Mountfield

CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS TREE PARTY: This was a huge success again with thirty children doing crafts, playing games, singing and dancing, and digging into the party tea. The event was rounded off by a visit from A Special Person. No, not José Mourinho — it was Father Christmas! The MC for the afternoon (Mistress of Ceremonies doesn’t have the right ring) was Caroline Hollamby. Various parents and older children helped with things like serving tea and washing up (and sorting out the sound system that played up at first) but the bulk of the organising was down to Vicky Staley, Sarah Cole and Amy Ely. Mentions should also go to the Mountfield Movers (Mickey Gray. Grace Hollamby and Shauna Puxty) who returned for a second year to lead the dancing. And a special mention should go too to Karig and Amy for their part in proceedings. More names could be named but… Well done to all.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Dec 2014, 23:00 BST

KIDZ: At the end of the party, Caroline took a couple of minutes to introduce KIDZ which is intended as a re-launch and re-brand of the Children’s Club which organises the bonfire and the children’s party. The intention is to provide more activities and resources for Mountfield’s children. Where necessary, some funding might come from the Village Hall Committee but the principal source of finance would probably be the Parish Council — this is precisely the council’s remit. Caroline also mentioned that there is one particular benefactor who has pledged a significant sum of money to set up an educational ciné film facility for the kids. There are so many possibilities — and they don’t have to be particularly ambitious; they just need to be there. There will be an informal gathering in the New Year which will be a forum for anyone to come along and discuss ideas, ask questions or just listen and learn. To make sure you are kept in the loop on all this, just drop an email to [email protected].

CHRISTMAS IS COMING: Our stalwart Religious Affairs Correspondent, Jackie Spriggs has filed the following:

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For over a month, members of the All Saints, Mountfield, congregation and supporters have been flogging tickets for the annual Grand Raffle, and what a superb raffle it was: locally reared pork and pheasant, wines and spirits, cakes, puds and mince pies, choccies, a beautiful welcome door wreath and even a big bucket full of organic veggies, to name but a few! The cake table was groaning with meringues, ginger cakes, sponge cakes, choccy cakes and even a pineapple upside down cake. Folks came and enjoyed coffee, tea and home baked elevenses, cleared the cake table and generally had a jolly time, then the raffle was drawn to ‘oohs and aaghs’ when the winners were announced. And the outcome of all this activity was a staggering £964 raised to keep our lovely 12th Century church in good order. Our grateful thanks to all who contributed and supported this occasion. The regular pattern of the Sunday services for Brightling, Mountfield and Netherfield is different over the next couple of weeks so that all three parishes get a share of the special Christmas action. Next Sunday, 21st December (the Winter Solstice), the Toy and Carol Service will take place at St. John the Baptist Church, Netherfield at 10.00 am. All toys brought to this service will be taken to the Children’s Home, Mayfield, in time for Christmas. On Christmas Eve there will be the popular Crib Service at Netherfield at 5.00 pm and Midnight Communion at Brightling commencing at 11.30 pm, and on Christmas Morning, both Brightling and Mountfield will hold services of Holy Communion at 10.00 am to which all denominations are welcomed. At the Mountfield service, the preacher will be the Reverend John Chater, former Dean of Battle and a very old friend of the parish.

MOUNTFIELD CLUB: This Friday (19th), the Club is holding a Christmas Quiz Night with buffet starting at 8.00 pm. Also on the night, the Club will be doing its grand Christmas draw with many prizes to be won. There are still some tickets left at only £1.00 each and the entry fee for the quiz, to include the buffet is £3.00 per person. The Club’s snooker team seems to be going from strength to strength with a fine 4-1 away win at Cramp last week. Kevin Gray, Steve Smith Andy Saunders and Ashley Sutton all won their frames and the Club has now won nine out of their ten league matches this season. The Club will be announcing many more events in the New Year and would like to wish all its members (and non-members) a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

YOUR VILLAGE VOICES… needed a very small Christmas tree. Poppinghole Farm Shop only had handsome big fellers so we went to another place where we’d been successful in previous years. “Hi Guys!” at least meant the young man didn’t high five us and say “ho, ho, ho”. We interrupted the sales pitch to explain that we needed a very small tree — a metre at most. “We only do ours in feet”, was the rejoinder. He then added: “I dunno how many feet in a metre…” We suggested roughly three. “Three! Nah, we only do four feet, five feet, six feet…” We left and went to the newly opened farm shop in Hurst Green. There, in the corner, unwanted and unloved, was a little Christmas tree. Three feet. And alone. We took it home. (Sniff)

If you have anything for the Village Voice, we can be contacted on 880614 or via [email protected]. In the meantime, we wish all our readers a very happy Christmas.

Peter and Valerie Miles

[email protected]

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