Fairlight

MOPPs today and next Friday: Today, Friday, August 4, it’s Produce Day, and there’s also both Bingo and Nicola’s Age UK toenail cutting service! After all that excitement, lunch will be sausages and mash with Black Forest gateau and cream to follow. Next Friday, August 11, the entertainment will be by the singers Rattlebag. The lunch that follows will consist of roast pork and all the trimmings, and then perpetual old-time favourite lemon meringue pie.

A fortnight tomorrow, on Saturday, August 19, there’s a MOPPs Quiz in the village hall at 6.30 for 7 pm? The quiz is being masterminded by the popular Bob and Dec, who used to do the quizzes at the Cove, and they can handle teams of up to six. MOPPs Chairman Jim Saphin will be adding a musical interlude towards the end of the evening. Tickets, which are a very reasonable £5, are available from the Post Office, and you’ll get a go at the quiz and a go at a ploughman’s for this outlay!

There is a saddening and disappointing end to this month’s Newsletter from the excellent and fairly recent co-ordinator, Carolyn Smith, who concludes her piece by announcing with regret that she has to relinquish her post for family reasons. In fact, Carolyn left after last Friday’s MOPPs day. We, too, regret that she should need to resign and hope, if circumstances change, she may not be too far away.

Royal British Legion Quiz Night: Hey, there’s not much notice for this one! There’s a Quiz Night in aid of the Royal British Legion, Pett Branch, and it is tomorrow, Saturday, August 5, at 6.30 for 7 pm at the Fairlight Cove Hotel. The evening includes a finger buffet as well, and tickets are £8 each. They can be obtained from the inevitable Post Office, or reserved by calling Margaret Pulfer on 814866. The RBL is ever deserving of our support, and tomorrow you can have a lot of fun doing so!

The Parish Council meeting: After an absence of some eight weeks, the latest Parish Council meeting took place on the Tuesday evening of last week. It was warm, and became considerably warmer in the village hall small hall by the time the evening ended. When the meeting was well under way, the public numbers had climbed into the mid-twenties. The normal council business went through without let or hindrance, but those present were significantly exercised by an item concerning Southern Water and its efforts in Lower Waites Lane. With apologies to ‘The Banned List’, Southern Water’s elephant in the room is particularly large and malodorous, being the repeated – five times in the last 12 months – issuing of raw sewage onto Lower Waites Lane and thence into Lower Waites Lane stream, and all the way down to Stream Lane, which is walked by men, women and children of the village. Some unfortunate SW employee is obliged to pick up and remove anything that is left behind after manhole covers have been lifted. This is the 21st century in what is supposed not to be an impoverished third-world country. While no one would wish to disparage the efforts made on behalf of our village by our district councillors, it was deeply regretted that Southern Water would not admit any Parish Councillor to the ongoing discussions. Here, Leslie Kosmin, the Vice-Chairman of the Preservation Trust, was able to discuss the matter when standing orders were suspended.

The proposed erection of a mobile phone mast at Wakehams Farm, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, also led to much dissension among those present, in particular those living in the closest proximity. Apart from the high eyesore value of the 65 foot mast, people are concerned about the possible health risks, with an unassuaged fear that such masts will atrophy various parts of those living within range by microwaving them.

The final bête noire of the evening concerned the question of the safety or otherwise of the cricket being played once again on Wood Field, following the experience of one resident who was with two young ladies during a practice match, when a hard hit whistled by them about two feet away. It must be observed that Parkhurst Cricket Club, historically a significant entity in the world of cricket in the Bexhill area, did point out before they started playing in Fairlight that cricket is played with a very hard ball that is frequently hit very hard. People were warned that it was not a good idea to encroach on the playing area when a match was in progress, and not to turn their backs on the cricket. This is not suggesting you must watch the play, but all should just be aware of what is happening on the pitch. There has, so far, Parkhurst have had one match and one practice match. Last Sunday’s proposed fixture was played away, not here. Cricket has been played on Wood Field for quite a large number of years, which was ongoing for several years from the start of this century. Not under the auspices of Parkhurst, but a practice knock-about to attract interest actually happened three years ago during Fairfest when dozens, nay, hundreds of people were within hitting distance. Now Cllr Val Gibbs has promised the concerned resident a risk assessment ready for the next PC meeting. There will, of course, have to be some cricket being played for the council or its experts to make such an assessment.

Activate Summer fun: We missed being able to tell you of an afternoon of tennis last Tuesday, but can advise you to make a note of Tuesday, August 15, in the Clubhouse at 2 pm, when they’ll be dealing with Guitar Basics. The intention is to meet for about an hour of fun getting to know how to start playing the guitar with experts! You’ll need a guitar for this and you have to be 7 years old or over. The cost is only £2. For more information, or to book, please call Wendy on 07908 377845

Fairfest Summer Bash: Last Sunday’s musical entertainment with food was very well attended, and the many present thoroughly enjoyed themselves. This is par for the course when it comes to the fund-raisers that Fairfest organisers arrange between their main events. So, if you missed out this time, keep your eyes peeled for the next ‘do’ to come along…!

The only trouble with a weekly paper: I rant about something on a Monday, submit my copy on a Tuesday, and it’s just remotely possible that what I’m moaning about gets corrected by the time the paper appears on a Friday, making me look very moronic and out of date. Anyway, last week I went on something alarming about potholes again, sent it in and watched as the Council dealt with a lot, but not all, of the problems in Waites Lane. They did not, however, attend to the hole of the month, on Fairlight Road near Hysted, or to the section further west which threatens to swallow, whole, a passing double decker, never to be seen again. Their neat white “L’s” demarking the corners of bits to be repaired have spread somewhat so as to enclose some larger rectangles, especially down Martineau Lane. That’ll be next year’s budget spoken for, then.

Well worth a look: The wealth of interesting artefacts and historic gems concerning Fairlight, lovingly cared for and curated by Paul Draper and Haydon Luke, as our archivist and historian respectively, will be on view in the village hall from 11 am until 1 pm on Saturday week, August 12, all in celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Residents Association. The Association did actually exist in essence much earlier under a ‘Ratepayers’ heading, which was singularly fashionable at that time. Admission on the glorious 12th is free – so there’s nothing to grouse about there then.

The free Hearing Service is coming to the village: Co-ordinator Martin Crawford Jones reminds us that the East Sussex Hearing Resource Centre’s mobile unit will be visiting Fairlight on Thursday, August 31, and will at the Village Hall from 10.30 am until 3.30 pm. The bus is accessible to wheelchair users and representatives from Adult Social Care will be available alongside those from the Hearing Resource Centre to provide individual information and advice on all aspects of hearing loss. If you should require further information please call 01323 722505

Please note that this visit is one in a series of similar welcome attendances in the village, and is in addition to the regular bi-monthly hearing service offered during MOPPs. The latest in this series will be on Friday, August 25

Pairing off: Salt and pepper. Bacon and egg. Heads and tails. Morecombe and Wise. Headlights and Battery Hill. Yes, they make a natural looking pair. Use yours!

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