Winchelsea village voice

Home-made produce will be on sale, also coffee, tea and good company, with proceeds in aid of church funds.

Also on Saturday 1st September, The Great Terror, a talk by Colonel Anthony Kimber has been arranged by Winchelsea Archaeological Society (WAS). Come to the New Hall at 3 pm and find out more about Napoleon’s invasion threat and the role of the Martello Towers, the Royal Military Canal and Winchelsea’s garrison. The cost is £4 per person and is free for members and under 16s.

Cellar Tours have been organised by WAS for this month beginning with Sunday 2nd September at 2 pm from Castle Street. If you haven’t yet been on a tour this is an opportunity to find out how and why these cellars were built. There are over 50 cellars in the town, most of them vaulted and built around 1300. It is always best to book and the number to contact is (01797 225333). The cost per person is £5, guide books are provided and funds will go towards archaeology in Winchelsea.

There will be no 8 am service at St Thomas’ Church this Sunday 2nd September but there will be the Choral Eucharist at 10.30 am. The preacher on this occasion will be Revd. Richard Coates and you are most welcome to stay for tea and coffee after the service. For those of you who remember Revd. Graham Sillis the previous Rector of Winchelsea (about ten years ago) he has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and will be retiring from St Luke’s Derby in October. Your prayers are requested to support Graham through his illness and treatment.

Winchelsea Moving Pictures is showing Salmon Fishing in the Yemen on Monday 3rd September at 7 for 7.30 pm in the New Hall. The film is a British romantic comedy-drama which stars Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt. A bar is available and tickets are £5 at the door.

he next visit by the Mobile Library to Castle Street is on Wednesday 5th September, as usual at 1.40 to 2.10 pm.

Virginia Woolf & Bloomsbury is the theme of the talk given by Gillian Southgate at the Winchelsea Literary Society’s next meeting. This will be on Friday 7th September at 7 for 7.30 pm in the Lower Court Hall and non-members are welcome to join in the event.

Winchelsea Garden Society is holding its Autumn Show on Saturday 8th September at 2pm in the New Hall. There will be a plant stall, teas and a raffle. Also thanks to everyone who has given a prize for the raffle and if you would like to donate, some plants would be especially welcome and secretary Howard Norton can be contacted on 01797 226524. There are eight classes for the show and these are: Vegetables, Fruit, Flowers, Floral Art, Handicrafts, Fun Section and Children’s section (for under 8s and for 8s-12s). Plenty of exhibits are needed so please consider what you could enter and full details are in the Members’ Schedule. The entry forms will need to reach Cynthia Feast by 7.30pm on Thursday 6th September.

Heritage Open Days is a national event run by The Heritage Open Days Partnership. It involves the National Trust, Heritage Alliance and Civic Voice with support from English Heritage. This event takes place between Thursday 6th and Sunday 9th September to make available places of historic and heritage interest for free (normally there would be admission charges). In Winchelsea there are events on Saturday 8th when the Wesleyan Chapel is open from 10 am to 5 pm (in association with Sussex Historic Churches “Ride and Stride” Journeys). On the opposite side of the A259 (Rectory Lane) The Blackfriars Barn will be open to tours at 11 am, 12.30 pm and 2 pm under the auspices of the National Trust and led by the Winchelsea Archaeological Society (first come first served). On the same day St. Thomas’ Church will be open from 11 am until 5 pm with light refreshments; Canon Howard Cocks will give a talk about Strachan’s stained glass at 3 pm and Roger Marvin will entertain on the Church Organ at 4 pm.

On Sunday 9th the Church will again be open from 1 pm until 5 pm and again, there will be a talk about the windows and an organ recital. Friends of the Ancient Monuments will lead two tours of Blackfriars Barn (and other cellars) at 11 am and 2 pm (meeting at The Town Well). The Corporation will open the Museum (free) from 12 noon until 5 pm and the Lower Court Hall will be open at the same time for a photographic exhibition relating to the Cinque Ports, the Lord Warden and the Speaker. There will also be a demonstration of the Poole Harbour Certificate and light refreshments will be available. To find out more please see the Heritage Open Days website: http://www.heritageopendays/directory.

The 2012 Book Fair is now over apart from a few post-event sales in progress but the total is expected to be around £3,500. This is a fantastic result though lower than 2010 but certainly deserves a huge thank you to all who were involved. The reason it was lower was mainly due to relatively low receipts from second-hand book dealers which no doubt is a reflection of the state of the economy in general and the second-hand book trade in particular. A huge number of volunteers helped in this undertaking, and the Book Fair team have been overwhelmed by the generosity of so many people in contributing their time and effort, and their books! These include the many individuals who donated books, the teams who collected and stored books, and the volunteers who shifted literally tons of books from storage areas to the New Hall and back again afterwards. The latter could not have been done without the help of transport and manpower provided by the National Trust (Dave Lewis) and the League of Friends (Chris Fairman). Thanks also to those who provided marketing for the event, with flyers, posters, contacts with the press and websites and with the trade and special thanks go to Tony Mullholland for all his contributions in this regard and many other areas in which he helped us. Once the figures are finalised the funds will be distributed to the charities which are principally the League of Friends (for the hospital), the New Hall Society (which no doubt will go to towards their fund-raising for improvements to Hall insulation), and to the Friends of the Ancient Monuments (for use in the planned repairs to the Pipewell Gate).

Cindi Cogswell, 31 Highfords, Icklesham