Fairlight

MOPPs today and next Friday: Today, Friday, March 10, there will be Tai Chi exercises with Sarah Kimber for the members to enjoy, followed by a slap-up lunch of roast pork with all the trimmings, and a pud of strawberry gateau and cream for afters. Next Friday, March 17, the entertainment is in the capable hands – and voice – of singer Sharon Sellens, with specially selected songs for St Patrick’s Day. Lunch next week will be baked salmon with a Hollandaise sauce, followed by cheesecake with cream.

The Playgroup’s big jumble sale: It was last Saturday and, true to form, there was a healthy queue from quite early on before the doors were opened. Every stall had masses of goodies, the kitchen department was thriving, too, and before too long I hope to hear what the financial outcome was. Many willing volunteers worked incredibly hard to raise a few bob, and the public support was, as stated, fantastic. Of course, the Playgroup is not merely about money – it’s about people, too, principally little people. If you or one of your friends or relations has a small person in the house, who could benefit from four mornings a week at the Village Hall, please get in touch with them. You’ll be made very welcome!

The Bowls Club Coffee Morning: The Bowls Club Coffee Morning will be in the village hall from 10 am to 12 noon tomorrow Saturday, March 11. Entry is free and all will be welcome. Not only is this always a well-supported fun event, with a couple of rounds of bingo at the end, but it shows that the re-opening of the green is not far behind. More details of this aspect will follow.

Gardening club: On Monday this week, Fairlight Gardening Club welcomed back Wendy Bates, a regular speaker from Rotherview Nurseries, for their first talk of the 2017 season. After several years of competing, Rotherview were very happy to win that hitherto elusive Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show last year. Wendy explained every step of planning needed to reach Gold Medal standard. The judging is a very strict process and the slightest thing can mean the difference between a Gold, a Silver Gilt, Silver or Bronze Medal! So much work is needed to compete at the highest level. It was a very illuminating and enjoyable talk and congratulations must go to Wendy, Ray and their team of helpers for their success at Chelsea.

The daffodils on the Circle are a golden reminder that spring is coming and soon the flower beds will be bursting into life, too. If you have a spare half hour next Tuesday morning, March 14, why not join the Gardening Club’s working party at 10 am at the Circle and help prepare the beds for the new season? All will be more than very welcome.

Parish Council: For the second month running, the Parish Council business was quietly and speedily effected, with no items for major discussion and decision. There had been a casual vacancy on the council caused by the resignation of Cllr Mick Jones and at this meeting this vacancy was filled by the incoming volunteer Nick Jones. Mr Jones explained the history of his connection to Fairlight and was warmly welcomed to the position and the job. The meeting recorded the wish that Cllr Tony King, who has been less well than usual, should continue to make further progress in getting back to his bext again. The new Parish Clerk, Katy Derbyshire, was welcomed, and the meeting expressed disappointment that the previous Clerk, Ann Evett, had found it necessary to resign. It was hoped that circumstances would improve for Ann. Much of the Open Forum seemed to concern itself with the well-trodden subject of potholes. Just imagine the amount of discussion this thorny topic must be engendering at countless parish councils across the land! Adverse comments were made about the attention being given to Battery Hill footpath while holes in the road went untouched, although the latter fault does not mutually exclude East Sussex from dealing with other problems. Thank goodness.

Market Garden site: I had missed, but have thankfully been brought up to date on the planning application now at Rother DC for the Market Garden site, involving 16 dwellings. The reference number, should you wish to have a quick shufti, as I think you should, is RR/2017/457/P. Many will recall, a couple of months short of five years ago, going upstairs in the Cove pub (if you remember when that was a working pub, too!) and examining the proposed Gemselect layout for, I think, 22 dwellings. Principal bits that stick in the mind are the fact that that narrative claimed a small two storey block of affordable flats, which the plans then showed as three storey, and the fact that services access, for refuse collection or fire extinction, would need to be by two men on bikes, as nothing bigger could turn round. It appeared that the designers had someone on board trained by John West in sardine tin packing. The current application is certainly more sensible than the original, although one does wonder about the disposal of raw effluent and of surface water, despite attenuation tanks and various gizmos. Sewage has made its unwelcome presence obvious quite recently further down Lower Waites Lane, and this is the 21st century.

You’ll never walk alone: The East Sussex County Council initiative promoting walking for health. Opened with a ‘taster’ walk here in Fairlight last Monday. Ten brave souls joined Jennie Deering fro East Sussex and Cas Barlow of the village for the inaugural walk, which lasted some 50 minutes. The next such walk will be on Monday, March 20, meeting at 10.30 am outside the village hall. That, in fact, sets the pattern that the walks will follow – 10.30 am outside the village hall on the first and third Monday each month. If you need more information in the meantime, please call Healthy Walks Project Officer Jennifer Deering on 07740 899559, or email her at [email protected] This is all part of TCV, the Conservation Volunteers, and of Walking for Health. The former have been reclaiming green spaces since 1959. Cas Barlow, from within the village, has been involved in the planning stages, and she is available 814229. One dog came to the taster walk, and his mates will be welcome on future walks, as long as they are on short, non-extending, leads – for obvious reasons!

Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat: As previously intimated, and now as a memory jogging note, the new main boat at Pett Level is to be formally named at 2 pm this Sunday, March 12, by the High Sheriff of East Sussex, Michael Foster, DL. The boat is to be named the Margaret and John Pulfer, a thoroughly deserved accolade following their immense amount of very hard fund raising work.

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