Bobservation No.125: Courage and Idiocy

Courage
I was very moved by the speech made by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde at the Washington prayer service for the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the USA last week. Not many of us would be willing to publicly , and justifiably, criticise the head of state to his face and in public. She rates very highly in my book.

Fulking Village Hall
The recent highly successful open meeting in and on the subject of the village hall seems to have hopefully, at last, opened up the subject of the acquisition of the property from the Church. Of course there are some villagers who feel that the acquisition should be made as a free gift to Fulking Village and in spite of what evidence there is to show that the property is an asset of the Church, I would have thought that as gesture of goodwill and in view of the considerable sums that have been spent by villagers over the years on maintaining the property this might be the case.

Idiocy
I have only just discovered one of the most idiotic ‘improvements’ in abbreviations I have ever seen. AD which used to mean Anno Dominae being a year since the birth of Christ and BC which meant a year before the birth of Christ have each been revised as CE and BCE, now meaning Common Era and Before the Common Era. This has been done presumably to appease other religions than those following Christ. As an atheist I cannot think of a more stupid idea. Two perfectly good abbreviations now dispensed with to pander to a bunch of religious nutters. Globally the cost of this alteration must be astronomic. I intend to keep using the old method!

Agenda for Fulking Parish Council Meeting Thursday 16th January 2025

You are cordially invited to the Ordinary Meeting of Fulking Parish Council on Thursday 16th January 2025 at 7.30pm to be held at Fulking Village Hall. The meeting will consider the items set out below. 

AGENDA 

Public Participation: There will be a period of 15 minutes set aside at the beginning of the meeting for the public to ask questions or make comments on items on the Agenda. Comments on items not appearing on the agenda can be made at the chairman’s discretion.  

25/001/OM.            Apologies for Absence. 

25/002/OM.            Declaration of Members’ Interests. 

25/003/OM.            Approve the Minutes of Ordinary Council Meeting of 17th October 2024 and Planning Meeting 18th November 2024 

The minutes, subject to any amendments, to be approved and signed as a true record of the meeting. 

25/004/OM.            Reports from District and County Councillors.   

25/005/OM.            Matters Arising & Outstanding Actions To clarify and report on actions brought forward from the last meeting. 

  • Ram Pump House Roof 
  • Notice board 

25/006/OM.           Operation Crackdown        

25/007/OM.            Proposed Campsite at The Springs SDNP/24/05059/LDP 

25/008/OM.           2025 – 2026 Precept 

25/009/OM.            Village Hall 

25/010/OM.       Small Acres Update 

25/011/OM.       Information Items.  To receive information and items for the agenda at future meetings. 

25/012/OM.              Correspondence.  To discuss correspondence and respond to correspondence received. 

25/013/OM.              Financial Matters. To receive the report on the Council’s income and to approve future expenditure. 

25/014/OM.               To set a date of Annual General Meeting of the Council and Annual Parish Meeting:  

Dates 2025 Ordinary Parish Council Meetings: Thursday 10th April 2025 

Thursday 10th July 2025 

Thursday 9th October 2025 

Provisional Annual Parish Meeting Thursday 15th May 2025. 

 

 

Bobservation No. 124: Speak of the Devil

Front cover of Devils Dyke book with image of devil and promotion of Devil's Dyke parkThe Devil’s Dyke
Martin Easdown has put together a most delightful and informative softback (A4size) history of the Dyke. This has extensive details of the three railways connected with area. Marvellous photographs from various archives including many of which come from the collection of Steve Poyntz. The original hard back edition was published in 2023 (limited to 100 copies) and was again published in 2024 by Marsteila & Brighton & Hove Museums. I got my copy from the dedicated Poynings villager Sheila Marshall who had a few copies for sale at £10. This is an absolute ‘steal’ for anyone interested in local history or who uses the great pleasure of the local Downland for dog walking etc.
The Church of England
My oh my! what a ghastly mess the Church of England finds itself in, culminating for the present, with the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. To my simplistic eye it looks very much that the only acceptable way forward would be to appoint a lady bishop as head of the Church and give her the authority to sort out the whole indecent mess. Whilst I am not a member of the Church I do feel there was a nationally stabilizing base emanating from its position. This is likely to erode very quickly unless positive action is taken. My sympathies lie with the many who choose to support this very old institution. It must be very disappointing and confusing for them.
Felicitations
I take this opportunity to wish you all very happy, successful and most importantly a healthy New Year. I believe that 2025 may well be a year of national re-emergence from the last sad decade. I hope to join you in this success, my heart still belongs to Fulking!

Village Hall Survey

Fulking Village Hall Survey

Fulking_Village_Hall_posterizedPlease complete a short survey by 31st January to help shape future activities and improvements at Fulking Village Hall….or paste this link into your browser: https://forms.gle/xeiUdJYrdgb6ETTH9

Your feedback is really important to help develop the hall into a permanent and valuable asset for everyone in our community of local villages.

Please also Save The Date for the Open Day at Fulking Village Hall on 11th January.