Icklesham

CHURCH SERVICES

The 10.30 am service this Sunday - 22nd March - will be Morning Prayer for the 5th Sunday of Lent.There will be a Churches Together Service at 4.30 pm at St. Michael’s Playden.

LENT LUNCH: There will be the usual lovely, home-made soup, bread, a selection of cheeses and cheerful chat, all happening in the Memorial hall on Friday, - today - from 12.30 to 2 pm.. The donations from this will be given to the Lifeboats, RNLI. Do come.

CHURCH MARKET: The Church Markets resume after the winter break tomorrow, 21st March, from 11 am to 2 pm. There will be a cake stall, bric-a-brac and plants. The ladies have been cooking and there will be soup and a hot lunch available as well as the usual coffee and cakes.

EASTER LILIES: Easter is fast approaching now, and if you have not yet placed your order for lilies, please call in at the Market or collect your envelope from the shop. The name of loved ones are needed as soon as possible so that they can be included on the list of names in the Church at Easter.

WEATHER: There is high pressure over the Continent and the associated cold east winds are a result of this. As it moves slowly away, the winds should become lighter and more sunshine appear. About time too !!! Today is the Vernal Equinox, in other words, there are equal hours of daylight and darkness. Vernal is an old word for Spring.. SO - longer days from now until mid-summer.

Taking great care not to look directly at the sun, it should be possible to see the partial eclipse this morning., Friday 21st March.It won’t be a complete eclipse because we are too far south to watch the moon passing in front of the sun.. Nevertheless, there won’t be another until 2090, so observe from 9am. There is television coverage if we have a cloud blanket.

QUEEN’S HEAD: the live music this Sunday will be played by Dave Jackson Blues, described as guitar blues. All the very best of luck to Ian for the Marathon on Sunday.I’m sure we all send best wishes, and have you made your contribution for St. Michael’s Hospice? The weather should be good for your AMBLE Ian.

COFFEE MORNING: Eric tells me that the Coffee Girls at the Five Villages House will be holding a Coffee Morning on Wednesday 25th March from 9.30 am to 12 noon. Donations will be given to St. Michael’s Hospice.

ROAD CLOSURE: I do hope you did not have too much trouble last week when the road was closed at Winchelsea. I did, but that is a long tale !!! This week it was Icklesham’s turn, so I hope you have been able to get out and home again. Next week it will be “Road Closed” at Guestling and there will be no access to Hastings. We are advised to plan another route. The detours seem to take us round some lovely scenic lanes. Fine in daylight, but not for the dark hours.

GOOD NEWS: Our previous correspondent for Village Voice, Laurie Bowman, has been seriously ill in hospital. I am pleased to be able to tell you that he is home again and being monitored very carefully. The NHS is doing a good job now,, but the diagnosis was a chapter of mistakes. he is being very well looked after by devoted wife Gwawr and taking a lot of pills!! be well soon, Laurie.

QUIZ NIGHT: Thanks to you all for your support for the quiz which was hosted by Icklesham Casuals Football Club. We managed to raise a further £350 towards the new pavilion, which was a great result. A special thank you to Marc our helper who did a great job handing out the papers. Fifteen teams entered the quiz. The Thirty Somethings set their stall out from the first round and were always in the top 3 throughout the evening. they were closely followed by Nobby’s Nuts and 2nd X1, but in the end no one could catch them and they went on to win the evening. A special mention to the Casualties who obviously had their eyes on the chocolate bunny booby prize and maintained last place until the very end. Thanks to everybody who donated raffle prizes and bought raffle tickets.The lottery was drawn by Marc and the results were :1st prize £50 - Alf Mayne; 2nd prize £25 - Mick Darcy; 3rd prize £15 - Steve Beale; 4th prize £10 - Keith O’Neil; 5th prize £5 - Ian Patrick. The next quiz will be on 18th April, back to normality with Stuart you will be relieved to know! Teams currently booked : Janet Pegg, Sandra Stunt, Phyllis Philpot, Roma Marchant, John Crannage, Tina Crannage, Sean Baker, Alison Baines, David Mayne, Janet Tompson / Graham Fitton, Anne Grainger, Lisa Rendle, Tina Beaney, Tim Beaney and Tristan Carter. See you in April, kind regards, Jo and David.

FROM STUART: Very well done Jo, David and Marc. This was a fantastic amount raised for the new pavilion, and a great effort by you all. Mags and I are having a great time on our travels and will catch up with you all in April.

PARISH COUNCIL: Remember that 30th March is our opportunity to meet with our Parish Councillors in Icklesham Hall at 7 pm. This is an informal meeting / chat. The question we need to ask them is, are they really serious about wasting thousands of pounds renovating the existing pavilion into a Parish Council Office and public toilets? if the answer is yes, ask how they justify that spending of public money. Unfortunately I (Stuart) will not be back in time to attend, so please make every effort to fill the hall and ask as many questions as you can regarding the above.

SCHOOL NEWS: Tomorrow, - Saturday 21st March, the Fiends of Icklesham School (PTA) are holding a 90s Disco Night, from 7 to 11.30 pm. This will take place in the Memorial Hall. Tickets are £5 for adults, £2 for children, who MUST be supervised at ALL TIMES. Pay on entry. Bring your own food and drink. All money raised will be split 50/50 between The Friends of Icklesham School and the New Pavilion Fund. On Thursday 26th March Flamingos invite you to join them for afternoon at the Ritz 1.30 - 3 pm. There will be opportunities to look at our learning work, buy London souvenirs, take a trip in our “Time Travel” photo booth and, of course have tea at The Ritz. very well done to our very smart and talented Yr r & 3 choir who performed at the Hastings Music festival last Friday. Also congratulations to the Netball teams who again played extremely well this week. They finished third over all. Special thanks to Mrs. Zoe Kilbey, our amazing coach. ADVANCE NOTE. There will be no clubs during the week 23rd - 27th March. Head Teacher award this week goes to the Yr 2 / 3 choir and the Netball team. Class awards go to Summer, Leo, Taylor, Emily, Lily, Zac W. and Mia. The school Easter Service will be in the church on Friday 27th march at 9.30 am.

CONTACT: Please let me know of any news, reports or announcements which you would like included in Village Voice. Always happy to oblige. Phone 815 247 or pop round.

AND FINALLY: Good luck with the road closures. Enjoy the sunshine, and good gardening.

Marion Lovell

7 Oast House Field