Icklesham

CHURCH NEWS@ The 9.30 am service for the Sunday before Advent, Christ the King, will be led by Rev.Christopher Breeds. This Sunday is often referred to as “stir up Sunday” , from the words of the Collect “Stir up , O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people.” Please note that next week there will be a joint Benefice service at 11 am at Winchelsea, and no service at Icklesham. During the week we commemorate Eleanor of Castile, Queen Consort of Edward 1, 1290. On Thursday 30th, we have Andrew the Apostle, Patron Saint of Scotland. Andrew, brother of St. Peter, was crucified in Patras in AD 60. His relics were carried to Scotland so that they were beyond the reach of Roman persecutors. The X shaped cross - saltire - was first seen in 10th century art about the time that Andrew became Scotland’s patron saint.

CHRISTMAS FAYRE: You have booked yourself time to visit the Christmas Fayre in the Memorial Hall tomorrow, haven’t you? There will be coffee and mince pies, cake stall, large raffle, cards, tombola, games , children’s toys and clothes AND Father Christmas with gifts. It will open at 10am and remain so until 1 pm. Do come, everyone is most welcome and there is plenty of free parking.

WEATHER: A bit dismal at the moment - cold, grey, inclining to drizzle, nothing inspiring at all. A wet week is forecast, but the ground is actually quite dry. Most of the leaves are off the trees now, giving us a chance to admire the skeleton shapes of the branches silhouetted against the sky. There is a beauty of a different type in these bare branches.

ROYAL BRITISH LEGION: John Pulfer writes, “ It is with great pleasure that I can announce that the final donation total to the Poppy Appeal for Fairlight, Pett, Guestling Icklesham and Three Oaks is £5,338.63.” John is the Poppy Appeals Organiser and he would like to thank all those House to House collectors and other volunteers for their superb effort. To all those who contributed, a very special “thank you “ for your donation to this very worthy charity, ensuring the needs are met, not only for those returning from military service to this country but also their dependants’ needs.

ROBIN HOOD INN: On the evening of Sunday 12th November, Remembrance Sunday, Carly D’Arcy and her team from the Robin Hood at Icklesham, held an Afternoon Tea. This was well attended, almost a full house, as the Robin Hood is known for its superb Afternoon Teas. The whole event was to raise money for this year’s Poppy Appeal and raised over £630. If you see an advert for an Afternoon Tea at the Robin Hood, do not miss out. Put your name down and enjoy a wonderful occasion. Thank you John.

QUEEN’S HEAD: The live music this Sunday at 4 pm will be played by Jo Rotunno playing Covers. There will be a Quiz Night on Wednesday 29th at 8.30 pm in aid of Breast Cancer Now.

ICKLESHAM PARISH COUNCIL: A local council for the people of Icklesham, Winchelsea, Winchelsea Beach and Rye Harbour. From your Icklesham Ward councillors, Corinne Merricks, Jane Austen, Jim Horsman and Nick Warren.

Recreation Grounds - The Council has approved a proposal from the Open Spaces Working Group to ask The Ground Improvement Scheme to survey Icklesham Recreation Ground, Harbour Field Rye Harbour and Pound Field Winchelsea. This originated from ongoing concerns regarding drainage issues at Icklesham and the expectation is that we will be able to get professional advice on the most efficient way to improve all three playing fields for the benefit of all users.

We have also agreed to respond to concerns regarding the difficulty of putting up the removable poles for the netting between the football pitch and the playground at Icklesham by considering installing the poles permanently so that only the netting needs to be put up and taken down with a pole before and after matches.

The new security barrier to prevent larger vehicles from entering Icklesham Recreation Ground, following the visit from travellers a couple of months ago is due to be installed in the week commencing 20th November.

Allotment Committee - The new Committee has now met a couple of times with representatives of the tenants from each of the four allotment sites in the Parish and has drawn up a list of works to improve the sites, a budget for next year to cover the costs and in response to tenants requests will be arranging a noticeboards at each site including a plan of plot numbers.

They next meet on 22nd January. If you have things that you would like the Committee to consider please contact the tenants’ representative at the relevant allotment site, or the Parish Clerk, or one of your Parish Councillors.

Rother Rural Trust - This is a local grant fund to which the Parish Council contribute each year and overseen by the District Council. It provides funds for those in need in our area. Recent grants have included funding a student’s expenses at Plumpton College and the start up costs for a community friend’s scheme and it will consider any worthwhile local need if it can be demonstrated that the cost cannot be met from other non grant sources.

If you know someone locally or a local group who could benefit from this, please contact one of your Councillors with details, so that an application can be considered.

Vandalism - We have repaired the Parish Noticeboard and the broken fencing at Icklesham Recreation ground. Seating for the bus shelter outside the Rec is on order and the damaged seat next to the Parish Noticeboard has been booked for repair.

Please advise the Clerk if you notice any further damage.

Your councillors are here to represent you and welcome your views on any matter. Please do talk to them or send your reviews/requests to the Parish Clerk at [email protected] or write c/o Wildgoose Cottage, Gorsethorn Way, Fairlight, East Sussex TN35 4BQ.

SCHOOL NEWS: The spotty day for Children in Need raised £91. Thank you very much. Cody came first in the Boy’s year 3 &4 cross country competition and Jolie came 3rd in the year 5 & 6 girl’s competition. Jolie, Sophie and Amy all qualified for the final to be held in February. Well done. There have been good discussions about Anti-Bullying, and ways to deal with this when things go wrong. There will be another Grounds day today, Friday. The school Christmas Fayre will be on Friday, 8th December. The headteacher awards this week go to Squirrel Class, Percy and Arthur; Badger Class Rosie; Falcon Class, Grace F.; and Fox Class, Ruby-Jude. The class awards go to , Squirrel Class Eleanor and Jessica Rose; Badger Class, Renn and Barnaby; Falcon Class, Leo and Grace F.; and Fox Class, Lottie and Hollie. The politeness award goes to Hollie; the caretaker’s award goes to Falcon Class; Attendance to Fox Class and House points to Oast House. Well done everybody.

CONTACT: If there is anything which you would like published in the Village Voice, do get in touch. Let’s face it, if nobody did, I would have nothing to write about !!!

AND FINALLY: See you at the Christmas Fayre. Enjoy your week.