This service is our Harvest Festival, along with Communion and the christening of two babies. Leading the service will be Meriel Deasey and Rev John Burgess. As ever, all will be most welcome to this special service! And a reminder of just a couple of October’s church highlights: on Sunday 7, at 6 pm at St Peters, there’s Harvest Songs of Praise, which is an informal celebration of Harvest-tide. The church elders urge you to go along and have a hearty singalong, (so good for the soul!) and enjoy the poetry and readings. Later in the month, on Tuesday 23 at 7 pm at St Andrews, it will be the occasion of the Induction and Licensing of the new Rector, Richard Barron. Once again, all are welcome to celebrate this new beginning. Panto. Sinbad. Audition. Tonight! Village Hall. 7 pm start. Say no more! Isn’t it great… when the realisation is even better than the expectation? As it surely was last Saturday with the concert by the Choristers of Canterbury Cathedral at St Andrew’s, under the baton of their Director of Music, Doctor David Flood, with thirteen items in three sections, interspersed with two organ solos by David Newsholme. The evening was introduced by Patrick Cox-Smith, with David Flood linking the musical items. A widely varied programme was brilliantly performed by some dozen boys, a lower number than anticipated due to sickness, and the choir left very soon after the performance, as they commence work at a very early hour on Sunday! At the end, their treatment of The Girl from Ipanema was most engaging, and their Love Changes Everything finale tumultuous. The packed audience gave the choir a deserved standing ovation, rising even more quickly than they would if the Rector said ‘Hymn number…’ As predicted, a truly memorable occasion. Next Monday’s Gardening Club talk… is ‘Apples and Apple Growing’ by Dick Dengate. Publicity Officer Carol Ardley is off in the realms of Apple Pun-ch with a voyage of ‘discovery’, a ‘pippin’ good talk, it can’t be a ‘conference’ as there are no pears but perhaps a ‘gala’ of entertainment! Carol claims that really took the pip! How core-ny can you get? Anyway, it’s 2.30 pm in the inevitable village hall. A cuppa cuppa cuppa cuppa coffee… can be enjoyed tomorrow morning in the village hall, from 10 am to 12 noon, all organised by the Floral Club as part of this year’s McMillan Biggest Coffee Morning. Such a good cause, and a nice cup of coffee and a slice of cake will make you feel good, and will do the wonderful McMillan Nursing good, too. Quiz Night… tomorrow, Saturday September 29, it’s the Fairlight Residents’ Association’s Annual Quiz at 7.30 pm in the village hall. You should have booked by Wednesday last, to give the caterers a chance, but perhaps latecomers will gain admittance if they promise not to eat anything. Tickets are still £6 each – take your own drink and glasses – and if you’re desperate to go but have left it until now, give FRA Chairman Joyce Grant a quick call on 814172 Flicks in the Village, Pett… has the British feel-good comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Pett Village Hall is the venue, with the doors open at 7 for 7.30 pm on Thursday next, October 4. No doubt this will be a much greater success than Salmon Fishing in Pett would be in the Yemen The latest from Warrenders… there are unlikely to be many over-sized lorries for the next month or two and most of the horrible old barn has gone for good. The far walls remain at present to act as a windbreak, but they’ll be gone come the spring. The ponies have left, as there is no fence to prevent their wandering on to the building site, but they should be returning after the winter. When they are back, you are asked to refrain from dumping grass-cuttings where they could get at them. They are a great temptation for the ponies, but, sadly, they eat them too quickly and they form a hard block in their throats and quickly die. As for the building, the next few weeks will be taken up with building the walls, putting on the slates, the render and the roof. The windows will be last to go in to make the building wind and waterproof, and it is hoped all that will done by Christmas. Jacqui Lait and Peter Jones say if you have any queries or would like to see what is going on, please make contact on 07770 611 82. Psst… you never got this sort of info out of Christopher Wren! Rhyme time… The Fairlight Players latest poetry evening will be in the village hall at 7.30 pm on Wednesday, October 10. All are welcome, whether they would like to come and read or merely to listen to poetry old and new, some will be old favourites and some self-penned. There is a modest charge of £1 for Members, and £2 for Non-Members. Tickets available very shortly… The Fairlight Players have created a couple of fun evenings in the recent past with Murder Mystery plays. The first was for the Wine and Social Club in aid of St Michael’s Hospice, and the second was for the players themselves, with a full blown supper to stimulate those little grey cells. And now another such mystery and supper evening is in the offing, with ‘Who Killed the Director?’ on the boards at the village hall on Saturday, October 20. The evening will commence at 7.30 pm, with doors open at 7 so you can get settled and get your thinking caps on. Tickets, £7.50 each, will be on sale at the Post Office – oh, and there will be a licensed bar open for further stimulation. Shopping for Christmas…? The Tuesday Ladies Club is organising a shopping trip to the Ashford Designer Outlet on Tuesday, November 6. The coach will leave Scollays on the Ridge at 10 am and then the Circle in Fairlight at 10.30 am. It will then pick up at Knowle Road and Winchelsea Beach. The cost, which is non-refundable, is £10 return. If you haven’t been before, the Outlet has a Marks and Spencers and Roman Originals, shoe shops, Denby china, Christie towels and many other shops. Really good jacket potato lunches are available to sustain you, as well as fish and chips and snacks. To book or find out more phone either Mary Stewart, 813031, or Kathleen Barnes, 01797 224874. Are JCBs like buses…? You wait for one for ages, and then they all come at once. You were delighted, I’m sure, to learn that works on the gas supply in Fairlight Road have recommenced. From Monday, September 24 until 5th October 2012, Southern Gas Networks will be digging Fairlight Road up again outside the premises of 103, Fairlight Road. The traffic will again be controlled by two way traffic signals. There will inevitably be hold-ups at peak times as before. Fire in your belly… about the potential down-grading of the Ridge Fire Station? There’s to be a March and Rally on Sunday, October 7 starting from Alsford’s on the Ridge (not that far from the fire station!) at 11 am, and processing to Ore Community Centre, where there will be speakers. Seems likely to be a good place to be, if you’re concerned as most locals must be. Just when you thought it was safe… ‘Startastic Strikes Again!’ Last year’s Activate variety show was a great success, raising funds to send poorly Nicole Martin to a summer camp in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, and here they come again. Their new show will be starting at 7.30 pm in the village hall on Saturday, October 6, and they hope the singing, dancing and comedy acts will make you LoL. (Unlike David Cameron, you’re probably aware that means ‘Laughs out Loud’) Look out for the tickets and make sure you get yours soon. As an added incentive, it’s hoped that Dorey the Wise, our young local band presently on a roll with their original music, will be able to perform a set to finish the evening, just as they did last year. Fairfest round-up… a proper round-up will appear shortly, but in the meantime we acknowledge the competition winners, who were:- Painting competition, 7 and under – Tibbie Soan; Age 8 to 11 – Finity Soan. Photography competition, Age 12 to 16 – May Lewis; Adult – Colin Dengate. Our congratulations to all four, and apologies for it having taken so long to put their names in lights! On the move… village residents will be saddened to learn that Parish Councillor Richard Pollard and his wife Penny will shortly be leaving Fairlight. Richard has been particularly assiduous in his duties as Highways and Transport Officer for the Parish Council, and in addition he has been responsible for overseeing the maintenance of the village hall, on whose committee he serves, and as Stage Manager for Fairlight Players for more than five years, when he has had to build and manage exploding radiators, guillotine-style falling sash windows, a door holding a body, and a trompe l’oeil barn setting for a murder. Richard has also, as widely reported and appreciated, been the editor of the Fairlight News, seeing it through from being an invaluable newsletter to becoming a full colour glossy magazine. Penny was Hon Treasurer for the Residents’ Association, and Membership secretary for the Players. More will be written about Richard and Penny in due course, before they leave us. Keith Pollard, Brookfield, Broadway