Winchelsea Beach

Guided Tours: During September Winchelsea Archaeological Society is running guided Cellar Tours on Saturday 6th, Sunday 14th and Saturday 20th at 2pm in Castle Street. Tours cost £5 p.p. and last for 90minutes and you will need to contact 01797 224446 for bookings. The proceeds are in aid of the registered charity, Archaeology in Winchelsea and these are the last tours of the 2014 season.

Second Wednesday meet: Gillian Southgate will be talking about Children’s Classic Literature at the Second Wednesday Society’s next meeting on Wednesday September 10th. Amongst the many excellent children’s stories still popular today, such as Alice in Wonderland, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Grimm’s Fairy Tales this is also a chance to recall some of those forgotten over time. The talk will begin at 2.30pm in the New Hall and the cost is £1 members, £4 non-members which includes the talk and homemade tea.

Book Collecting: Next Friday September 12th Howard Norton (Chairman of the Literary Society) will be giving a talk entitled, ‘The Pleasures of Book Collecting’. Howard has a wide range of books and some he puts on sale at the Church Markets. The talk will take place at the Literary Society’s meeting at 7 for 7.30pm in St Thomas’ School.

Autumn Show: Winchelsea Garden Society has organised the annual Autumn Show for next Saturday August 13th at 2pm in the New Hall. Admission is 50p and there will be refreshments, plant sales, a raffle and a plenty of displays to see. As many members as possible are invited to enter and please ensure that entry forms are in by the deadline. This year’s categories are: Flowers, Vegetables, Fruit, Handicrafts or Floral Art and there are also 5 different classes for children who can enter for free.

Annual Heritage Open Days: Next weekend all Heritage Open Day visits are free. On Saturday September 13th the Methodist Chapel where John Wesley preached in 1789 will be open from 10am to 5pm. Blackfriars’ Barn Cellar which houses the medieval sketches of ships will be open on Saturday 13th at 11am and 2pm and on Sunday 14th at 11am. Also on Sunday St Thomas’ Church with its dramatic stained glass windows created by Douglas Strachan will be open from 10.30am to 6pm. The Court Hall which is one of the oldest buildings in Winchelsea and the Museum will be open on Sunday 14th from 1.30 to 5pm for teas. In addition the Exhibition on Winchelsea and World War 1 which was first seen in the Lower Court Hall on August 4th will be open again from 1 to 5pm on Sunday.

Church Guides: More support is requested for Church Guides to show visitors around the Church. They are especially needed to cover the English Heritage Open Days on September 13th and 14th, so if you can help even for an hour please sign the list at the back of the Church.

Rye Festival Concerts: St Thomas’ Church is hosting two concerts for the Rye Festival this year. The first is on Thursday September 18th at 7.30pm and features Eventide: Voces8. At the beginning of the year Voces8, the choral ensemble of 8 members, reached the No. 1 spot in the Classic FM chart with their CD Eventide and this will form the main part of the programme. The second concert with Flossie Malavialle takes place on Saturday September 20th at 7.15pm. French singer Flossie Malavialle is known to have a magnificent voice and with her band will be presenting the songs of Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf. The contact details are 01797 224442 or www.ryeartsfestival.co.uk if you would like to book for either of these concerts

Many pictures sold: Last weekend the Millennium Artefacts Society staged another successful Art Exhibition over the August bank holiday. Twenty seven exhibits of paintings, pottery and jewellery were sold including three paintings by pupils of St Thomas’s primary school. The committee wishes to thank the artists and all who assisted with the exhibition, not least the residents of the town who continue to support this annual event.

Concert: a success: The Piano Concert by Natalie Molloy, last Saturday afternoon in St Thomas’ Church, was musically outstanding and an agreeable way to spend an hour. Natalie played a range of lively and complex pieces from Bach, Rachmaninoff, Debussy and Ravel on the grand piano, with great style and expertise. She lives in Hastings and is a pupil at Beechwood Sacred Heart School where she was chosen as Head Gird for the 2014/15 academic year. Since the age of seven she has played the piano and passed all grades with distinction by the age of twelve. Recently she has won many awards playing at the Hastings Music Festival and is a ‘Musician in Residence’ for the East Sussex NHS. Cakes and tea were served after the performance and thank you to all who helped and supported the event. Proceeds from the donations will go towards funding the work to maintain the Church building.

Nature Reserve: Tomorrow (Saturday) a walk to observe the Autumn Migration on the Beach Reserve has been organised by Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. There should be movements of seabirds, coasting passerines which are the many species of perching birds, as well as waders refuelling on the pools and possibly some raptors. The walk is approximately three miles and you will need to meet at Rye Harbour car park at 9am to be finished by 12pm. Donations would be appreciated and there is no need to book.

Service at St Richards, Winchelsea Beach: The Evening Prayer and Songs of Praise monthly service will take place at 3pm in St Richards Church this Sunday September 7th. Canon Whitehead will lead the service which will be followed by light refreshments and doors are open to all.

Cindi Cogswell

31 Highfords, Icklesham