The magazine is a celebration of life in Rusthall and is published 6 times a year. It is delivered door to door to the 2000-plus houses in the village, and is available at local shops and in some surrounding villages.
Please submit editorial and advertisements (pre-paid) for the next edition by 11th April 2025.
Advertising: Rob Mauduit advertising@rusthalllife.com
Editor: Jayne Sharratt
Tel: 07532 339434 editor@rusthalllife.com
Director: Ed Langridge
If you like to enjoy a walk on the Commons on a weekend, what could be more perfect than stopping for refreshments at Rusthall St Paul’s Church Chorister’s Café, before or after a stroll around the beautiful scenery of Happy Valley? The Church choir are running a café in the Lodge next to the church every Saturday and Sunday from 10am until 4pm. They are serving tea and co ee as well as delicious home-made cakes and hot snacks such as soup and bacon rolls. It sounds so delicious, I’m sure you will find us all there soon! The choir are raising funds to support their choir tour to Normandy in the summer where they will be singing in cathedrals.
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Rusthall resident Emma Tamkin is known by many of us as ‘the foot lady’ because of her trusted, friendly and qualified at home footcare services. In the New Year she told us about her other passion, bellringing. “Tonight, as usual, the bells of St Mary’s in Speldhurst will ring out 2024 and ring in 2025. We will be ringing from around 11.30pm to 12.20am. If you are thinking of taking up a new hobby or challenge in 2025, why not try bell ringing! The only physical demand is climbing the steps. The rest is mentally stimulating, sociable, and fun and quirky. If you’re aged 11 upwards, I’d be very happy to teach you this ancient art. Pop in and see us on a Sunday morning or Tuesday evening when you hear us ringing or call me on 07759 476912.”
Rusthall mum of three Joy Neal has been working as an Independent Celebrant since 2022. I asked her to tell me a bit more about why she is so passionate about her work.
“I think it’s the best job in the world, as I get to be a ‘storykeeper’ - hearing and then retelling the personal stories of people from all di erent walks of life,” Joy tells me. “My business tagline is ‘ceremonies for every season’ because I work alongside individuals, couples or families to co-create ceremonies which celebrate whichever season of life they are in! That might be a relationship ceremony (like a wedding, vow renewal or hand-tying), an end-of-life ceremony (like a funeral, memorial or even a living funeral), or a family ceremony (such as a baby naming, adoption, transition or blended family ceremony).”
Joy says that she has always loved ritual and ceremony. “I think there’s something in all of us that yearns to mark life’s changes and rites of passage in a meaningful way. Historically that has been done through religious ceremonies - but as people increasingly feel less aligned with religious institutions, there is a need to honour these important moments in our lives in di erent ways. I love the fact that as an independent celebrant I get to deliver beautiful and meaningful ceremonies that can include elements of faith and spirituality if that feels important to the people at the heart of them, or not!”
Much of Joy’s work is as a funeral celebrant, and people sometimes joke that ‘Joy’ isn’t a very good name for a funeral celebrant! Joy disagrees. “I think ‘joy’ and ‘happiness’ aren’t the same thing – and I believe that even at the bleakest of times, there is joy and hope to be found,” she says. “Supporting and journeying alongside families and helping them to give their loved ones a final ceremony that is loving and personal is one of my greatest privileges. I feel passionate about helping people to understand the options and choices around honouring the end of life.”
This can even mean working with people before they die. “Recently, I have started working with people who know they are in
Now the month of March, if the weather lets the sun shine spring will get a move on with birds building nests. The Bumble Bee Queens will also be looking for nest sites and species of Butterfly that have overwintered as adults, such as Peacock, Comma, Brimstones, Small Tortoiseshell and the Red Admiral which now over winters in Britain, are the main butterflies we first see. The Orange Tip will be around next month.
The first Amphibians, Frogs and Toads will be spawning in our ponds - frogs’ eggs in Clumps and toads eggs are in long strands wrapped around plant stems. Newts will also be pairing up, but they lay a little later, each egg being laid on leaves underwater one at a time. They are much more di cult to find compared to Frogs and Toads.
