Iden

ALL ALONE IN THE PARK: Tomorrow, the park in Iden will be crowded and full of stalls, as the fete gets underway, but last week, for an hour or so my husband and I and my son's dog were the only ones in the park, and it was one of those moments of unimaginable silence. I sat reading on a bench while my husband went off with the dog and I was alone in the park. In my sometimes overactive imagination, the park became a huge living room, furnished by nature. The sky above was the ceiling [ minus light fittings of course], the grass the carpet, and the scattering of benches something akin to settees straight out of Homes and gardens. It was one of those moments you could gather up and store forever in a Tupperware box. Likewise we went to New Bridge to do some fishing, and the silence there was only broken by the ripples in that lovely meandering river. I missed the Johnny Morris, '˜Tales Of The Riverbank' of my youth [remember Johnny Morris who did all those voices for riverbank creatures?] The flowers on the banks of the river are tufty and different, and the water lilies, the swimmers of the horticultural world seemed so sure that they belong there in the water and not on land. Isn't silence wonderful when there is a special place to enjoy it? Whoever thought to call silence golden was right on the ball. I wonder if they lived in Iden, and had been alone in the park?

IMPORTANT MESSAGE: There has been some worry during this hot, dry spell about the dry grass in fields and parks. During Iden fete it would be appreciated if people stubbed out cigarettes with particular care, and that those people cooking with fire at the fete would have an available fire extinguisher at the ready just in case. We will be using other people’s fields for parking, so we owe them our consideration.

TOMORROW IS IDEN FETE. PUT THE FLAGS OUT!: Iden fete has everything a fete should have, children’s rides and a bouncy castle, live music, a bar, ice cream vans, a cake stall, a cocoanut shy, cream teas in the pavilion, side shows, food stalls, a dog show and of course a burger bar. Then of course there is ‘Bargains Galore’, a mammoth sale of clothing, bric-a-brac, small furniture, books, toys, and linens. The fete also has the added attraction of a huge Boot Fair.

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WHEN DOES THE FETE START?: The fete starts at 12 noon. The boot fair begins in the morning, and goes on all day.

WHERE IS THE FETE?: The fete is held in the park by Iden church.

THE GREAT IDEN FETE BALL: Don’t think it’s over when the fete’s over. There will be a ‘GREAT IDEN FETE BALL AT THE Iden ‘Bell’ after the fete at 6pm until late. There is a live band, so the fun just goes on and on!

SPECIAL THANKS: Special thanks to Vicky and the fete committee for arranging this mammoth undertaking. Vicky and AJ run ‘The Bell’, our pub, and Vicky has given up a lot of time to being the fete’s secretary [no mean task.] Thank you all for your hard work. The fete committee will be seen around stalls wearing red t-shirts, and are there to help. Many of fete committee have been giving up their time and their brawn for years.

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A DATE FOR THE DIARY-----THE PUB QUIZ: On every third Wednesday of the month, our pub, The Bell have a quiz beginning at 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome. The next one is on 15th August.

A CHANGE IN THE CHURCH SERVICE: There is no service this week at Iden Church. The Service of Holy Communion will be held at Playden Church at 11am this Sunday.

HEAVEN ON WHEELS: There is a lovely ice cream van at Rye Harbour, with a few chairs outside to sit and catch the drips of a cherries and cream cone, a chocolate or a honeycomb or just a plain down to earth vanilla. It takes ages to choose a flavour, so a double cone is a great option. Rather than hold up the queue deciding, have two different- flavours. Getting to the end of an ice cream is a bit like getting to the end of a good film or a book. There’s a sense of loss [Don’t you think?]. Ice cream just smacks of summer and buying it from a quaint little van just does it for me. Apparently ice cream has been going since Roman times. Little did they know that they were forming the cornerstone for mint choc chip, cookies and cream, chocolate brownie, coffee etc. I can’t go on with this. I’m writing this at midnight. Iden is dark and silent. All the ice cream vans have been put to bed in garages all over East Sussex and I fancy a raspberry ripple right this instant. I guess that’s what the Chinaman calls hard luck!

CONTACT ME: If anyone has anything to add to the Village Voice, please ring Gill Griffin [telephone 01797 280311]