Latest News of Local Interest

Bobservation No. 13

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Image of Village - sliced upHomes & The Homeless

With the coming of November, we are getting well into winter and could possibly spare a thought for those less fortunate than ourselves who are without a roof over their heads.

Many properties in Britain remain unoccupied for various reasons; perhaps the owner lives elsewhere abroad for all or most of the year, or possibly it suits them to retain a property empty for investment purposes.

Whatever the reason, and I believe there may be such properties in this village, it would be nice if they could spare a thought for the disadvantaged and offer the accommodation to homeless citizens or, dare I suggest it, refugees.

While on the subject, it is a thought that a mandatory charge of double or triple Council Tax could be rendered on vacant properties as an incentive to the owners to put them to use. Perhaps the foreign investment in property, mostly in London, would be less attractive and it might solve some of the housing problems in the capital.

Poynings Bonfire & Fireworks

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Poynings bonfire and fireworks
Join us for our bonfire and fireworks at the Blacksmith Field (behind Forge Garage) on Saturday 7th November. The procession will leave the Royal Oak at 6:25pm approximately. Lighting of the fire and fireworks will follow. Please give generously on the gate. Hot food and drink by Sussex Four Wheel Drive in aid of Ye Olde Villagers Christmas Dinner. Mulled wine £3.00 glass, hog roast with stuffing and apple sauce £5.00.

Clean-burning material (wood & cardboard) can be taken to the bonfire site until 5:00pm on the 1st November.

Local history: making it up

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Sergeant Kazimierz Wunsche

Sergeant Kazimierz Wünsche

The Guardian published a long report at the end of September about the excavation of a “Hurricane fighter near Beachy Head”. Apparently, “a young Polish pilot crashed into the hills near Beachy Head”. There’s even a photo with the caption “The excavation site near Beachy Head”. This is twaddle — Sergeant Wünsche’s Hurricane came down in a field near Saddlescombe and, unsurprisingly, that is where the recent excavation took place.

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also carries a report. They get the location right (“near Saddlescombe Farm in West Sussex”) but their characterisation of the archaeology is, at best, misleading: “A team of archaeologists and historians .. have discovered the remains of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron’s Hurricane. The find was made exactly 75 years after the fighter plane crashed .. on 9 September 1940″ [our emphasis]. In fact, “a major recovery of this crash site was undertaken by the Wealden Aviation Archaeology Group in September 1979. The remains of a shattered Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, propeller hub, head armour and cockpit components including the gun sight were all unearthed” [source]. To its credit, the Guardian article at least notes that “the crash site had been located nearly 40 years ago by amateur archaeologists”.

Sergeant Wünsche survived and returned to combat in 1941. He died in Warsaw in 1980 nearly a year after the original discovery of his Hurricane.

Selina of Sussex 1818-1886

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Selina of Sussex 1818-1886
The author Leonard Holder is to visit Fulking on the afternoon of Thursday 29th October and will speak at 2:30pm in the Village Hall about his novel and the local history that underlies it. The heroine of the book is the eponymous Selina Page from whom the author is descended. Selina was the châtelaine of Perching Manor, and the Page family ran Perching Manor Farm from 1857 until 1920 when the Harris family took over.