Fletching

FLETCHING REMEMBERS: Our sincere gratitude to all those of you who have contributed your memories and stories to be included in our Fletching Remembers project, marking the centenary of the end of the First World War. The resulting booklet will contain these memories and stories, as well as the names of the Fallen. 500 copies are being printed with the support of the Royal British Legion. The booklet will be distributed free of charge at the Remembrance Sunday Service on the November 11 in Fletching Church, and at the reception in the Village Hall following the Service. If you are unable to attend the service, but would like a copy (subject to availability), please email [email protected] or telephone Hugh Bullock on 01825 724454.

FLETCHING BELLS REMEMBER: The bells will be rung half muffled prior to the Remembrance Day Service on Sunday, in remembrance of those who fell during the wars. Ringing half muffled involves placing thick leather muffles on the bell clappers, so that the bells sound every other time they swing, producing a melancholic, but beautiful, sound. I therefore urge you to stand and listen to the bells being rung before the Remembrance Service, to see if you can hear the difference. It really is quite profound. We ring in this way before every Remembrance Day Service. However, after the service this year, the bells will ring out again at 12.30pm, but this time the bells will be un-muffled, to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. The ringing at 12.30pm, has been requested by Government and will coincide with the procession of 10,000 members of the public past the cenotaph (A Nation’s Thank You, The People’s Procession) in London and with the ringing of bells across Europe. Tim Evans, Tower Captain.

CHROMATICS CHOIR: Meets on Monday at 7pm.

FLETCHING SINGERS: Rehearse on Tuesday at 7.45pm.

MARTIAL ARTS: Kobudo Martial Arts meet on Thursday at 5pm.

WORKSHOPS: Christmas Wreath Workshops in Fletching Church. Morning or afternoon workshops available. Fletching School is teaming up again with local florist, Sarah Wheatley, from The Cutting Garden, for two Christmas Wreath Workshops in Fletching Church. The date is Thursday December 6. Tickets are available for a morning or afternoon workshop, from 9.15am to 11.30am or from 12.30pm to 2.45pm. Tickets cost £35 to include all materials, refreshments and homemade cakes, provided by Fletching School PTA. During the workshop, you will learn step by step, how to create your own door wreath using the traditional method of moss and foliage, which will be the envy of all your family and friends. This was a very well attended event last year, so booking is essential and tickets may be purchased though the School: [email protected]

OCTOBER RAINFALL IN PILTDOWN: In October we experienced well below average rainfall with just 34mm compared with a 20-year average of 99mm; not much above the minimum of 28mm in 2016 and a drop in the ocean compared with the 319mm, which inundated us in 2000.

100 YEARS AGO: Sussex Express 8 November 1918. Hide The Poker. Every time you poke the fire you poke away heat. You break off little chips of coal that never get burnt at all. And you take out or push through the bars some of the living coal, so that you decrease the heat of the fire instead of increasing it, as you imagine. And the proof of it is that you will, if you watch, almost always see that anyone who pokes the fire immediately puts on more coal. In fact hundreds of thousands of tons of coal per year would be saved if all the pokers in the country were put away. Think what this means to you. It means the saving of many scuttles lull of coal. It means an extra fire just at the moment you need it most, Get rid of the poker today. A coal poker is a coal waster. Issued by the Coal Mines Dept., Board of Trade, Holborn Viaduct, EC1.