I have been lucky enough to have had a male Blackcap visiting the bird feeder this winter, usually thought of as a summer visitor, some now will over winter. According to the British Trust for Ornithology, it is one of the few birds that has done well in the last twenty years with numbers well up. For comparison the Females have a Brown cap on the head while the Male has a Black cap, the rest of the bird looks a grey colour.
In a win for wildlife the Government has refused to allow the emergency use of a banned pesticide on sugar beet to protect butterflies, bees and other pollinators, we too should stop using all pesticides to protect the food source of many of our garden birds and Dragonflies. The picture is of two male Mute swans taken at Bough Beech reservoir last month. The males have a black bump on the top of their bills to tell them apart from the females. Alan Ford
their final season of life, to plan their own memorials and capture their stories in their own words,” Joy explains. “It might sound morbid but actually can give people a sense of agency and control, and is even (dare I say it!) quite fun! I wish more people knew they could do that! I think that normalising tender conversations about death and dying and beliefs about the afterlife is so important, and I feel very lucky to be part of some of those conversations!”
• PITCHED ROOFING
• FLAT ROOFING
• NEW ROOFS
• LEAD WORK
• CHIMNEY WORK
• DRONE SURVEYS
• FULLY INSURED
• GUTTER VACUMMING
• FASCIAS, SOFFITS & GUTTERING
• PROFESSIONAL ROOF CLEANING
Holocaust Memorial Day is marked each year on 27th January, and this year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps.
Locally the memorial ceremony and reflections take place at the War Memorial in Tunbridge Wells, and then afterwards in The Amelia. They often include memories and reflections about the Kindertransport children who stayed at Rusthall Beacon during World War Two and attended Rusthall St Paul’s School. This year former landlords of The Beacon John and Di Cullen attended and performed a song they had written inspired by the experiences of the Kindertransport girls. For many years they organised reunions for the girls at their pub.
I was interested to read on the Association of Jewish Refugees Voices the memories of Lily Lampert, and I asked the association’s permission to share this story with local readers.
Lily came to England from Vienna on a Kindertransport in 1939.
“I wanted to come to England to be with my sister Gertie. I didn’t know I wasn’t going to see my parents again, because they landed up in Theresienstadt (a camp-ghetto in German occupied Czechoslovakia). I brought clothes and one doll. You know, you can’t just bring things to England. It had to be a certain weight only.
When Hitler marched in, they welcomed him with open arms, didn’t they, the Viennese? That’s all l really remember. Things were hidden from me, because I was a little girl. Now all the young kids, they know everything. But in those days, anything not nice
was sheltered. My parents were going to follow me. My sister tried desperately to find somebody to – for my mother to be a cook somewhere and my father, a gardener, which he’d never done his life before. But somebody had to say, ‘Yes, he can come and do my garden,’ just to get out. But war came.
The train ride was at nighttime. We left on the 13th. I always tell people 13 must be lucky for me, otherwise I wouldn’t be alive. I would be dead like the rest of my family. It was just a normal journey. I was 9. My sister met me at the station. She took me back to her place, one room somewhere. She went to Bloomsbury House. They managed to find a place in The Beacon in Rusthall. A girls’ hostel. She put me on the train, and someone met me on the other side.
I must have been quite nervous. You don’t know the language. You don’t know where you are. Terrible, but I survived. We had three lakes. It was a lovely place we lived in. Five days after I arrived someone, I knew from Vienna came there, Mela. She was thrilled to see me. We became good friends until she died. Most of the children there were either German or Austrian, with one of two from Czechoslovakia. They discouraged us to speak German. They wanted us to speak English. We were quite happy there. I stayed till I came to London in 1947. It was a lovely place, and they were nice to us. Most of them. We had snakes in the garden. Mainly grass snakes, apparently. But a snake is a snake, isn’t it?
