Icklesham

Wednesday 7 May 11.15am The Funeral took place of Tony Smith, a retired builder, who until recently lived at The Barn Windmill Lane. We extend our deepest sympathy to Nita, his daughter and all his family and friends.

Sunday 11 May 10.30 Parish Eucharist in All Saints.

Saturday 17 MAY. NEW -The May Fair, - an All Day Market in the Memorial Hall from 10.30am until 4.30pm. Lots of stalls especially plants, activities for children, a tombola,cards,jewellery and a “good as new” stall. The Church Ladies team will be providing light refreshments including ploughman’s lunches and cream teas. Donations of cakes,produce,plants and items for the nearly new (not jumble, of course!) would be very much appreciated. These could be brought on the day or to the Hall on Friday (16) afternoon.

Saturday 10 May tomorrow Icklesham Horticultural Society has its plant bring and buy sale and a coffee morning in the Memorial Hall from 10am till 12 noon. If you have any spare plants just bring them along to sell or swap or just come and enjoy coffee and a chat. The Church is already busily preparing for their May Fair(17 May) and with lots of plants to sell will also have a stall at the Coffee Morning.

Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 May the garden of Knockbridge House (off Laurel Lane, Icklesham) will be open between 11am and 5pm as part of the National Garden Scheme for charity. Teas will be served all day and home made lunches will be available between 12.30 and 2pm. There will be a plant stall selling home raised annuals ,perennials and vegetables. Entrance is £3.50. Children are free and dogs on leads are welcome. The hosts Charles and Jo Sandeman-Allen have cherished their garden for 25 years and if you read their article about the garden in the May edition of Icklesham’s excellent Parish Magazine you will appreciate what a fascinating feature it is. It has views to Fairlight and the vegetable gardens are inspired by the potager at Barnsley House, the garden of Rosemary Verey. It even has links with Charles Darwin and perhaps its exotic plants may have been raised from the famous Victorian naturists collections brought back from his explorations. In the 1950s two spinsters, the misses Rogers, employed 3 full time gardeners to establish the garden. In Victorian times a member of the same family, John Rogers , was a scientist and a close friend of Darwin. Rogers developed a garden at Riverhills near Sevenoaks for the introduced plants and some will have got to Icklesham with similar acid soils.

Saturday 26 April The Robin Hood Bonfire Society held its Over 60s Party in the Memorial Hall. Kim Holland reports “ It was well attended and the guests were treated to lunch’ with delicious desserts all washed down with plenty of booze. After lunch they were kept entertained by the local band ‘Ricochet’ , who got a few up dancing. The Society would like to thank all the members who helped on the day and to Ricochet for playing and hopefully will see you all again next year”.

Ricochet R&R will be performing in the Bexhill Festival of Music on Friday 27 June.

Sunday 11 May The Queen’s Head live music 4-6pm Porchlight Smoker play Americana.

Saturday 31 May 7pm at Manor Farm Oast Kate and Syd Mylrea host a Dual Quiz. This is part of their 2014 Fund Raising for Breast Cancer Care. One part of the Quiz is written questions on general knowledge and the rest is picture based. It’s £7 per person and this includes a buffet and a glass of something. There will also be a bar. There is a prize for the top quizzer and another for the top team. Weather can’t be guaranteed and numbers have to be limited so get your team together and book asap. On Sunday 6 July there will be a Garden Party at Manor Farm Oast for the same charity.

Saturday 7 June Icklesham Toddler Group are hosting a 1980s Disco Night in the Memorial Hall from 7.30. Fancy Dress is optional. There is a bar or you can bring your own. plus a raffle plus a BBQ by Hungry Hog Roasts. Tickets are £5 for adults and £2 for children under 12 available from Icklesham Village Stores or text Jane Gillard 07842 654503. All proceeds will go to the new Pavilion Fund.

Would you like to get involved in Ickenham’s Annual Fete and Flower Show on Saturday 2 August? If you would contact the Trust Committee who would be delighted to hear from you.

The New Pavilion Fund has been very well supported and lots of people have spent time and money to enable fantastic progress to be made. However there is another important building which needs help. The Church Tower is the oldest structure in Icklesham dating from 1170 at least.. The overall cost to repair it is estimated to be over £63000. The Fund has £25000 in it and the Parochial Church Council has approached a number of grantmaking bodies and by the summer the Church will know if it will receive the essential cash. Mr Richard Crook, the senior partner of John D. Clarke Architects, Eastbourne will be involved. He was responsible for the complete restoration of the window of the Manor Chapel a few years ago.

A recent donation has been made in memory of Mrs Pauline Firth for the Church Tower Appeal which totalled 3623.70. The Church thanks all the donors especially Tom Firth.

Laurie Bowman, Magpies, Oast House Field