Peasmarsh

Mary Hitchens

2 The Old Hop Gardens

I would like to thank Sue Cavilla for the following: ‘It is with deep sadness that we have learned that Peasmarsh has lost a greatly loved resident – Sally Bannister who died on Saturday May 18 after a long fight with cancer. Sally was involved in so many aspects of Village life and will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Sally was the daughter of a policeman and grew up in Udimore and Playden and was a pupil at St Michaels School in Playden during the War except for a short period when she was evacuated to Wales. Some years ago she visited the School and gave talks to the children about her life during the War as part of their History lessons. The class was captivated by her account of a near miss with death! One day Sally and some fellow Guides had been collecting glass bottles as part of the War effort, only to experience a strafing attack by a German aeroplane! They all dived into a ditch and luckily none of them were hurt. Sally worked in Gordon’s Bookshop ( now Martello’s Bookshop), she was a teaching assistant at Peasmarsh School for many years and also ran the Cycling Proficiency courses for the children at the School. She also worked in Hale’s store ( latterly the Spar shop, now a house) for many years and was a stalwart member of the Peasmarsh Women’s Institute.For many years, every November, Sally sold poppies for the British Legion and at Easter collected money for the Lilies displayed in the Church in memory of loved ones who had died. Sally and Derek, her husband of over 50 years, ran a Junior Youth Club in the Memorial Hall for many years and always helped out at any Village event whenever possible. We would like to extend our deep sympathy to her husband Derek, her children, David and Sharon and all their family and friends. The funeral will take place on Tuesday June 4, 11am at Hastings Crematorium. Family flowers only please. Donations to Cancer Research care of Perigoe and Son, The Duka, Main Street, Beckley, TN31 6RR.’

I new Sally myself and had great respect for her, she was truly a supporter of our village.

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The weather was mostly kind to the Peasmarsh Church Flower Festival this weekend; there was a good crowd there on Sunday when I went along to see the flowers and the East Surrey Morris Men. As usual the church looked beautiful, many congratulations to the flower arrangers; also thanks go to the people who manned the plant stall (and those who donated plants!), and all those who provided refreshments. Is it too much to expect that Spring might now have started?

David Pankhurst from the Peasmarsh Memorial Hall Committee has given me the following report of this year’s Rye 10 Race: Over 200 runners took part in the 2nd year of the Rye10 Road Race which took place on Sunday 26 May in aid of The Peasmarsh Memorial Hall refurbishment. Runners began registering at the Cock Inn from about 9am and the race itself started at 10am. Starting and ending at Jempson’s car park the race is run over a measured 10 mile course along the country lanes around Peasmarsh and is an important part of the running calendar being the only 10 mile race in East Sussex and is rated as a Grand Prix event. Although the weather was cool it was a pleasant sunny day with the temperature at around 15c being ideal for the runners.This year again saw Jeff Pyrah of Hastings AC winning in an impressive time of 56.23mins which is a 3 minute improvement on his winning time of last year. Once again our thanks go to Martin and Cathy Burke of Nicework for their on-going support and without whom this race would not be possible.

We would also like to thank Jempson’s for allowing us to use their car park for this event and also The Cock Inn for the use of their garden for the registration and also the use of their facilities.

And last but not least a very big thank you to all the volunteers who gave up their Sunday morning to help man water stations and act as marshals during the race.