Rodmell and Southease

JUNE: Not an awful lot to write about this month. The weather for June was not kind to many functions, but the intrepid people carried on and still made a success of things.
Rodmell & Southease newsRodmell & Southease news
Rodmell & Southease news

FRUIT AND VEG: My raised vegetable bed is overflowing with potato plants and if they crop as good as last year, I will be supplying any friends with home grown spuds. I’ve actually managed to eat some home grown strawberries this year as I’ve found the secret is at the first flush of colour I pick them and ripen them off indoors on the window sill. They have a delicious flavour. Blackcurrants, apples, plums, broad beans are al doing well and I can see that fruit picking parties will probably be happening again this year. Followed by jam making sessions. I have a great system, I save jars, let friends pick fruit, they make jams and pickles etc and I get samples back for my B&B. I also get apple juice from the Iford Scrumpers who generally clear the orchard. A friend who has a pig farm takes the rotten apples and also takes our hay when we cut the field. It’s called working together, not for profit but for friendship and it works very well.

POPPIES: I seem to have a great crop of poppies growing amidst the vegetables. I don’t know how they came to my garden but they are very beautiful and the bees love them. I’m told they love our chalky soil and the South Downs.

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WI: Rodmell and Southease WI meet on July 19 at 7.30pm in the village hall. At this meeting members can suggest ideas for next year’s programme.

COFFEE MORNING: The increasingly popular coffee morning is in the village hall at 11am on July 26.

SUMMER SHOW: On Saturday August 20, 2pm to 4.30pm Rodmell will celebrate the return of its famous Rodmell Summer show, being held on the sports field. More on this later. The summer show schedule with full details will be delivered to all homes in Rodmell a fortnight beforehand.

ARTWAVE: Saturday August 27 to Monday August 29, Rodmell has its own Artwave in the Old Rectory, with WI teas in the garden.

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EXERCISE CLASSES: Strength and Balance Exercise Classes continue on Monday mornings at 11am in the village hall. £2.50 per session. I’m afraid I’ve opted out of these as I can’t keep to times and dates easily due to my caring responsibilities to Mike and my mother.

NURSING HOME: Sadly I’ve had to move my mum to a nursing home in Peacehaven, as she needs specialised care now at almost 97. She was extremely happy and well looked after at Lime Tree House Care Home in Ringmer for a number of years and the staff and I were in tears when departing time came. Such moves at this great age for people who are so frail, like my mum, cause such trauma. I’m hoping the rest of her life will be safe and secure in her new home.

TRAVEL: Many of the family on my mother’s side are great travellers to remote parts of the world. Many of my cousins live abroad in places like Canada, America, Australia, Hawaii, Scandinavia and one who appears to be travelling the world, has just had a narrow escape in Madagascar, when a crowded local bus overtaking a lorry crashed into a vehicle coming the other way. Nine of the passengers were badly hurt despite the bus going off road into greenery down a slope, and Brian says the people somehow got the bus upright and boarded it and carried on. We all say he has nine lives and they are running out fast with his escapades around the world. I have not inherited the Baldock’s quest for dangerous adventures. As I’ve got older I now wish I had spent more time visiting the beautiful British Isles, as when I watch the travel and country programmes on TV, it is mind boggling as to how much beauty and history we have on our own doorstep. With all the troubles abroad, I think tourism here is on the up, with our own people wanting to find out more about this stunning island we live on. We should appreciate it and care for it more.

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