Fletching

CHROMATICS CHOIR: Meets on Monday at 7pm.

FLETCHING SINGERS: Rehearse on Tuesday at 7.45pm.

ART GROUP: Meets on Wednesday at 1pm.

MARTIAL ARTS: Kobudo Martial Arts meet on Thursday at 5pm.

100 YEARS AGO: Sussex Express 15 November 1918. Armistice Day. Joy at Uckfield. The good news that the Armistice had been signed by the enemy was received on Monday morning, and spread rapidly throughout the town and district. At first its receipt did not provoke a great deal of visible enthusiasm, the feeling apparently uppermost in most minds being, ‘Thank God it has come at last.’ Needless to say, there was a certain amount of excitement, and while the news remained but rumour there was considerable hesitation in accepting it as fact, but an official intimation in the Post Office soon allayed the fears of the doubters. Then faces already light with anticipation were wreathed with joyous smiles, and it was only a matter of moments for the preliminary preparations of the celebration of Joy Day.

Within an hour the town had taken on a festal hue with its multitudinous flags, which seemed to spring from nowhere, and the all-absorbing topic was the downfall of the Germans. To many, however, it was also a day of sadness, for Uckfield has sent many, many men to the War, of whom a good number will never return. By their relatives and friends the news came almost as an additional blow to their previous wound, and they, instead of rejoicing at the undeniable prospect of an early peace, mourned anew their dead, who but for the enemy, now happily overcome would have been still in the family circle.

Shortly after mid-day the bells at St. Saviour’s Church rang jubilantly, but it was not till the evening that the peal at the Parish Church was rung, most of the ringers being engaged in their ordinary occupation during the day. Evening brought many people to the services of thanksgiving, which were held at the Congregational Church and at St. Saviour’s, and on Wednesday evening a service was held at the Parish Church. As the memorable day wore on there were more evidences of exuberance of spirit, the band of the R.F.A. Cadets turned out and paraded the town, and fireworks were to be seen and heard from many quarters, not a few of the houses being illuminated with lamps of many colours. With a glad heart people set ‘Dora’ at defiance in the matter of lighting regulations, and the streets thus additionally illuminated helped to make folks feel what they even then scarcely seemed to realise, that the War is over at last.

On Tuesday the street lamps at the dangerous corners and places which have not been lit for a long period were brought into use, and today the Lighting Committee of the Urban Council meet again to discuss what steps can best be taken to increase the lighting of the town.