Telscombe

RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION: Telscombe Residents’ Association meet on the first Thursday of each month from 7.15pm to 9.15pm in the Civic Centre. Email the secretary at [email protected] for a copy of the meeting agenda.

SUPPORT GROUP: Breast Cancer Support Group meet on the first Wednesday of each month from 1pm to 3.30pm in the Civic Centre. Contact email: [email protected]

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

BINGO: Charingo’ Charity Bingo afternoon. 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.

LIVING LIGHT PILATES: 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 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 70277.

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

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. £3.50 per session. Contact Anneli Smith phone: 07930 490058.

STROKE ASSOCIATION: 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. Website: stroke.org.uk. Stroke Helpline: 303 303 3100.

COUNCIL MEETING: The Planning and Highways Committee meet on Monday at 7.30pm. If there is insufficient business, meetings may be cancelled. Please therefore telephone the Civic Centre on 01273 589777 to ensure that a meeting is being held (an Agenda will be placed on the website). Meetings are open to members of the public who are able to ask questions for a 15 minute period at the start of each meeting. Meetings are held in Telscombe Civic Centre unless otherwise stated.

PLAYGROUND CLOSURES: Please note that the Chatsworth South playground, off Ambleside Avenue, Telscombe Cliffs, is closed from Tuesday May 1 for refurbishment works, and is due to be completed by Monday June 18. Chatsworth North playground, off Kirby Drive, Telscombe Cliffs and Robert Kingan playground, off Bannings Vale, East Saltdean, will be closed for their refurbishment works from June 11, and are due to be completed by Monday July 16.

COUNCILLORS: On Wednesday May 16, Telscombe Town Council elected our new Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Our Mayor is Daryll Brindley and Deputy Mayor is Tim Armour.

FOOTNOTES: ‘But I told them I was fluent in French’. Was the anguished cry over the phone from a young and newly graduated actor I am mentoring. He had landed his first speaking role in a TV production, and which he had just been told consisted of a long speech entirely in French, of which he knew barely a word. But he had fallen into the trap a lot of us have descended into. Desperate to get the part he had ticked all the boxes in a contract, without realising he might be called on to do something he had no knowledge of. After putting him in touch with a language tutor, I rang off and remembered the time I had arrived on a film set, young, fresh faced and ready for action. I knew I had to ride a horse, but hey, how hard could it be? The master of horse looked me up and down. ‘How good are you?’ he asked. ‘Average’, I replied brightly. He walked down a line of horses, selected one and led it to me. It resembled the size and bulk of a double decker bus, and about ten times the size of my previous mounts, the donkeys on the beach at Weston-Super-Mare, at the age of eight. I gulped and attempted five times to mount this enormous beast. I will leave out the cursing and swearing of the master of horse and what he called me before dispatching me to some stables in Surrey to spend a week learning to ride. Oddly since then I was never often called upon to ride a horse, so my newly acquired skill was rarely used. I also learned not to push my luck when signing contracts, a lesson that I hope my young friend has also learned. In the meantime, the garden is growing, the sun is shining, Chaplin is tapping his paw on my hand as I type this, which indicates that luncheon is due. Have a good week and go carefully.