Tuesday, June 18, and it starts at 2.15 pm in, of course, the village hall.

Trefoil’s meeting last week… could be described as “The best made plans of mice and men.....” or perhaps in this instance it should be “The best made plans of mice and Trefoilers...”, for everything went astray at their May meeting. They had planned a bit of orienteering round the village, but they did have, in case of inclement weather, Plan B. So, after having enjoyed a welcoming cup of tea or coffee, they were debating who would do what, when the door opened and our friendly neighbourhood policeman, Nigel Collins, entered. What a lovely surprise! It changed the meeting completely, but nobody minded a bit! All joined together in an extremely illuminating discussion on policing in and around our neighbourhood, Scouting, Guiding and what members of the Trefoil Guild do. The members learnt a good deal and, hopefully, so did Nigel! He was given a copy of the Guild’s programme and went into detail of what each monthly meeting entailed, which ended with a promise from him that he would ‘pop in’ again sometime. The programme planned for the May meeting was safely filed away for another time (it was a bit on the cold side for a ramble round the village, anyway!) Finally, in the last half hour or so of the meeting time, they got down to deciding which classes would be undertaken in the 70th Anniversary Trefoil Guild Challenge, with a few members going off to investigate various ideas put forward.

The next meeting, on Wednesday, June 26 is entitled Midsummer Madness, so anything can happen, and probably will, on the day! The membership is gradually growing but there is always room for more. If you are interested in coming along please just either ‘pop in’ and see what they do or telephone the Chairman, Betty Snow on 01424 812694 for further details.

Where did you get that hat…? Very possibly at a new charity called Fairlight Village Hats. Margaret Pulfer has started this novel facility, a charity hat hire company, and after realising she had a number of hats in her house, mostly sitting there and doing nothing, she has decided to hire them out for a small fee, the more expensive the hat the larger the fee. Prices start from as little as £10 to no more than £35. If you have a hat you no longer require, why not donate it to this charity? Then when you wish to hire a different hat you will be given a 25 per cent discount on all your hiring. Don’t throw your hats away – Margaret will be pleased to purchase hats. The purpose of this venture is to raise funds for any Fairlight Village Charity or Club in need of cash. Call Margaret Pulfer on 814866

Flicks in the Village… is showing ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’ on Thursday, June 6 at Pett village hall, at 7pm for 7.30pm. It’s a pleasant biographical comedy-drama that stars Bill Murray as Roosevelt, Laura Linney as his distant cousin Daisy, Samuel West as King George VI, Bertie, and Olivia Colman as his Queen, Elizabeth, it charts the President’s affair with his cousin.

Bowls Club update… Since the opening of the green on April 20, the club members have enjoyed their bowling despite the cold winds, with Fairlight winning five of the seven games played. Heavy rain has put paid to three matches. The social events have been a great success, enjoyed by all. This week’s Bank Holiday Monday led to a full afternoon of bowling in some long overdue sunshine.

The club now has its own website, updated regularly with match results, a photo gallery and club details. The site is at fairlightbowlsclub.org and a visit may tempt you to join this friendly club, which is always looking for new bowlers. If you would like to chat about joining, call Sylvia on 813518 or membership secretary Ray Weston on 717208.

Potholes… come in all shapes and sizes, like single ones, often quite big and quite deep, and relatively vast areas, where the whole top surface to a depth of about two inches has disappeared. Waites Lane has several of the latter, particularly north of the Broadway corner, and a number on the east side a bit further up. None can compare with the major string of single holes, soon to combine into a veritable pit, on Fairlight Road as you approach Martineau Lane. They need repairing before someone is lost in action.

Personal note to the filthy, disgusting animal who permitted his or her dog to foul the verge outside my house, and kindly left it there for me to clear up. If I can I find out who you are, I shall ensure the safe return of your property – through your letter box.