Fairlight

Pews News: The service at St Andrew's this Sunday, July 29, will be Benefice Holy Communion at 10.30 am. There is to be a guest speaker from Compassion International talking of Overseas Child Sponsorship. The Crèche and Junior Church will both be available.

Over at Pett Methodist Chapel, the 10.45 am service will be led by the Rev Tricia Williams.

MOPPs today and next Friday: Today, Friday, July 27, the visitors will be the Cantabile Ladies Choir. There’s Hearing Aid maintenance today, too. Lunch today is ham and egg salad, with lemon meringue pie to follow. Next Friday, August 3, the entertainment will be the incredibly popular Hastings recorder ensemble, Fipple Consort. Nicola’s Age UK toenail cutting service will be available, too. And after that, you’ll be treated to ham and egg salad, and then lemon meringue pie. A brilliant day all round!

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Last Friday, a number of the hard-working souls who had opened up their gardens for the benefit of MOPP’s were assembled at the village hall to join in the celebration as the Open Gardens monies, now swollen to £4,450, was presented by Co-ordinator Robert Pasterfield in the form of a giant Barclays cheque.

The Gardening Club Summer Show: Despite the difficult gardening conditions so far this year, the talent of the gardeners in Fairlight was on display once again at the annual Gardening Club Summer Show last Saturday. The village hall was a mass of colour with all the fruit, flowers and vegetables accompanied by a delightful aroma, arising from the sweet peas and roses. The two new judges this year were very impressed with the standard of the entries, particularly in the alcoholic drink category, which proved very popular! However, they managed to pick the winners among several traditional categories, with the spoils spread fairly evenly amongst the entrants, including some of the newer members of the Club. John and Penny Eveleigh swept the board in the rose categories and they took home the Charles Long Trophy for the best rose and the Dick Ford Cup for the best flower exhibit. Bernard and Anne Cruttenden have battled this year with mice and badgers but Bernard won through in the end and took home the Dennis Burgess Trophy for the best vegetable exhibit, the Jack Hayward Cup for the most first places in all classes and the Nick Carter Trophy for the highest number of points in the Vegetable section. Bernard is also a force to be reckoned with in the sweet pea classes and he won the TWEFS Cup for the best Sweet Pea and the Fairlight Cup for the most fragrant Sweet Pea. The Bob Liddon Trophy for the best pot plant went home with Anne Cruttenden for a magnificent pineapple plant.

The Alliance and Leicester Trophy for the best exhibit in the Fruit classes went to Sue Clarke and she also shared the Floral Trophy with Garry Parkin for the highest number of points in the flower classes. Garry continued his winning ways by taking home the Brian Ardley Domestic Challenge Cup for the most points in the domestic classes and the Golden Anniversary Cup for his pear and star anise gin, which both judges agreed was the best overall exhibit in the show. The Club introduced a new Cup this year in memory of Val and Ted Kinmonth who were staunch members of the club in the past. Sadly, Ted died last year and his family were very proud to donate a cup in his honour. As Ted always loved his cake, the Kinmonth Cup was awarded to Cas Barlow for her lemon drizzle cake, judged the best in its class.

The Potato Challenge is always very popular with club members and after a much disappointment when there were many failures, this summer produced entries of a good weight. Colin Lees was declared the winner with 4lb of ‘Scarlet, Duke of York’ potatoes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Thanks should go to Sue Clarke and all her team for organising another excellent show. It’s not too soon to start gearing up ready to enter next year!

Tuesday Ladies Club: For their July meeting, the Club had a last minute change of programme caused by technical problems in the hall. Paul and Karen Draper very kindly stepped in the breach and gave an illustrated talk about their visits to Sydney which featured the incredible trees and plants in Sydney’s botanical gardens. Also featured was Fairlight Beach, Australia, which was not very big but lovely and sandy. The birds were so colourful, but they all looked as if they made a lot of noise, unlike our British songbirds. The presentation finished with pictures of Lake Garda.

Club members and guests had a very enjoyable day at Michelham Priory in glorious weather and the next meeting will be the summer lunch on August 21. This is for members only.

The Community Library: Don’t forget your new Community Library, neatly tucked in to a corner of the Post Office and General Stores, which is open every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from 2 until 4 pm. Persistence and determination of the few led to the establishment of this excellent facility for everyone and, maybe due to the exceptional weather, the uptake has not caught on as quickly as might have been expected. It’s actually absolutely ideal at present to while away an hour or two in the warmth of the days with the proverbial Good Book. You’ll have access to East Sussex Library Service books, just as you did at the Mobile Library. Get ready to read!

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Fun at Fairfest? Let me count the ways…: 1066 Falconry will be bringing their beautiful birds of prey and giving all those present two displays during the afternoon. The Cinnamon Trust are organizing the fun dog show this year, but fans of the four-legged should also note that the Ditto Diamonds Dog display team will also be showing their skills with two displays. The Cricket club will be doing a crockery smash where you will be able to vent your feelings, as well as a Tug of War. Children will be able to enjoy Hill’s Vintage Fairground ride, rides with Fairlight RDA, an enterprising entertainer called ‘Show Off’, as well as the usual bouncy castle and soft play area.

The Bowls Club will once again be opening their doors for visitors to ‘have a go’ at this popular sport. Four other things to tempt you – the Bayeux Bowmen will be there again for you to try your skills at Archery, or what about Thai Chi with Sarah Kimber? If you’re in the mood for dancing you’ll have the choice of either the Morris Dancing or the Barn Dancing.

There will be more than 30 stalls to wander round, and many activities to enjoy in the arenas. The Bar and BBQ will be available from 12 noon. Live music for your pleasure comes from the Village Voices (always one of my favourites!), Jim Saphin, Hall and Blokes, Tim Gibson, the Cover-ups and, of course, the Kytes. Your programme, only 50 p from the Post Office, will tell you where and when each of these attractions can be found. And it’s all free!

You could always visit the Facebook page @FairlightFairfest for more information. If you are coming and staying all day you may wish to bring something to sit on. Weather permitting there will be parking on the field but please share lifts where possible. If you see someone struggling up Commanders Walk please offer them a lift!

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sunday papers: With Fairfest upon us in two days time, Graeme and Leonie at the Post Office have pointed out that, as they both have commitments to the Festival, they will be closing the shop at 11.30 am sharp on Sunday morning. They apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but I guess that as you’ll all be going up the hill, that inconvenience should be minimal.

Time passes…: There’s just one month to go before the final date for entries for the Residents Association 2019 calendar, and organiser Bob Scattergood thought it would be timely to remind everyone that they are still seeking pictures of our village. The pictures can be in colour or black and white, or even paintings from the more artistic members of the village, of whom there are many extremely able exponents. Bob would like you to get snapping, get creative, and get yourself onto next year’s calendar while there’s still time! Please send your digital pictures to [email protected], or hard copies to The Chalet, Cliff Way, Fairlight TN35 4DT. Closing date for entries is August 25, with judging taking place immediately after this date. It is hoped the calendar will be printed and available by the middle of October. More details will be published in the next issue of the Fairlight News.