MAYFIELD and FIVE ASHES
Please note. This column will now include Hadlow Down in its copy. Any organisation wishing to promote their event please contact: melbutch160@gmail.com
MAY FAIR – WOW WHAT A SHOW AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT
If you're going to run a May Fair, then run it in Mayfield. Not only can you close the High Street, you have the backdrop of timbered medieaval houses, the glorious St Dunstan's church and a selection of brilliant primary schools whose pupils like nothing better than to dance around a maypole in the spring sunshine. Saturday's May Fair was no exception. Ther was even a blacksmith, echoing the legend of the blacksmith St Dunstan whose tongs clipped the devil's nose! This blacksmith was more involved in creating wrought iron weather vanes than defeating the prince of darkness. The sun shone, children danced, there was a classical trio, Ashdown Forest Morris Men and the Mayfield Silver Band to add to the carnival atmosphere. Among the stalls I noted several from local organisations including pre and primary schools, Mayfield Post Office, a lovely ceramics display, Robin Hood and Friar Tuck looking suitably portly, Brenda Taylor (the jam lady,) Mayfield Wines, tombolas and lucky dips. There was a sizeable queue at the barbecue stand organised by butchers Leppards, ice cream and cold drinks. Historian Tim Cornish was there to promote his excellent and fascinating book, Mediaeval Mayfield, and drop a few mysterious hints about his new publication which will trace the local iron industry. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful village and if the crowds were anything to go by, all the stallholders should have enjoyed a rare bit of prosperity too. Go Mayfield!
PARISH COUNCIL NEWS
Save the date: This year’s Annual Parish Assembly is at 19:30 on Monday 19 May 2025 at Five Ashes Village Hall.
MAYFIELD LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY
And that's a wrap for this year. Thank you to all our members and visitors who joined us to hear about Pevensey Castle, Folk Songs in Sussex, The Founder of Mayfield, Ivan Margary and (hopefully) Inn Signs of Sussex. As some of you are aware we had a few technical issues at our March talk, but we are pleased to say that we are the proud owners of a new projector so no more issues! We are planning two summer trips. The first to Dover Castle on Thursday 22nd May and is a joint trip with the Mayfield Branch of the Royal British Legion. There's no group talk so the day will be yours to wander as you please. In addition to the castle itself, there are two underground tours that are very interesting: the Secret Wartime Tunnels and the underground hospital; and there's even a Roman lighthouse. Entry for English Heritage members is free & non-member tickets cost £22. The second trip is to Pevensey Castle on Tuesday 8th July. With a history stretching back over 16 centuries, Pevensey Castle chronicles more graphically than any other fortress the story of Britain's south coast defences. This trip will have a tour guide. Again, English Heritage members are free & non-member tickets cost from £8.10. Depending on numbers, we may be able to get a group discount for both trips and, for those who don't wish to drive, there will be a minibus option for a small additional charge. Jo Andrews honsec@mayfieldlhs.org.uk
MAYFIELD BONFIRE SOCIETY
May is a busy month for your Bonfire Society with three events as well as the behind-the-scenes preparations for the Carnival. Do you have any leftover foreign currency? We can convert coins and notes into cash to support our fundraising, even if they’re obsolete or phased out. Please donate in the Post Office or bring it with you to our stand at the Mayfair. Every penny counts towards our £13,000 target! Tickets and more information are available online now for our June fundraising event, Snail Racing, on Friday 20th June at Crowborough Social Club. Join us for a hilarious evening for all ages, a race night with a twist, with virtual on-screen races using cartoon snails – no snails will be harmed in the process! Have fun betting on your favourite snail characters, or sponsor a race, and help raise funds for Carnival 2025. Catherine Hawley: bonfire@gawain.online
REPAIR CAFÉ SATURDAY 17 May
MAYFACS Shed, Merrieweathers Farm, TN20 6RJ Mayfield, 10am – 1pm. Bring your repairs along or just join us for tea and cake. Furry friends welcomed. - small furniture repairs - watch battery replacement - clocks and small electrical items - ceramics and pottery - other small repairs welcomed – sharpening. If in doubt bring it along and the team will assess all repairs and let you know if they can be rescued! Last repair accepted at 12:15. Please note that we don't do restorations only repairs!!