After the war, in 1946, I got a letter from my mother. She wrote that letter in 1943 and gave it to an aunt of mine who was in the concentration camp with her. This aunt survived, went to America and she sent me the letter that my mother wrote. My father was already dead. It says she’s now all alone and would bear anything if she could just see me for a second. She must have been very, very, very low. It hurts when you read a thing like that. You should never know anything like that again happening. But it still goes on. That’s all I can tell you.”
Find out more about the AHR Refugee Voices Archive at www.ajrrefugeevoices.org.uk
Plumbing
Boiler installations
Repairs
Bathroom installations
Emergencies
Gas
It was lovely to visit the Pins and Needles group recently. They meet in the foyer at the United Reformed Church on the corner of Manor Road and Rusthall High Street, every Tuesday morning from 10am to 11.30am. They bring knitting and sewing projects they are working on and enjoy tea, co ee and biscuits, as well as a good chat.
When I arrived, I was greeted by Ellie’s lovely dog Bea. Ellie told me that the group was very friendly to newcomers of any age – she is thirty-five, but many of the members are retired. “If you’re struggling with your knitting, there’s always someone who can help with it.” Other members of the group agreed, “It’s good company here, we have a good chat.”
Many of the members work on their own projects, but they also knit for others. Iris told me she knits for the Cats Protection League, as well as Queen Mary’s Clothing Guild. “They started in World War One knitting balaclavas for the troops,” she tells me. “They’re still going, and they give everything to people in Britain.” The group has also sent knitted items to Moldova and Pakistan in the past.
The group would welcome some new members – if you would like to go along, contact Jacqui on 01892 538679 or just drop by, they’d be very happy to see you.
Spring gives summer a run for its money as far as gardening is concerned. Hopefully the sunny days are now outnumbering the cold, grey, and wet days and winter is well and truly behind us.
The spring bulbs coming up out of the ground and flowering remind us that there is a glimmer of hope for the year ahead and are a fabulous pop of colour to brighten up the days!
It has been all hands on deck at Flourish.
February is the month
to start seed sowing for the summer harvest of fruit and veg. We have filled countless seed trays and are keeping seedlings warm in the polytunnels, ready to plant outside when it is warm enough and the plants are at a good height to be less attractive to the slugs and snails!
Spring is also the perfect time for the plants to start growing again. Unfortunately, this includes weeds so everyone is kept busy weeding and keeping the plots clear for our plants to grow. It is also ideal to plan your plot or garden and decide what your goals are for the coming year. The sunny days are a great motivation for getting outside!
Behind the scenes, we are also working on something special. We are busy planning our Open Day! We are very excited to be able to
open the gates to Flourish for people living locally to come and see what incredible work our gardeners and volunteers do.
If you fancy popping down to have a look around with a cuppa and a slice of cake, we would be very happy to see you!
Our Open Day is on Thursday 15th May, 12 noon -6pm, please pop in and say hello, the kettle is on!
Flourish is based at Southwood Road Allotments, Rusthall TN4 8UX.
For more information, please email us at: flourish@crosswayscommunity.org.uk or visit our website: www.crosswayscommunity.org.uk/projects/flourish
I’m slightly embarrassed to be writing about Christmas in a magazine due out on 1st March, however, the January issue of the magazine goes to print before the festive season is over, and sometimes there are still things that are too good not to share.
Firstly, a letter from Rusthall Life reader Nikki Tinkler, who wanted to share her love of the Taylors Christmas window, that she considers better than Fortnum and Mason’s - and who are we to argue!
Last year’s Christmas window for W.D.Taylor’s in Rusthall was wonderful - this year’s window surpassed it! I went to London in November to see Christmas windows at Fortnum & Mason and also Liberty of Regent Street - W.D.Taylors of Rusthall was the best!
The display was made from painstakingly made ‘papercut’ pieces and they had added their little button for passersby to press to hear the sleigh bells jingle and to see Rudolph’s nose light up.
The whole window display made Christmas very magical - I passed (or detoured) just to look at it, almost on a daily basis.
