Catsfield

Sussex Harmony: Do you fancy singing/listening to or even playing some different Christmas Carols? Then come to Catsfield Village Hall on Saturday 10th December. The Sussex Harmony workshop will start at 3 pm followed by a light supper before a Carol Concert at 7.30pm. The music comes from 18th & 19th centuries that used to be sung in country churches and chapels to the accompaniment of a village band comprising fiddles, clarinets, oboes, flutes, the odd brass instrument and even a serpent! Therefore most of the tunes are joyful folk melodies some of which have come from Catsfield’s own manuscripts now housed in the Archaeological Society’s vaults in Lewes.

This music is meant to be sung with as much enthusiasm as accuracy, therefore don’t worry about the odd wrong note. To register for your music copy (& supper, small collection) or more information contact Mike Cooper on 01424 892681 or [email protected] or just turn up for the concert (retiring collection).

Carol Singing: The very popular and relaxed evening of carol singing will be held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 20th December. The St Laurence Church Choir will be there to lead us through all the traditional favourites, which as usual no doubt, will be sung with great gusto fuelled with mulled wine and mince pies. Everyone is welcome to drop in and out as they please between 6.30 and 8.30pm and join in this great way to celebrate the approaching celebration of Christmas. This month’s Parish Magazine and the Parish Christmas Card have details of all the Christmas church services.

Christmas Market: Last Saturday saw the Village Hall buzzing with activity as St Laurence Church held its main fund-raising event of the year – the annual Christmas Market. So many willing helpers joined together to decorate the Village Hall with market stalls brightly decorated and topped with red canopies draped with greenery. All were laden with wonderful selections of all kinds of things and it wasn’t difficult to find plenty of attractive items on which to spend one’s money before enjoying a rest with coffee or mulled wine and then going back to spend some more! The delicious smell of bacon butties tempted everyone throughout the morning until lunch was served and the menu turned to homemade soup or a choice of Ploughman’s. Cakes and biscuits were in abundance. Santa was missing this year from his sparkling grotto owing to another important engagement, but fortunately his very capable and inimitable elf was there to talk to the visiting children and he seemed to have brought along a friend to help in the kitchen! Success could be measured by the smiling faces of the shoppers laden with packages who were in no hurry to leave and who had obviously enjoyed a pleasant time chatting with old friends. It was announced in church at the Advent Communion Service on Sunday morning that the total raised for St Laurence’s Church funds was a great £1430! Congratulations to Jane for her hard work in getting everyone together to make it such an enjoyable and hugely successful event and thanks to all who helped or came to buy.

Sport: It is odd, but despite losing several of our last few games, we are still in the top three of the league table, possibly because other teams are involved in cup matches and their league fixtures haven’t caught up. You may gather from this that we lost again on Saturday, this time away to Bexhill Rovers 4 - 7. We play at home tomorrow against Orington, a team from Hastings. Orington are third from the bottom, so if we can field a good team, we should win. Watch this space.

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