Catsfield

Blue Grass Evening: On September 22nd Blue Grass Plus will be presenting the ‘Whitetop Mountain Girls’ at the Catsfield Village Hall tickets are £12pp. Doors open at 7.30pm and the show is from 8pm – 11pm. Supported by ‘Alive and Kicking’, contact Ray or Sheila on 01424 893390 or 07956266534

World’s Biggest Coffee Morning: On Friday 28th September from 10am – 12pm Caroline and Janet will be hosting Catsfield’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning at 2 Twisley Cottages, Potman’s Lane. There will be free parking and all are welcome. Ring 892990 if you have a query.

Harvest Festival: On Sunday 30th September the Harvest Festival Thanksgiving Service will be held at St Laurence Church at 11am. This will also be a Family Communion Service and Harvest Lunch will be available afterwards. The previous day (Saturday 29th) the church will be dressed for the harvest celebrations and gifts of foliage and flowers will be most welcome but before 9.30am please.

WI: The September meeting of the Catsfield WI after singing ‘Jerusalem’, began with the President reading a list of many apologies for absence, mainly due to people still taking holidays. She recapped on the several village events in which members had participated during the summer and recalled our Summer Outing and rather damp Garden Party in August – all very enjoyable. This was our ‘At Home’ meeting and again this year members were invited to tell us about their younger lives and careers. First up was Jackie who told us that from a very early age, she had been intrigued to watch her mother take just a few simple ingredients and turn them into something good to eat and this had been the start of her yearning to be a cook. She started as a student cook at Pembury hospital where she learnt a lot before being promoted to assistant cook. She progressed to Darwell Hall Hospital as deputy head cook aged twenty before leaving a few years later to look after her husband, home and family. She returned to work as cook at Catsfield School until 1984 and then she worked first at the Tennis Centre at Windmill Hill, before being made head chef at Hurstmonceux Castle. This was a prestigious and challenging job which she really loved and it gave her the opportunity to cater for weddings, banquets etc meeting many famous people as she did so.

Victoria told us how her nursing career began at an early age when she loved helping her mother to look after all kinds of animals. Her mother developed osteoporosis and seeing her in hospital made Victoria realise that she liked hospital life and wanted to be a nurse when she was old enough. However, her working life started with office jobs before going into nursing first at Orpington Hospital and then on to Benenden Hospital. She told us of the camaraderie between hospital staff who were all united in caring for their patients. She continues working still, caring for other people in the community.

Next to speak was our treasurer Ann who trained in commerce and started work as a clerk at Sevenoaks council before being promoted to looking after council meetings, the strong room and arranging functions. She met her husband and they bought a derelict nursery where she worked extremely hard at the same time as having a family to bring up and running a swimming pool company too. Her marriage broke up and later she met her second husband, they bought the house in Battle where they’re still living today.

Beryl, our secretary told us of her work as secretary to a managing director and the nightmare of typing sixteen carbon copies on a manual typewriter. During this time, she developed her love of the paintings of the Dutch Masters, lakes and mountains. She went on to become a ‘Bluecoat’ at Pontins holiday camp and had a great time there. She worked as PA to an author and did top secretarial work before marriage and children came along. Later she was divorced and had a variety of jobs as a tour guide, a holiday rep. in Spain, a lunchtime barmaid. She met David and they married and she had another wide variety of jobs before moving to East Sussex. She continued doing secretarial jobs until retirement and now enjoys voluntary work for the National Trust and being a most efficient secretary to the Catsfield WI.

Before tea a discussion was held about the future of the tea rota in our branch as less people were able to volunteer to help. It was agreed that we all enjoyed our ‘traditional WI tea’ and were reluctant to let that tradition slip, so all would make extra effort to sign up for the rota and offer to help when necessary. Tea and the raffle followed after a most enjoyable afternoon. The next meeting will be on 4th October at 2.30pm when the speaker will be Penny Philcox talking about ‘A Miscellany of Local History’. As this is a topic of interest to Catsfield residents, the meeting will be open to anyone (male or female) who will be welcome to join us as a guest.

World’s Biggest Coffee Morning: On Friday 28th September from 10am – 12pm Caroline and Janet will be holding Catsfield’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning at 2 Twisley Cottages, Potman’s Lane. There will be free parking and all are welcome. Ring 892990 if you have a query.

Sport: Our second football match resulted in a 4 - 2 win against Wittersham. Ben Newman, fortunately without a league cricket fixture, scored twice and the game was played in good spirit. Unfortunately, we picked up two more blue cards. Very disappointing, but perhaps players will learn in the end. Tomorrow we are at home again.

Epic Cycle Challenge: Getting up early on a Saturday and driving to a cafe in Rye is not a normal occupation for the groundsman and his wife, but it was to take part in an important event last week. The occasion was to meet up with our village vet Tim Pitman and wave him off on his epic cycle ride to Sicily. He was accompanied by Martin and Nick Gurr and several other local well-wishers, at least as far as Rye, when they were glad to rid themselves of their bikes and go home by car. After a convivial time at the cafe, Tim and several fellow cyclists, including all four of his children, set off for Folkstone which they reached in just over two hours. Julia was there to meet them bringing home children and bikes, no doubt saying goodbye to Tim with mixed feelings. We understand he will be spending the night in a hotel in Calais, but otherwise it will be wild camping most of the way. Although Tim is doing this because he has always wanted to, he has been persuaded to raise money for three charities Dementia UK, Animal Health Trust and Bluebell Ridge Cats Home. This can be done by just giving, more details next week.