It was illuminated after dark which made it even more special. Even the model of W.D.Taylor’s itself had ‘papercut’ decorations in its windows. I’m still spotting details - there are tiny toilets and sinks in Santa’s sack - so funny!
Such a magical window display designed by a very talented artist and deserving of recognition and thanks.
Thank you to Nikki for sending us these pictures.
We also want to acknowledge all the work village residents Sue and Nikita Hope and their volunteers put into opening the URC Hall on Christmas Day morning for anyone fancying a spot of company. They had hot drinks, snacks, board games, and a big warm welcome. It was a pleasure to drop by!
Well done to everyone in the village who gives Christmas in Rusthall its strong community spirit. Now, is it too soon to start looking forward to next Christmas?
Jayne Sharratt
I was recently lent an album of old postcards, mainly from Rusthall and High Rocks. They are utterly fascinating, but for me the most exciting ones were the two pages of pictures of girls from Rusthall Girls’ School. I love looking at their faces, and enjoy recognising the school building and playground that my own children attended. I wanted them to be the first of the postcards I share with you.
The current Rusthall St Paul’s Primary School started life as a Girls’ School, while the Boys’ School was next to the Parish Church on the Common. A note on the back of one of the pictures tells us that some of these pictures are of Rusthall Girls’ School Drill Squad, 24th May 1911. Drill was a Victorian and Edwardian version of PE where pupils
were taught to follow movement instructions. Generally girls didn’t do sport because it wasn’t considered ladylike to sweat or get out of breath, so drill was a very ordered way of getting some movement into the girls’ life! The occasion being marked must have been Empire Day, which was marked on 24th May each year from 1902 to educate school pupils in Britain about the British Empire, and foster a devotion to King and Country. The date was chosen because it was Queen Victoria’s birthday and it was widely marked by people across the country throughout the first half of the twentieth century.
Jayne Sharratt
We have received increased reports of dog mess on numerous streets around the village. Disgusting, isn’t it?
Allowing dogs to foul the pavement and not picking it up is an o ence which carries a £100 fixed penalty fine, administered by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Please report all incidents via this link to their website.
http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/ environment/dogs-and-animals/report-dog-fouling
Reporting other issues such as:-
Abandoned vehicles; Barking dogs; Benefit fraud; Bin collections; business waste issues; Dead animals; Engine idling; Fly posting; fly tipping; Found dog; gra ti; illegal parking; littering; lost dog; near miss on roads; planning breaches; pot holes; play ground issues. https://tunbridgewells.gov.uk/report
Reporting potholes and problems with street furniture.
These are the responsibility of Kent County Council. Reports should be made direct to them via the following link https://www.kent.gov.uk/roads-andtravel/report-a-problem
At their meeting in December, The Council agreed the annual budget for 2025-26 and the level of precept (council tax) to be levied. In recent years, the council has been able to shoulder rises in costs by using reserves to top up the budget. However, this is not a long-term solution so this year the parish council proportion of the council tax will rise by 37 pence per week for a band D property, a rise of 33%.
New email address and website
Please note that our website and email addresses have changed and are now in line with other councils and Government protocols. This provides us with significantly increased cyber security protection.
