Hailsham

BINGO EVENING: Today, Friday, 6.45pm for 7pm start at the Civic Centre. Eight games played for £4, plus an additional Snowball (50p per single ticket) and Flyer game (£1 a sheet). Free cup of tea/coffee at half-time break. Proceeds to Mayor of Telscombe's charity fund.

CITIZENS ADVICE: Drop in advice surgery on the last Tuesday of each month from 030am to 12.30pm in the Civic Centre. Advice can also be gained via their website www.citizensadvice.org.uk Adviceline 03444 111 444.

YOGA: Every Monday from 7.15pm to 8.15pm in the Civic Centre. Contact Jane email: [email protected] phone: 07703 167895.

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DANCE CLASS: Little Stars Pre-School Dance Class for pre-school children aged 2 to 4 years, every Tuesday from 9am to 9.30am in the Civic Centre. Contact Anneli Smith on 07930 490058.

SUPPORT GROUP: Bereavement Support Group Coffee Morning on the second Wednesday of each month from 10am to noon in the Civic Centre. Bereavement can be a lonely journey so come and meet other people who are in the same situation as you in a friendly and informal setting. Contact Janet Quintavalle email: [email protected] phone: 01273 585818.

STROKE ASSOCIATION: Support Group on the first and third Thursday of each month from 2pm to 3.30pm in the Civic Centre. Come along to your local stroke group and meet other people who have been affected by stroke. Contact Tara Galloway email: [email protected] phone: 07515 596969.

YOGA: With Natalie Heath every Tuesday from 6pm to 7pm in the Civic Centre. Contact Natalie Heath email: [email protected] phone: 07738538094.

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LIVING LIGHT PILATES: On Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Civic Centre. £6.50 per class or class pass for £44 (eight classes plus one free session). Contact Nicola Murray-Smith email: [email protected] phone: 07776 457752.

FITNESS PILATES: Every Monday from 9.30am to 10.30am and Thursday from 7.30pm to 8.30pm in the Civic Centre. Get fit, tone up, prevent back pain, improve flexibility and posture. Equipment provided, just bring some water. Only £6 per class or £40 for eight weeks. Contact Jennie Palmer email: [email protected] phone: 07825 702775.

CHARINGO CHARITY BINGO: The local Line Dance Club Southern Stomp are organising a fundraiser afternoon for the Martlets Hospice. The prize bingo afternoon has some amazing prizes for both lines and full houses. Why not come along on Sunday June 10 to the Telscombe Hall in Tyedean Road, 2pm to 4.30pm. Admission is just £6 for two full books of Bingo cards and refreshments. All monies raised go to the Martlets and local businesses and shops have provided the many prizes on offer, including meals, afternoon teas, ladies and men’s hairdressing, theatre tickets, florists, etc. There is something for everyone to win. Why not get a group of friends together and have an afternoon out raising funds for this good cause? The event will be opened by the mayor of Telscombe, Councillor Daryll Brindley and will be supported by representatives of the Martlets. For information and to reserve tickets please call Joy on 01273 587714.

FOOTNOTES: ‘Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:’ Those beautiful lines of a Shakespeare sonnet always come to my mind whenever I see the blossom on the apple or plum tree each Spring. The scent of newly mown grass, the smell of earth after a shower of rain. The warmth of a garden at the end of the day, all these herald the advent of summer, until we are in Keats’ country with ‘And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.’

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I have taken comfort from such lines throughout my life and whenever I have been in some far off country, arid and airless, I have conjured up a vision of an English garden and quoted similar lines to myself. Strolling around my own garden, with Chaplin following behind, his paws ankle deep in the dew wet grass, out of ear shot of the radio and TV with its awful litany of death and injury in Palestine polluting the airwaves, I thank whatever God there is to be safe in an English garden in spring. As a young man, full of zeal in the late fifties and early sixties, I, with other students stood behind the barricades in Paris and elsewhere and choked on tear gas as we dodged the batons and rubber bullets of the forces of the ungodly. It was all so long ago, and yet the world appears to have learnt nothing, and is still immersed in trying to kill each other over the same arguments of land and religion. Far too depressing a conclusion to come to on a brilliant sunny morning, with its promise of a warm day. We turn and go back in doors for coffee, biscuits and milk for Chaplin and the daily crossword with the radio turned off for me, leaving only the busy chatter of the birds coming through the open doors. Where ever your life takes you, go safely.