Mountfield

PAT TURNER: Last Friday (October 24th), All Saints Church Mountfield was packed for the funeral of Pat Turner, formerly of Banks Farm for so many years. The general view was that, if there is such a thing as a good funeral, Pat’s was a good one. The Rev’d Ann-Marie address was appreciated by all. And everyone commented on the lovely flowers for Pat. In addition to all the people, Dudley, her golden retriever was there to see her off.
By The Newsroom
Published 30th Oct 2014, 23:00 BST

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY: As every parish has its own war memorial, the three parishes (Mountfield, Brightling and Netherfield) will be holding their own Remembrance services this Sunday, starting at five minutes before the eleventh hour. Also on Sunday, there will be a Concert of Remembrance at 6.00 pm at St Mary’s Church, Salehurst featuring music, poetry and prose performed by local choirs as well as musicians and guest performers from the world of stage and TV. Entrance £5.00 on the door in aid of the church and the British Legion.

SUPERFAST BROADBAND: There’s something brewing here. A few local people have been trying to ferret out precisely what benefits we can expect from this much vaunted giant step for local mankind. Richard Farhall and James Fraser have been working away at the situation in Mountfield — and it’s not looking very good. And Andrew Wedmore has been on the case for Brightling — where the position is even worse as it is further behind on the roll-out schedule. In a nutshell, right now the situation is that the BT Infinity Super Fast Broadband promised to Mountfield as part of the contract between East Sussex County Council and BT is going to deliver not a two tier service, or even a three tier service but a four tier service. Current indications are that fewer than a quarter of Mountfield’s households will get super fast broad band, delivering speeds of approximately 80Mbps. About half won’t get super fast broadband at all but something varying between “Faster Broadband” — Hoath Hill for example — which would deliver in the region of 11-17Mbps down to 2 or 3 Mbps around the Village Hall. And the remaining quarter are unlikely to see any improvement whatsoever. All of which would seem to be a scandal. As it happens, Keith Pollard, the Village Voice for Fairlight, sounded off on exactly this subject last week saying that “BT seem woefully inadequate when it comes to delivery”, and adding that “the service is not fit for purpose, and they are taking money under false pretences”. We suspect rather more responsibility should be laid at ESCC’s door than Keith suggests but we’ve no doubt that we shall be returning to this issue in future Village Voices. Richard, James and Andrew will continue with their digging and the whole issue will be discussed at the meeting of Mountfield Parish Council (Tuesday, November 4th, 7.30 in the Village Hall). In the meantime, if you are running (or are planning) an internet-based business, or are a frustrated user in some other way such as gaming or music, or have any views or insights on this whole subject, please contact either Pete in Mountfield or Andrew in Brightling.

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DECKCHAIRS: We were bemused this week to meet a cheery lass on the lane pushing one of those saddleless unicycles that surveyors use. After a civilised and constructive natter, we asked what she was doing. “Surveying the ditches”, came the reply. Which, given the general state of the local road ditches — so far as they survive at all, falls somewhere between archaeology and arranging the deckchairs while the Titanic goes down. Nonetheless, we were pleased to meet her and wish her well in her formidable task.

FIREWORKS: Enjoy the fireworks tonight and, as ever, if you’ve anything for the Village Voice, we are on 880614 or via [email protected].

Peter and Valerie Miles

[email protected]