Winchelsea

Church Market: Tomorrow (Saturday) a spring Church Market will take place providing good coffee, tea and friendly company. As usual all are invited to the Church from 10.30am till noon to sit in this ancient splendour and join in the bustle of its indoor Market. On sale will be a range of hardback books on interesting subjects, home-grown produce and a variety of plants. March's Market raised the useful sum of £256 for church funds so thank you to all who support this enjoyable event.

Spring Show: All kinds of spring flowers such as the beautiful and enduring hellebores, camellias and polyanthus will be part of the display at the New Hall tomorrow April 7th. There will also be vegetables, pot plants, floral art, cookery and much more with prizes for the winners. Everybody is invited to come, see and experience. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

WAS talk: There will be a talk by Nathalie Cohen, National Trust Archaeologist for London and Southeast, on Sunday April 8th. This event, organised by the Archaeological Society, will be held in the New Hall at 2.30pm. The talk will focus upon archaeology in and around Winchelsea which mainly comes under the patronage of the NT. For this reason, it is important that local archaeological societies have an understanding of how they can work within the Trust’s parameters. Nathalie will be saying more about this and giving an overview of the Town’s archaeological potential.

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Expecting Guests: The Second Wednesday Society meets this Wednesday April 11th at the usual time of 2.30pm in the New Hall. Irene Eltringham-Willson will be giving the talk which is entitled ‘Expect the Unexpected’ and concerns running a luxury Bed and Breakfast accommodation in Sussex. A very appetising tea follows the talk and the cost is £4 for non-members.

Open Gardens: The season of Open Gardens begins this month with six gardens open in the town for the National Garden Scheme. This will be on Saturday April 14th and the gardens will be open from 1 till 5.30pm. The six gardens will be King’s Leap, Rye View, The Well House, Cleveland House, Cleveland Place and Periteau House. Tickets are purchased for all gardens at the first garden visited, along with a map and the combined cost is £6 (children free) Home-made teas will be served in the New Hall provided by the Friends of the Conquest Hospital and the money they raise will go towards the hospital’s scanner appeal. As always the funds made from the Open Gardens goes to the nursing charities supported by the NGS.

Wesley Chapel: Also on Saturday April 14th, as part of the Open Gardens event there is an opportunity to visit the Methodist Heritage Site (opposite the Cricket Field) from 2 to 4.30pm. The Chapel dates from 1785 which was at a time when smuggling and executions were rampant along the Kent and Sussex coast. No better time than this for John Wesley who visited Winchelsea, where smuggling was commonplace, preaching the Gospel and guiding sinners to repentance as he stood in the Chapel pulpit or under the ‘Wesley Tree’.

Elijah: A Spring Concert by the Winchelsea Singers takes place on Saturday April 21st at 7pm in St Thomas’ Church. Entrance is £12 p.p. by programme at the door and a bar will be available during the event. The concert starts with highlights from Mendelssohn’s masterpiece ‘Elijah’ which tells the story of the prophet’s remarkable life as a servant of God. The second half will be a variety of well-known choruses from the operas by Verdi, Mozart and Donizetti. Joining the Singers will be the popular soloists Grace Constable, Garry Marriott and Michael White.

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New Mayor: The Mayoring Ceremony took place on Easter Monday as it has done for the last 752 years in Winchelsea following tradition. The outgoing Mayor Cynthia Feast thanked everyone for their friendship and support throughout her year of office. She was also grateful for all the invitations that she and her husband Richard had received to attend events in the town. Cynthia’s Deputy John Rodley is pleased to accept the office of Mayor of Winchelsea for 2018-2019.

Holy Week: Friends of the Methodist Chapel gathered last Wednesday evening to reflect upon the events surrounding Holy Week. Revd Ian Pruden introduced the meeting which was led by Keith Miller from Fairlight who played the keyboard and entertained with words and music. He was accompanied by the worship leaders whose singing was inspirational and their readings thoughtful. Within the service the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot was considered along with ‘why did Judas do it?’ The answer being that he did it for the thirty pieces of silver paid to him by the Sanhedrin. Judas was called a thief and never believed in Jesus as his Lord but instead chose to betray him. Jesus stated ‘It would be better for that man (Judas) if he had not been born’ (Mark 14:16) Certainly He knew that Judas would betray him and He would allow him to do this; even so Judas was responsible for his actions. Although Judas was originally one of the disciples and treated as an equal, he proved himself to be not only unequal but far below the standards required to be in their company. The depiction of Judas warns of the sorry fact that not everybody is your friend. The meeting ended on a note of victory over the resurrection with the hymn ‘Low in the grave He lay’ that has the chorus beginning with ‘Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph o’er His foes’. After the service all stayed to enjoy good fellowship, tea and biscuits!

Winchelsea Beach

St Richard’s: There will be a service of Holy Communion taking place at St Richard’s Church on Sunday April 8th at 9.30am, followed by light refreshments. The Rector Jonathan Meyer will be leading and friends and visitors are very welcome to attend.

Fellowship Lunch: The last Friday in the month will soon be here and in order to ensure your place at these popular Fellowship Lunches please contact 01797 227168 as the caterers need to know numbers. A range of home-made dishes will be on offer along with a request for donations and you will need to be at the Community Hall on Friday April 27th at 12 for 12.30pm for this next Lunch.