Mountfield

MOUNTFIELD RIDE: After several days of truly terrible rain, Saturday 19th dawned hot and bright and, most importantly, the ground dried out very quickly even without much breeze. There was a good mounted turnout despite the competition from so many other local rides. There were actually more tickets sold in advance than turned up, probably because some may have been put off by the thought of very soft going — needlessly, as it happened. In addition, there were nine walkers and three dogs. Everyone really enjoyed the course — several commented on it — which was entirely on private land with no public access and, as several riders mentioned, virtually no roads. Well done to all involved in the organisation and to those who gave access to their land (very brave after all that rain). Everyone got round safely and the event raised about £900 for All Saints, Mountfield. Fantastic!
By Peter and Valerie Miles
Published 25th Sep 2015, 00:00 BST

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HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: Mountfield Horticultural Society will be holding their Annual General Meeting on Saturday October 3rd from 2.30 pm. Afternoon tea and cakes will be served. All welcome. The MHS is always good value for a natter even if you don’t know your Acer from your Elbow grease. After all, with fronds like these, who needs anemones?

PARISH COUNCIL: The most recent bi-monthly Parish Council Meeting was held on the September 8th. We would love to celebrate all that the Parish Council does (declared interest: Pete is a Member) but it mostly looks after lots of really sexy stuff such as overgrown hedges (we’re still on the case, Dennis!), the details of the upgrading of our two railway crossings, preparations for the sewerage system and treatment plant, and so forth. So often the livelier moments come with planning and enforcement issues but the general rule is that these are not suitable fodder for a Village Voice: they tend to be too local, too personal or just too sensitive. Indeed, a considerable portion of the last meeting was devoted to such issues. Even though it isn’t this column’s remit, we must report that, once again, the Parish Council has fought a number of planning and enforcement issues towards a successful conclusion and is still fighting others.

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The Parish Council is also, collectively, the sole trustee of what tends to be known as the KGVF but which should more properly be known as the King George’s Field Charitable Trust. The formal Trust Meeting which preceded the Parish Council meeting followed an informal meeting up at the new pavilion of interested parties. There were four Parish Council members (two of whom doubled up as neighbouring residents), Colin Harmer as Elder Statesman (plus grants expert — see below), Tim Tidmarsh for the Cricket Club, Pete Edwards for the Hastings & St Leonards Bowmen, plus Irene for what used to be called, in film circles, “the female interest”. A schedule of works was agreed, starting with the renewal of the boundary fence. It is hoped that there may be some grant support for this.

We shall return to Irene’s contribution another week but there is one key fact of life that we would highlight this week. Tim reported that several village cricket teams either have already gone under or are really struggling. The difference between those teams and Mountfield of course is that the others pay local council or contractor rates for ground maintenance. To put it another way: they don’t have a Tim! (Thank you, Tim.)

HARVEST FESTIVAL: A reminder that Harvest Festival at All Saints Mountfield will take place this year on Sunday October 4th at 10.00 am followed by Harvest Hospitality. Gifts of fruit, eggs, flowers and vegetables would be most welcome, likewise packeted foods such as cereals, sugar, tea or coffee, can be left in the church on Friday 2nd October so they can be arranged to decorate the church. Afterwards, all produce will be donated to the St Nicholas charity in St Leonards who do such very practical good with local children and families.

MOUNTFIELD CLUB: The Mountfield snooker team got off to a winning start last week in their first season in Division 2 of the Hurst Green Winter League with a 3 – 2 win at Hawkhurst A. Mountfield lost the first two frames but Andy Saunders won the third frame to reduce the deficit. In the fourth frame, Kevin Gray with the help of a 22 break levelled the match at 2 – 2 and Pete Last kept his nerve to win the fifth and final frame to give Mountfield their winning start to the season. Watch out for more information on future live music events in October.

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MOUNTFIELD DIARY DATES: Saturday September 26th, the Mountfield Club will be staging their snooker finals night. Friday October 30th is the Mountfield Family Bonfire. Gates open 6.00. Family friendly fun. And Saturday December 12th will see the Children’s Christmas Party. Details nearer the time.

VAN BREAK-IN: The police report that there has been an outbreak of attempted van break-ins and unfortunately one of them was in Mountfield when someone had a go at a van in Solomon’s Lane towards the end of last week. There were two similar attempts elsewhere locally. In every case, the oiks failed to get into the vehicles but, of course, still managed to rack up an expensive load of damage in the process.

CONTACT: As ever, if you have anything for the Village Voice, we can be contacted on 880614 or via [email protected]. We need copy/information by the end of Monday latest for Friday publication.

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