From 1:30pm–5:00pm on Saturday August 12th 2017 in the Mackley Sports Field. There will be a dog show, stalls from local charities and societies, amusements for children, music from the Patcham Silver Band and refreshments. The marquee will hold displays of oddly shaped vegetables, local produce, handicrafts, art, photography, cooking and flowers. The Bert & Vera Fish Cup will be awarded for the best dahlia exhibit.
Latest News of Local Interest
Farewell
Caroline and Alan Currer are leaving the Downland Churches in September, and we are holding a party to celebrate their farewell. Please join us for an informal concert on Sunday September 3rd at Holy Trinity at 6:00pm. This will be followed by a delicious buffet in the Rectory garden at 7:00pm. Tickets are £5.00 per head and include a glass of fizz. For ticket sales or for further information contact Nigs at nigsdigby@aol.com or 857298.
Bobservation 34: Village Pulls Together – Fulking Fair Report
Well! with your help, if you did, and without it, if you didn’t, we had a couple of very successful and enjoyable events with the Call my Bluff on Friday 28th July and the Fair on Sunday 30th July. Fortunately, the weather was kind. Financially both events resulted in a good surplus (details will follow). Regarding the Fair, it is interesting that ‘the best laid plans ..’ inasmuch as the scheduled Punjabi Street Food was nominated for the final of the British street food completion on the same day as the fair, the pony lady decided that the available space was not for her, the music guys had a wobble over insurance, Bubble Pop was booked elsewhere and Sussex Wildlife were understaffed and could not come.
It is a great learning curve that something as simple as a village fair requires so much input by quite a few dedicated people to make it successful. Heaven knows what it must be like organising the Chelsea Flower Show. I take my hat off to them! Having said all that, the team put together what was possibly the best Fair we have ever had.
Many thanks to all involved, you were terrific! Great Teas (and cake donations — over £500 raised!), BBQ, Bar, Food, Music, Stalls, Tombola, Parking, Tug-of-War, Kids Games, Puppets, Steam engine and anything I have left out.
As for the Call my Bluff, the Shepherd & Dog changed their wine supplier a couple of weeks before the event which meant a last minute scramble to get wines for the quiz sorted and it turned out they were very good indeed. Dave and Emily, as usual, proved to be the backbone of the evening. Tania was a brilliant first timer on the top table and I enjoyed myself. Louise managed to get £300+ from raffle tickets and Pam washed up all the glasses afterwards. Thanks to everyone who came and proved that this can be a really successful evening without becoming the drunken mess that has sometimes happened in the past. It was one of the best we have had. Long may it continue!
Examination of The Mid Sussex Local Plan III
LAMBS reports:
Days 9 and 10 of the Examination of the Mid Sussex District Plan have taken place this week and we have reason to be optimistic that Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) will soon have a housing plan in place. During the course of the Hearing, Mayfield Market Towns (MMT) did all they could (including inaccurate advertising which is still under review by the Advertising Standards Authority) to suggest that the plan was not sound. However, the Inspector looks like he is intending to approve the plan. MMT have done everything they can to force specific engagement with the Coastal Councils, and to force MSDC alone to commit to solve their unmet housing needs. The Inspector, as at Horsham, has stated that MSDC should not have to do more than work with them on a sub-regional plan. MMT consistently tried to argue that the requirement for MSDC should be well over 1,000, or more, dwellings per year immediately. It is not. MMT finally sought an early review (2019/20) of the Plan to try and force their plan on the Council, but this will not happen. Subject to the Inspector’s requested revisions on the Plan, we believe the outcome is as good as we could have hoped for, giving MMT little leverage. There will be no early review and the Inspector acknowledged that a different set of economic conditions (if applicable) could be used for the review in 5 years. The initial requirement is under 900 dwellings per year, when we believe that to make MMT even start to figure in Council thinking the requirement needs to be over 1,100 (even if this is still very high and arises from MSDC taking lots of other Councils’ unmet needs). Brighton remains a separate housing market assessment (HMA), with no specific obligations on MSDC to assist any more than any other District Council.
Tombola
Fulking Fair is to have a bottle tombola and thus we need anything alcoholic (preferably), soft drinks, shampoo, ketchup, deodorant — basically anything new and unopened in a bottle. There will also be a kids’ tombola so sweets, toys, books, etc. will be welcome for that.
You can either drop stuff off at 13 Clappers Lane or call me on 773 and I will collect. All profits go directly to the Fulking village social fund.
Louise