Winchelsea Village Voice

WORDS AND MUSIC to Remember the Fallen (of Winchelsea) will take place at Wesley’s Chapel in Rectory Lane on Saturday November 14th.  Doors open at 10.30 for 11am and all are invited to share in the commemoration.  This event is a time of recognition, remembrance, and reflection for all servicemen who fought and died in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts defending the UK from invasion.  In the words of the Apostle Paul (around 64-67 AD)  writing from a Roman prison near the end of his life:  “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7)  

FAVOURITE GARDENS is the theme of the Garden Society’s next talk on Saturday November 14th at 2.30pm in the New Hall.  Graham Spencer will be giving the talk which is called “Gardens that have inspired me” and he will be talking about his favourite gardens both at home and abroad.  Graham is a well-known UK horticultural expert and since 2003 director of Plants for Europe Limited which is the principal plant breeders agent.  The company promotes the most unique plant varieties from plant breeders around the world and brings them to gardeners in the UK, Europe and worldwide.  All are invited to the talk and admission is £5 per person. 

RYE MEDICAL CENTRE Patient Participation Group will be having its Annual General Meeting at 6pm on Monday November 16th at the Hub on Rye Hill.   All patients registered at Rye Medical Centre are invited to attend and the group is looking for nominations for the Chair, Treasurer and Secretary.  Please email the secretary at [email protected] if you would like to get involved in the group. 

SPY NOVELIST Alan Judd will be speaking at the Literary Society on Friday November 20th at 7 for 7.30pm in the Court Hall.  The talk is titled: "The Origins of MI6 in Life & Fiction" and it will describe the early years of MI5 and MI6 in 1909 along with a parallel history of the development of spy fiction, showing how each influenced the other.  Alan Judd has written two biographies and eighteen novels, three of which have been filmed. He has won the Guardian Fiction award, the Heinemann award and the Royal Society of Literature’s Winifred Holtby award.  Almost half of his novels are spy novels, involving the Charles Thoroughgood series and the more recent Whitehall Court series featuring a young woman joining MI6 in the First World War. He is the official biographer of Mansfield Cumming, founder of MI6, and is also biographer of Winchelsea author, Ford Madox Ford. He has been a regular columnist for the Telegraph, the Spectator and the Oldie, is an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.   This intriguing talk is open to all and the cost for non-members is £5 admission.

THE WAR MEMORIAL in Winchelsea churchyard was built following a public meeting on January 24th 1919 after the Great War.  This stone monument with its octagonal shaft was funded by public donation and dedicated on November 7th 1920 by the Earl Beauchamp, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (from 1913-32).  The inscription on seven sides of the top tier of the Memorial lists the men of Winchelsea who fell in the 1914-18 war, and the names of those who gave their lives in the Second World War (1939-45) were added later. The final inscription states ‘Because I live ye shall live also’ (John 14:19) Jesus spoke these words at the Last Supper to His disciples before His crucifixion and assured them of His resurrection and spiritual presence with them.  Thus, because Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave believers share in His victory and promise of eternal life.  All 15 names listed on the Memorial, were read out by the Mayor David Page after the 2-minutes silence at the Remembrance service last Sunday.  The 16th person mentioned was a woman who lived in Winchelsea.  On January 13th 1943 during a German air raid she was killed by a bomb blast while rushing upstairs to the bedroom to rescue her 3 year-old child.  Miraculously the child survived.  The service was attended by members of the corporation and a large gathering of local residents, and during the ceremony chaplain Howard Norton offered prayers of hope and thanksgiving which were followed by the laying of poppy wreaths.  While the traffic drove past everybody sang together the inspiring hymn ‘Our God our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come’.  The popular hymn writer Isaac Watts, known as the “Father of English Hymnody” wrote the lyrics in 1708 in which he paraphrases Psalm 90 with: “A thousand ages in Thy sight Are like an evening gone; Short as  the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun”, and in completion: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”.  In 1738 John Wesley changed the first line of the text from “Our God” to “O God” in his hymnal ‘A Collection of Psalms and Hymns’ and both the original and the rewording of the text are in current use.   

WINCHELSEA BEACH November events in the Community Hall begin with Monthly Bingo on Wednesday 18th.  This will include afternoon tea and doors open at 2.30 for a 3pm start.  The monthly Fellowship Lunch will be at 12.30 for 1pm on Friday 27th.  As usual there is no charge for the meal but a donation to charity would be very welcome.    Please phone 07927 107678 to book your place as caterers need to know how many will be attending.  This year’s Christmas Craft Fayre for purchasing those special gifts will be held on Sunday 29th from 10.30am to 3pm.  Everybody is invited to all these Winchelsea Beach events!