MAYFIELD AND FIVE ASHES VILLAGE NEWS
Please note. This column will now include Hadlow Down in its copy any organisation wishing to promote their event please contact melbutch160@gmail.com
MAYFACS:
Little Munchkins Baby & Toddler Group returns after our half term break next Wednesday 26th February at Mayfield Scout Hall. £3 per family! Parents, Carers, Grandparents all welcome!! EVENTS: Friday 28th February Scrabble 2 – 4pm at London House (date changed to avoid clash with Film.) Monday 3rd March Shed session 9.30 - 12.30pm Yarners at the Sew Inspired Shop 1.30 - 3.30pm -Tuesday 4th March Men on the Move 9.30am meet at Court Meadow. - Tuesday Afternoon Club at Colkins Mill Church 2-4pm Wednesday 5th March Baby & Toddler Group in the Scout Hall 9 – 11am - Men’s Shed session 9.30 - 12.30pm. Thursday 6th March Minibus Trip to Harvey’s Brewery Shed session 9.30 - 12.30pm Poetry Group with Pat Robson at Coach House Cottage, Royal Oak Mews 11 - 12.30pm. Friday 7th March Film “Barbie” Five Ashes Village Hall doors open 1.30pm, Film starts 1.45pm. Transport.
HADLOW DOWN CABLE LAYING
Cllr Michael Lunn, District Councillor for Hadlow Down and Rotherfield and Chair of Hadlow Down Parish Council has told us work to replace old copper electricity has started cabling along the A272 from Hadlow Down towards Buxted. The cable was first laid down in WWII by prisoners of war and has not been replaced since. Michael points out there will be delays for drivers as lights will control traffic along the road. He thinks this will probably have an impact on the A272/A267 junction too, as motorists who have been held up will try and gain time by hurrying out of the turning to head north or south. He warns us all to take extra care when using this route. Just be aware - here is the UK Power Networks information. 'UK Power Networks is due to start work on Monday (February 17) to upgrade the electricity network in the Hadlow Down area to ensure reliable electricity supplies for local homes and businesses. We will be excavating trenches to install ducts for new underground electricity cables along a 1.6km route, mainly on the A272, between the junctions of School Lane and approximately 300-metres west of Five Chimneys Lane. Temporary traffic lights will be necessary to safely carry out the work which involves making excavations to install a line of ducts to contain new electricity cables. The work is due to be completed by early June. We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused by this work which will have long-term benefits for the local community.'
MAYFIELD HORTICULTRIAL SOCIETY:
The Picton Garden, at the foot of the Malvern hills in Herefordshire, is home to the National Collection of Michaelmas daisies or asters. Over 400 varieties of these super autumn flowers make this a stunning place to visit in the autumn. Even when the daisies are not at their peak there is much to see with interesting woodland planting and herbaceous borders. The garden has featured in many gardening magazines and on Gardener’s World in the past. The specialist nursery next door is a great place to pick up some unusual plants, and is owned and run by Picton family member Helen. I was lucky enough to pay a visit whilst on holiday in the autumn of 2023, and I was bowled over - it’s well worth a visit, or making the effort to watch this Zoom talk. On Friday 21st February at 7.30pm, Helen Picton will be telling us all about the rise, fall and renaissance of the Michaelmas daisy. It should last about a hour and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end. There are bound to be some stunning photographs in her talk and we hope you can join us. Every garden needs an aster! This Zoom talk is available to everyone. It will be automatically sent out to members a few days before. If you know someone who is not a member who would like to join in, please contact me, Tessa Crowe, to find out how to pay the £5 entry fee and receive the link - chair@mayfieldhorticulturalsociety.org.uk. New Outing, Bateman,s National Trust 26 March. The date is Wednesday 26th March, leaving Mayfield at 10.00am in shared cars and arriving back in Mayfield at about 2.30 pm. There will be between 15-20 people on the visit which includes a tour of the garden on arrival with head gardener Len Bernamont, who you may recall gave us an excellent talk about Kipling and Bateman’s last autumn. The remaining time can be spent privately touring the house and gardens at leisure and/or enjoying coffee or lunch in the excellent Bateman’s Cafe. Non-National Trust members will need to pay the current group rate entry fee of £16.15, plus the cost of the garden tour which is £5, and which NT members will also pay. There will be small additional costs for the minibus or shared transport of up to £5. To book your place on this visit, please contact Claire Montagu at claire.montagu@icloud.com or on 01435 872648 by no later than 1st March. At the time of booking, we will also need to know whether you are a National Trust member.
