Fairlight

MOPPs today and next Friday: Today, Friday, November 16, Ken Brooks will be taking about the ‘History of the Old Town’. After Ken, lunch will be fish with a herb crumb topping, and then chocolate bread and butter pudding. Next Friday, November 23, the entertainment will be by singer Tim Gibson. Next Friday’s lunch will be chicken with a mushroom sauce, followed by panna cotta.

Am Dram news: Last week’s Players’ production of The Vicar of Dibley part Two unsurprisingly exceeded even its eagerly anticipated success, with some sharply observed and executed characterisations leading to veritable gales of laughter. And this week has been all quiet on the village acting front, only for this Sunday to start the process all over again, when Wendy Hatch, directing for the first time, runs the first read through for the cast of the pantomime Rumplestiltskin on Sunday afternoon in the village hall at 2.30 pm. Notes about which of your local favourites will be appearing next January will follow in the coming weeks.

A murder mystery for the Playgroup: There’s to be a murder mystery evening fund raising for the playgroup/nursery a week tomorrow on Saturday, November 24 at 7.30 pm in the village hall. Hosting the entertainment, ‘Will to Kill’, are the Playden Players, and tickets are £6 each, with those attending invited to form teams of up to six. The tickets are at the Post Office, if you hadn’t guessed! The ticket includes a complimentary drink and nibbles. It promises to be a fun evening, and it’s certainly a good cause.

Preservation Trust AGM: The Annual General Meeting of the Trust will be held on Saturday, November 24 at the village hall at 2.30 pm. Members are advised to take their membership cards with them in case it is necessary to take a vote on any resolution or general matter. Non-members are welcome to attend and join the Trust at the meeting. Only members will be able to take part in any vote.

The Village Hall Winter Fair: This year’s Winter Fair will be on Saturday, December 1, from 12 noon until 3 pm. As usual, there will be hot food available, right from opening time, and Father Christmas will be here, too.

The Club prepares for Santa: Further to the note above, The Club will be preparing the grotto in readiness for the arrival of Father Christmas at the Winter Fair. They need silver or white Christmas trees, just for the day, to make sure he gets the welcome he deserves. If you would be willing to loan them such an item, please get in touch with Wendy Hatch at [email protected] You can’t greet Santa with a grotty grotto.

Jazz in the Village: A great night out is in prospect though, unfortunately, the village in which you can have it is not ours. It is, however, only next door, in Pett at their village hall at 8 pm on Friday, November 23. Featured are Millar and Spencer, which at first glance looks like a misspelled Players event, but no, this is saxophonist Ian Millar and pianist Dominic Spencer, and their uplifting evening is only £10 a ticket. They have recently enjoyed an outstanding season on the Edinburgh Fringe. Call 07850 469 314, or email Tim Rothwell at [email protected], and do it soon, as you must pre-book to be there. Accompanied under 16’s go free, and the do is advertised as BYOB – bring your own booze (and supper.)

FRA Christmas party: Here’s another annual event that many residents enjoy – the Residents Association’s Christmas Party, which will be in the village hall on Friday, December 14, kicking off at 7.30 pm. There’ll be the welcome return of guest star East Edna, a full bar and a boxed buffet, and all for only £10 per head. The tickets are available from the Post Office, as usual. If you want to bet on a dead cert, then you can be sure this little lot is going to be sold out. Get your ticket now, or you’ll be moaning later…

A Centenary of Remembrance: Last Friday, at 7 pm at St Andrew’s, was the occasion of Voices of Victory, a moving and well-presented celebration of 100 years since the end of the Great War. A substantial and appreciative audience was in attendance, and a large number of people had put a good deal of hard work into this special tribute. Our thanks are due to the organisers and participants.

Building on East Field?: Thanks to Geoff Smith and others with their leaflets and posters, all should now be well aware of the need to address the outline planning application with some relevant observations, as soon as possible. You will need the reference, which is RR/2018/2726/P - Pett Level Road - Land south of, Fairlight Cove, Fairlight. You can easily communicate your feelings by snail mail if you wish, writing to Planning and Strategy, Town Hall, Bexhill on Sea, TN39 3JX. Those comfortable with computers should go to the village website, fairlight.org.uk, and then to the Parish Council, followed by Planning Committee Documents and Dates. Here, Cllr Leadbetter, Chairman of our Planning Committee, has spelt out much of what you need to know, especially the meaning of ‘material planning considerations’. If you then explore the rother.gov.uk website, you will find how to put your points over to the planners. Two points of note. When the leaflets were being prepared, it was thought consultation would end on November 23. They didn’t know this was not so, but the notice was issued on November 9, and given 30 active days, which means you have until Sunday, December 9 to make your point. Secondly, once you register with Rother, you can return to your comments and add to them later (up to December 9!), if I’ve read that correctly.

It is worth noting that initially there is to be an Environment Impact Assessment. Ever since they all first came down, I’ve had the visceral sense that they suggest Fairlight to be a no-hope place that can only be saved by their grand overwrought expansion plan. There may be, hopefully, space to say the Fairlight Road cannot cope with an extra 250 – 300 cars a day, coming out of the estate each morning and returning each evening. Surgeries and supermarkets look good in the outline, but could disappear when things get under way.

Please spend a little time on this over the next three weeks; the future of the village you love is seriously under threat. There are enough faults in the material planning considerations for you to attack the application validly. There is no way to say the plan is plain wrong, inappropriate, too large, too disconnected and totally divisive, and that building on this site has been raised before and always defeated. The time is now if you want to oppose the plans.