Whatlington village voice

The speaker this year will be Stephen Hardy, on the role and work of, The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England. This will be of interest to everyone especially with the government proposals for the new National Planning Policy Framework.

Steve tells me that The Whatlington Film Club is thriving and that all the votes have been counted, the results are in and the winners are . . . not one movie but three!

Whatlington Film Club members were asked to choose from a long list of top titles to decide on the next movies to be screened at The Royal Oak.

Equal tops were Tinker. Tailor, Soldier, Spy, A Room with a View and Black Swan. These will be the next three films to be shown on, respectively, March 23, April 6 and April 20.

Among the other films to score highly, and which will be shown in coming months, are The Iron Lady, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Jane Eyre and Midnight in Paris.

In addition the village Book Club has decided to view the film of it’s latest subject, To Kill A Mockingbird. The 1962 movie stars Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch – a US lawyer in the Depression-era South, who defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge. It will be shown at 7.30pm on Tuesday March 13 and all film club, as well as book club, members are welcome to attend.

May I please remind you that Lisa & Karen are hosting a charity fund raising ball to raise funds for cancer research uk and I know that they would value your support. “Bella Ball” will be held at Leeford Place Hotel on the 24th March 2012, 7pm until 1am. Donations for the raffle and the auction would be gratefully received however big or small! Tickets are £25.00 per person and include cava and canapés on arrival, two course meal, coffee & mints, singing from the rat pack review during the meal, dancing until 1am!For all donations or to purchase tickets please contact; Lisa Tindall [email protected] 01424 772873 or Karen Austin [email protected] 07546051882

The Good Companions will be visiting The Station at Bexhill on Sea for lunch on Wednesday March 21st; 12 o’clock for 12.30pm

I have pencilled in the meetings for the rest of the year, so that members will have the dates, although some maybe changed if we go to the theatre…..

April 18th May 16th June 13th Celebrate the Queen’s jubilee July 11th August 22nd September 19th October 17th November 14th

I am not sure whether we will be arranging a Christmas lunch this year, as although it has proved very popular, many have indicated that they attend a lot of Christmas festivities.

Once again I have been amazed by the generosity of people! The Parish Church have received a donation of £1000.00 for the Appeal Fund which now has risen to £31959.78

May I take this opportunity of thanking the person who donated this sum of money.

Although this Sunday is the second Sunday of the month there will be no family service this week. It is felt that it would be more appropriate to have a family service on Mothering Sunday, which is next week, and this would enable families to celebrate this special day.

Parish Eucharist will therefore be celebrated this Sunday at 8.30am, when we welcome back once again the Reverend Angela Cooke. All are very welcome.

Just a quick note to advise of a planned PCC at the Rectory on 8th March @ 7.30pm, also the March services are changed around so that we have the Family one on the 18th for Mothering Sunday and an 08.30 on the second Sunday and which will be taken by Angela

News from the Royal Oak: Further to our recent Book Club meeting, we will be watching the classic film “To Kill A Mocking Bird” on Tuesday 13th March at 7.30pm at The Royal Oak – everyone is welcome. The next Book Club meeting will be on Tuesday 27th March at 7.30pm and this time a slightly lighter read has been chosen - “I’ve Got Your Number” by Sophie Kinsella. Everyone is welcome to join our friendly group to talk about the book and choose the next one.

This Monday 12th March is the date for the open meeting at The Village Hall to discuss the Whatlington Jubilee Street Party which will be held on Monday 4th June. It would be lovely if everybody contributed in some way by bringing food or organising a game, so please come along to the meeting on 12th at 7.30pm when we will decide who would like to do what! If you can’t make the meeting but would still like to be involved please contact Angie Moore on 01424 870087.

The past couple of weeks have seen “rollovers” for the weekly pub quiz prize money – I wonder if the jackpot will have been won by the time this column is published? If you would like to put a team together, please come along to The Royal Oak on Thursdays at 8pm. We have lots of fun and try and raise money for St Michael’s Hospice at the same time.

Apologies to anyone who tried to come and have lunch at The Royal Oak Thursday last week. Unfortunately due to work on the electricity in the area we had no power and therefore had to close. The power resumed later in the evening which meant we had a candlelit bar from 6pm which was actually a wonderful atmosphere! I believe there will be another power cut on Wednesday 14th March which means that unfortunately we will have to close that lunchtime as well – apologies in advance for that.

HIlda Aplin, Lismoyne, Oakhurst Road