Winchelsea

Cellar tour: A guided Cellar Tour arranged by Winchelsea Archaeological Society will take place tomorrow (Saturday) beginning at 2pm in Castle Street. These tours run throughout the summer and to ensure your place please contact 01797 224446. The cost is £5 p.p. for the 90 minute visit to many different cellars, guide book provided and proceeds will go towards the registered charity Archaeology in Winchelsea.

Agincourt to Waterloo: As part of the Winchelsea Arts concert series the chamber choir Pegasus will be performing tomorrow at 7.30pm in St Thomas’ Church. This is the choir’s fourth visit to Winchelsea and their presentation of ‘Our King Went Forth to Normandy’ is a programme of choral music concerning English and French relations from 1415 following the English victories in battle. Many of the composers featured were born a century later in the vicinity of both battle sites, Agincourt and Waterloo in northern France which like Greece today is a strategically important area in the free world. The music will include Claude Debussy’s ‘Trois Chansons’ from texts by Charles d’Orleans who was captured by the English at Agincourt, and ‘Ah Robyn’ by English Renaissance composer William Cornysh. Tickets are on sale at £12 each (£6 under 18s) online at winchelseachurch.co.uk/arts or from Winchelsea Farm Kitchen.

Patronal Festival: This year’s Patronal Festival at St Thomas’ Church, in honour of the patron St Thomas Becket, takes place on Sunday July 5th at 10.30am and is attended by the Mayor John Spencer and Corporation. The choir Pegasus will be leading the music which will include Mozart’s celebratory Coronation Mass. Of the sacred music composed by Mozart in Salzburg around 1779, this is the most well-known and popular in churches. The guest preacher at the service is Revd Neville Emslie who is the Director of Ministerial Education for the Diocese of Canterbury.

Flowers and Art: All are invited to the Flower Festival and Art Exhibition in Icklesham Parish Church tomorrow 10am to 5pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm (July 4th and 5th). The stalls will include: plants, good as new, jewellery, tombola and a variety of cakes. There will also be refreshments available on both days in the Memorial Hall and there is plenty of parking near the Hall.

Wireless to Radio: Tim Blackmore will be speaking at the Second Wednesday Society’s next meeting on Wednesday July 8th at 2.30pm in the New Hall. Everybody welcome and as usual there will be a home-made tea to follow which costs £1 members and £4 non-members. Tim will recall 50 years as a writer, broadcaster and radio producer, along with playing extracts from programmes and rarely heard tunes. He was involved with BBC Radio 1 and Capital Radio as well as a founder member in 1989 of UBC (Unique Broadcasting Company) a global digital music platform. Tim has had a long history of making radio programmes and you may remember ‘Journey into Space’? This was the science fiction radio programme first created in 1953 which became ‘Journey to the Moon’ in 1965 on the Light programme now Radio 2. Each half-hour episode usually ended with a dramatic cliffhanger.

A Classical Journey: The Webb Family trio performed a dramatic ‘Classical Journey’ at last Saturday afternoon’s free Tea Concert in the Church. Their music was a vibrant mix of conflict and resolution developed and synchronized on the cello, piano and violin. Playing sonatas by Brahms and Mozart with expertise, they travelled from the sombre E minor tones to exciting harmonies before ending on the more jubilant major keys. Also skillfully performed were Haydn’s Trio in D major and Beethoven’s Piano trio in G Major. The Webb family live near Ashford, Kent and Jonathan (on the piano) has enjoyed a career of over 25 years as a conductor with orchestras all over the world. His children Emmanuel aged 14 on the violin and Gabriel aged 10 on the cello both began playing music at the age of three, starting off with child-size musical instruments. In the last few years the trio has given performances in and around Kent to raise money for charities such as Save the Children and War Child. It was a large audience so a big thank you to all who supported Saturday’s concert and for the donations and refreshments on sale afterwards.

Winchelsea Beach

Rare plants: This Sunday July 5th there is an opportunity to look at Rye Harbour’s Special Flowers. You will be able to take a closer look at the nature reserve’s variety of plants which include such rarities as Marsh Helleborine, least Lettuce aka willow-leaved lettuce, Stinking Hawksbeard known for its bitter almond smell and Sea Heath. Also to be found are the special flowers of the shingle like Sea Pea with its purple and white flowers and nutritious brown pods, Sea Kale and Red Hempnettle which has red flowers and nettle shaped leaves. The walk is approximately 2 miles and you do not need to book but donations would be appreciated. Please meet at 10am in Rye Harbour car park, to be finished by 12.30pm.

‘Something Else’: 7.30 to 10.30pm on Saturday July 18th is an evening of fun and dancing to the live band Something Else, the 4 piece Rock n Roll group, in the Community Hall. Please contact Hugh at Suttons in Sea Road for tickets (01797 224820) and the cost is £10 p.p. which includes a fish and chip supper but bring your own drink and glasses.

Fellowship Lunch: These lunches are always held on the last Friday in the month and booking is essential by contacting 01797 227168. The next lunch is on Friday July 31st at 12 for 12.30pm and as usual includes a variety of dishes cooked by the Fellowship team, as well as a speaker. Although the lunches are free there will be a request for donations to a selected charity.

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