Fairlight village voice

While you’re there… the church tower will be open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 2 to 5 pm, commencing in May and carrying on right through the summer. There are astounding views from the top, and it is well worth climbing the spiral steps. What do you mean, vertigo?

Here at last… The village hall trestle Sale is tomorrow, Saturday, May 5 in the village hall, which it will, naturally, be supporting. With 13 trestles (but who’s superstitious?) and a greater variety than has sometimes been the case, it will be well worth a look. You’ll have between 10 am and 12 Noon to make your purchases and partake of some refreshments.

Not this week… but next, on Wednesday, May 16 at 7.30 pm to be exact, it’s the AGM of the Fairlight Residents’ Association. You will probably be eager to attend anyway but, as further temptation, there will be a complimentary glass of wine or two on arrival!

You have been told… wrongly, as it turns out. The public exhibition about the planned future for the Market Garden site was reported as coming up on Friday, May 11. This is not true, for the meeting will be at the Cove Public House on Thursday, May 10. The time is between 4 and 7 pm. As access to the new development would be via The Circle, Bramble Way and Smugglers Way, affected locals may be keen to know what this would mean in terms of traffic - and building supplies and heavy machinery movements during the building phase of the project. And human nature being what it is, it would appear to be more than likely that 22 housefuls of new residents would take the short cut back up the slope to reach Shepherds Way – Waites Lane. Get along on Thursday, then, and soak up all the detail you can about the plans, and then formulate your own response.

It’s pleasing to report… that our MP, Amber Rudd, held a well-attended, positive meeting in the village hall last Friday, answering, commenting and agreeing (mainly) or disagreeing with multifarious points raised by a number of her constituents. After the public meeting, at which our County, District and Parish Council Chairman were all contributors, Amber held a one-to-one surgery by appointment with several individuals privately.

The Parish Council AGM… was held last Tuesday week, and the projects to improve Wood Field Rec., the Children’s play area on Wood Field, the new bollards on the circle, and extra salt bins against the inclement weather have all been satisfactorily concluded. This meeting was followed by the Annual Parish Assembly, which featured the same cast as the earlier meeting, with the difference being that more of the public could have their say. And they did!

A trip to the Ardingly Show… is on the cards for Thursday, June 7. The Gardening Club are the organisers, and they remind us that you only have until Bank Holiday Monday, May 7 to get yourself booked and paid for (at £20 per head). Either go along to the Club’s monthly meeting on Monday next, Bank Holiday, or contact Betty Snow on 812694 before you run out of time. Monday afternoon’s talk is to be about Pett Level Rescue Boat, to be given by Steve Hill.

Fairlight Art Club Annual Exhibition and Wine and Cheese Evening… will all be happening on Saturday May 12 from 6 to 9pm. Tickets are only £3 in advance from the Post Office or from Just Property (who are sponsoring the evening). Alternatively you can phone 812587, 813104 or 813833. Arrival and payment on the day will cost you an extra 50p! This event is among the highest rated in our Fairlight year.

A performance of the highest class … can be expected at St Andrew’s Church, on Thursday, May 10, 7.30 for 8.00 pm, when there will be an organ recital given by David Flood, who is Canterbury Cathedral Organist and Master of the Choristers. Music lovers should not miss this wonderful opportunity.

The Parish Council… has learned of an enthusiastic volunteer interested in the vacant Parish Councillor post. Stephen Leadbetter may be relatively new to the village, but he is totally hooked on it, and is the sort of fellow to contribute to the life of a place that he finds ideal. His co-option should be completed at next month’s Council Meeting.

And also at that meeting… the Council will say a reluctant good-bye to Rod Tice, their excellent Clerk over the past four years. However, the Council is now looking forward to working with their new Clerk, who is to be Tony Cox, formerly Clerk to Icklesham Council.

After a thinnish start… the Players’ Maria Marten took off with a vengeance, vengeance (if you saw it, you’ll understand!), and ending up with the third highest attendance ever, behind last year’s Not Now Darling and the earlier Habeas Corpus. Riotously funny, though leavened with pathos and tragedy, the play encouraged some Olympic Gold booing – and much global standard laughter. The Players would urge you not to miss next November’s production, or the one in April after that!

One week from today… the June edition of Fairlight News will be put to bed by Editor Richard Pollard. Get all your contributions to him at [email protected], or give him a ring him on 812754, or put your copy through his door at to Tanamera, 3 Rockmead Road, Fairlight TN35 4DJ. ‘Singing in the Rain’… well, we’ve all had enough of that, thank you, and the Christine Jones’ trip under the banner of Fairlight Outings, is fully booked. Now there’s news of a very reasonable special deal to see ‘The Wizard of Oz’ on July 25, I believe. Contact Christine on 813538 if you’d like to join her on the Yellow Brick Road.

MOPPS 1940’s period costume competition… last Friday saw 90 years old Eddie Prior the winner, in his original Flying Officer’s uniform, only a mite tight, with Jean Swift’s wrap-around pinnied charlady second, Esther de Vries as Gert (or was it Daisy?) third and Elaine Wales’ Land girl fourth. Charles Perez from Just Property and Keith Pollard were the judges. In haste, I hope I’ve got the names right, and will apologise and correct them if I haven’t.

The First Eleven… of Open Gardens round the village will be opening up on Saturday, June 24. Watch out for details and leaflets shortly. Admission will cost you a suggested £5 for all eleven gardens, and there are to be stalls along the way. This event is in support of our three First Responders, so it’s a must for your attendance (apart from some healthy nosiness!)

Four warned… Fairlight’s Street Party will be happening on Broadway on Monday, June 4, from 4 to 6.30 pm. The Sunday has been given a miss as there will be so much more going on elsewhere, and many may wish either to go to London, or to watch it all on the telly. More details will follow soon.

The Village Hall AGM was held on Monday… With 12 representatives of affiliated groups and clubs present, and only a few missing, the Officers and Committee were returned en bloc, a highly suitable comment on the way they run our hall. After the reports and accounts, there was considerable discussion about the need for clubs and groups to ensure that attendees at their respective functions do not park near the corner on Broadway or up Waites lane – or even, as has happened recently, down Waites Lane. The police will be watching out for infringements – you have been warned!

Hooray! Road open… The Fairlight Road should be clear through to Ore from tomorrow, Saturday, May 5 onwards, which will be a great relief for all of us, and especially the bus company, which has suffered damage to no fewer than 8 buses involving wing mirrors and more through meeting HGVs over the past three weeks. Incidentally, the ivy-covered, paint-stripping tree on the west side of Martineau Lane has been removed, and it has been amusing to watch hardened locals still avoiding it by snaking round an imaginary chicane! Several potholes in the village have been filled, but it has taken three bites to do them. I guess they’re only allowed to have one bucket of stuff at a time. They certainly have not brought enough to fill the major offender a little way before Martineau Lane on the south side of Fairlight Road. They will need more than a bucket or two to deal with Waites Lane itself going up past Broadway – it appears to have terminal smallpox.

Since Friday, April 27… there has been a 40 mph speed limit down Battery Hill. This is not, as one observer commented, ‘up from 30 mph’. There are to be white lines from the Picnic Area down the hill and all the way up Waites Lane to the Circle, and this work will be completed shortly, at night, so as not to lead to any road closures. After the lines are down, police cameras may well be up as they set up a cashpoint. They’ll take your cash and give you points – so stop speeding now!

As I write, bathed in the last of the warm April sunshine, I must tell you that the village is awash with many accounts circulating concerning the astounding recent achievements of the world-renowned, half Spanish/half German Rainmaker José-Pepe Bann.

Keith Pollard, Brookfield, Braodway