Iden Village Voice

Hello Village Voice Readers, the rains have come and brought with it the chiller weather. Reminding myself that we have had a very dry year and that we need this weather as I watch from the kitchen sink as rain drops race down the pane, distorting the view of my rather wet and boring garden.

 SOCIAL SCHEDULE OF A 4-Year-Old As with all, we have been busy with harvest festivals whether that be schools or churches, and Christopher Robins’ School is no different. It is an eye opener to see the performance from a parent’s point of view – during my previous life I had always been the other side ---making costumes, reminding children when and where they should be, and with a smile that had had weeks of training to try and keep children behaved and in time with singing. The biggest decision of this morning ---where were we going to sit so we could see him and his classmates, I’m not sure we made the right decisions, but we did see him and his classmates sitting with their teacher as the performance began. The children all looked rather excited, sitting on their designated chairs, checking 3 or 4 times that their prop was still where they left it under their chair, pointing and waving at parents they recognised. Teachers wandering around pen and paper in hand trying to make sure they had everyone, and everything in place. The reception children half with coats on, half without, one getting tearful because she had seen her mum, a few picking their noses ----luckily their own and not each other’s. The usual ones sitting next to the teacher for prompts and reminders. A couple of them had managed to get hold of the printed song list that the older ones had ---and were attempting to read, the upside-down piece of paper. It was rather wonderful. It didn’t take long before the reception children were stood up and led to the front for their song, parents reorganised their selves so that parents could see theirs and have phones ready to record. The usual malfunction of the cd player before giving up and sing Al Capella “Big, Red, Combine Harvester”. Christopher stood proud and sung his little heart out with hand actions all the way through. Well done, Christopher, all the children and the teachers. Big, Red Combine Harvester will forever be an ear worm I’ll never be able to forget. After all that excitement the week continued as usual. I had picked my bright little spark up from school one afternoon – and he was in a particularly chatty in the back of the car. He had decided that he needed a committee meeting, I had half heard what he said and figured I had mis heard---- oh no, I hadn’t. He needed a committee meeting at the village hall and had named a handful of children that needed to come. I had been told I needed to make a poster and send it to his school, I hadn’t realised until then that I had taken the job of CR’s PA. This continued for the rest of the evening to adding extra information about this event ---including that he would need to get there at 1 because he needed to set up the tables and chairs and make sure the tea and cake were ready for the meeting. Bless him – I was very impressed that he had taken in what I usually do for village meetings, but also a little worried ----have I broken him??? Shouldn’t he be more worried about football, tv shows and computer games….

 WI meeting. This was definitely a WI meeting worth mentioning. We had managed to persuade Michael M –and long term resident of Iden to give a talk about our wonderful little church. Michael and his wonderful wife Susannah joined our village in 2000 and had made a mark on Iden that will always be there. Susannah with her music – church organist and choir, and hymn groups, and Michael's work on the parish council and the church. Michael had decided to talk about the last 4 rectors of All Saints Iden. News had got around and our WI meeting was the place to be on the evening of Tuesday 13th October. We had decided to open our meeting up to anyone interested ---including the men!!! I know we are a very open-minded forward thinking WI group.  We had an amazing turn out. Michael did not let us down. His in-depth knowledge, research and evidence – is a sight to behold, it was amazing to bring to life each of the rectors from the late 1800 right up to 1977. With a mixture of religion, greed, forward thinking, dedication and drama. Each and everyone of our rectors have kept our church going.   

THE BELL was delighted to take part in the Rye Gastro Prom on Saturday 3 October,  when we became the dessert stop on the day's gastronomic tour. More than 100  people joined us at The Bell, including 60 Gastro Prom ticket holders as well as plenty  of local visitors. Jane Brook and her team at Rye Harvest provided the crumble and ran the bar,  accompanied by drinks from Garage Culture Brewery in Rye. And who better to  provide the entertainment for the crumble course than Lorraine Bowen - otherwise known as the Crumble Lady! It was great to see the garden and bar busy again and The Bell full of people enjoying themselves. A huge thank you to Jane for all the work she put into organising the event, and to  everyone who helped make The Bell ready for the day. In particular, we'd like to thank  the volunteers who came along the previous weekend to tidy the garden and bar, Iden Village Hall for lending us tables and chairs, and Iden Bowls Club for providing the tea  urn. It was wonderful to see The Bell full of life again - and a small taste of what we're all working towards. Kind regards, The Management Board The Bell Iden Community Limite

