Fairlight

Pews News: This Sunday, March 17, at 10.30 am, there will be a service of Holy Communion at St Andrew’s . The Crèche and Junior Church will both be available at this service. At Pett Methodist Chapel, the 10.45 am service will be led by visiting preacher Tony Collins.
Fairlight newsFairlight news
Fairlight news

MOPPs today: Today, Friday, March 15, singer Tim Gibson will be here to entertain you, and the lunch will consist of fish and chips, followed by gateau. Next Friday, March 22, the ever-popular

Keith Osbourne will be along with his Music for Health, and the day’s lunch will be beef and ale pie, with ‘Fairlight’ Mess to follow.

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Your village needs you!: The Parish Council meets on Tuesday week, March 26 at 7 pm. But there is a meeting of intense interest prior to the full meeting, as the councillors will be present from 6 pm onwards to talk to any and all who could be interested in becoming a Parish Councillor and sharing in the governance of the village. They will be able to explain about what the role entails, eligibility and so on. If you have already made your mind up and wish to become a Parish Councillor nomination forms are available from Mrs Pauline Collins, Parish Clerk, Kerri, 35 Waites Lane, or call 07487 822729, or even email: [email protected]

A diary note for April. The village hall will be decorated in April, and so the Parish Council meeting booked for April 23 has had to be put back one week to Tuesday, April 30. The planning meeting proposed for April 30 at 2.30 pm will move to 6 pm.

Fairlight History Group: A reminder that this month’s meeting of the History Group is coming up on Wednesday next, March 20 at 2.30 pm in the village hall. It’s to be a ‘double header’ meeting covering a film show of Holidays in Fairlight in 1949/50, and also a Fairlight history presentation from 2000. Join up next week if you haven’t already.

Got your tickets yet?: That’s the tickets for the ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’ Quiz, in support of MOPPs, with Bob and Dec asking the questions as is their wont, and the added bonus of Jim Saphin singing as well. It’s at the village hall in a fortnight on Saturday, March 30, and it will only cost you £6 a head, a price that includes a light supper. Graeme and Leonie have the tickets at their Post Office and General Stores.

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Royal British Legion secretary: We still haven’t heard if the local branch of the Royal British Legion has located a new Secretary yet. If you fancy the job, please have a word with Margaret Pulfer, the current post holder, on 814866 as soon as possible. Without a new candidate, the whole future of this highly successful branch, as it stands, will be under threat, so please do your bit…

The RBL Table Top sale last Saturday saw the village hall well populated with stalls covered with goodies, and raised £214.99 for the Branch funds. Anyone got a spare penny?

The Gardening Club: The Club welcomed guest speaker, Ian Everest, to their March monthly meeting on Monday and he proved to be a great hit with members. Ian gave a very entertaining talk entitled ‘From Sussex Ox to the Fordson Major’ and took those present on a journey of Sussex farming through the years from the mid-1800s to the Second World War. His many fascinating old photos illustrated the important role of oxen on the farm and how ‘drovers’ would drive them many hundreds of miles from North Wales, for example, to South East England to be sold at the cattle markets, including one in Battle A very long way to walk! Ian explained how over the years, the ox was replaced by the heavy horse, then by steam-powered machinery and eventually by the tractor. Everyone had a very enjoyable afternoon and it is certain that Ian will be included on the Gardening Club calendar in the future.

Lower Waites Lane pothole: As often happens with a weekly paper, after I had written of the poor state of affairs by the post box in Lower Waites Lane, and before the item was published, both eyesores had been rectified. Not perfect, but so much better… thanks.

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Fairlight Road and Battery Hill: Unable due to absence to comment on the non-comings and goings on the Fairlight Road, when the professional drivers of a bus and a coach each simultaneously suffered the triumph of hope over experience and jammed themselves solidly together for over two hours, it was a pleasure to see the pictures and learn what had happened from the pics and items that Andrew Mier had submitted to the paper. The second time in under three months that this sort of mishap has occurred, with similarly good coverage of the previous event last December, plus further instances of dangerous aggression of people taking alternative routes through, for instance, Peter James and Rosemary Lanes. The nub of the article rightly observed that such a blockage could have a devastating effect on people needing an urgent ambulance service or, for that matter, a fire brigade service. On the front page of the paper, plus twice in the page four article, it was stated that this main road was unsafe. And we’re at the point when someone usually comes out of the woodwork, and East Sussex does not disappoint. Enter a smug spokesman with a blend of arrogance and ignorance. ‘This’, he says offensively, ‘is a minor road with a good safety record’. No, squire, it is not a minor road – it is our only blasted road, serving over 2,000 residents of Fairlight, Fairlight Cove, Pett Level and Winchelsea Beach. The moronic spokesman goes on to say ‘the onus is on motorists to drive safely, according to the conditions and the layout of the road’. And therein lies the sting. The collapsing condition of the road forces motorists to drive with their offside over the centre white line, making it extremely dangerous for approaching traffic and themselves. This road has failed. How many times does one have to write this? Clearly, ‘spokesman’ has never driven from Fairlight to Ore, but sits in an office pontificating about the state of a road he knows not, but consulting his Rolodex card that says ‘top dressed a few years ago, and re-done the following summer after failure’. Rather like the more recent Waites Lane refurb, which entailed three or four call-backs to rectify poor work. This latter work has never been completed. Bring back the Romans – they were building better roads than this 2,000 years ago!

High winds abound: Went down Martineau Lane at lunchtime on Sunday and opposite the first slip road off to Fairlight Hall find there’s a leaning tower of some 20 feet of tree and ivy overhanging the road. With the wind having dropped, it was still there some three hours later, but when our family left for home during the evening they were briefly held up while the tree was finally dealt with. Makes you wonder when you get further on to the straight, heavily wooded stretch, where many of the overhanging trees have a threatening attitude that suggests they are just waiting for you to try to creep under them. However, should any tree fall on the east side of the road, where the land falls away, it can be assured of a soft, safe landing, as the fly-tipping along here is just coming nicely into season.

Community Awards: You may have noticed in the Observer over the past couple of weeks, news of the new community awards the paper is organising called The Best of 1066 Community Awards. They are asking if you can think of anyone in your community who deserves to be recognised for their work and to nominate them in one of the categories that are many and various, i.e. Local Hero Award; Carer of the Year Award; Young Achiever Award; Friend of the Environment; Volunteer of the Year Award; Overall Achiever of the Year ; Care for Animals Award; Business in the Community; Public Service Award; Special Recognition Award; Observer Achievement Award; Best Community Organisation; Sporting Star Award; Best Fundraiser; Health Worker Award and Charity of the Year. Details appeared in last week’s paper, and can also be found on their website. Give it a go and nominate some of the most worthy people in the village…