Staplecross

PHOENIX APPEAL: Following the devastating fire in July of last year, which destroyed a large area of the St. Michael’s Hospice building, the organisation is taking the opportunity to undertake extensive refurbishment to create a modern facility, - truly ‘fit for the future’. The hospice charity is looking to raise money to help cover the costs of the rebuild and is looking for people to help fund raise. Since opening it’s doors in 1987, St. Michaels Hospice has cared for over 12,500 people across the Hastings and Rother area, and sadly, relies heavily on volunteers and donations to help keep this invaluable service going, more & more so, in this time of harsh cut-backs. St. Michael’s Hospice are calling out to all the residents and businesses throughout Hastings and the Rother areas to get involved and support their ‘Phoenix Appeal’. Supporting your local Hospice is such an easy and worthwhile thing to do, as so many of us have been touched by this hateful disease - it doesn’t just effect those who actually suffer from the illness, it can have a devastating effect on their families and friends also. To make the refurbishment of this superb project easier, you can help in so many ways; -- * 1) You can make a one-off donation, --* 2) You can send a cheque made payable to St. Michael’s Hospice, and post to the Hospice (marked ‘Phoenix Appeal’) --* 3) You can make a donation by Credit or Debit card by just calling 01424~456373. --* 4) You could hold an event in aid of the ‘Phoenix Appeal’ - call the Fundraising Team for event resources ( poster & Press release templates & Hospice leaflets) Your fundraising event could be a holiday of a lifetime, or sitting in a bath of baked beans, or holding a clothes swop, a jumble sale, a fete....the list is as endless as your imagination. --* 5) You could attend or volunteer at their ‘Phoenix Appeal’ events. or call their Voluntary Services Team for all further details. Please do what you can, - give what you can, - help where you can. -- Spread the word and help spread the love and support a lot further to those that need it.

ROTHER RAMBLERS: Those happy fellows of the footpaths, are still strutting their stuff, as regardless of whatever our English weather may throw at them, they don’t seem to let anything prevent them from enjoying their strolls throughout our lovely country pathways. Two more walks are planned for us to enjoy this week and Walk No: 1 is a rather short(ish) meander of only 6.5 miles and is a circular tour of Hellingly. Planned for Saturday February 27th, - the meeting place is the lay-by, near the cemetery on B2104, at the slightly earlier time of 9.30am. OS EXP123. TQ577118. (SatNavBN27 4DR) There will be a short break midway, with the option of a lovely pub lunch, in Horsebridge, following the end of the walk - just the incentive to encourage us to join in, perhaps. Rita & Lionel, will be your ‘walk leaders’ for this excursion so do please contact them on 01424~752452 for all further details. Walk No: 2 starts us nicely off into the new month and is a wee bit longer at 8.5 miles - but you’ll hardly notice it as the scenery will be beautiful all round !. This outing is a circular stroll of Chailey & Wivelsfield Green and is arranged to take place on Wednesday March 2nd. The meeting place will be the Chailey Village Hall approximately a quarter mile south of Chailey village on A275. OS EXP135. TQ394189. (SatNav BN8 4DA) at 10.00am. Please note;- this is a ‘mostly level’ walk and of course, a picnic lunch is again suggested. Martin is your ‘walk leader’ for today and you may contact him on 01424~752793 for all further information.

STAPLECROSS & EWHURST GREEN W.I: Once more, looking forward to meeting with old friends and new acquaintances, will be those lovely and friendly lady members of the parish’s local Women’s Institute. Meeting once again at St. Mark’s church room, Northiam Road, Staplecross on Tuesday March 1st. the meeting will begin at 2.30pm and as soon as the ‘business side’ is dealt with, the ladies can then enjoy the guest speaker for this month who will be Mr. John Cave, - a musician with a difference !. After passing his ‘audition’ at a recent ESFWI Speaker Selection meeting, John has quickly become a very popular speaker with his own brand of entertainment. The ladies will be hugely delighted with his repartee of comedy songs & poetry- some even about the W.I.- all accompanied by his trusty guitar !. Everyone loves to feel happy and following John’s performance, the ladies present, will certainly be that. This is sure to be another popular event in their 2016 social calender and if there are any ladies out there who would like to become members of this very friendly group of the W.I. and would enjoy being a part of this happy, helpful and caring group of ladies. then why not consider joining them ?. Perhaps you’ve recently moved into the parish, and would like to become part of the community, - well this is a great way of doing so !. Come along and take pleasure in their company, - join in and share their wide and diverse range of topics planned throughout their 2016 Programme. There is sure to be something of interest to all, so please contact Ann Prodinger on 01580~831944 for all further information. We all look forward to seeing you here and to welcoming you to our group

MOBILE LIBRARY SERVICE: That brilliant little Mobile Library van will be back trundling along our country lanes once more, as it continues with it’s 2016 schedule. This time the white van will be visiting Ewhurst Green on Thursday March 3rd. but at a NEW EARLIER TIME of arriving between 10.40am and departing at 11.10am. (this was the original time for arriving here, so please ensure you put this new earlier time on your calendar.) Residents of this beautiful village, will be delighted to hear that this month they will have two (2) visits from this van with the amazing amenities inside. so please ensure that you don’t miss them. There are many things of interest within the portals of this wonderful, free, Library Service vehicle, so please come along and find out for yourself.

