CHURCH MATTERS On Sunday, November 24 at 11 am, St Andrews will be host for a combined service of the Rev Sandi Wickens’ three parishes – Fairlight, Guestling and Westfield. The 10.45 am serice at Pett Methodist Chapel will be Holy Communion, to be led by Jill Sayers.
Apologies to our CofE readers, who rightly expect to be reminded of their forthcoming services here, but have been let down in recent weeks after the Church’s emailed newsletter failed to make the journey, as is sometimes the fate of an email. They’re probably still drifting aimlessly around the cosmos. The up-to-date email has arrived and we can remind you that the service on December 1 will be the popular favourite and family friendly Christingle. Details about specific events during the busy December period will be notified just as soon as we get to them.
CAFÉ REFRESH Computer, tablet and phone readers should remember that it’s time once again for Café Refresh, coming up on Thursday, November 21, at St Peter’s Church from 10.30 am until 12 noon with chat, char and home-made cake plus books and bonhomie. All welcome!
FAIRLIGHT FRIDAY LUNCH CLUB This week’s Friday Club Lunch will be fish and chips, with Vienetta ice cream for afters. You’ll be needing the exercises on offer that day. The following Friday, Novmber 29, you’ll be enjoying beef casserole with Fairlight Mess for pud. Delia Taylor will be at the club to give a talk.
TUESDAY LADIES CLUB meets next on November 19 at 2.15 pm. The speaker will be Wilf Lower and his subject ‘Television’s Golden Years.
FAIRLIGHT HISTORY GROUP’s penultimate meeting of the year will be on Wednesday, November 20, when Group Chair Haydon Luke will tell of ‘A Quiet Corner of Sussex’, where Fairlight and Pett Level artists operated. This would be a good time to either renew your membership or join as a newcomer. An interesting and informative programme for the new year is already being compiled.
CHRISTMAS CRACKER Two years ago, as a mid-winter part of WUF, (our Warm Up Fairlight initiative) we had our first Christmas Cracker, in the village hall, a full Christmas lunch with all the trimmings for a mere fiver. This first event established the idea and its viability, and last year saw the number present increase to a respectable 22. It’s going to be here again this year, and we suggest you start considering it very soon, so you can get your still only £5 tickets as soon as they go on sale. Obviously, you will not be able to walk up on Christmas Day and expect to be fed if you are ticketless! As well as food and warmth, there’s a telly and lots of the things you would associate with that Special Day.
FAIRLIGHT WAR MEMORIAL Some six years ago, a number of local residents, already conscious that we had no war memorial acting as our focal point when it came to Remembrance Day and also working out that the two war plaques in St Andrews were both inaccurate and incomplete, decided that the village should remember the fallen of Fairlight in an appropriate memorial. So began a great deal of hard work and close co-operation involving the Church, the Royal British Legion, the Parish Council and the Fairlight History Group. Stymied for too long a while by Covid, by the lack of a suitable sized piece of Cornish granite and anything to do with Church land takes an inordinate amount of time. At last things really came together – the money raised was sufficient for all the expected bills plus future maintenance, two pieces of granite were discovered which could be used so you couldn’t see the join, and the History Group had uncovered the names and identities of the 48 men and women from the village who had lost their lives serving in one of the two conflicts. This was done so the memorial could be used for this November’s Remembrance Day. And now, on Saturday, November 30, the memorial will be formally dedicated in the presence of the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex, together with relatives of the fallen and members of the Fairlight Community. The ceremony will commence at 11 am at St Andrew’s Church.
Keith Pollard, Brookfield, Broadway