Mayfield and Five Ashes Village News

MAYFIELD FESTIVAL

Shadows and Light: Mendelssohn & Beethoven. St Dunstan's Church, Mayfield, TN20 6AN. Sunday September 20,  2026. Barbican Sinfonia, Alexandra Peel, violin. Jack Gonzalez-Harding, conductor. Join conductor Jack Gonzalez-Harding for an evening of gripping musical narrative, charting the journey from the stormy Romantic coastlines of Scotland to the sunlit, muscular energy of the classical symphony. The concert opens with Felix Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, also known as Fingal’s Cave. Written after a trip to the Scottish island of Staffa, this masterclass in atmospheric tone-painting evokes the swell of the Atlantic Ocean, the cry of sea birds, and the vast echoes of the basalt cavern. Next, Gonzalez-Harding is joined by the young rising violinist Alexandra Peel for Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. Breaking traditional moulds, the work launches immediately with a soaring, melancholic violin melody that rarely leaves the instrument throughout its three interconnected movements. It remains one of the most beloved and technically dazzling concertos in the classical repertoire. Following the interval, the program shifts to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major. Often overshadowed by its revolutionary neighbours — the Third and Fifth symphonies — the Fourth is a testament to Beethoven’s brilliant wit and rhythmic vitality. It moves from a mysterious, brooding introduction into an exhilarating display of orchestral power, humour and joy. Jack is currently a Conducting Fellow with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester in Germany and assistant to Sir Simon Rattle at the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra so opportunities to see him with baton in hand in the UK are rare. Don’t miss out. https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ticketsource.com%2Fmayfieldfestival%2Fshadows-and-light-mendelssohn-amp-beethoven

MAYFIELD BONFIRE CELEBRATIONS TO GO AHEAD

We are delighted to announce that our village bonfire celebrations on Saturday September 19 are cleared to proceed with additional safety measures. This follows our Planning Committee Meeting earlier this week, where we considered all the risk assessments and contact with the Bonfire Safety Advisory Group (SAG, which includes East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service) and our insurers.  The Government wildfire alert is no longer in place, and the official Natural England fire severity index for the Mayfield area is low from September 9, so the SAG has confirmed there is no reason we cannot proceed as planned. Our insurers have concurred.  We have also been assured by SGN that the gas work on Fletching Street will be completed and the road fully reopened to allow the procession to reach the Rose & Crown and return. So the torchlit procession will definitely take place. As a precaution and to reassure villagers, water barrels will line the procession route for emergency use. In addition our stalwart Scouts will be assisted by a crew from Heathfield Bonfire Society in clearing used torches from the streets in double quick time, reducing any risk of verge singeing. We are also being assisted by a crew from Heathfield fire station. We anticipate having a modified fireworks display, ground and weather conditions permitting. As happens every year, wind speeds will be monitored to ensure the display can proceed without danger. In addition, the display has been slightly revised to only include aerial fireworks, and additional spotters will be in place to ensure safety.  Our hope is to also have our bonfire but the final decision on this will be taken in the week beforehand, depending on ground and predicted weather conditions at the time. If it can go ahead, the fire site is to be moved further into Court Meadow and away from any trees and nearby properties.  The Bonfire Society truly hopes this gives all villagers confidence that we have considered and planned for all the likely risks and are only proceeding because we believe it is safe to do so. We all live in the village ourselves and would never knowingly risk your or our homes, livelihoods and community. We are using our collective experience of many decades to plan for and mitigate every risk we can identify, as we do every year.  We will post further updates about the event timings in the coming days, along with details of the High Street window and Build-A-Guy competitions, so watch this space. In the meantime, our annual Programme is now available in the Post Office and Sew Inspired for the princely sum of £2, which provides all the information you could need about the night.

MAYFIELD HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

September talk - Tuesday 15th September sees a return to our autumn/winter series of talks to be held at Colkins Mill Church, Station Road and on Zoom. To kick things off, we have Anna Ribo, a local member of the Garden Media Guild, who will talk to us at Colkins Mill Church on Tuesday, September 15 for about an hour on “Making the Winter Garden Shine” - ways to make the garden appealing when conditions are less kind. 7.30 for tea/coffee and an 8.00 pm start. September Social. We have added an extra date to our event calendar this autumn - thanks to all your support of our earlier events this year we are in a position to be able to celebrate by having a party!  Tuesday September 29, at Colkins Mill Church, Station Road, is the date to put in your diary, 7.30 to 9.00 pm, when we will be serving wine and canapés. All members are invited to attend, and you are welcome to bring a friend.  You can also join in if you’d like to become a member on the night (a bargain at just £7.50 for the year). It’s an opportunity to get to know your committee and fellow members better and chat about all things gardening. We have some exciting announcements to make about developments of our activities for next year!  RVSP to [email protected] a.s.a.p. and before Friday, September 25. Last chance garden visiting. On Sunday 20th September, Tidebrook Manor will be open again for the National Garden Scheme from 11 to 4.  Your last chance this year to visit and appreciate this multi-layered and complex garden.

A new local green initiative…Local gardener and member Sian Thomas recently contacted us about a local environmental group that’s recently been formed in the village… “We’ve started a group called Wild about Mayfield, an apolitical environmental group to do all sorts of hands-on green things in the village. We're setting up monthly monitoring of the Rother and, at some point soon (probably starting next year), we’d like to survey Mayfield's flora. Do you think any members of the horticultural society would like to join us? We'll be using the iRecord app and also organising quadrant sampling events around the village…It would be really nice to join forces with the village's gardeners”. Interested?  Contact [email protected] www.mayfieldhorticulturalsociety.org.uk

MAYFACS

Important Update: Hearing Aid Maintenance Sessions Discontinued. Hearing Aid Maintenance sessions (HAMS) remain closed in Mayfield and other local areas and we only have a very small limited supply of batteries for our community. We are incredibly grateful to East Sussex Hearing and our trained HAMS volunteers for the vital support they provided to our community for the past couple of years. If you or a family member relied on this service for battery replacements, tubing updates, or general cleaning, you will need to seek assistance through alternative providers or contact your audiology department directly. You can order replacement batteries and tubing directly online at https://www.esht.nhs.uk/service/audiology/order-hearingaid-batteries-and-tubing/ or by calling 0300 131 5679. We are disappointed that this has been discontinued and we will continue to try and seek a way to support our community more locally with maintenance support.