All Saints Church

Old Heathfield

Parish News

 

AUGUST 2007

Pageant News
Old Heathfield Community Pageant proved to be very successful. Not only was the weather kind; in the middle of the wettest summer in recent memory we managed to have an outdoor activity three evenings running, but also all the various elements of a pageant, song, dance, drama singing and local history were delivered by local talent; the furthest afield we went for help was Lewes! East Hoathly Folk Group combined with Collegium, the college orchestra to give an excellent performance of Tudor music before the show started under the direction of Jill Howell.

The story of Robert Hunt, vicar of Heathfield in 1602 and of his fateful journey to the New World in 1606 was acted by students from the Community College assisted by pupils from the three primary schools in the parish. The students, brought together by their choice of GCSE options, grew in stature as actors and actresses as the week progressed. They had had little time for rehearsal before the performance till their exams had finished, but they came together as a team and there were some excellent individual performances, notably from Dominic Cross as John Smith the narrator, Will Thomas, who became a very convincing Robert Hunt and from Harriet Beeching as Elizabeth Hunt, Robert’s temperamental young wife. Russell Floyd, their Director, who is currently training at the college is to be thanked and congratulated for his commitment.

Our thanks also go to the three primary schools who each took responsibility for the displays of tudor dancing and childrens’ games outside the school. Parents provided food and drink, while the streets remained closed thanks to an army of marshals and stewards patrolling the roads into the village, led by Richard Leeves and Christine Monson.

For those who were able to attend or participate it proved to be a memorable event; our thanks go to all who helped make it happen.

 

Country Lunches
Currently we are in the middle of our rest period, but we do need to be thinking of the Autumn when Country Lunches starts again. We need at least 3or 4 people to offer to help to take the places of those who for reasons of ill health, moving away or other commitments have intimated that they will not be able to be in one of the teams. Each team cooks 5 meals during the course of the year, sharing in the preparation, cooking, serving and clearing up. Men or ladies are welcome, one of our team leaders is a man!

If you could help, will you please contact Ann Kenward on 01435 862618

 

 

 

July 2006 Target Reached!

Along with the contributions made by the party of Americans from Washington and Williamsburg who have recently been staying in the parish, the Sweepstake profit of around £2000 means that we have met our target of £55,000 and are able to proceed with the re-shingling of the spire. We are expecting this work to be done before the bad weather of the autumn and winter and are grateful to all those members of the local community who have supported us or given donations to our appeal.

 

The American Visit
In October 2005 Roger and Ann Kenward travelled the east coast of North America from Vermont to Virginia distributing leaflets to invite a party of up to 25 Americans to visit our parish next year. The invitation says
“June 17th –24th 2006. Commemorative visit to Southern England for the 400th Anniversary of the departure of the first fleet to Jamestown Virginia. Robert Hunt, Vicar of Old Heathfield, travelled to North America in 1606 from England, with the first party of settlers. We, in Old Heathfield are celebrating his voyage to the New World with a special service of commemoration on Sunday June 18th at 11am. We would like to invite American friends to join us in our celebrations and visit some of the splendid palaces, houses and cathedrals, cities and gardens in the vicinity of Old Heathfield. Residents of our village invite you to stay in their homes, make new friends and experience our way of life in England. Any profit from this holiday will be donated to All Saints church for urgently needed repairs to the church spire.”
In November Jo Williams went to London to represent the Parish of Old Heathfield at the Inaugural meeting of the Jamestown British Committee.   Several counties, especially Kent and many towns and villages are making plans to celebrate the departure of the First Fleet to Jamestown in 1606.   We have a particular interest in that Robert Hunt, our vicar in 1606, left Old Heathfield to travel to North America with this expedition.   We are planning to hold a commemorative service on Sunday June 18th to remember his departure and anticipate there will be national interest in this event
Our American visitors will be with us then and we would like to remind you all that we need accommodation for 25 visitors(bed and breakfast) for the week of 17-24th June 2006.    If you can help please let Vicky Colne or Christine Monson know. If you have friends in America who might be willing to distribute invitation leaflets for us please take some from the back of the church and send them to your friends asking them to publicise this trip.

 

Spire Appeal - Progress           

Date at July 31st 2005 To date £22,000 has been raised in 6 months towards the target of £58,000.And now for the bad news!
We have heard from the lottery administrators that we have not been successful in our application for a grant to repair the spire.  They say:


“We will not offer grants if your congregation appears, from the information you have given, to be able to meet the cost of the work without our help”


Needless to say the committee is very disappointed. We would like to record our thanks to everyone in the village who helped put the application together, especially Shineen Galloway and to all of you who have worked so hard this summer to raise the £22,000 we have in our funds. We’re still a long way from £58,000 and we shall just have to keep going!

Please visit the events page to find information on forthcoming activities to  raise money for the Appeal.

On that page you will also find links to photos of each event.