Winchelsea

Book Signing: The Literary Society is invited to Rye Bookshop on Saturday January 19th when local author Pamela Holloway (pen name of Pamela Buxton) will be signing copies of her latest novel “Blood in the Snow”. Pamela will be in the bookshop between 10.30am and 1pm.

Castle Garden: The Winter Lecture on “From Captivity to a Castle” by Tom Hart Dyke takes place tomorrow Saturday January 19th at 2.30pm in the New Hall. Admission for Garden Society members is £3 or £5 non-members at the door and refreshments will be available. Tom will be talking about his plant hunting trip to the Columbian jungle which led to his disastrous capture by far-left guerrillas determined to kill him. Miraculously he was freed along with his travelling companion and both returned to the UK after their 9 months’ ordeal. During his time in captivity Tom designed a garden with plants from around the world and he has since built this garden in the grounds of his ancestral home Lullingstone Castle. The garden is now open to the public and welcomes thousands of visitors from all over the world.

Here to Help: H2H is a local voluntary service, run under the auspices of the Rye, Winchelsea and District Memorial Hospital, for people who live in the Rother Parishes of Iden, Playden, Rye Foreign, Peasmarsh, Udimore, Icklesham, Camber, East Guildford, and Rye. They are currently recruiting Volunteers who live in these Parishes who would like to help people in their local community. To find out more there are details about H2H on the Rye Hospital website www.ryehospital.org.uk and see also the Volunteers section. If you would like more information and an application form, please leave a message on the H2H answer phone on 01797 224044. All Volunteers are DBS checked and expenses are paid.

Garden Visit: Winchelsea Garden Society will be visiting Pembury House on Valentine’s Day, Thursday February 14th, leaving at 9.30am from the bus stop on German Street and returning by 4pm. Pembury House is located in Clayton, West Sussex at the foot of the South Downs and its garden has received much acclaim. It was featured in Country Homes & Interiors (2009) and More from your Garden (2011) and was the National Gardens Scheme Garden of the Month in the English Garden magazine February 2018. The garden is 3 acres in size and is noted for its herbaceous plantings, snowdrops and hellebores and there is much more. Tickets are now on sale at the Farm Kitchen and the cost is £23 which includes coffee and cake on arrival. The visit is specially arranged in aid of the NGS and will include stopping at a nearby garden centre where plants and lunch can be purchased.

Winchelsea Beach

Flood Update: A drainage tanker lorry is currently stationed by the Community Hall on Sea Road and the area around the Hall is fenced off for the lorry to do its work. Around the outside a diversion pathway with safety fencing has been set up for pedestrians which looks as though it could be there for some time. Due to the recent heavy rain the area has experienced some flooding which seems to have the usual effect of overloading the drainage system. Southern Water continues to tackle this problem with tanker lorries on a fairly regular basis. Installing new underground piping would be too expensive and so the lorries are brought in to help alleviate the problem, although noise level and having a temporary traffic light system near the supermarket can be an inconvenience.