Rodmell and Southease

LOCAL SHOPS: Now we don’t have a school in Rodmell and the number of people going to church has gone down over the years, the main meeting place is the pub, so we need to support it. Over the Christmas period, local High Street shops also need our support as they have really been knocked by people buying online. What could be nicer than going into town, communicating with people face to face, studying the amount of goods on offer and being able to try goods on, feel them and taste all the goodies in various coffee shops and eating places, whilst listening to street musicians (not all of them good) and having the real feel of life all around you.

CARDBOARD: How much cardboard is used for all the packaging needed and how much traffic contributes to our already crowded roads, contributing to more pollution, just so we can sit at home staring at a screen and possibly spending more money than we can afford even if the prices are cheaper online and then wait for the damage done on the credit cards and the worry it causes. This isn’t the real meaning of Christmas is it? Whilst on the subject of cardboard, what about paper waste? Our postman must have been loaded up with junk-mail over the past few months and all the bills that seem to come at this time of the year seem to have at least five pages to them. As someone said to me recently, ‘I thought technology meant we would be a paperless society, instead we get more.’

RODMELL PANTO: Rodmell will really miss the presence of school children at church services and of course the school Nativity but fear not, we have the Rodmell Panto to look forward to. This year, the Rodmell Stage Company are putting on Robin Hood starring the talented Abby Benham-Wood who with other talented Rodmellians will no doubt make January 25 to 27, a cacophony of joy, amusement and perhaps some embarrassment to spouses and children when they ‘tread the boards’. I can’t wait for it to happen, as it’s always a happy event.

CAROL SINGING: This year will take place on December 11 for Lower Rodmell and December 17 for Upper Rodmell. More details nearer the time.

ADVENT SUNDAY: Advent Sunday Service of Light takes place on Sunday December 2 at 4pm in Rodmell Church. Visitors are welcome, the more the merrier. You will find it a beautiful service lit by candlelight. Children very welcome.

WI: At our last WI meeting I sat next to a lady who told me she moved to the village because she has read my Parish Pump for the last 27 years and it sounded such a lovely village. I really hope everything is up to her expectations now she resides here. When she told me this, it warmed my heart to know that just putting pen to paper can have such an effect.

MUSIC IN THE PUB: There will be a treat some time in January for lovers of good music, when my friend Tazina Frank, singer and songwriter will be performing at our pub. She has a lovely voice and sings jazz songs that people know. She wowed people recently at The Depot in Lewes and sold a lot of her CDs. People seem to like her music, because it doesn’t deafen them and they can converse. We’ve all seen people leave venues when musicians turn the sound up but they never seem to learn. The young, of course, live for the moment at their clubs and the louder the better, but it doesn’t appeal to all. John Robinson and his group, The Leaky Buckets, seem to have sussed this out as well, as people love going to his gigs because he knows the noise levels that people cope with. I will give more news on Tazina’s gig later, when a date is set.