Our new web address is :- https://www.rusthall-pc.gov.uk
Our new email addresses are:
Clerk Clerk@rusthall-pc.gov.uk
Deputy Clerk Deputyclerk@rusthall-pc.gov.uk
Chair of Council paul.gripper@rusthall-pc.gov.uk
Allotments Manager allotments@rusthall-pc.gov.uk
There are currently a few allotments plots still available. For more information, please contact the Allotment Manager Jon Vanns allotments@rusthall-pc.gov.uk
Dates for your diary:-
a. Full Council Meeting 10th March 2025
b. Allotment Committee 12th April 2025
c. Full Council Meeting 14 April 2025
d. Environment Committee 28th April 2025
e. Borough Council Elections 1st May 2025
f. Annual Parish Council 12th May 2025
g. Annual Parish Assembly 19th May 2025
For further information about any of the content on this page please do not hesitate to contact Clerk@rusthall-pc.gov.uk
For more details about the Parish Council and the many Clubs and Associations in the village please have a look on our website https://www.rusthall-pc.gov.uk
Ingrowing nails
Reflexology • Cracked Heels
Thickened Nail • Athlete’s Foot
Foot Washing
Welcome to the March issue of Rusthall Life! It’s been a long winter, but here’s hoping Spring is on its way! Here at Rusthall Life we love putting your village magazine together to make it as enjoyable and informative as it can be. As the Editor I’m always on the lookout for good stories, so if you have something of interest to Rusthall residents that you would like to share, please get in touch with me. I couldn’t put the magazine together without the rest of the team - Rob and Zoe look after the advertising and social media, designer Matt makes the magazine look great and also designs adverts, and Ed Langridge is the director who is very good at looking after our operations. As a community magazine, the support of the Parish Council and other village organisations is really important to us, and we especially owe a great deal to Paul Gripper who organises the distribution through our wonderful volunteer deliverers. You can see it’s a real team e ortand you the reader are the final vital ingredient. We hope you enjoy this March issue, and thank you for your continuing support.
Jayne Sharratt, editor@rusthalllife.com
we can assist you in all aspects from inception to realisation. Visit our showroom and browse through our library of samples. Call 07957 811 589 to book an appointment.
2025 has begun with some freezing and frosty weather – we might not enjoy the cold, but when the sun is out our Commons are very pretty.
On Saturday 25th January, Burns’ Night proved a welcome opportunity to have fun celebrating all things Scottish, for residents at Rusthall Lodge.
I was delighted to be invited along to enjoy the entertainment and chat to residents. First on the order of events was a bagpipe player, who got the Scottish theme o to a fine start, as did the Scottish flag flying outside the Lodge for the day.
Next, singer Andy Mace sang some favourite songs by artists like Cole Porter, Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash, much enjoyed by his audience. Andy is a West End performer and actor who has been in Les Misérables, and recently had a role in the Christmas special of Call the Midwife and is a popular return performer at the care home.
One resident told me, “It’s lovely, he’s brilliant, no airs and graces.”
After the singing, it was time for tea – as well as some Scottish treats like Iron Bru and Tunnocks Teacakes, to add to the fun. As we enjoyed our refreshments, another resident told me, “I’m very happy here at Rusthall Lodge, they look after us so well, I can’t find any fault.”
There was clearly a great atmosphere in the Lodge and a lovely rapport between residents and sta , as well as the entertainers. It was lovely to see and to spend some time at Rusthall Lodge, who are keen to be part of the community. They are setting up a Friends of Rusthall Lodge group, and if you would like to be part of it you can contact them on 01892 556500.
Late last year, the government published plans to make some big changes to the way local government is structured in its English Devolution White Paper. You may be wondering what it will mean practically for us as residents in our local area – and you won’t be alone in wondering!
It’s an evolving process – but this is what we know so far. Elected Mayors
When people talk about devolution, they mean giving some powers that currently sit in Westminster to regions through an elected Mayor. Their role will be to promote economic growth and regeneration, as well as other government priorities, such as housebuilding, tackling climate change, skills and employment and transport and infrastructure. There are also additional responsibilities in terms of health, wellbeing and public safety. Having a Mayor could attract more funding, speed up delivery and allow innovative solutions, however, it’s an extra layer of government we’re not used to so not everyone is keen! Kent is not in the priority list for getting a Mayor but the plan is for all areas of England to get one before 2029.
Separate to elected Mayors, will be a reorganisation of local government structures. This means that Kent County Council and the twelve district and borough councils that sit below it would cease to exist and make way for a number of unitary councils which would combine many of the functions the previous councils were responsible for. The expectation is that Tunbridge Wells would be part of a West Kent Unitary Council.
