Catsfield

WI Birthday Meeting: At the April meeting, the Catsfield WI celebrated their 98th birthday with a party in the Village Hall. Guests came from Bexhill Seagirls and Saxonwood WI's and the hall was filled with members and guests seated at tables attractively laid with spring flowers and napkins. Our speaker was Peter Willson and he accompanied the singing of Jerusalem on his keyboard at a slightly slower pace than at his last visit, when we galloped through it and were all left a little breathless! After the minutes and notices, Peter talked us through '˜The Great British Songbook' beginning with Gilbert and Sullivan and soon had everyone joining in '˜A Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One!' Lily of Laguna by Leslie Stuart followed and then the stirring marches of Eric Coates such as '˜Knightsbridge' and '˜The Dam Busters' and the contrasting '˜Sleepy Lagoon' '“ the signature tune for Desert Island Discs. This prompted Peter to invite anyone who might be interested, to offer their stories and choice of music to be recorded talking to him on Hailsham Radio's own version of the programme.

Ivor Novello, Noel Coward, Eric Maschwitz and Ray Noble were next in the list of composers with the gentler and more romantic songs such as ‘We’ll Gather Lilacs’, ‘Mad About the Boy’, the haunting ‘Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ and ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’. Flanders and Swann’s long list of amusing songs followed and we all sang ‘The Hippopotamus Song’ with great gusto! Lionel Bart wrote the ever-popular ‘Oliver!’ with its memorable words and music and he also wrote Cliff Richard’s hit song ‘Living Doll’ amongst others. Peter told us how at the start, both Lionel Bart and Paul McCartney were unable to read or write music and it had to be written out for them. Eventually the list reached the prolific musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber, who at one time had four being produced on stage in America and in London simultaneously. We ended Peter’s interesting and most enjoyable talk by all singing Lloyd Webber’s ‘Don’t Cry for me Argentina’. It had been a nostalgic reminder of the songs of our youth (apart from those one or two much younger members in our midst!)

The Committee served a wonderful birthday tea with a beautiful birthday cake and following the draw for the Catsfield 100 Club’s £100 and £25 draw for April, the birthday raffle was drawn before everyone went home after a lovely afternoon.

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Jumble Sale: A reminder that the WI Jumble Sale will be held tomorrow, Saturday 16th April from 10am – 12pm, entry 50p. All donations of jumble will be gratefully received at the Village Hall from 8.30am and contributions of cakes for the Cake stall too please. This is to raise money for the WI charity of The Kent & East Sussex Air Ambulance Service, so do please come along, grab some bargains and help raise money for this worthy cause.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting: This will be held in St Laurence Church at 7.30pm on Monday 18th April to discuss church matters and for the election of church officers.

‘On the Box!’: There will be a special event on Thursday 28th April when Catsfield Village Hall is proud to present ‘Bowjangles’ with a show entitled ‘On the Box!’ This promises to be a fast moving, energetic comedy performance by a string quartet who dance, sing, leap, tumble and joke whilst playing all the music and not missing a beat! Tickets are on sale from the Village Stores price £10 and £7 for concessions.

Spring Flower Show: The Catsfield Horticultural Spring Show was very enjoyable, entry numbers were not too different from last year although the daffodils were down on the whole, but there were a good number of floral exhibits. There seemed to be a lot of people wandering around taking an interest in everything on display and the takings were similar to last year. It was nice to see quite a few children’s entries, plus some lovely paintings from Catsfield School pupils and an excellent selection of decorated twigs from the children who go to the Pre-School.

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Sport: Whilst taking the opportunity of a break in the bad weather, the cricket wicket has been rolled and squared up ready for the season. Nets started last Sunday and if anyone is interested in joining in the fun, please contact Mike Davey on 830477.

You won’t believe it, but our football team “played well” again last Saturday but could only draw 0 - 0. Just as an indication of how the wet weather has affected football pitches, the match was supposed to be on the Sidley pitch, but it was transferred to Bulverhythe. We hope to be at home tomorrow against Hastings Rangers who are only one point above us in the league. However, at the time of writing, the pitch is still soaking wet with more bad weather forecasted for the week.

WI: members attended the annual conference in Eastbourne last Saturday to hear a motivational talk by the first woman high speed jet pilot of the RAF. Obviously, there aren’t enough Tornedos for us to fly, but the message was not to limit ambition and try for what you really want to achieve. So, if you hear the roar of a fighter plane over Church Hill in a few years time, look up and wave, it might be a WI member!

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