British Pathé have recently released a large number of film clips from their news archives. One from 1940 shows sixty seven seconds of a farmer checking his fields on the Downs and his men ploughing them with heavy horses and early tractors. Click the still above to watch the clip on YouTube and read Geoffrey Harris’s Farmers in Fulking for his recollections of Downs farming in the 1930s and 1940s.
Latest News of Local Interest
Bramber hotel fire
There was a fire at The Castle Inn Hotel in Bramber in the early hours of Friday morning. It is reported that eighty per cent of the building was damaged by smoke, forty per cent by fire. There were no injuries and the owner managed to extinguish the fire himself before the fire brigade turned up. There’s a fuller report at the West Sussex County Times.
Changes to the website
There are three main changes:
- The calendar widget in the right sidebar has been removed and replaced with a large icon. If you click the icon you get to see the current month displayed in the central section of the page. The calendar widget was not working well with phones and tablets.
- The various search options have been put together at the top of the left sidebar. Ordinary (Google-style) keyword search may not always deliver what you want or expect on fulking.net. Category search will sometimes provide you with a better result.
- We have introduced a permanent slot for local adverts at the top of the right sidebar. The contents at any given time will be determined by importance and urgency. Thus you may see ‘Fulking Fair’ there for a week or two (it’s important), then something alerting you to an emergency closure of Clappers Lane (that’s urgent), then back to ‘Fulking Fair’ for a while.
“Keep checking for more details.”
Lionel Barnard, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services WSCC, has a a new letter [PDF] relating progress in the West Sussex broadband roll-out. There is nothing in it to interest Fulking residents. They haven’t even started the network planning yet.
Steyning Saplings
Birds, bugs and butterflies – these are just some of the creatures that a new nature group for 2 – 4 year olds will be learning about on the Steyning Downland Scheme from Easter. The aim is to run fun outdoor sessions, where parents and young children can explore and enjoy nature right in the heart of Steyning. The group will run on Tuesday mornings 10 -11.30am from 29th April to 27th May 2014. The cost is £25 for five sessions. To book a place email: katie.scanlan@theoutdoorsproject.co.uk
SAFER than HART?
The West Sussex Gazette reports on Defib Day in Steyning: training sessions will be held at Steyning Health Centre at 10:00am, 11:00am, 12:30pm and 1:30pm on Saturday 26th April. Contact Stephanie Grant on 01903 816138 or email her at stephaniegrant61@gmail.com to book a place.
Fulking Parish Council — Annual Meeting Thursday 1st May 2014 at 7:30pm
Agenda
- Outgoing Chairman’s welcome
- Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman
- Closing of the meeting
This is then followed by the Annual Parish meeting
Agenda
- Apologies for absence
- Approval of minutes for May 2nd 2013
- Chairman’s report
- Reports from District and County Councillors
- Speaker from the Woodland Trust: Sylvia Goddard
- Date of next meeting
- Closing of the meeting
- Election of new North Town Field Trustees
The evening will be rounded off with refreshments.
Andrea Dickson, Clerk to Fulking Parish Council
01444 451 060 / andreadicksonfpc@gmail.com
A second runway for Gatwick
As an official body, the Parish Council has been asked to comment on the options, and is therefore holding a public meeting on Wednesday 30th April at 7:15pm in the Village Hall to hear the views of the local community. Click on the image if you want to download the consultation documents.