FRIENDS OF MAYFIELD CE PRIMARY SCHOOL
One last splash for a great cause!! Don’t miss your last chance to support our Charity Car Wash! Mayfield Fire Station is closing, so Saturday 17th May is the last ever Car Wash raising money for Mayfield Primary School and The Fire Fighters Charity. 10am to 3pm. Come and treat yourself to delicious cakes or a sausage sandwich whilst your car is washed.
MAYFIELD EVENING W.I.
At our April meeting we had a captivating talk by Robin Keyte about ‘The Amsterdam’, a 260-year-old Dutch East India Company cargo ship, which was wrecked off the south coast at Bulverhythe beach near Hastings. The ship lies remarkably intact, including its cargo of silver ingots. It remains hidden from view except during very low tides when the timbers become exposed and the shape of the vessel becomes visible. Some of the findings from the site are in The Shipwreck Museum in Hastings and a replica of the ship is on display in Amsterdam. We also had a visit from Jo Eates, our village Postmaster, who gave us an update on how the new Post Office is running. Our Post Office is a unique institution, as it is owned and run by Mayfield Community Benefit Society, which is, in its turn, owned and run by our community. The Society earns commission on each transaction so the more we use the Post Office the more money it makes. We were all encouraged to continue to use the services as much as possible, in order to keep this valuable asset on our High Street. We meet every second Tuesday of the month (apart from August) at 7.15pm for 7.30pm at Colkins Mill Church, just at the end of the High Street. Please feel free to pop in at one of our evenings and meet us. For any further information, please contact Chrissie Robinson: 01435 862825
ROYAL BRITISH LEIGON MAYFIELD, FIVE ASHES and HADLOW DOWN CENTENARY Thursday 22nd May What an achievement! Our Branch has continued to be active for 100 years. We decided at our AGM to visit Dover Castle for everyone to celebrate on Thursday 22nd May. The cost of the entrance ticket will be £22 per person but may be less if there are more than 15 of us in a group. Free if you are a member of English Heritage. Depending on the numbers of people who are going, we will travel by minibus/private cars or a combination of both. We ask for a donation towards the cost of transport. The plan would be to meet at Dover Castle in the morning for a coffee, then rejoin for lunch, and travel home together afterwards. There are no group tours so the day will be yours to wander as you please. In addition to the castle itself, there are two underground tours that are very interesting: the Secret Wartime Tunnels, and the underground hospital, and there is even a Roman lighthouse. Use the weblink below to read more about it. This celebratory trip is for branch members and anyone else who would like to join us. Please can you let Carole Stilwell: carolestilwell@hotmail.com or me know if you will be attending, so that we can arrange tickets and transport. Victory in Japan (VJ) Day 80th Anniversary on 15th August 2025 - we will be displaying some interesting material in front of the Mayfield War Memorial early in the month. This will concentrate on how the various anniversaries have been celebrated over the years, featuring local residents, wherever possible. At our last Branch Meeting on Wednesday 2ndApril we were entertained by Delia Taylor’s wonderful, informative, humorous and very nostalgic look back at ‘The 1960s A Decade of Change’. Nearly 40 members and guests attended and all agreed they had enjoyed the occasion immensely. Our Next Branch Meeting - Wednesday 25th June, Mayfield Cricket Club. The bar opens at 6.30pm and the meeting commences at 7.00pm with a brief session of branch business, followed by a fish and chip supper (or chicken or scampi) at a cost of £8.00. All guests and non-members are very welcome. There is no fee for attendance and we would dearly love to see new faces at this Branch meeting. I think you would enjoy the evening in convivial surroundings with bar, speaker and pre-ordered supper. If you are interested or would like more information, please telephone/e-mail me. Our supper will be followed with a talk by Wing Commander Ian Woodhouse MBE 11 BSc MRAeS with “Bomber Command in the 1980s”. Kevin Swaine: 07970 787465 kevinswaine@btinternet.com