Friends of the Church. Is a charity set up many years ago to support the aim of helping to maintain the fabric and interior of this wonderful asset within the heart of the village. Since it was founded, this charity has raised some £80,000 towards its objectives. Iden is a beautiful Doomsday village with a very strong sense of community. The Parish Church of All Saints has long been at the centre of village life, not only for regular worship but also for births, marriages and funerals. It has over the years been a quiet place to come and reflect, contemplate and find solace in the most turbulent of times. The church has its history founded in the 12th Century and the church is Grade 1 listed and contains many interesting artefacts. We now face one of the biggest challenges in recent history to keep this centre of worship open and maintain the fabric of the building. We have two major projects which now require a major fundraising effort. One is the replacement of our heating system in the church, and the other is substantial work to our bells and bell tower. The Friend’s committee at their last meeting had to decide the need to prioritise the fundraising. It was decided by the Committee that without heating in the church, the fabric of the building would continue to deteriorate and therefore the thrust of fundraising should be directed towards replacing the boiler. The Friend’s committee will, dependent upon other urgent calls for essential works endeavour to then support the fundraising for the bells. Under the Friend’s umbrella we have a separate Bells sub-committee who will be seeking initially grant applications from outside organisations. The heating to the church is therefore the main thrust of our initial fundraising efforts in the community under The Friends of Iden Church charity. Estimates and solutions to the heating are currently under investigations and we will report back in future newsletters. The Friends of Iden Church charity are pleased to announce their first fundraising event on the 6th December. This is a Christmas Market in the church. Full of wonderful Christmas gifts, so please come along and support us and help us in the first step toward bringing heat back into our lovely church. We have more events planned for next year so keep your eyes open for future announcements.

We need your help to spread the word about our efforts to support the church and if you would like to support us in any way, please contact me at [email protected] .Ray Basssingthwaighte

INHS. On Friday 23rd we will be welcoming back, the well-known palaeontologist, Ken Brooks, who will be talking about early life forms. The Burgess Shales, in Canada, have revealed large numbers of well-preserved fossil specimens, even to the point of being able to identify internal organs. These life forms are about 500 million years old and seemed to have appeared quite quickly in the early history of life. This period is now called the Cambrian Explosion. Ken has been lecturing and writing about his lifetime’s passion for more than half a century, and his visits are always well received.  Iden Village Hall, 7.30pm. Subs, which are now due, at a minimum of £15, and visitors are just £4 for the evening.

HALLOWEEN PARTY After last year’s successful children’s party, we are again inviting all the children of Iden and surrounding areas to come to the Village Hall between 3-5pm for games and activities –we will then take the children around the local area to agreed houses for trick of treating at approx. 4pm. £3 per child.

Historical Photos of Rye. After a very successful event last year titled Past Postcards of Iden – the hall was packed and was a very popular 2-day event. Well Carol will be having another event on Friday 20th November and Satrday 21st. The village hall will be adorned with photos and postcards that Carol has been collecting most of her life. In the evening we will open the hall and have a PowerPoint presentation along with commentary from those of the audience who remember years gone by. There will also be refreshments for a small charge. More Information in the next article.

All Saints Christmas Market. The friends of the church are in full swing now and after several small events – we are now aiming high with this new event. On Sunday 6th December we will be opening the doors of the church to a Christmas Market. With a large number of stalls from homemade wreaths to knitted Knick knacks, wooden items, plants, cards and of course decorations. Then after wandering around the church and being at one with the festive season, wander down to the Old Hall to sit in the warmth and have a tea or coffee with cake, or soup and home-made bread and discuss amongst yourselves who bought the best bargain, while the children create at the Christmas activity table.  11am – 3pm. See you all there.

POLEHOLE ROAD, IDEN TN31 7. Upcoming roadworks on B2082 Iden Road, Playden. East Sussex Highways will be carrying out work on Monday 26th October to Saturday 14th November 7pm – 6am. The road will be closed during these hours, and diversion signals will be sending people via the A268 and A28. Bus Services will be affected.

When you see or feel the potholes in Iden please report them to: - http://live.eastsussexhighways.com Please do report the potholes – it does work!

DATES FOR OCT.

Friday 23rd Children’s Games 4-6pm at the Village Hall.

Friday 23rd INHS 7.30pm at the Village Hall.

Sunday 25th Sunday Service 10am at All Saints Church

Wednesday 28th Short Mat Bowls 2-4pm at the Village Hall

Thursday 29th Bingo 2pm doors open at the Village Hall

Saturday 31st Children Halloween party 3-5pm at the Village Hall.

Iden Village Hall is available to be hired for most events, call Teresa on 01797 280143.

If you have anything you would like to add for next week. Contact Claire on [email protected]  or 01797 280500 before the end of the weekend.