Cooksbridge, Offham & Hamsey

VILLAGE HALL: I mentioned the regular events at the Cooksbridge Village Hall and the Offham church Hall last week, but missed out who should be contacted for details of times etc. For the village hall contact Jenni Toomey 07762 118985 and for Offham Church Hall contact Judith on 01273 474356.

CHRISTMAS: Although a little late for the report from the Rector on the Christmas services, those that take part in the church festivities always appreciated a mention. The Rector reports that all the services were very well attended and had a strongly joyful feeling. There were the Carols in Hamsey Church (standing room only again this year), the delightful Nativity performed by youngsters from the Sunday School and Toddler Tune, the service of Nine Lessons and Carols (what a magnificent choir we have) and then the Midnight Mass and the Christmas morning Family Communion in Offham Church was quite amazing with standing room only. A well-kept festival.

AFTERNOON CLUB: Judith writes that they are hoping to have lots of people at the Monday Afternoon Club on February 8 when they will be paid a flying visit by some magnificent owls and their human handlers. Do come and learn more about these beautiful and mysterious birds and also stay to enjoy some of our delicious homemade cake too. Lifts are available by calling Judith 01273 474356 or Caroline 01273 477151. February 8 at 2pm in Offham Church Hall.

SHROVE TUESDAY: February 9, Pancake Day, when little hands love to help mummy in the kitchen with the mixing.

ASH WEDENSDAY: the first day of Lent is on February 10 and the Rector writes: A season for trying to be firm about ourselves. Remember the old question, what are you giving up for Lent? It is also the time to think of the needs of other people and in many places hunger. Lunches are arranged to raise money for those in need. We don’t like the term Hunger Lunch, we prefer the term, nice and simple lunch. Which will be in the Offham Church Pop-up Café for Ash Wednesday at 12.30pm in the church hall. Homemade soup, bread, cheese, ham salad, fruit, coffee and tea. Tickets £5. Profits to Christian Aid. Details from Judith 01273 474356.

PARISH GIVING SCHEME: A year ago churchwarden, Pamela Conlon, described the new parish Giving Scheme (PGS) which the diocese is encouraging parishes to adopt. Since then a number of people in the parish have joined and this has both raised the level of giving and provided more certainty about the income that can be expected. Offham Church would like to encourage more to join so details are as follows: The parish giving scheme is a tax efficient new way of supporting your local church. The scheme is administered by another diocese at no cost to local parishes. Regular donors who are taxpayers agree to give their donation by direct debit. The donation, together with the additional amount which can be claimed by way of Gift Aid, is then paid over to our parish treasurer at the same time each month. It is a great advantage to us to have some certainty about the income we can expect regularly as we struggle to maintain our beautiful buildings. If you think you may be interested in supporting us this way, please contact Pamela Conlon for further details on 01273 890336.

CHRISTMAS SURPRISES: A very dear friend of mine gave me a lovely little book entitled The Battle Of Lewes 1264 Battles in the Middle Ages because she knows how much I enjoy history from around this area. When I saw who the author was I was intrigued as it was none other than our hard working MP Maria Caulfield. Although I do have a collection of history books, I certainly had never set eyes on this one which was first published in 2014. It is a well written informative book which I found most interesting which I think would be of great help to students who wish to delve into past history. Published by Bretwalda Books Battle Series No 13 ISBN 978-1-909698-96-3. Well worth a place in the library or schoolroom.

PARISH COUNCIL: When Hamsey Parish Council met recently there was a report from the planning meeting for members of the council that met on Bank Holiday Monday, December 28. There were three members of the public, five parish councilors and Mrs J Toomey. parish clerk. Cllr Dodd declared an interest in application SDNP/15/06058/FUL land adjoining The Old Wheelwrights Land, Offham. Which the parish council has now raised an objection to. SDNP/15/05407/LIS Offham House, The Street Offham. Replacement garden room. The PC raised no objection to this. LW/15/0874 and LW/15/0875 Cooksbridge House North, Cooksbridge Road, Cooksbridge. Demolition of existing single storey kitchen and conservatory extension and construction of new single storey hall utility room and kitchen dining room. The PC have no objection to this development.

LW/15/0897 Knights Court South Road, South Common South Chailey. Residents are concerned that the application for Unit 1 Knights Court may sent a precedence for other units on the site. Originally, all six units had restricted working hours as a block. The owners of the site (EASL) say they have not received any request to extend operating hours and this would be in breach of tenancy. The applicants say they are the unit owners, not the tenants. A resident was concerned that vehicle movements would cause the security lights to come on, causing disturbance through the night. There is concern that new units on the site might have 24 hour working. Cllr D’Arienzo said there was a restriction on delivery times for the new units but she had not seen any restriction on operating hours. She would be looking into this. Hamsey Parish Council object to the change of operational hours as 1 Knights Court to 24 hours.

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