Catsfield

Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo: Mike Cooper writes: On 14th June this year St. Laurence’s Church, Catsfield is having a special evensong to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. It is special because the Rector has invited Sussex Harmony to provide the music. This choir, based in Lewes specialises in sacred music from the 18th & 19th Centuries and dresses accordingly. In addition, some of the music it performs has been copied from manuscripts originating from St. Laurence’s and now stored by The Sussex Archaeological Society in Lewes.

The music is not accompanied by an organ but by violins, cellos, double basses, oboes, clarinets, flutes, recorders, and occasionally serpents and or trombones. The choir is about twenty-five strong and will be having a workshop beforehand for anyone interested in joining in the music as a singer or musician, enthusiasm rather than accuracy is the watchword. The Workshop is in Catsfield Village Hall starting at 2pm and the evensong at 6pm will be at the church.

Anyone is welcome but if they would like to participate please contact Mike Cooper at [email protected] or ‘phone 01424 892681 or Rachel Jordan [email protected] or 01273 476837 to ensure that there are enough copies of music available. We look forward to seeing you at the Workshop or at the service.

Car Boot Sale: The next fund-raising event for St Laurence’s Church on Saturday 20th June 2015 at Catsfield Playing Fields. It’s an 8.30 am start for Stall Holders and 9.00 am– 11.30 am for Buyers. The cost will be Cars £7, Vans £10, Browsers 50p. Hot and Cold Refreshments available – hopefully those traditional Bacon Butties!

Cream Teas and Craft Sale: This delightful WI summer event will take place at the Village Hall on Saturday 27th June from 3pm – 5pm and it is hoped that the weather will be fine so that visitors can sit in the garden if they wish. Janet and Helen will be running the craft stall and homemade cakes will also be on sale. The cream teas will cost £4 each and £2 for children and it is hoped to raise lots of money for ‘The Air Ambulance Service’.

Murder Mystery: Not many people could have missed last night‘s performance by the CADS of a Murder Mystery entitled ‘Who Killed the Soap Star?’ because the Village Hall was filled to capacity and there were familiar faces all around. We sat roughly four to a table, although there were one or two larger tables for groups of friends. We were given a list of the cast names and characters and another sheet on which to identify the murderer and the attempted murderer too, with the rest of the page on which to show our reasoning. There was also a quiz.

The actors read their words from the script as before, to avoid missing out any significant clues and yet still managed to forget their parts occasionally or read the wrong part of the script - well, Vanessa did anyway, which gave lots of laughs! Fr Michael took part in it again and was thoroughly enjoying himself as the geeky prop manager turned forensic scientist. All the characters played their dual roles excellently, as tv actors who were also playing soap stars, which made the plot even more confusing as they all had two names in the play.

The food in the interval was amazing. Described as a ‘posh ploughman’s’ there was so much of it. Each table had a basket of different kinds of delicious bread, butter, lettuce and tomatoes, a large platter of cheeses (some very different and unusual) pickle and pickled onions, two different pate’s and they kept coming round to top up everything and still sold off food at the end! One of the best bits was at the end when Vanessa went through each table’s answer sheets and tore shreds off everyone for their incorrect answers and comments! That lady is such a performer! Only one table got it right. It was 11pm when it finished and we all made our way home feeling very tired but with huge smiles on our faces at the end of a very entertaining and amusing evening. All the proceeds from the evening, after expenses and including the raffle will go to ‘The Air Ambulance Service’.

Sport: Saturday, a cricket team from Bexhill used our pitch in bright sunshine and enjoyed their afternoon. When it came to Sunday, of course, it rained so hard that our game against Sedlescombe was cancelled. Tomorrow, Bexhill are again using our pitch and we play Southbourne at home on Sunday 2pm start. The two stoolball teams are well into their season, but results are not yet to hand.

Farming news: is that some silage has been made, the grass is growing well and if you pass a field of beans you will notice the beautiful smell of their flowers. A nearby field of closely shorn rams reveal them shivering in the cruel wind we have endured for most of this spring.