The advantages to the changes are that it should be simpler for residents to understand – if you have ever scratched your head trying to remember whether it’s the Borough or County Council who are responsible for drains, or potholes, or street cleaning or parking enforcement, then you might welcome that! There is potential for e ciencies and better value for taxpayers’ money. It’s also a chance for local government to be organised in a way that attracts a wider
range of people to run to be councillors, to better represent society. What it will mean is that electoral areas get bigger, which might make it harder for people to feel a local connection to the people representing them. This means that Parish and Town Councils will likely become more important and play a bigger role in connecting residents to democracy.
Kent County Council Elections still going ahead on 1st May 2025. Despite the planned changes, elections to Kent County Council will still go ahead this May, and it will be a chance for voters to have their say. While the forms local government take in the future are still being shaped, ultimately it will be voters like you who get to decide who represents you on KCC this May, and the new council when it’s formed – let’s hope that means more power to the people to make things better in their local areas – which is all most of us want from local government.
Rusthall’s annual bonfire, fireworks and torchlight parade; a muchloved village fixture since 1977, will be changing this year.
The event will move from its current location on the Common to Southwood Road Recreation Ground. There will be no bonfire, but the fireworks and torchlight parade will be big draws for families, and the Fireworks and Fete Committee have other ideas to make it a special spectacle.
Chair of the Committee, Lisa Coghlan, wrote in February to residents of Southwood Road, to reassure them that the event ‘will be managed with the utmost professionalism and care,’ adding ‘For the past 46 years, we have successfully organized this event with minimal disruption to our community. We are pleased to report that there is no history of damage or disruption to residential properties during our events. Your safety and enjoyment are our top priorities.’
She said that the key reasons for moving the event were ‘the safety of the visitors with less tra c in the area than on the high street, more space to line up the parade in Southwood road (between the junction of Parsonage Road and the playing field entrance), and a flat field with which visitors can view the display.’
On the night there will be three SIA security teams of two people each in place during the evening, as well as a large team of dedicated volunteers, who make sure that everything runs smoothly. The team sweep the area of litter before the event, have rubbish bins in place during it, and complete a litter pick the next day before 10am.
Lisa is looking forward to the continuing success of the event in bringing the village together for many years to come in the new location, saying, ‘It has always been the ethos of all our events to maintain the community feel and create events which are a ordable for local families. This is written into our group aims and will remain a top priority, we welcome anyone who wishes to join our group to help continue our work. We appreciate your understanding and support as we prepare for this exciting occasion. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out.’ Anyone who would like to contact the committee about the event can email rusthallbonfirefetegroup@outlook.com
Many Rusthall residents will miss Hill View Road resident and village historian Dennis Penfold. He was known for the history articles and exhibitions he researched and wrote about the village past. Since his death his collection has been kept safe by his friends and the Parish Council, and a manuscript he left is being prepared for publication. At the time of going to press the exact publication date was not yet known, but we hope to let you know more in the next issue.
DON’T WAIT UNTIL SPRING, THE BEST STRATEGY IS TO BUILD UP YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM BEFORE SYMPTOMS APPEAR
Hay fever/chronic rhinitis is an over reaction to something that the body should, and can, usually handle so the key here is to have a strong immune system. When you encounter an allergen, be it food, pollen or a dusty room an antibody is produced releasing histamine which causes itching, swelling and inflammation. It is important to start preparing and strengthening the immune system now.
• Consume foods rich in quercetin (apples, berries, capers) and bromelain (pineapple and papaya) to reduce inflammation
• Make nettle tea to ease symptoms
• Eliminate or cut down on mucus forming foods (dairy, wheat)
• For mild to medium hay fever we recommend the probiotic Optibac ‘For Every day’. Research increasingly points to the gut being the seat of a healthy immune system so it stands to reason if you balance your gut bacteria immunity will improve and strengthen. Also our best selling hay fever product, Bee Prepared Daily Defence Immune Support, begin before the hay fever season starts. www.botanicahealth.co.uk 01892 458289 info@botanicahealth.co.uk
Rusthall Guide Group etc.
