Catsfield

Henley Down Cottage

Tonight the next fund raising event for the parish church of St Laurence takes place at 7pm in the church entitled A Concert of Local Talent. Tickets will be available on the door priced £6 and refreshments will be available.

The annual Coffee Morning and Mammoth Plant Sale for Christian Aid is tomorrow week, Saturday May 18 in the Village Hall from 10am until 12pm. There will be the usual wonderful selection of plants available with cakes for sale and a raffle too – any gifts for these stalls will be gratefully received.

It was good to get a game of cricket last weekend when Catsfield drew with Little Common Ramblers away on Sunday. Andy Williams was the pick of our bowlers taking 3 for 50 with Tom Wisden getting 2 for 17. Little Common, a team made up of league players, some from Sidley and others from the Sunday Little Common side got 257 for 7 and Catsfield batsmen got near to this by the end of play with John Ferdinand being top scorer. Readers of this newspaper will know the troubles Sidley Sports Club have had and one can feel for the cricketers and footballers whose future is in doubt.

Work has been done on our pitch over the weekend with the hiring of a scarifier and a roller which was used over two days. There should be two games over this weekend, a Bexhill team will use our pitch on Saturday, while Catsfield play their first home match against St Luke’s on Sunday.

The WI meeting on May 2 started with a minutes silence in tribute to former member Joyce Brown who sadly died recently. After welcoming new members and visitors, the President Ann Davey took us through the usual formalities and notices of many forthcoming events before introducing Julie Brett from Demelza Hospice Care for Children, which is our charity for the current year. She gave us a very interesting and humbling talk about the wonderful work the hospice does in caring for sick children and their families, explaining that although it is a hospice, not all the children that come under their care will die and many do get better. The Hospice at Home service that it offers gives on-call assistance and will train parents, siblings, grandparents and even the children’s schools in the best way to care for the sick child. This community service alone costs more than £1,600 per day to run and only 10% is already funded, the rest of the money has to be raised. Hospice shops, donations and community fundraising help with this and our WI is hoping to make a good amount to aid them in their work.

Next the meeting discussed the resolution to Prevent The Decline Of The High Street which is to be discussed at the AGM of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes. After several opinions had been expressed and following a discussion by members, a vote was taken and it was agreed that Catsfield WI considered this resolution was not achievable and therefore could not support it. It was then time for the usual wonderful tea and the opportunity to solve the Art Quiz and name the artists who painted the famous pictures displayed on boards around the hall.

I must comment on ‘Anon’s’ piece in the Parish Magazine this month about the ‘Catsfield Race Track’. I agree with all that he/she said about the various types of drivers who speed through the village ignoring all the speed limit signs, but I must add that when those same motorists leave the 30mph restriction as they dash along Church Road, they REALLY let rip in the country lanes!

The bends on the approach to Henley Down and beyond become a challenge to be undertaken at great speed and Watermill Lane is where they really get going, swerving around the potholes and speeding through the narrow stretches, glaring at locals meekly trying to get out of their way! OK, so it’s permitted to drive up to 60mph but that doesn’t mean one HAS to and I fear that someday soon, one of them will meet head-on one of the many huge articulated lorries blithely following a ‘Satnav’ and taking a shortcut - guess who’ll come off worst?