Winchelsea

Church Market: The next Church Market is tomorrow, Saturday September 29th from 10.30 to 12pm. This is a different from the normal first Saturday in the month arrangement but is necessary to avoid clashing with the Flower Festival on Saturday October 6th. As usual coffee, tea and good company will be available at the Market plus stalls selling home-made produce, books and plants. Also, thanks to all who supported the last Church Market and helped to raise the useful sum of £328.55 which will go towards maintaining the church.
By The Newsroom
Published 28th Sep 2018, 06:00 BST

Book Club: The Rye Bookshop hosts a Book Club once a month usually on the first Monday and is always keen for new members. Friends and supporters of the Literary Society might be interested in attending the next meeting which is on Monday October 1st at 5.30 pm and the book is the “adventure romance” novel, ‘Oryx & Crake’ by Margaret Atwood. The Book Club is free to attend and people are welcome to just turn up.

Taster Sessions: The New Hall committee has organised a variety of free Taster Sessions for adults and children in the New Hall on Mondays from October 1st until April 29th 2019. These sessions are funded by the National Lottery Awards For All fund and are recommended by people in the community. If you would like more details and also to book your place the email address is, [email protected] or text 07598 375824. The sessions are hourly, led by experienced teachers and range from ballroom and Latin dancing to badminton, pottery, bee keeping, singing tuition and much more.

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Baroque Opera: A costumed and candlelit performance of Baroque Opera by Opera South East will take place on Tuesday October 23rd in St Thomas’ Church at 7.30pm. Tickets are £15 each on the door or in advance from the Farm Kitchen. This performance will contain music by prominent 17th and 18th century artists, Henry Purcell, Claudio Monteverdi, John Gay, George Friderick Handel and Georg Philipp Telemann. Hastings-based Opera South East is a choir of enthusiastic singers with professional music and artistic direction which regularly performs with full chorus and orchestra. The show will be conducted by Kenneth Roberts and directed by Karen McInally and will be accompanied by Baroque Strings and the Fipple Consort.

Michaelmas Service: This Saturday September 29th is Michaelmas Day which is observed in some Anglican churches and commemorates the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel. In the Bible the Archangel Michael is the special guardian of Israel and defender of the church who hurled Lucifer (the devil) down from Heaven for his treachery (Revelation 12:7-10). A Benefice service for all local parishioners will be held at 6pm this Sunday September 30th in St Nicholas and All Saints Church Icklesham. It will be a choral evensong to celebrate the Feast of St Michael and All Angels and the preacher is Dr Edward Dowler Archdeacon of Hastings. After the service refreshments will be served.

Flower Festival: Delightful flower arrangements will adorn the walls and pillars of St Thomas’ Church for next weekend’s Flower Festival. This annual event welcomes all and takes place this year on October 5th, 6th and 7th and is in aid of the church organ appeal. At the back of the church there will be a raffle, plant and book stalls, homemade produce, as well as local arts and crafts. The timing is 10 am to 4pm on Friday and Saturday and 12 noon to 4pm on Sunday after the Harvest Eucharist. The raffle will be drawn on Sunday.

Auction of Promises: The Guy Fawkes Society is presenting ‘An Evening of Food, Entertainment and Unique Auction of Promises’ on Saturday October 6th. This is a ticket only event at £15 per person and the contact phone number is 01797 229087. The ticket includes entertainment which will be provided by the musical group Rye Ukulele Experiment, also the main meal plus dessert and a free prize ticket draw.

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Show Results: The prize winners for this year’s Autumn Show are: The society’s challenge cup for flowers - Howard Norton; The Veness award for Dahlias - John Dunk; The challenge cup for Floral art - Jennifer Smith; The Cleveland challenge bowl for vegetables and fruit - Helen Macdonald; The Armoury challenge bowl for cookery - Celia King; The Society’s challenge cup for handicrafts - Cynthia Martin; The society’s challenge cup for the best Exhibit in the show – John Dunk; The David and Margaret Bowen memorial cup for top exhibitor in the show – Howard Norton; Award for the most popular choice In floral art - Celia King. Huge congratulations were due to all the many entries for the Show on Saturday. Although wonderful in most ways this sizzling summer hasn’t made it easy for the gardeners. A lot of hard work has been needed to nurture the flowers, plants, vegetables and fruit and it certainly paid dividends judging by the display. There were some beautiful and very imaginative flower arrangements, a wonderful display of handicrafts including photographs and paintings as well as mouthwatering cookery and the Garden Society were very pleased to have so many entries, and also happy to see people popping in just to enjoy themselves which it seems they did. It was a very happy afternoon and all the committee’s hard work behind the scenes was well worth it.

Light and Dark: Lord Gawain Douglas gave an entertaining talk on Shakespeare’s sonnets at the Literary Society’s meeting last Friday evening. Gawain is a descendant of a family of poetry buffs dating back to the 16th century Bishop Gavin Douglas who was one of Scotland’s greatest poets. Further down the line to the 20th century came the poet Lord Alfred Douglas (Oscar Wilde’s ‘Bosie’) who was the great uncle of Gawain, the present Lord Douglas. On the darker seamier side of the family there was, amongst others, James Douglas in the 14th century. The story goes that he had to deliver Robert the Bruce’s heart to the Holy Land in a silver casket since the King had died before making a visit to Jerusalem. On the way James was attacked but managed to throw the casket ahead of him before dying while crying out that he would follow the King. Since you cannot choose your kinfolk Gawain chose to emulate the more poetic side of the family instead. He learnt to recite poems as his father Frances, the 11th Marquess of Queensbury was famous for doing before him. Seated with a glass of brandy in one hand and a cigar in the other, Queensbury would recite sonnets by Bosie and Shakespeare in his remarkable and thunderous voice in places like Blenheim Palace and Leeds Castle. When Gawain and his siblings were young their father would pay a guinea to each of his children who could recite a poem off by heart. A guinea was a lot of money in the early 1950s and this was an incentive for Gawain to learn as many poems as possible. This activity would later prove beneficial in his teaching career and for giving public recitations. During his talk Gawain recited with passion some of the 154 Shakespearian sonnets which he had accurately memorised. Amongst his favourites were the mysterious Dark Lady sonnets such as sonnet 130 which begins ‘My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’.

Winchelsea Beach

Pub 31: The popular band Back in Time will be performing at Pub 31 in Sea Road on September 30th at 1.30pm. They are an accomplished 4piece group which plays in clubs and pubs in the south east in towns and villages from Dunton Green to Herstmonceux, Eastbourne, Rye and Maidstone. The group comprises Mark Tilbury on guitar, Chris Barrett on bass, Martyn Wright on guitar/keyboards and Ray Cummings on Drums and their specialty is a mix of 50s to 90s covers.

Dance Evening: On Saturday October 13th the WBCA has organised a dance with live music in the Community Hall. The dances are usually themed and to find out more please contact 07732 723096. A Fish & Chip Supper is included in the price of just £10 per person and the evening begins at 7 till 11pm.