MAYFIELD BAND:
About our Band: It is not known when the Mayfield Band was formed, although one of the earliest photos shows the Band playing in Mayfield High Street in about 1902. It has always been a traditional village band, and has played at flower shows, fetes and village celebrations in most of the local villages and towns at some time. We also play four or five concerts each year. We are privileged to have our own band room, which was built by the players themselves, and is situated in Court Meadow (King George V playing fields) in the heart of the village, with ample car parking facilities. We have a proud history, with family links going back generations, and many contesting successes over the years. As an amateur band, we pride ourselves on being inclusive, and we have members from a large age and ability range. We have a learners group, a youth band (which is really a training band as we have several adult learners as well) and the senior band. Our members are from a large area, although most of our young people are very local. There are a number of families that play in the band, where children and parents have learned to play alongside each other. Banding is a highly social activity, and no more so than in Mayfield. The senior players are always keen to help the younger ones, and the emphasis is very much on learning and developing through fun, and a little hard work. The good thing about banding is that it’s never too late to learn! We practice on Friday nights in our Bandroom, which is just behind the Mayfield Memorial Hall in the village centre. The juniors/beginners start at 6.30pm, followed by the youth band at 7.00pm, and the senior band at 7.45pm-9.45pm. The Brilliant and Fascinating History of the Mayfield Bonfire Carnival! In September 1556, when catholic Queen Mary I was on the English throne, four men were burned at the stake in Mayfield. Their crime? Refusing to renounce their Protestant faith and return to the Roman Catholic Church. You can see a memorial for them just outside Colkins Mill Church and the Mayfield Bonfire Society carry four crosses at the front of their procession in memory of these martyrs. Queen Mary later became known as ‘Bloody Mary’ because of the three hundred Protestant executions that were authorised under her short two and a half reign. Interestingly, there are some who say that the Bloody Mary cocktail was named after Queen Mary I.
SUSSEX BONFIRE SOCETY HISTORY:
Sussex Bonfire Societies were formed to commemorate these burning of Protestant martyrs during the Catholic Reformation of Queen Mary I from 1553 to 1558. Protestants who did not renounce their faith were publicly burnt at the stake, and Mayfield had four such martyrs who were burnt on 24th September 1556. They were John Hart, Thomas Ravendale, a currier (or leather specialist) and shoemaker and two others believed to be Nicholas Holden, a weaver, and an unnamed currier. Burnings were carried out in public before large crowds and could involve horrible and prolonged suffering. Martyr’s friends were allowed to hang gunpowder around his or her neck, in the hope that the gunpowder would explode and hasten death, but this did not always work. Many of the Bonfire Societies of today wear jumpers with a ringed or hooped pattern, known as Guernsey’s or Stripes, with each society wearing their own colours. Mayfield's stripes are black and turquoise. There are two theories as to why this might be. The firstly is that the jumpers were inspired by the striped shirts of the Sussex Smugglers – a multitude of gangs who ruled the East Sussex coastline in the 1700’s. Mayfield itself was a base for a powerful company of Smugglers, with its leader Gabriel Tomkins claiming to smuggle a very impressive 11 tons of tea and coffee a year. The second theory is that, as Bonfire Society celebrations became more popular, busy, and sometimes riotous, it would be particularly difficult for the authorities to single anyone out for punishment if everyone wore the same and also partially “blacked” their faces and wore neckerchiefs to further hinder identification. Recently there has been some controversy about the traditional view that three more local people, William Maynard, Thomasina Wood and Alexander Hosman were burnt, alongside seven others, on 22nd June 1557, outside the Star Inn at the top of Cliffe Hill in Lewes. Maynard is said to have been a member of an ancient family at Mayfield, and Thomasina a native of Mayfield, a maid in his service. In a book on Mayfield by Miss E.M. Bell Irving, one can read a quotation from “The Register of Martyrs” published in 1559, which deals with this event in rhyme: When William Maynard, his maid and man; Margery Morris and her son; Dennis Burgess, Stevens and Woodman, Groves’ wife and Ashdon’s to death were done; When one fire at Lewes brought them to death; We wished for our Elizabeth” (Taken from www.sussexmartyrs.co.uk) However, a local historian, Tim Cornish, argues that the only evidence for this is an assertion by M.A. Lower in 1851 that Maynard and Wood were names current in our village. Lower's claims should be discredited and a generous assessment of him in the Dictionary of National Biography says: “His enthusiasms may have outrun his judgement”. According to the Privy Council, William Maynard was arrested in “Ashrridge” in Kent and burned in Lewes along with two of his servants, Alexander Hosmer from Rotherfield and Thomasina Wood. Ashridge is probably Ashurst, where Maynard was accused of “preaching seditiously in corners”. Two others, of the four who were burned in Mayfield itself, came from nearby Withyham. It seems likely that outlaws crossed the county and diocesan boundary of the Medway to avoid capture. Our village was probably chosen for the executions of others as a place where the authorities felt secure, well away from where the victims lived. It is so important to keep this history alive, and keep the tradition of the Mayfield Carnival going. You can help by getting in touch and being involved in many ways, either with the Society on the night, during the year helping with fundraising activities that raise the money to stage the carnival, or by joining the walking group that attends other societies events.