NATIONAL GARDENS SCHEME
Hoopers Farm (TN20 6BD) will be open for the National Garden Scheme (NGS) on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th June between 11am and 5pm. Tickets cost £6 and can be bought at the gate or booked online at ngs.org.uk. This is a large south-facing garden with wide ranging views. It is tucked away at the bottom of Vale Road. The garden features many roses, including a rose arbour and an abundance of island beds packed with early summer flowering herbaceous plants, annuals and shrubs. There is a productive vegetable plot, a rock garden and a lawn area which has been repurposed to create a wildflower meadow with meandering grass paths. There is also a long meadow walk to a wild-life pond and, as always, two friendly donkeys! Homemade teas will be provided by the very efficient Pre-School team and lovely plants from Rapkyn’s Nursery will be on sale. There will be live music on the afternoon of Sunday 15th. Also open in June, after a long break, is the superb garden at Tidebrook Manor, Sunday 1st June, 11am – 4.30pm. See more details of this garden and many 13 others in the Sussex County booklet available at local shops, cafes and garden centres. The Mayfield trail of five Open Gardens will this year be on the weekend of August 2nd/3rd. Proceeds from these visits are donated to nursing and health charities. In 2024 the NGS donated just over £3.5million to charities including Marie Curie, Macmillan Cancer Support, Hospice UK and Parkinson’s UK. Sarah Ratcliffe: 01435 873310
MAYFIELD BAND
Rehearsing for the V.E. Day 80th anniversary, rehearsing for the Mayfair, teenagers fretting about exams, waiting for alphabetically challenged players to find their music, too quiet, Blues Brothers, tea and biscuits, too loud, old friends, Cobblers (March of the), am I still in the right place? Playing music that we don’t like, playing music that we can’t play, playing music that we can play now, playing music that we really like now, ooh that wasn’t the note I hoped for, Nat King Cole, when do I get to breathe? A discussion on Trump (clearly never played in a brass band), missing that C sharp again, still too loud, you’re a bar late, Vaughan Williams, and why is there an inflatable chicken on wheels in the band room? Youth Band Phones away, instruments out, music out, I’ve forgotten my music, my valve’s stuck, QUIET! I haven’t got that piece, found it, quieter, B flats please, REPEAT, has anybody actually practised? No not there, better, excellent, again please, once more, once more but quicker, now together, YESSS! For chaos and harmony, loud and soft, fast and slow, tea and biscuits, loves and hates, young and old, challenge and achievement, and no increase in tariff, contact Simon on: 01435 872007 or simon@mayfieldband.co.uk
NEW SHOP OPENING
Open morning of Diverse - a new hair salon for Mayfield. Next to Blush. May 17th 10.30am -1.30pm. You will be made very welcome.
EVENTS IN ST. DUNSTAN’S IN MAY
Please do come and join us. St. Dunstan’s Day: We will be celebrating our Patronal Festival on Sunday, 18th May with a Bring ‘n Share Finger Food Lunch in St. Dunstan’s after our 10.15am service. Please do come along and join us. If you can bring food, then please sign up on the list at the back of the church, letting us know if you are able to bring something sweet or savoury.
