Fairlight

We’re now well into Christian Aid Week and, setting the week up, as usual, was last Saturday’s Church Coffee Morning at St Peter’s. Two busy hours saw the morning realise £256, while the similar Coffee Morning at Pett, running concurrently with Fairlight’s, raised £390. During this last week, door-to-door collections have been happening. If you missed yours and would like to donate, please contact someone from the church community who will be happy to oblige!

MOPPs today and next Friday: Today, Friday, May 19, Celia and Sylvia will be demonstrating flower arranging for the enjoyment of the members, with lunch to follow. Today, this will consist of bacon and leek suet roll, with rice pudding with jam to follow. Next Friday, May 26, singer Ben Howard will be entertaining the gathered crowds, with a slap-up lunch of roast lamb and all the trimmings and tiramisu and cream for pud.(from the Chef, not Ben!)

Fairlight Parish Assembly: There were no big surprises in store for the fifty or so residents who attended this year’s Parish Assembly. Council Chairman Cllr Rev Val Gibbs explained that the evening was not a Parish Council affair – it was just that the Council administered it, and she opened the proceedings by giving a brief résumé of what the PC had achieved during the previous twelvemonth period. The public is always eager to discover who is to be the new recipient of the John Lutman Award, given annually to the person who the judging panel consider has contributed most to the well-being of the residents and the community infrastructure. And the eighth very worthy winner turned out to be Laurie Beetham, whose extraordinary work includes monitoring the cliffs as they crumble, be it fast or slow, and the amounts of water the Rockmead Road pumping system is able to remove from the land behind the cliff face. This he has been doing in all weathers at all times of the year, and Laurie is now the third gent vitally involved against the cliff erosion and for our fight back to win the Lutman Award, the others being John Sinclair and Paul Capps. Indeed, Laurie made full mention of the other pair, though the meeting recognised that this evening was his own, personal plaudit. Janet Lutman made the presentation to Laurie, who will be donating the £150 charity sum to the charity of his choice – the RSPCA. Interestingly, and I’m sure entirely coincidentally, the eight recipients have followed the pattern girl, boy, girl, boy ever since the award was first made! Then Sue Clarke, Chairman of the Gardening Club, spoke about ‘Making a Brighter Fairlight’, illustrated with many slides by Karen and Paul Draper, showing before – sometime very much before – and after the Club’s installation of many container exhibits, plus the major improvements around the Circle. Sue thanked the Council for their cash grant, and also the many in the village who contributed cash, plants, containers – and time and muscle power!

Nibbles followed, accompanied by wine, soft drinks tea or coffee, completing an easy to enjoy evening.

The Fairlight Art Club’s annual Show: This event is one of the village highlights each year, and it kicks off tomorrow, Saturday, evening from 6 to 9 pm in the village hall. Tickets are £4 each if purchased from the Post Office in advance, or pre-booked by calling 814178, but go uo to £5 if you purchase on the door. The tickets enable you to peruse an impressive array of local art, and then to enjoy a cheese and nibbles supper with a glass of wine, or fruit juice if you’d rather. This year the exhibition is to run over two days, and on Sunday, May 21 there will be free admission from 10.30 am to 4 pm, and tea and coffee will be available throughout the day. There is a policy in place which allows purchasers of artworks to remove them on either day, with the space created being refilled with a fresh item. Good sales early on could mean a whole new show on the Sunday!

The Residents Association AGM: The Residents Association is ever vigilant and at work on our behalf, be it through entertainment or by benefitting the populace, and their AGM is on the calendar for Wednesday, May 24 at 7.30 pm in the village hall. Officers and Committee will be elected at this meeting.

Plant Sale: There’s a Plant Sale coming up, on Saturday, May 27 from 11 am until 2 pm at 65, Battery Hill, Fairlight. And it’s all in aid of The Cinnamon Trust and Hastings and Rother Disability Forum. The Cinnamon Trust was founded 32 years ago and became the national charity for the elderly, the terminally ill and their pets. The Disability Forum, a local community group, is run by disabled people for the benefit of disabled people.

If anyone has any plants they would like to donate, please contact Alan on 813503 – or simply take them along on the day. Of course, you’ll be more than welcome to go along and make your purchases; you don’t have to donate!

Playgroup and Nursery Grand Quiz Night: There will be a great night out in store for all on Saturday, May 27 at the village hall, starting at 7.30 pm. Tables can accommodate a maximum of 8 participants each. The Tickets, priced at £5 each, are available from the Post Office, and from Fairlight Playgroup and Nursery. Or call to reserve yours 0781 412 3343. There will be a bottle of wine and some nibbles on each table, and a licensed bar to further stimulate your little grey cells. If you’d like to contact the playgroup, and maybe register your child for the next academic year, please email: [email protected]

Village Hall Summer Fair: I know it feels like a mere couple of weeks since Christmas, but in fact we’re only a fortnight away from the much-loved Summer Fair at the village hall (where else?) on Saturday, June 3. The Fair run from 12 noon until 3 pm, and all the features you expect and enjoy will be there, not least the hot lunches – available from then minute the show opens. Like the Art Show, it’s an event at which you can see and be seen. I’ll see you there, then.

Parish Council meeting: A calendar note says that the PC AGM will take place next Tuesday, May 23 in the village hall commencing at 7 pm. As this is the fourth Tuesday of the month, Parish Council activity can be expected anyway. I’m not so sure about a further published note which claims there will be a Council meeting on May 30, the fifth Tuesday in May, a date which seems improbable. Watch this space next week for confirmation or denial of this particular item.

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