Etchingham

FLOWER AND DOG SHOW: The Flower and Dog Show this year will be on Saturday September 13, so continue nurturing your plants, flowers and vegetables to get the best exhibits for the show. Get busy making your handicraft items, categories include a knitted item, an item of wood, a soft toy, crochet, drawing and painting etc. to name just a few. Photographers get snapping - the photography classes this year are ‘Frozen in time’, ‘Yellow’, ‘Portrait of Etchingham’ and ‘Victory’. There are lots of children’s sections, such as a miniature garden on a plate, a Lego model, a painted stone or pebble and many more. Domestic sections include jams, marmalades, pickles and baked items. Plenty of chance to enter something - get your entry forms in as soon as you know what you are entering. They are to be delivered to Phillipa Hinde or the Etchingham Shop and Deli no later than Friday September 12. If you have lost your schedule please contact Phillipa or you can download the schedule and entry forms from the village website: www.etchinghamvillage.co.uk/village-organisations/improvements-committee/f-d-show-schedule. Entries for the Dog Show are taken at the ring on the day from 1.30pm, show commences promptly at 2pm.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Aug 2014, 00:00 BST

DISPLAY: We will be putting the display of photos and memorabilia on again during the Flower and Dog Show. As this year is the centenary of the start of World War One we want to try and add some items from the 1914-18 period, if you have items we can borrow. We are looking for any interesting photos, documents and other items from the period, not just military, but items that show what life was like during the war years. If you have items to loan please contact me as soon as possible so that I know what is available to help with planning. Contact details at the bottom of this column.

COMMUNITY SPEEDWATCH: The Etchingham Speedwatch group continues to operate sessions in most weeks. Since starting in January the group has now run 144 sessions and reported 1,085 vehicles exceeding the speed limit by the prescribed margin, 760 of those have received police letters. You can keep up to date with the weekly activity of the Etchingham Community Speedwatch group on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/etchinghamspeedwatch. You can ‘like’ the page and get news as it is added. We are currently looking into the possibility of the Etchingham Speedwatch Group purchasing a speed device just for the use of the Etchingham group; this would make the group sessions much more flexible. Sessions could be run at times that best suit our volunteers rather than being dictated by the equipment availability calendar, it would also enable us to target the times that have been highlighted by the survey equipment as having the highest number of speeding vehicles. The equipment we require would cost around £900. The Parish Council has agreed to provide some of the funding and is investigating other sources for the remainder.

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HOW SPEEDWATCH WORKS: We have been asked how Speedwatch works. Here is the brief version: volunteers have a short instruction session at Battle Police Station, they are then able to go out as operators on Speedwatch sessions which are held at police-approved locations. They use a police-approved speed device to monitor the speeds of passing traffic and record the details of those exceeding the limit- this includes the speed and time, the registration number as well as the make and colour of the car. The group co-ordinator then feeds the details into a secure online platform and the details are checked against the DVLA records. If all the entered details match those on the DVLA database the registered keepers of the speeding vehicles will then receive a police letter informing them where their vehicle was seen speeding and the recorded speed. The letter will give advice on safe driving in speed restricted areas and if recorded a second time a much stronger letter is received which also indicates that further action may be taken if reported on further occasions. After the third occasion the driver will be visited by a police officer. Further action may then be taken for repeat offenders. We currently have six trained operators and could have a lot more if we had more volunteers. Volunteers have to attend a short training session at Battle Police Station, for instruction on safety while operating at the roadside. Training in the use of the equipment is then undertaken by the group co-ordinator. If you would like more information about becoming a Speedwatch volunteer phone 01580 819532 or email [email protected] .

WORLD WAR ONE WEBSITE: Last week saw the launch of a new website for East Sussex, commemorating World War One. The site is provided by East Sussex County Council and The Keep in conjunction with the National World War One Centenary projects. The site has stories and photographs from World War One and details of commemoration events taking place throughout the county over the next four years. East Sussex residents are being encouraged to contribute their information to the site. You can take part by uploading your information; perhaps you have interesting family stories and photos that you can upload to the site, or perhaps you may be involved with WW1 events over the next four years that you can upload details of. Another section of the site will be detailed descriptions, photos and locations of all the War Memorials in East Sussex. I have all the information on the Etchingham memorial ready to upload when that part of the site goes live. You may have friends with good information to add but they do not have a computer, so you might like to help them upload the details or help them find out how to get the information to the project. The website address is http://www.eastsussexww1.org.uk.

PCSO: The new PCSO for the village, Iain Tomsett, will be holding regular “Meet me in person” sessions at the Bistro. Iain will be at the Bistro at 9.30am on Monday September 1 and on Tuesday September 16. It’s your chance to pop in and meet Iain, make him aware of any problems, ask him questions or just introduce yourself. If you need to contact him, email [email protected], call him on 07810 813409, or dial 101 and ask to be put in touch with PCSO Tomsett.

MOBILE LIBRARY: The next visit of the Mobile Library will be Thursday August 28, 3.40pm to 4.20pm. The next two occasions are September 11 & 25. Since the closure of the village hall the library van parks on the forecourt of Bracon Place on the east side of the level crossing.

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PERFORMERS WANTED: It is now nearer next Christmas than last, so apologies for mentioning the ‘C’ word this early in the year, but it is time to start thinking about the Christmas concert and play in the church. The event will fall on Saint Lucy’s Day, December 13, so the script will feature the Scandanavian celebration of Sankta Lucia, Saint Nicholas, along with a traditional Sussex Mummers Play. Previous participants will be invited to a planning meeting in September, some new people to join in will be most welcome. If you or your friends fancy getting involved contact Philip Hinde 01580 819434 [email protected]

DIARY DATES: Saturday September 13: Flower & Dog Show in Queen’s Garden and Church; Saturday October 26: Hallowe’en Party; Saturday November 8: Fireworks; Saturday December 13: Christmas Concert in the Church. Venues for the Halloween Party and Fireworks are still to be confirmed and will be announced when known.

INFORMATION: If you have given me details of your event to put in this column, please remember to send me some details after the event so I can let your supporters know how successful the event was, how much you raised, interesting facts etc. Your supporters will be interested to know how you did. Get information for this column to me as soon as possible. If you have a diary of events planned for the year, let me have the dates and I will put in a list of village events for the year so that people can put the dates in their diaries. There are several ways to get your info to me, but email is preferred because there is less chance of errors during copying. I need information by 10pm on Monday to be sure it will be in time for inclusion. I can sometimes add extra items on Tuesday morning, but this cannot be guaranteed. Just a little reminder, I get plenty of information about events that are taking place, but I get very little follow up information. After your event try and remember to send me brief account of how successful your event was. It can be as simple as a thank you to those that attended and how much money was raised. You can deliver to 2 Park Farm Close, telephone 01580 819532 or 07941 786244 or email [email protected] .

Colin Boylett

2 Park Farm Close

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