OUT IN THE FIELD: You can't carry on at your convenience

Both the men’s and women’s toilets have been closed throughout the day with immediate effect thanks in part to drug users and street drinkers who were using them, for want of a better phrase, for “anti-social behaviour”.

The toilets are only open at peak hours now which Southern has decided is between 5.30am-9.30am. If you do need to use the facilities outside those hours, the notice on the door tells us that a nice Southern member of staff will open them up especially.


The tide is most definitely turning at Causeway School this year thanks to a new broom who is certainly sweeping clean. Liza Leung is the acting headteacher who was airlifted in to take the helm after its former head disappeared into the ether after a disastrous Ofsted report. I met Ms Leung this week at the Larkspur Drive school and as well as being amazed at how modern the building is (it was built in 1998), the school has a lovely community feel to it with caring staff and pupils who are responding well to a new way of teaching that are set to improve their outcomes and results. Times are changing at Causeway for sure.

Three lovely ladies top the birthday list this week. My favourite landladies and best buddies Natalie Lennol at The Lamb Inn and The Prince Albert’s Ann Magee are both celebrating over the coming days with parties, get-togethers and the usual shenanigans. And more importantly, the last of my Little Treasures entered her teens and turned 13 this week. Happy birthday to my lovely little Onnie-Pops, aka Aine Field, who, although I probably don’t tell her or her brother often enough, is the best thing to have happened in my life.

It’s all about the girls this week and lots of luck and love is being wished to 21-year-old Maddie Jackson, who is flying the nest soon and heading Down Under for a new life in Perth, Australia. Have lots of fun Maddie, you’ll be missed.

And finally, they’re not just ordinary women - they’re M&S women from Eastbourne who showed what kind, caring and generous troupers they are when they hosted a party for You Raise Me Up, the Willingdon-based charity which provides practical, financial and emotional support to families who have lost children between the ages of 16 to 25. The team of volunteers gave up their Sunday afternoon, laid on a sumptuous spread and organised games and activities for the families at Eastbourne Rugby Club as part of the M&S national initiative to Make it Matter, the recently launched campaign #SpenditWell which is about inspiring people to make every moment special by focusing on the experiences, people and things that really matter in life. The Eastbourne branch ladies certainly made a difference.