Fairlight

MOPPs today and next Friday: Today, Friday, September 21, the entertainment will be by Rattlebag, the highly regarded female harmony group from just down the road in Hastings This week there is also hearing aid maintenance, a week earlier than you might have expected. The maintenance will be available from 10.30 am until 12 noon, and for members of the general public, not only MOPP’s members. Lunch today is fish with a herb crumb, followed by panna cotta.

Next Friday, September 28, Keith Osbourne, a popular regular, will be along with his Music for Health. The lunch that follows Keith will be roast chicken, with apple crumble to follow.

MOPPs AGM: The group’s AGM was friendly, professional and remarkably speedy, and Chairman Robert Pasterfield was able to report a notable improvement in the group’s finances over the past year, with much praise and many thanks being directed to the organisers and participants in this year’s Open Gardens, plus a Quiz Night and a slap-up Cream Tea. The vastly improved financial status enables the group to re-engage Carolyn Smith, their popular previous Co-ordinator, in April. With all the officers and committee willing to continue in post, there were no sudden shocks. Three new volunteers have joined the happy throng, bringing it back up to strength (ten), and the excursion programme has been resumed. There are, however, some four or maybe five vacancies for members, and if you’d like to join MOPPs, don’t wonder yes or no for too long – those vacancies won’t be available for long!

But – and it’s a big but – the Chairman did say that both he and his Vice-Chair, Margo, would be standing down at the next AGM so, if you think you could be the one to lead this excellent ten-years-old organisation forward, please let them know.

No radishes, but you still get repeats: It’s that funny time of the year when your Village Voice starts to look like the BBC, with endless rounds of repeats. There just isn’t a constant supply of new news all the time! Personally, I don’t mind an extra reminder or two, as I’ve often meant to buy tickets for this or that, only to realise that I didn’t do it in time. So, here goes…

The Royal British Legion’s Tea at the Waldorf?: This function is at the Fairlight Lodge Hotel tomorrow, Saturday, September 22 from 3 until 5 pm. Tickets are £12 for adults, and £8 for children. As well as some excellent comestibles, you will get the singing of Jim Saphin and Juliette Vane. Time’s passing, so give Margaret Pulfer a call on 814866 very soon.

The Forthcoming Concert at St Andrew’s: The Three Valleys Male Voice Choir will be in concert at St Andrew’s on Sunday, October 14 at 2.30 pm, with the tickets at £8 each. They are available from the Post Office, or from the Rectory.

An Art Show: There’s to be an Art Exhibition and sale of work at St. Andrews Church on Saturday, September 29, open from 10 am until 4 pm. Admittance to the show is free.

Forty years in the pulpit: Our Rector, the Rev Richard Barron, reaches his forty years anniversary next weekend. To mark the occasion, several events have been organised. On the Saturday, September 29 in the daytime, there will be an Art Show at St Andrew’s from 10 am to 4 pm, while the Church Tower will be open for the first of the final two days opening this summer. This is also from 10 am until 4 pm. In the evening, starting at 7.30 pm, there’ll be a Barn Dance to the music of the Sugar Loaf Band in Pett village hall. Free entry by ticket only, and they must be obtained in advance, from Fairlight and Pett churches. Soft drinks will be available, but for something stronger, take your own! On Sunday, September 30, there will be a celebratory service at St Andrew’s at 10.30 am, with the Bishop of Lewes, Richard Jackson. From 12.30 to 3pm approximately, there is to be a Celebration Bring and Share Lunch in Pett village hall, and this will include a brief review of the past 40 years. If you’d like to attend this event, please let Linda Willard or Gill Plank know.

The FRA Annual Quiz: This is to be in the village hall on Saturday, October 13, at 7 pm for a 7.30 pm start. As a guarantee of a great evening out, the event is master-minded by Bob and Dec. Tickets are on sale at the Post Office for a mere £6 each, and they are disappearing fast. The maximum size of each team is 6 participants. There’s a superb ploughman’s supper, but no bar, so take your own drinks and glasses. Pickford’s will get all you need there for a reasonable fee.

The FRA 2019 Calendar will be available for sale at the Quiz Night, and subsequently at the Fairlight Post Office and General Stores, and at Wakehams Farm Shop.

Advance notice of this year’s panto auditions: The 2019 production is to be Rumplestiltskin, and director Wendy Hatch aims to make the auditions more actor-friendly and less inhibiting than they may sometimes have seemed. Your diary date is Friday, October 12 in the village hall, and it is planned to start the proceedings at 7 pm. To all – the young and the not-so-young, don’t be frightened – be there and be in it!

A pressing engagement: On Saturday, October 6, Stonelynk Organics will be in the village hall from 10 am until 4.30 pm for the pressing of apples and the extraction of juice, and there’ll be juice to spare for those who have no apples. This all sounds like fun – or hard work for Stonelynk. Make a note to give them a look.

Water, water everywhere: First, and ongoing, there is the leak, slow but continuous, towards the bottom of Smugglers Way, which now spreads across what is laughably called the road surface and down Lower Waites Lane for more than 100 yards, and possibly as much as 100 metres. Looking like an elongated map of the Mekong Delta, the spill has been declared unchlorinated, so it is neither new nor used treated water, and is likely to come from a busted old pipe carrying fresh, stream water. Never mind, in a matter of weeks, it will become a slippy-slidy sheet of glass. What’s a broken leg or two among friends?

The second leak appeared in Broadway, and led to a large but fairly shallow hole that looked like a giant paddling pool. Repairs were effected, but they were ineffectual. There is still a leak, small, and the infill is like a switchback, and wearing out. Must do better…

Post Office staffing: Village Voice is not a Situation Vacant column, but when the situation and the job holder concerned is well known to just about everybody in the village – that of the manning of the Post Office counter each Monday and Tuesday, and it’s Sam – then the news is of especial interest to all residents. Sam has always been highly helpful and full of smiles. Where they came from, nobody knows, because there have been many times when smiling was the thing she least felt like doing. Now she wants a deserved break. If you, or someone you know, would like to do this job – for 15 hours a week, behind the PO counter and, on occasion, behind the General Stores counter, too, please contact Graeme Gambrell before September 30.