Winchelsea

There will be an Annual General Meeting of the Winchelsea Little Shop Association Ltd tomorrow April 12th at 10am in the Court Hall which is for shareholders only. After the AGM there will be a meeting at noon to update everyone who is interested on the arrangements for commemorating the Great War in the town.

The annual Spring Show by the Garden Society takes place tomorrow at 2pm in the New Hall and admission is only 50p. This popular event will be offering plant sales, a raffle and refreshments as well as the opportunity to view the competition displays of spring flowers and plants.

Don’t forget Saturday evening at 7pm the Winchelsea Singers are holding their Spring Concert in St Thomas’ Church. The programme includes Vivaldi’s Gloria and an anthem to commemorate the First World War by Hermione Roff. Tickets are £10 p.p. at the door and there will be a drinks bar.

On Palm Sunday April 13th at 6pm the church choirs of Winchelsea and Icklesham will join together to perform The Cross of Christ in St Thomas’ Church and all are invited to attend. This act of worship involves a meditation for choir and congregation with prayers, readings, hymns and anthems relating to the passion of Jesus.

Icklesham Parish Council will be meeting in the New Hall on Monday April 14th at 7.15pm. Local residents are welcome to come along, bring questions and hear current news. The Parish Clerk Anna Evett who took over last year has resigned but it is unlikely that the Deputy Clerk will deputise and instead this may mean paying for a locum until a replacement has been found.

To celebrate the great victory of our Lord Jesus on Easter Day, a devotional evening on Reflections for Holy Week will be held in the Methodist Chapel on Wednesday April 16th at 7.30pm. Rev Peggy Heim the Methodist Minister in the Hastings, Bexhill & Rye Circuit will be leading this time of worship and after the service light refreshments will be at hand along with a time of fellowship. Following the closure and selling off of the 1826 Battle Methodist Chapel in 2011, work has been in progress for the new Church and Community Centre on Harrier Lane, Battle. The building which was named the Emmanuel Centre, meaning God with us, was completed in February (2014) and this is where Rev Heim has her base and regularly ministers.

The Holy Week services at St Thomas’ Church led by Canon Whitehead begin with Maundy Thursday April 17th at 8pm for the Eucharist of the Last Supper and Watch; on Good Friday at 12 noon, Stations of the Cross; then at 2pm a Meditation on the Passion with Veneration of the Cross; for Holy Saturday 9.30am is Morning Prayer; followed at 8pm with a Vigil and first Eucharist of Easter; on Easter Day at 6.30am there is the Sunrise Service at Winchelsea Beach to mark the fact that the Lord God has risen; then at 10.30am the Easter communion service will begin.

The latest on Winchelsea Post Office is that, after closing at Matchbox House on March 26th with much-valued postmistress Linda being made redundant, it is now expected to reopen at Matchbox House as a Post Office outreach service. Yet this time it will be run by a visiting postmistress and will only be open from 10am to noon on Mondays and Wednesdays. The full-time post office service will not open in the Winchelsea Farm Kitchen premises for at least another 6-9 months.

Another recent change is that John and Dec the popular twosome at the New Inn are unfortunately leaving today (Friday) as a result of Dec’s continuing illness. They are due to be succeeded by new proprietors Neil & Shaun who ran a pub in London.

Winchelsea Beach

A concert in aid of the Mothers Union, entitled ‘Wind in the Weald’ will take place at St Mary’s Church Rye this evening (Friday) at 7pm. The program contains, After Mozart by Martin Mengal, Playford Suite and Wind Quintet Gordon Langford and tickets are £10 each which includes a glass of wine plus nibbles. The Mothers Union is a Christian Mission Charity that campaigns for social justice for those on the margins and for recognition of the value of stable family life. Their work includes parenting groups, prison ministry, hospital visiting and offering holidays to those who need a break, in their caravan on Winchelsea Beach. M.U. is focussed on creating a lasting change to families and therefore communities and works through local volunteers at branches in Rye and Brede.

For Palm Sunday (April 13th) St Richard’s Church will be having a communion service with hymns. This will be led by Canon Whitehead and will begin at 9.15am.

The first Table Sale of the year arranged by Winchelsea Beach Community Association takes place in the Community Hall on Easter Saturday April 19th at 11am. If you would like to book your table 01797 224820 is the number to ring.

The St Richard’s annual Easter Sunrise Service begins at the wonderfully early hour of 6.30am on the beach at the end of Dogs Hill Road. This is on Easter Day, Sunday April 20th, conjointly with Rye Baptist Church and lasts about forty minutes. If anyone has a musical instrument to bring along and support the singing please do so although the main accompanists will be the waves and seagulls. After the service there is the short walk in the quiet of the morning to St Richard’s Church for a simple breakfast surrounded by good company. And if it is a cold awakening like last year the cup of hot tea in the church hall will be very welcome.

Cindi Cogswell, 31 Highfords, Icklesham