VIVALDI’S FOUR SEASONS COMES TO MAYFIELD:
Saturday 24th May, 7.00pm at St. Dunstan's Church - St. Dunstan’s Choir is delighted to be one of the international co-commissioning choirs for a new choral work – 'A Season to Sing' - a fun new vocal version, composed this year by Joanna Forbes L'Estrange, ex-Director of the Swingle Singers and professional vocalist, as well as composer. This work has been commissioned by the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) and is taking the world by storm, with first performances around the UK, South Africa, Vietnam, the US, most recently at The Sydney Opera House - and Mayfield! We are lucky to have the composer herself conducting our concert. This work will be performed on Saturday May 24th at 7pm and we are delighted to be joined by the Mayfield Youth Choir (and this will be the first public performance given by our choristers), Mayfield Consort and St. Ronan’s Chapel Choir. The work will be played by Lucy Piercy on the organ and we are very lucky that Joanna herself will be conducting – a privilege for our choir. Tickets are on sale now at £15 (25s and under are free) and are available from www.ticketsource.co.uk/stdunstansmayfield. Joanna was recently a guest on Radio 3's ‘In Tune’ for an episode on 'Four Seasons in One Day' and you can listen to extracts here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/ The concert programme will include a first half which will whistle stop the centuries from ancient to jazz and involving two local youth choirs. The evening is very much suited to old and young alike, so do bring the whole Composer and conductor, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange with Lucy Piercy and the choir, after performing the opening work “A Time To Dance” for the first time.
HOSPICE IN THE WEALD: SHAPING THE FUTURE OF HOSPICE CARE
We are delighted to let you know that Hospice in the Weald will be embarking on an exciting transformation over the coming year, designed to ensure we can provide the best care now and for years to come. In Five Ashes, we are looking to again provide in-patient services at Cottage Hospice, as well as opening a new centre for children and young people. In Pembury, we will be refurbishing and upgrading our Hospice. Nick Farthing, Hospice in the Weald’s Chief Executive, said: “This transformation programme will help us continue to provide the compassionate care everyone deserves as they come to the end of their life, in the best possible environment, now and in the future. In the short term, there will be some changes and temporary service relocations, but we are working hard to ensure transitions are as smooth as possible and will keep everyone updated. We expect most of the work to be completed by next summer. We’ll then have greater flexibility in what we offer to patients and their loved ones, an even better environment for our wonderful staff and volunteers and be in an even stronger position to support the communities we serve and those who support us.” Services at Cottage Hospice, Five Ashes The in-patient ward at Cottage Hospice is getting ready to admit patients again, after a temporary pause in admissions. We are expecting to welcome in-patients to Cottage Hospice instead of our Hospice in Pembury in the autumn – this will allow us to carry out necessary refurbishment work in Pembury. Once complete, in-patient care will continue to be offered at both Cottage Hospice and the newly refurbished Hospice in Pembury. Children And Young People In addition, we are planning a new children and young people’s centre in Five Ashes, to open later next year. We already support children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions through home visits, outreach services and special events. To further meet families’ needs, we are looking to redevelop a property next door to Cottage Hospice to create a place where children can take part in arts and crafts, sensory play and music, and watch films in an accessible cinema room. Although we anticipate this will see only a slight increase in the number of people accessing the Five Ashes site, the scheme will consider how we can add additional parking to make best use of the available space. A Fresh Look At Pembury The Hospice in Pembury opened in 1998 and is now in need of refurbishment. The inpatient ward, reception, chaplaincy and spiritual care rooms, and Living Well centre will be given a fresh, new look. They’ll be redesigned to provide a calm and uplifting environment. And they will be modernised, so we can offer a greater range of support well into the future. During the refurbishment, in-patients will be cared for at Cottage Hospice in Five Ashes. Some Pembury services will be also temporarily relocated, including Counselling and Support and Living Well services. These will return to Pembury once the refurbishment 31 is complete, with in-patient care being provided at both sites. We have appointed a specialist company that will, among other things, be responsible for ensuring the building work is carried out efficiently and that contractors are cooperative and considerate throughout. We will provide updates and details of engagement events as plans progress. Funding Thanks to funds previously raised and recent government funding, we have money set aside to carry out this project. This means that every pound raised or donated by our generous supporters and charity shop income can continue to go where it is needed most - to deliver our services, to be there for our community, and to raise the next pound. This year, Hospice in the Weald needs to raise £9 million, which is why the continued support of our incredible community has never been more valued. www.hospiceintheweald.org.uk