Mountfield

“Something very unusual occurred at our Church in Mountfield last week: all the sacraments, from great sadness to great joy were conducted by our Priest-in-Charge, Reverend Anne-Marie. On Tuesday we grieved with the parents and extended family at the funeral of Jack Ronald Pelling, the first child of Kerry and Darren Pelling, who were married here last year. Jack was born on 27th May, but never breathed the air of this world. The condolences of the all the congregation go to Kerry and Darren at this time of great sadness.

“For the rest of the week there was great activity every day and anyone visiting would have thought that a flower festival was about to take place. Huge amounts of flowers and foliage were being transformed into exquisite arrangements by Wendy Mayers and her glamorous assistant Eileen Spray for the wedding on Saturday of Sara Whines, daughter of Neil and Jackie of this parish and Stuart Longley from Dorset.

“Whilst arranging, Wendy and Eileen often had to endure the practising of yours truly (Jackie) blowing the dust off and getting the fingers round the complexities of the Widor Toccata, which Sara and Stuart had chosen as their Recessional piece. After all the heat, Saturday dawned damp and cooler (and weren’t gardeners pleased about that!) and much more comfortable for the gents in morning suits. Sara looked stunning, Stuart very handsome and obviously very proud of his beautiful bride, and one of her attendants sang two lovely folk songs during the signing of the Register. The only disappointment was that even though the organ tuner had tweaked the instrument during the week, at the last moment a cipher started to shriek so the Widor was somewhat muted. [Editors’ note: in case any of you may not play the organ, a cipher is a gremlin that sabotages Widor’s devilishly difficult showpiece by playing a stuck note — which means an alert organiste has to close all the stops rather than pull ‘em out.] Sara and Stuart journeyed to their reception at Brightling Park on a farm trailer pulled by a tractor driven by Sara’s Uncle Ken.

“To round off the sacraments two little boy brothers were baptised here on Sunday with a great many family and friends to celebrate the occasion. Freddie Stanley and William David are the sons of Amy Pearce and David Saunters of Northiam, and asked for their Baptism here on account of their close connection with Mountfield. Thus concluded a very busy week at All Saints.”

Also unusually, the Mountfield Club will be open this Sunday evening (July 13th) for the World Cup Final, kick off 8.00 pm. Prior to the final, Steve Smith will be hosting the Club’s Annual Presentation Evening for the Club’s six tournaments.

Trophies and medals will be given out for the Fred Stace darts knockout, the darts pairs, shove, table tennis, snooker championship and snooker doubles. There will be also snooker awards for Captain’s Player of the Season, most wins and highest break of the season. Also announced on the evening will be the winners of the Club’s World Cup sweepstake.

And then, of course, there will be the big match itself. (Our own prediction is that England won’t win). It should be a great evening. All are welcome on the night.

Thanks to Jackie for the church news and Steve Smith for the Club news. Next week we will report on the last Parish Council Meeting (July 8th) and, most importantly, on the East Sussex County Council Planning Committee on Wednesday, July 16th, at which the Members will be asked to consider Southern Water’s planning application for the sewerage system and sewage plant. Pete will be addressing the committee. For Mountfield, only the right solution is acceptable so… Good Luck Mountfield!

If you’ve anything for the Village Voice, we are at 880614 (evenings) or [email protected].

Peter and Valerie Miles

[email protected]