Daphne Pilcher 01892 521691
Allotments
Allotments Manager – Jon Vanns 07983 920716
allotments@rusthall-pc.gov.uk
Bonfire, Fete and Community Coffee lisatoes@yahoo.co.uk
Community Cinema, Table Tennis, Badminton, Pickleball and Repair Cafe Eugene Gardner at Sunnyside Community Halleugene@rusthallcinema.club
ParishChair Paul Gripper paul.gripper@rusthall-pc.gov.uk
Parish Clerk Claire Reed
01892 520161 / 07398 715468
Clerk@rusthall-pc.gov.uk
Manor Road Pre-School 07972 739852
St Paul’s Church Parish Office 01892 521447
Playtime Parent and Toddler Group Liz Mankelow 07840 837968
Rusthall United Reformed Church Church Secretary – Mary Nolze 01892 536727
Rusthall and Tunbridge Wells Commons Ranger Daniel Colborne 07860 750597
The Molyneux Almshouses info@molyneux-almshouses.co.uk 07504 839548
Rusthall Football Club Jockey Farm 07897427522
Rusthall St Paul’s School 01892 520582 office@rusthall-cep.kent.sch.uk
Rusthall Scout Group Beavers, cubs and scouts rusthallscoutgroupwaitinglist@yahoo.co.uk
Rusthall Medical Centre 01892 515142
Out of
Greetings to you all. I have not long returned from Freetown, Sierra Leone and I am still trying to ‘acclimatise’ to the British weather. Life in Sierra Leone, especially Hastings village where I stayed is quite basic, although aspects of it could engender profound and meaningful moments of self-reflection.
I soon realised that I had to adjust to the flexible timetable of the Electricity provider and made sure that I ironed my clothes and charged my phones when there was light and electricity. While lamenting the lack of regular electricity supply - which I took for granted in England - I was very thankful that I could eat freshly picked papaya. I was also very grateful that I had access to stunning beaches and could enjoy other aspects of God’s amazing creation.
One thing I like doing is to seek ways to support the wider community so that not just family and friends benefit. Recently, some people organised a community sports and athletics day at Hastings which they now intend to do annually. As part of my giving, I bought eight trophies and thirty-two medals which I presented to the organisers. They were delighted to receive these items, and it is very satisfying to have been able to support this community venture in such a practical way.
I was very glad that I arrived home to Rusthall in time to enjoy the Choir’s Anthem Sing-a-thon on Saturday 21st February, when they sang the 100 anthems in the Oxford University Press’s Anthem Book, ending with Handel’s Zadok the Priest – a glorious achievement. Rev Ronnie
The parent and toddler group continues to be a happy place on Wednesday mornings at the Church Hall. It’s open every Wednesday in St Paul’s Church Centre Hall (next to the pharmacy) from 9am-11am, and all parents and carers of babies and preschool aged children are always welcome for toys, dressing up, hot drinks and snacks; as well as Liz’s famous story time and singing at the end of the session.
In February half term the group branched out, o ering a Lego Café for parents, carers and school aged children up to Year 7, running separately but concurrently to the parent and toddler group. It featured lots of Lego bricks to build with, as well as tea, co ee and cake, and at the time of going to press, was expected to be popular! If a success, it’s hoped that the group can repeat the session during future school holidays.
On 25th January the Fireworks and Fete Committee organised a quiz bringing 75 people together for the Great Burns’ Night Quiz. Featuring Scottish landmarks, famous Donald’s and Scottish music, as well as hilarious games, lots of fun was had by all, and it also raised money for village events.
“Congratulations to the winners ‘The Magic Circle’ who kindly donated their winnings back. Thank you to all, we raised over £600 which is just fantastic. Thank you to Chris as Quizmaster, and our lovely cooks and hall helpers; Alison, Annie, Ann and Tina,” said organiser Lisa.
Save the date for the St George’s Day Quiz on Saturday 26th April, when the menu will be roast dinner and crumble.