EWHURST, STAPLECROSS & BODIAM GARDEN SOCIETY: Following on from last month’s well attended meeting, more treats are in store for the members of this popular local gardening society who will be enjoying another very interesting evening when they all meet again at Staplecross Village Hall, Northiam Road, on Thursday March 3rd. beginning at 7.30pm. ‘Variety is the spice of life,’ it is often said, and the hard-working committee of this friendly local horticultural group, certainly provide that for their members, - as can be seen from their 2016 Programme of Events. This month’s speaker promises to be an inspiration to all of us who love Oriental Gardening. We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Richard Wiltshire, from Kings College, London to our meeting and his talk will be “Allotments in Japan” - How these differ from our English plots will no doubt, provide a surprising, interesting and informative evening for all. Do try to make a space for this evening’s event, as it is always a popular and well attended date in the diary. For all further information of what’s in store please contact the society’s secretary (Ruth) on 01580~831918.

CONSERVATIVE -- OPEN MEETING: Our local representative in Parliament, Mr. Huw Merriman, would like to invite all & sundry to an ‘Open Meeting’ on Friday March 4th between 6.00pm and 6.30pm at Sedlescombe Village Hall. Huw will speak of his first 9 months as your representative in Parliament and will be available to answer your questions on the subjects that most concern you. His colleagues from both councils, ~ Rother District Council, - Mr. Tony Ganly, and East Sussex County Council,- Mrs. Angharad Davies - will also be in attendance. In view of the recent happenings concerning our EU connections, now may be the best time ever, to come along and discuss your concerns, put your queries forward and get the latest input and answers from Downing Street - via Huw of course !. For further information please call Tony on 01580~830704 or Angharad on 01580~831969. This promises to be an enjoyable and lively debate, so please come along and join in. All will be made very welcome.

EWHURST & STAPLECROSS VILLAGE HALL: This is just a gentle reminder that the Village Hall Committee will be holding their A.G.M. at the Village Hall, Northiam Road, Staplecross on Tuesday March 8th at 7.30pm. As you are all aware, our Treasurer and our Hall Booking Clerk have recently retired from these positions and as a result, over the past few weeks, several appeals have been put forward to the residents of our parish (& beyond) seeking their replacements. Well, I can now happily & thankfully report that both these vacancies have now been filled. They will be announced and welcomed on board at the AGM - ready to take on the respective roles. We all thank them most sincerely, for taking up the mantles, and for which we are all most grateful. The Village Hall Committee, has, in it’s role as ‘caretakers’ of the premises, promised to maintain the building to the continued high standard that it currently holds, for the benefit and enjoyment of all those who use it. As a result of this, in the near future there will be improvements made to the ventilation in the kitchen and repairs to the approach road surface undertaken. In the long term, the Committee are hoping to replace the stage curtains, - no small task - and perhaps do some work to the hall floor. As part our committee work, we endeavour to fund raise as much as possible, through our various events undertaken throughout the year, hopefully to provide the funds for this maintenance work. We are always happy to accept monetary donations of any calibre, towards these projects and if you would like to contribute to the present or future funding of this beautiful village hall, then do please get in touch. You can contact the current Chairman Hilary Ganly on: 01580~830704 or at her email: [email protected] or better still --- come along to our A.G.M. meet the Committee and see what happens. PS.- Our next event will be the first of our Annual Mammoth Jumble Sales and will be held at the Village Hall on Saturday March 19th at 2.00pm. ‘Jumble’ donations will always be accepted most gratefully and any willing helpers - the more the merrier - will be received with open arms and smiling thanks and cups of tea !. For more information on both these items, please contact Hilary, once again, via her contact points.

CHURCH SERVICES: Church services for the parish of Ewhurst will commence at St. James the Great, Ewhurst Green on Sunday February 28th. Lent 3. at 9.30am This service will also include Holy Communion. Canon David Frost - (Rural Dean) - will be returning to conduct this service. There will be NO SERVICE at St. Giles church, Bodiam today, but a service at St. Mark’s church, Northiam Road, Staplecross will take place today directly after at 11.15 a.m. Canon Frost will also conduct this service, as Reverend Gordon Winchester is still poorly, but ever cheerful. We are all very grateful to all our parish friends, for stepping in to help out at this difficult time and we hope you all know how much we appreciate your services. All enquiries regarding the matters of Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals should, for the time being, be made to the appropriate Churchwardens who are: Bodiam Parish ~ Graham Peters: Telephone no: 01580~830203 email [email protected] and Ewhurst Parish ~ Jo Goodwin: Telephone no: 01580~830601 email [email protected] They would both be pleased to help in any way they can, so just get in touch. As our much loved Reverend, Gordon continues to endure the process of his ongoing treatment, we ask that both he and his lovely wife Judy, continue to be remembered in your thoughts and prayers.

PLEASE CONTACT ME: If you are arranging an event in the near future, --- however large or small and you’d like some extra FREE coverage, - (courtesy of the Observer Newspaper group,) for it, then please get in touch. If it’s of interest to you, - it’s of interest to us. It’s never too early to send in your details and to tell us what you are planning, so please do contact me, as I’d love to hear from you and to help ‘spread the word’ on your behalf.........Thank You.

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