Winchelsea

Stations of the Cross held at St Thomas’s Church will be led by Michael McFadyean throughout Lent. The first service is today (Friday) at 12 noon and at the same time for the 15th and 22nd March, for half an hour. On the 8th and 15th March the services will be followed by a Lent Lunch and the proceeds, like the Lent Boxes, will go to the local branch of the ‘Samaritans’.

Tomorrow the Bonfire Boyes hold their Curry Night in the New Hall at 7.30 pm. Please contact 01797 22446 for tickets (£14 p.p.) and proceeds are for this year’s bonfire night. There will be a bonfire night this year I’m pleased to say but the form it takes will depend on permission being granted to use Rookery Field again.

Mothering Sunday is this weekend on the 10th March and the Junior Choir will be singing at the 10.30 am morning worship at St Thomas’s Church. This is always a lovely occasion and Revd Canon Richard Orchard will be leading the service which will be followed by coffee, tea and delicious Simnel Cake. If anyone is able to come along tomorrow at 10.30 am and bring some flowers and greenery to help make posies this would be very much appreciated.

Winchelsea Second Wednesday Society meets on Wednesday 13th March at 2.30 pm in The New Hall. The theme which is an important part of our local history is The Bayeux Tapestry and this talk will be given by Imogen Corrigan. A retired army Major and Lecturer in Medieval History Imogen is interested in taking significant historical events and trying to understand them from those living at the time.

The Poem In Itself, a reading by John Weston is the next talk at the Literary Society’s meeting on Friday 15th March at 7 for 7.30 pm in the Lower Court Hall. John Weston has worked in China, Europe and the United Nations and after 36 years in public service, retired in 1998 as UK Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. He has been active since on company boards, in education, the arts and the voluntary sector. He has had two collections of poems published: Chasing the Hoopoe (Peterloo Poets 2005) and Echo Soundings (Shoestring Press 2012). An Honorary Fellow of Worcester College Oxford, he was knighted in 1992. He and his wife Sally have three children and four grandchildren. Here is a short verse of John Weston’s from Diary 1:

Today I became

husband to ten thousand bees.

What was I doing

all my life? To welcome them,

this is the veil I shall wear.

Winchelsea Bowls Club is holding a quiz on Saturday 23rd March at 6.30 for a 7 pm start in the New Hall. Tables of no more than six persons are required and entry fee is £8 per person which includes a 2 course meal. If you would like to come along you will need to book a table by contacting John Priestley (01797 224339).

St Thomas’s Church Annual Parish Meeting will be on Friday 22nd March (not as previously mentioned on the 22nd of last month) and is open to all those on the Electoral Roll. Recently the new Roll was compiled and the list is at the back of the church, so do check your entry. Also now available is the Annual Report and Accounts for 2012. The meeting will include electing the churchwardens and the PCC as well as other church business.

The Garden Society had a successful Annual General Meeting last Saturday. For those of you who couldn’t be there and would like to know who is on the committee they are: John Dunk – President, Howard Norton – Chairman, Anne Simpson – Treasurer, Graham Rhodda – Secretary, Sally Rhodda - Show Secretary, Alice Kenyon, Maureen Nurse, Jo Sidders, Catherine Thomas and Felicity Youlten. Two planned activities for the coming year were Winchelsea Railway Station where there was general support for planting up five barrels on the station and several people volunteered. The second activity was Opening Small Gardens and there was a warm welcome for the idea of an opening of small gardens for members of the local community to visit. About a dozen gardens would be needed and the time to do it would be somewhere between the two NGS openings in June and September. If you are interested in getting involved please contact Howard Norton (01797 226524) and let’s look forward to a good gardening year.

As a result of the success of the community-made film, The Red Slipper which was shown in January, Winchelsea Moving Pictures is considering making another film! This time it will be set in Winchelsea during the Great War. If you are interested in joining in with this exciting venture by helping produce the film or taking part please contact 224446. The first stage will be to set up a script-writing team to bring together a story and then produce a screen play.

Winchelsea Beach

Don’t forget that the Friends of St Thomas’s Primary School have organised a Jumble Sale tomorrow (Saturday) in the Community Hall from 2 to 4 pm. Entrance is 20p and tea, coffee and juice will be available. The proceeds are in aid of much-needed school equipment.

The popular Bingo evening will next be on Wednesday 13th March at 7 for 7.30 pm in the Community Hall. Light refreshments will be available during the evening.

As the last Friday in March is Good Friday the St Richard’s Fellowship Lunch has been brought forward a week to Friday 22nd. This will be as usual in the Community Hall at 12 for 12.30 pm. Please contact 01797 227168 soon to ensure your place.