Rodmell and Southease

SADLY: I heard this week that Prof B V Jayawant, a well-known man of science, died recently. Jay, as he was known to many, was the first member of Faculty I worked for at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. I remember being terrified of him, as he had a fiery reputation with students, and I had to be locked in a room with him preparing papers for student exams. Once I realised that he respected you if you were straight talking and stood up to him, we got along fine, and I often used to give him a lift home in later years and we had many interesting conversations. Sadly, Monica his lovely wife, was a bit upset when I spoke to her because the details of his funeral had not gone into the Sussex Express Obituaries page on time, so many people will not have known that his funeral took place on Thursday March 29 at 2.30pm at Kingston Church. Hopefully, there may be an article on him as compensation to a well-known man of science who did work on overhead railways and electric cars, and who often appeared in the press and on TV.

FUNERALS: I seem to spend my life going to funerals these days, and friends tell me it’s because of my age and the fact that I know so many people. ‘Old age isn’t for sissies’, as a cousin of mine used to say.

MORE CHEERFUL NEWS: Saturday April 7, 2pm The lovely little Spring Show in Rodmell Village Hall. Saturday April 14, 2pm Jumble Sale in aid of our village hall. Lots of help needed to make it a success. Tuesday April 17, 8pm Rodmell WI has yet another speaker, John Davey, who will be giving a talk on The Lost Industries of Lewes in the village hall.

WI: Lindy Smart must be thanked for writing about the last talk we had. Last week Rodmell and Southease WI had Louise Peskett to speak about the artist Peggy Angus and her links with Eric Ravilious and John Piper. Peggy lived locally at Furlongs near Beddingham at the foot of the South Downs. Louise went into great depth about Peggy’s life and the breadth of her work, with lots of photos, slides and anecdotes. The talk attracted many visitors (even a four legged one) as well as a good show of members. This was all rounded off with tea and lovely home-baked cakes. Next month’s speaker is local historian John Davey talking about the lost industries of Lewes.

ALZHEIMER’S: Is not a good thing to go down with and it is hard on carers, and I should know, having had my father with it and my mother with Paranoiac Dementia. A friend was telling me recently that her mother goes out with a friend who has it and it can be quite a nerve racking experience when the driver turns to you and asks where they are going. My father was seen driving on the pavement at one time in the early years of the disease, and fortunately someone told us, as Mum and I didn’t drive with him, so never knew the situation. Dad gave up when we told him. I believe that people with this awful debilitating disease are still able to drive by law, but I wonder how long it will be before the law changes.

KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD: Where are the knights of the road these days? Indicating to go into a large space on the left, to go onto the C7 at Newhaven, recently, a driver put his foot down to prevent me doing so. It was a very dangerous situation, for the want of a bit of thought. I’ve heard this has happened to quite a few people in that area.

PLEASED TO READ: I was pleased to read Mavis Clarke’s piece on Tony Shephard and Jean Cox, who used to work in Lewes Tourist Information for years. I knew both of them.

THE QUIZ: In our pub on Wednesday March 2 was very good, as was the food. Michael Sword-Daniels asked me to point out that he was in the winning team, so you’ve got your moment of fame, Michael.