Etchingham

PARISH MAGAZINE: The deadline for items for the December/January Parish magazine is 6pm Wednesday Nonember 15. This will be the Christmas edition so items to make it entertaining will be welcome, and a good time to list and publicise your events and meeting for 2018. You can email your information to Phillipa [email protected] or deliver to Phillipa at Englefield.

VILLAGE CHRISTMAS PLAY: Rehearsals are well under way for this year’s Christmas Play, in the village halls on Saturday December 9. Put the date in your diary a look out for full details.

SCHOOL CHRISTMAS FAIR: The Etchingham Primary School Christmas Fair will be on Saturday December 2, more details to follow soon.

VILLAGE SHOP PREMISES: By the time you read this the repair work on the shop premises should be nearly complete and Parish Council can now work on getting the premises back in use in some form. All options are still on the table and, if you or anyone you know would be interested in taking on the Stores as a retail opportunity then do contact the Parish Clerk in the first instance for further information. The contact details for the Parish Clerk are on the village website www.etchinghamvillage.co.uk

PARISH COUNCIL: A reminder that the next Parish Council meeting will be in the Parker Hall on Thursday November 16 at 7.30pm. You are reminded that Parish Council meetings are meetings held in public, but NOT public meetings, all residents are entitled to attend all meetings but cannot participate, however, there is always a period of ‘Public Time’ near the beginning of each meeting when you are able to ask questions or make comments on items on the agenda. Agendas for the meetings are posted on the village website and on the notice boards at the Post Office and Parsonage Croft at the end of the week preceding the next meeting, all agendas and minutes of meetings back to November 2011 are archived on the village website.

CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUNDS: Following a recent safety inspection the Parish Council has had to take some of playground items, in both Queen’s Garden and the Viper site, out of use for safety reasons while decisions can be made regarding repair or replacement. The Parish Council apologises for this but safety must come first, it is not known how long the equipment will be out of use as assessments have to be made and quotes obtained, whether it is repair or replacement neither is likely to be cheap. This has not been helped by the vandalism which occurred on the Viper site last weekend, most of which has been put right, with just a couple of items still to be fixed to the ground again.

ETSR QUIZ: There will be a Quiz Evening in the Ahrens Hall on Saturday November 25, 7.30pm, doors open 7pm. Maximum eight per team, there will be a bar and raffle. Tickets are £10 each to include a two course supper, available from the Post Office or email [email protected] .

VILLAGE WEBSITE: The village website is provided by the Parish Council to inform residents of Parish Council and village activities. The site is updated on a voluntary basis to keep running costs to a minimum, Council agendas and minutes are published on the site and archived agendas and minutes for the last five years can also be viewed. You will find a number of contact forms on the site enabling you to easily contact various people and organisations including the Parish Clerk, Councillors and Churchwardens etc.

Information on village organisations and events is added, are the details of your village organisation on the website? If you have information that you would like to see on the site let me know so that it can be added, there is a link to the contact form at the bottom of the Home Page on the site www.etchinghamvillage.co.uk

ETCHINGHAM FIREWORKS: The annual Bonfire and Fireworks this year will be on Saturday November 11, same venue as last year, the field at the junction of Burgh Hill and the A265. Barbecue from 6pm, fire lit at 6.30pm and the fireworks at 7pm. Hot Dogs, Soup, Beer, Mulled Wine and Glow Sticks.There is no parking at the site so you will need to park in the village and walk up to the field.

CHRISTMAS FAIR: There will be a Christmas Fair at King John’s Nursery on Saturday November 25, 10am to 4pm, entry is free but Demelza will be helping with parking so make sure you have plenty of spare change to donate.

MOBILE LIBRARY: The mobile library visits the village, at Parsonage Croft, 9.40 to 10.20, every three weeks. The visit dates up until December are - November 21 and December 12. If you miss the library on those dates you will find it outside Hurst Green village Hall 12.15 to 13.00 or at Burwash, Rother View 14.10 to 14.30 two days later.

CHURCH SERVICES: Church Services up to the end of November are as follows, services start at 11am unless otherwise stated; November 5, Reverend Patrick Sales: November 12, Remembrance Service - see below: November 19, Reverend Lucy Murdoch: November 26, Reverend Iain Morrison.

REMEMBRANCE SERVICE: The annual Remembrance Service will be held on Sunday (November 12) at the War memorial and afterwards in the Church and will be conducted by The Reverend Will Pratt. The Service will start at the War Memorial at 10.45, please arrive in good time before the service starts everyone welcome.

CHURCH OPENING: The Church is open every day for visitors from 11am to 4pm. If you have not already been in, visit on a nice sunny day so that you can see how bright the Church now is with nice white walls.

CHRISTMAS EVENTS: Christmas is fast approaching, if you have fund raising or special events please get the details to me as soon as possible, do not leave it till the week before, the sooner I get the details the sooner I can put the details in this column.

SENDING INFORMATION: Get information for this column to me as soon as possible. There are several ways to get your info to me, but email is preferred because there is less chance of errors during copying. I need information by 10pm on Monday to be sure it will be in time for inclusion, I can sometimes add extra items on Tuesday morning, but this cannot be guaranteed. You can deliver to 2 Park Farm Close, telephone 01580 819532 or 07484 635014 or email [email protected] you will also find a form on the village website ( http://www.etchinghamvillage.co.uk/village-voice ) to send your information from there, look for the Village Voice link near the bottom of the column of links on the left-hand side of the website page.