Fletching

BONFIRE SOCIETY: Bingo tomorrow, Saturday, at 7.30pm.

CHROMATICS CHOIR: The choir rehearse on Monday at 7.45pm.

FLETCHING SINGERS: The singers meet on Tuesday at 7.45pm.

ART GROUP: The group meets on Wednesday at 1pm.

MARTIAL ARTS: Kobudo Martial Arts meet on Thursday at 5pm.

URGENT HELP NEEDED: For First Fletching Scouts. We really do need some volunteers for both Beaver and Cub Scouts. Being a helper or leader is very rewarding and doesn’t require previous scouting experience, just a willingness to lead young people. Why not come and help us and discover the joys of being a volunteer? Please contact either myself or one of the leadership team for more details. Glyn Thomas 07743 442687 [email protected]

FLETCHING VILLAGE HALL: We currently have availability for daytime bookings Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 6am to 5pm Please call Rebecca on 722075 for more information.

FLETCHING ART GROUP: We are holding our spring exhibition on Saturday March 18 from 10am to 4pm in Fletching Village Hall. We will be joined this time by Fletching School who will be painting postcards. These will be drawn by tombola, each ticket winning an original artwork by the children. Our group proceeds to Fletching School. We will be serving tea, coffee and cakes. We will also be holding a raffle, proceeds of which will go to the Scout Group. Come along, have a browse and a chat and refreshments. Look forward to seeing you. Yvonne Thomas 01825 723275.

FEBRUARY RAINFALL IN PILTDOWN: The 20mm of rain, which fell on the last two days of the month, boosted the total to 67mm, very close to the long-term average of 69mm. The maximum I have observed was 207mm in 2014, in 2012 we had only 20mm. For the three winter months I recorded 161mm, well below the average of 272mm. The wettest winter was 2013-14 with 597mm, the driest 2004-2005 with 126mm.

100 YEARS AGO: Sussex Express 9 March 1917. Fletching. A Salary Question. East Sussex Education Committee were informed on Tuesday that Miss Louise Saunders, temporary supplementary teacher at Fletching School, had written with reference to her salary. The Managers supported her application that she might be paid as a permanent teacher in view of the fact that they were at present unable to fill the vacancy on the staff. The Managers were informed that the Elementary Schools Sub-Committee could not recommend the Education Committee to pay Miss Saunders as a permanent teacher, as she was not qualified to fill the existing vacancy on the staff.

Robert and Elsie Saunders and their ever-increasing family occupied Fletching School for almost 30 years. Both born in London, they first appear in Sussex in the 1881 census teaching in Ashburnham. After periods in Eastbourne and Tidebrook, they first feature in Fletching in the 1891 census. Their seventh child, Louise, was born in Fletching in 1890. Six more children followed, the thirteenth Bertram James, was born in Fletching in 1902 when Elsie was 45. In 1901 they are listed as schoolmaster and schoolmistress and their daughter Emily, 21, is a teacher. In 1911 Dorothy, 23, is assistant teacher and Walter Henry, 18, is a pupil teacher. Louise, 20, is boarding in Eastbourne, where she is a teacher employed by the Borough Council.

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