Village Voices: Westfield - November 26, 2010

Next week, Monday:7.30 pm PCC Meeting—Parish Hall, Tuesday:7.30 pm Prayer Group—59 Heathlands, Wednesday:9.30 am Holy Communion, 7.30 pm Midweek Study Group—Holyoaks, Workhouse Lane, 2.30 pm Prayer Group—59 Heathlands, Saturday:2.00 pm Friends Christmas Fayre—Parish Hall. Family Service.

This week’s Family Service will be a little different. It will be conducted by The Revd Roland and Mrs Rosie Bell, who live in Brede and occasionally worship with us.

Roly & Rosie have a music ministry called Millennium Three Music, and have worked with churches and schools, in this country and in Africa.

Christmas Choir.  There is still time for “extras” to join the choir for the Christmas carols. Practices will be at 7.30 pm on Thursdays 2, 9 and 16 December. Please let Janice know if you would like to join us.

Royal British Legion. The collection at the Remembrance Service raised £285.52. Christmas Fayre. The Friends of the Church will be holding their Christmas Fayre from 2.00 to 4.00 on Saturday 4 December in the Parish Hall.

Any offers of support of items for sale will be greatly appreciated. Please speak to Joan Downing.

As usual, we welcome the help of ‘extras’ to provide a full choir for the Christmas Carol Service on Sunday, December 19. Practices will be at 7.30pm on Thursdays 2, 9 and 16 December. 

Please contact Janice (01424 753684) if you hope to join us.

For further information contact Rev. Evan France, The Vicarage, Vicarage Lane, Westfield, Hastings, TN35 4SD. Telephone 01424 751029 or email [email protected].

Chinese Banquet. Over 60 people sat down in the Parish Hall for a Chinese banquet last Saturday.

Visiting chef Lyn and helpers produced eight wonderful courses to enjoy, much of it cooked in front of us, plus a short explanation from Lyn about the cuisine.

It is eighteen years since his previous meal for us; we hope we won’t wait as long for a return visit!

The Friends of Westfield Parish Church held their AGM in the Church last Saturday afternoon.

Rev. Evan France explained that following the quinquennial inspection of the building, the architect had reported that the northern section of the roof had suffered badly from the frosts of last winter.

The PCC had decided to split the work required into two phases, the first one being to carry out repairs to the section nearest the tower as soon as possible, and the second to retile the remaining and larger part of the roof.

This would give time to find out about grants towards the considerable cost involved and to set up a fund-raising committee.

The brief meeting was followed by a talk entitled ‘Signs of the Times: How to read Medieval Art’ given by guest speaker Imogen Corrigan. The ‘Friends’ and guests thoroughly enjoyed the talk with illustrations of carvings and artwork from various churches nationwide.

With over half of the 11,000 parish churches in England having some parts of their buildings dating from pre-1600 there are plenty of examples to be seen.

Saturday, November 27 sees the last of Westfield resident Nick Brown’s series of free guided walks to promote his book ‘Walks in 1066 Country’.

This walk leaves Sedlescombe village green at 10.30am, and enjoys some superb views of Westfield on a 6 mile route before joining the 1066 Country Walk through Battle Great Wood. Dogs are welcome, and refreshments will be available at ‘The Queen’s Head’, Sedlescombe afterwards.

Please contact Nick on 07918 907265 if you are interested in joining the walk. There is no charge, but donations to St. Michael’s Hospice will be greatly appreciated.

Westfield Village Carol Service. Community Carol singing around the tree (by the village sign) takes place on Friday 10th December at 7pm. Musicians from the village have provided the music for many years, but we need more players.  If you play a brass or woodwind instrument please join us. Ring 01424 753684 for more information.

It seems a long way ahead, but the first 1066 Relay is planned for 8 May 2011 and planning needs to start early if the race is to go ahead. The 1066 Relay will follow the 1066 Country Walk route (Stage 4 passes though Westfield) and should attract a huge number of runners. 

The organisers are asking for the help of volunteers to act as marshals for about half an hour. Nick Brown would be delighted to hear from anyone who can help. Visit www.spanglefish.com/1066relay to find out about the race, or contact Nick on 07918 907265.

President Pat Mohamed welcomed members and WI Adviser Heather Hyrapiet to the Westfield WI Annual Meeting on November 9. The many members who attended the October Group Meeting at Brede had thoroughly enjoyed the talk by Steve Roberts, a retired London detective, who gave us an insight into some of the more humorous aspects of his career.

The Group Carol Service is at Westfield Parish Church on December 6. The cup for most competition points gained during the year was awarded to Daphne Chapman. Members then turned to the business of the Annual Meeting.

