Winchelsea

Under Winchelsea: WAS cellar tours in October take place on Saturday 7th and Sunday 22nd at 2pm meeting at the Town Well in Castle Street. Under the leisurely streets of Winchelsea are over fifty vaulted cellars built between 1285 and 1300 and the guided tours by the Archeological Society will explain their purpose and history plus learning about Winchelsea’s function as Head Port of the Cinque Port Confederation. The tours last at least 90 minutes and the cost is £5 which includes a guidebook to the cellars. Please call 01797 224446 to book your place and the proceeds will go to WAS. Many of the cellar steps are narrow and steep and wearing sensible shoes is required and you may want to bring a torch.

2nd Wednesday: There will be a talk by John Guyatt on the Russian Revolution at the Second Wednesday’s next meeting on Wednesday October 11th. Please meet at the usual time of 2.30pm in the New Hall and the total cost for non-members is £4. John will be looking at the legacy of the communist takeover in Russia which occurred 100 years ago this month. This revolution was clearly a time of tyranny and terror for the Russian people who greatly desired the freedom and democracy of the western world. After the talk there will be a very appetising home-made tea.

Holocaust survivor: Zdenka Fantlova was the sole survivor of a company of creative artists who were imprisoned in the Terezin concentration camp in the Czech Republic during World War II. She will be talking on the theme ‘Live is Wonderful! How I survived the Holocaust’ at St Thomas’ Church on Sunday October 15th from 3pm. Tickets are available at winchelsea-arts.org.uk and the cost is £15 adults and £7.50 children. To honour the memory of those creative artists there will also be a group of musicians at the event performing a programme which will include pieces composed and performed at Terezin where Zdenka was an actress as well as other concentration camps.

Bowls for bulbs: The Garden Society has made a good start to planting up bulbs to sell at the Christmas Fair but they are a bit stuck for bowls to complete the job. So they’d be really grateful for bowls, with or without drainage holes, capable of taking three bulbs or more. Please let Howard Norton know on 01797 226524 or phone 01797 224861 if you’ve got any you could let them have and thank you to all who are able to help in this venture.

Winchelsea Beach

Fellowship Lunch: The next Fellowship Lunch will be held on Friday October 27th in the Community Hall at 12 for 12.30pm. If you plan to come along the number to contact for bookings is 01797 227168 as the caterers need to know numbers well in advance. The lunch consists of a range of home-made dishes, and there is usually a speaker giving an interesting talk. A request will be made during the event for donations towards a selected charity.

Great Gatsby: It’s back to the roaring twenties for the next Dance in the Community Hall coming soon on Saturday October 14th at 7.30pm. The theme is The Great Gatsby Era which suggests a time of flappers when feathers, beads and bow ties were worn and the Charleston was all the rage. In the last fifty years there have been mods, rockers, hippies, punks, goths and other subcultures but flappers were young women in the 1920s, often wealthy, who wore short skirts, bobbed hair, listened to jazz and liked to be unconventional. A Fish & Chip supper will be included in the tickets which are as usual on sale from Hugh at Suttons Sea Road or 01797 224820 but not sold at the door.