Icklesham

Sunday 9 February 10.30 Parish Eucharist in All Saints

4-6 Live Music in the Queen’s Head Shauna Parker Band do western swing.

The Little Shop in Winchelsea is closing and all its business will be moving across the road to the Winchelsea Kitchen. The Winchelsea Kitchen Shop in Rye High Street formerly Ashbees Butchers is closed and is for sale.

“Puss in Boots” is this year’s Icklesham Players’ panto. It is directed by Del Smith who did last year’s great show.Performances in the Memorial Hall are Thursday 20, Friday 21 and Saturday 22 February at 7.30pm and a Saturday matinee at 3pm. Tickets are adults £6.50 and children £4.50. and are available from Icklesham Village Stores or by calling Nicky Harris 01424 812996. The great cast has both familiar faces and some new. Janet Kates and Nicky Harris are the Two Dames and Puss is played by the very talented Henry Barnicoat-Hill. One Dame has three sons,two of whom are played by father and daughter David and Grace Carey-Stuart. The other Dame Widow Stoney has two daughters played by Debbie McLean and Charlotte Eastes. Grace is Icklesham’s principal boy and plays opposite Hannah Routledge’s Princess Delightful. Evil Squire Grabitall, the baddie to boo, is played by Kevin Nuttall and pompous Mayoress Blunder is played by Judy Welch. There are lots more and plenty of children plus a donkey. A real traditional pantomime.

The flags on The White Cottage are a colourful addition to the Icklesham scene.It was early 2013 when the West Riding Of Yorkshire decided to have an official flag and following a competition the one which you see flying was chosen. In the centre the White Rose on a sun was the badge of the House of York in the Wars of the Roses. The rest of the flag looks like England’s Cross of Saint George. But look again. The vertical red band is not in the centre but to the left. This is deliberately like all the flags of the Scandinavian nations - Denmark, Norway, Sweden,Finland,Iceland and even the Faroe Islands. Why? Yorkshire was conquered and settled by the Vikings coming across the North Sea. Many place names in that county have Norse in them -for example “by”,”thwait”, “thorp” etc. Sussex has many flags but they all include the little birds called martlets. The first recorded use of martlets on a flag was on a map of Sussex by John Speed in 1610.

Tuesday 28 January and I’m watching “Bargain Hunt” a popular BBC1 Programme on before the 1pm News. The show starts at a boot sale or antique stalls with 2 couples buying 3 items each. That is interesting but the second half is exciting when the purchases are taken to an auction where they hope to profit. The spotlight is now on the auctioneer whose professionalism and personality are vital. That Tuesday it was the Rye Auction Gallery with Kevin Wall of Icklesham. Obviously the producer rated the Gallery and its auctioneer highly as it was a second repeat.Rye Auction Gallery has been a local institution since it started in 1872. Bourne’s bought it in 1992 and it was based in Rock Channel, Rye. Last year it was a great shock when they decided to close. Then Kevin Wall came to the rescue. Rye Auction Galleries are now at Unit 96, Rye Industrial Estate,Rye Harbour Road, RyeTN31 7TE. Open Monday - Friday 8.30-5.00 contact 01797 222650 [email protected]