As well as a wide variety of monthly meetings, a busy year had also included the Annual Council Meeting at Eastbourne in March, where members were rendered helpless with laughter as they listened to a wonderful hilarious talk by Giles Brandreth.

There had been outings to glorious bluebell woods at Hole Farm in May and to Ightham Mote (enjoyable if rather damp!) in September, a meal in August, and the Fashion Show in October in aid of the Sara Lee Trust.

The book club is thriving, the entertainment group is rehearsing for Christmas, and a craft group is planned for 2011. Carol Paige was elected President for the coming year, together with a new committee.

Westfield WI meets in the Parish Hall on the second Tuesday of the month at 2.15 pm, and the next meeting is the Christmas party on December 14. Do ring 01424 753757 for more information.

Westfield Community HUB has several events planned as Christmas approaches. You need to start now if you are to enter the Sloe Gin competition after Christmas, so call in for a recipe.

There will be a ‘Guess the Weight of the Squash’ competition on December 3, with the winner announced at 11am.

On December 10, carol singing and mince pies at 11am will be followed by the HUB Christmas Lunch at ‘The Old Courthouse’.

Please call in to book in advance. On December 17, there will be more carol singing and the Grand Christmas Raffle at 11am. Please leave any raffle prizes with Andy at the pub.

To find out more, call in at the Hub at ‘The Old Courthouse’ on Fridays from 10am-12 noon, email [email protected], visit the website www.westfield-hub.co.uk, or ring 07531 766 830.

Remember that the Westfield Village Community Website carries useful and interesting information on village life, groups and business services. The link to this is www.westfieldvillage.co.uk

Westfield Beavers have a few places at present for boys or girls aged 6 plus who are looking for fun and friends.  We offer varied activities so come and give it a try. Contact Sue on 01424 425492 or Rose on 01424 754080 for more details.

Westfield Football Club is still looking for helpers on match days and for preparation. For more information please contact the Secretary at [email protected] or visit www.westfieldfc.com

The Friends of Westfield Parish Church hold their Christmas Fayre on Saturday, December 4 from 2–4pm in the Parish Hall.

There will be usual stalls including Christmas decorations, cakes, cards, tombola, books and raffle. Offers of donations of saleable items or to help setting up the stalls in the morning would be most welcome; just contact Ann Stocker on 01424 754355.

Westfield School News. Prospective new parent’s mornings for Westfield school are to be held on Friday 26th November and Friday 3rd December both at 9.30am. Please call the school on 01424 751404 to book your preference.

The School Christmas Fayre is on Friday 3rd December 3.30pm until 5.00pm held in the Community Hall, all welcome. Villagers are invited to Year 5/6 Carol Concert on the afternoon of Monday 13th December at 2pm.

Please call the school office to confirm attendance. There will also be a small group of Carol singers visiting Whitegates Retirement home to sing on the afternoon of Wednesday 15th December. Last day of term is Friday 17th December, returning on Tuesday 4th January with an Inset Day on Friday 7th January 2011.

Places for the Westfield Golf Fellowship’s Christmas event, the annual trip to the Weald of Kent on December 29, are being booked up quickly. Planning is underway for next years ‘Majors’, with some new courses being planned.

The European Tour 2011 is now confirmed as Bournemouth from June 12. Please email [email protected] or telephone Nick on 07939 587 796 for further information.

Lions help to “Extend” Camber. EXTEND  is a nationwide charity that provides gentle exercise to music for older people and for anyone with a disability. 

Their mission is to promote health, increase mobility and independence. improve strength, co-ordination and balance and to counteract loneliness and isolation.

The Extend charity has many hundreds of volunteers who have completed their teacher training courses enabling them to run exercise classes. 

There are some fifty teachers in the southern home counties alone and details of these can be found on their website at http://www.extend.org.uk/home .

Extend classes are growing in popularity throughout the UK, particularly as people are now living longer and want to maintain a good level of personal fitness well into their later years.

Extend is an excellent choice of affordable exercise for people with a disability and the older person to challenge their fitness levels, from the very active to the not so active. 

One of these classes is held at Camber Memorial Hall by Sally Liley and the organiser and secretary, Vanessa Bowler, approached Rye & District Lions Club asking for a donation and the Lions have contributed £200 to their funds. 

Any older person who wishes to join the Camber club should contact Vanessa Bowler on 01797 229568 and the fee is £3 per session. Rye & District Lions will be raising funds for many more local charities when they carry out their usual Christmas collections outside Jempsons, Peasmarsh on 20, 21 and 22 December and outside Jempsons Budgens, Rye on 22,23 and 24 December.

Further information from Conrad Freezer, President, Rye & District Lions Club, 01797 252921 or email [email protected]

To send information for the Westfield Village Voice, please email [email protected]

GEORGE SUNDERLAND

Heathlands