Fairlight

Pews News: This is the most important weekend in the year of the Christian church, and church-goers in the parish are going to be well catered for. On Good Friday, those of you who would appreciate a time of reflection and meditation upon the cross and crucifixion of Jesus are invited to go to St Andrew's for a 10.30 am start though, as mentioned below, it would be advantageous to arrive early. The theme is '˜The Bridge.' Some of you will know that this event is designed to be a very moving experience, which lasts about an hour. It will contain music, readings, prayer, meditation and visual content. It is not suitable for children and is intended to touch the emotions as well as the soul and mind. To help prepare yourself it is advisable to come early. There will be appropriate mood music from 10.10 am. At the end there will be an opportunity to stay and pray for as long as you wish. Further appropriate mood music will be provided for some 10 minutes at the end of the event, followed by silence.

On Easter Day you’ll have a wide choice of worship. You can begin the day with a Sunrise service on the Firehills if you wish. This will start near the coastguard station at 6.30 am, precisely four minutes before the time of the actual sunrise, it is hoped, D.V! Wrap up warm! The celebration will be led by the Salvation Army and will last about 25 minutes, after which all will hurry to St Andrew’s Church where there’ll be a simple breakfast, (for which a donation is requested, please.) At 10.30 am there will be Easter Communion at St Andrew’s. The theme is ‘The Resurrection’. Children will be catered for within the service and there will be an Easter egg hunt at the end of the service. It is advisable to come early as prelude music will start at approximately 10.15 am to help us prepare ourselves.

If you can’t attend in the morning, or you prefer a quieter service, there is an Informal Easter Communion at St Peter’s at 6 pm.

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While the foregoing accounts for the Anglican input for Easter, what about the Methodists? As you are no doubt fully aware, ‘our’ Methodist Chapel is in Pett, and many are the Fairlighters who cross the valley for their service each Sunday, and for other events, too. The Good Friday service will commence at 10.30 am at Pett Methodist Chapel and will conclude at Pett Parish Church following a short walk of witness behind the rugged cross. On Easter Day, the Methodist worship will be led at 10.45 am by James Clephane-Cameron after a hearty shared 9 am breakfast, during which Ian Pruden will lead a simple celebration of communion.

It is expected that details of both Anglican and Methodist services will appear each and every week in our Village Voice from now on, sometimes partly counting as a combined entry, as that is what obtains in the real life of the churches.

MOPPs today and next Friday: Today, Good Friday, March 30, there is going to be an Easter Party. Lunch will be salmon and new potatoes, with lemon tart to come.

Next Friday, April 6, the entertainment will be Keith Osbourne, which should keep the members exercised! Food will be shepherd’s pie, followed by gateaux.

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Bowls friendly fixture: The postponed Bowls Club Coffee Morning was, as usual, a well-attended affair last Saturday, with a large number of like-thinking and pleasant individuals manning stalls and raffles and so on, not to mention plentiful refreshments. Membership numbers showed a small increase during the morning! Not long to wait now, thanks to that snow postponement, as the green re-opens for the season on Saturday, April 14.

Fairlight Players: The Players’ Box Office opened last Monday for their production of ‘The Edge of Darkness’ a thriller by Brian Clemens, directed by Charlie Miller in her Fairlight directorial debut. Tickets are still only £6 from Fairlight Post Office, and the play will run in the village hall from Thursday to Saturday, April 19 to 21, at 7.30 pm each evening, and there is also a 2.30 pm matinee on the Saturday. There will be a bar and raffle every evening, not that you will need these incentives to see some good local am-dram.

The Gardening Club: There’s a change to the advertised programme, as Helen Yemm is unable to present her talk on Easter Monday. However, members who fancy a ‘trip down under’ next Monday, April 2 at 2.30 pm in the village hall will be able to catch Paul and Karen Draper presenting a slide show of a selection of the Australian Flora and Fauna as seen on their family visits to Sydney in 2013 and 2017. Of course, some of the Oz Flora are stunning, but the Fauna can include big crocodiles and enormous snakes. Oooh-er! Including their 2017 visit for this presentation means they were just too soon to capture the recently discovered, or rather uncovered, spotted yellow ball-tamperer, and the green-capped cricket-on­‑the-cheat. Non-members are welcome at a cost of £2 per person.

Dementia Action Alliance: It seems that there is scarcely anyone who has not been touched by having a family member, a more distant relative or a friend, neighbour or acquaintance who is suffering from one form or another of dementia. I am so glad that I have been asked to include this note in Village Voice, as many people could welcome the chance to learn more about the Rye and District Dementia Action Alliance, which will be three years old in May. It is the Alliance’s AGM on Wednesday, April 18, at ARRCC, Rye Creative Centre, Rye TN31 7LS, from 6 until 8 pm. Referred to by its initials, RDDAA, the Alliance is made up of organisations and, it seems, individuals across the area, all working together to radically improve the lives of people living with dementia and their carers and to help make Rye a dementia friendly town. At the AGM there will be information stands, speakers and refreshments. If you would like to know more, or to register your attendance, please call 0773 735 0896 or email [email protected]. There are times when sufferers and their carers could use any and all the help they can get.

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The Tuesday Ladies Club: The Club TLC’s members and visitors had a very informative afternoon with a return visit from the Hearing Dogs charity with two delightful dogs and their owners. Sally Watson explained how it is to be deaf as people end up being very cut off and lonely. Actually, Sally eventually had a cochlea implant which has enhanced her life and she is now the Sussex fund raiser for the charity as well as running her dog ‘hotel’, caring for dogs when their owners are away. The charity breeds its own dogs which are crosses between a poodle with either a labrador or a spaniel. The poodle input ensures that the dogs are suitable for any home where there is an allergy problem. Any puppies that are not suitable are passed on to other charities such as guide dogs, sniffers and police. Eileen and Lindsay gave brief talks about how their dogs had made their lives worth living. The Hearing Dogs charity is a little known and Sally expressed her gratitude for the support of the charity by the TLC members.

The Club’s next meeting will feature the popular Graham Albon talking about the Nakasendo Trail.

The meeting, on April 17, will be in the village hall, and will start at 2.15 pm.

Fairlight Road: The notorious strip on the Road to Hell, sorry, Hastings, has seen no changes yet again. Spring, if we’re lucky, will persist, like the rain, and turn to Summer. This will bring Fairlight Road many cyclists, who will be put into extreme danger by this section of road. If you can’t fill it satisfactorily, kerb it!

P.S. It’s the road that is Hell, not Hastings!