Fairlight

Brookfield, Broadway

A busy church on Sunday… this weekend, starting with Holy Communion at St Peter’s at 8 am, with the service being led by the Rector, Rev Richard Barron. Up the hill for the important Remembrance Day Service St Andrew’s at 10.30 am, with Rev Frank Rowson leading, and combining with the British Legion to include the laying of the wreath of poppies and the reading of names of those local men who died for us in the First and Second World Wars. The day finishes with Evening Prayer back at St Peters at 6 pm, led, as is the morning service, by Rev Richard Barron

The Players’ play… opened last night, which means you still have three chances left to see it. It being ‘And This Was Odd’, Kenneth Horne’s light comedy set in the 1950s. At the time of writing, it was full of promise and just wanted an audience to respond and bring it to life. Tickets are available at the Post Office, or on the door before each performance, but the shows this evening and tomorrow are getting very full. Don’t miss your chance to have a smile and a lot of chuckles!

Advance notice…There’s to be a coffee morning at the village hall a week tomorrow, Saturday, November 17, from 10 am to 12 noon. This is a charity that is so deserving of your support, and so it is to be hoped that all those in the village who regularly do their ‘bit’ for good causes will be on parade on the day.

The Parish Council rings the changes… The details of a communiqué received from our Council are summarised below. At the Parish Council meeting in October, Richard Pollard left the council after some five years, much of it as the Parish’s Highways Officer. He did an excellent job keeping County Council Highways and the bus service providers on their toes, and last year’s improved bus timetable must owe a great deal to his input. He will be sorely missed on the Parish Council - and in the village - when he moves house.

Richard’s departure creates a vacancy on the PC, and this will be advertised to be filled by election (unopposed if there is only one candidate). If no-one stands for election the Council may fill the vacancy by co-opting a suitable person. If you are interested in joining the Parish Council please get in touch with the Chairman, Andrew Mier, or any councillor. Anyone who feels they have skills or interests which could benefit the community would be very welcome - it’s not confined to taking over Richard’s responsibilities.

Though she remains a member of the Planning Working Party, Carole Gallagher has stood down as Planning Officer, and Stephen Leadbetter has taken over as this post. The Council thanks Carole for all her hard work, and welcomes Stephen to his new post.

The PC will soon be setting their budget for 2013-2014. If you have ideas about what you feel the Parish should be doing, please let Andrew Mier, or our Clerk, John Edmunds, at [email protected] , know so that the Council can consider your suggestions and assess the financial implications.

Meanwhile, back to the British Legion again… There is to be a Concert given by the Cranbrook Town Band on Thursday, December 6 at Brede Village Hall, starting at 7.45 pm. Tickets, which are £4 each, will be available on the door. OK, so it’s not here in Fairlight, it’s a little further afield but, after all, the good works of the Legion are spread internationally, as are and have been the efforts of our Armed Forces fighting on our behalf over many years. If you would like more information on the evening, you can obtain it from John May on 01424-882667

A young shy dog… by the name of Luke, captured the attention many when he escaped and evaded capture for ten days recently The Italian greyhound’s colour photo was shown on several power poles in the village, and would have been on lamp-posts, too, if we had any. Spare a few seconds to see how he was finally outwitted by ‘Lukey Jim’ (Jim Saphin!) Just follow this video link to see what actually happened - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys6Y-_0bIQU Enjoy!

This one’s a date for your Diary … After their summer success, Fairfest strike again with one of their interim events that have proved so popular in the last eighteen months or so. It’s a Cheese and Wine evening on Saturday, December 1 in the village hall from 7.30 to 11 pm. Dance and party to music from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. They can’t go back much further, as the cylinders they had from the 00s and the 10s are now sadly worn out and beyond digitising. Tickets are £6.50 each, a sum that includes a glass of wine, are available from Jennifer on 812476, Wendy on 812297 or Margaret on 814866 – or, inevitably, from the Post Office.

Another date for your diary… except it’s the same date. Earlier in the day of the Fairfest ‘do’, (above) it’s time for the Village Hall Fair on Saturday, December 1, and it runs from 12 noon to 3 pm. Most of the stalls, manned by representatives of groups affiliated to the village hall, will be familiar to the dozens and scores of people who come each year in support of this annual event which raises money to keep the hall in the manner to which we have all become accustomed.

The Wine and Social Club… whose meeting next Monday, November 12, will not be the incomparable Heather Woodward, ‘as advertised’, telling of Winston Churchill, as Heather is unable to come at present. Her place will be taken by Ray Schaylor, who will be talking about Ightham Mote, near Sevenoaks, a National trust property.