HERSTMONCEUX AND WARTLING Dianne Town 01323 833841 ROYAL BRITISH LEGION: The Herstmonceux & Wartling branch will be holding their annual dinner at the Horseshoe Inn on Friday, April 28, and would like us to know that tickets are already on sale and as always are going quite well. Contact either Brian Clark on 842746 or Jack Chapman on 832240 who, for the price of £12.50 will be happy to reserve your seat for you.

Bowls CLUB: Marylin Holden will be hosting a coffee morning at her home, Nozomi, on behalf of the bowls club on Tuesday. The aim is to raise money to help keep the bowls green in as good condition as possible.

East Worthing John Hobbs 01903 237440

STAMP COLLECTORS: The Sussex Postal History Society was entertained by Chris Cooksey, who gave a most interesting talk and display of the Postal Services of Petworth.

At the meeting of the East Worthing Stamp Club, Bryan Hawkins kept the members amused with his display of Cartoon Covers. All the covers had been designed and painted by himself and actually sent through the post.

Members of the Worthing Philatelic Society had a real treat when Brian McCloy gave a display and talk on the Seychelles.

Billingshurst Madeleine Woods 01403 783253

LOVE TRUST FOR INDIA LUNCH: A lunch party held at Churchgate saw 44 guests enjoying the hospitality of Sheila Butcher and her team. The lovely house was thrown open with stallholders selling handbags, shoes, jewellery, knitwear and books in diverse rooms with plants on sale on the patio.

Sheila is thrilled with the warm support received. £1,000 resulted which will go to the charity

founded by her personal friends, Stephen and Heidy Love from Henfield.

RINGING SUCCESS: Bell ringers from St Mary's returned from the annual Competition of Sussex County Association of Change Ringing, delighted with their trophy for the Novice Call Change.

The competition was held in West Tarring on Saturday. Young members of fewer than three years' experience, David

Carter, Nik Townsend and Paul Smith joined with Sue Childs, Harold Woods and Trevor Chittenham to become champions of the day.

GUILD: Members of Shipley St Mary's Guild were transported to the Lake District when Derek and Joan Mead held them in thrall with slides taken on family holidays.

Always in Derek's hands was one of Wainwright's Guides to the Mountains and Hills of the Lake District, taking them off the beaten track and revealing wonderful viewpoints.

The next meeting is on April 3 at Baytrees in Coolham at 7.30pm. Brenda Matthews gives a talk on Handkerchiefs.

Yapton & Ford John Dickeson 01243 551972

LOCAL HISTORY: Yapton and Ford Local History Group at their March meeting received a talk from David Ardaugh on Petworth House and Park. The house was given to the National Trust in 1947 by Lord Leconfield. Later the contents were also donated to the trust in lieu of death duties.

The speaker at the next meeting will be Mr M. Ross, a member of the Portsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust, who will display his model of the establishment.

Forest Row and Ashurst Wood Pauline Maynard

1342 823618

PAVILION: A thermometer recording the amount of cash

raised for the new Sports Pavilion

in Forest Row has been erected

on the side wall of Peter

King Estate Agents by the Sports Ground Association. The target

is £80,000 and the thermometer

is already registering £10,000.

SELF-DEFENCE: Aikido classes are held in Forest Row. Ring 01342 826032 for more details. Aikido is practical and effective self defence for those aged 16 and above.

INSTITUTE: Ashurst Wood WI are holding a table top sale on Saturday, April 1, between 10am-12.30pm in the Village Centre. It is £5 to hire a table. Ring Judy on 01342 823919.

There is also a meeting on Tuesday at 2.30pm in the Village Centre when their speaker will be Ian Currie talking on the weather changes in the 20th Century.

ANNUAL MEETING: Ashurst Wood Community Association are holding their AGM on March 29 at 8.15pm in the Village Centre.

While a Parish Council is due to be formed for the village on April 1, there will still be a need for the Community Association to run the centre for the time being, so do go along to the AGM, as every resident's opinion is important for Ashurst Wood.

MARATHON: Dawn Godfrey from Ashurst Wood is running in the London Marathon again on behalf of St Catherine's Hospice and you can support her by calling the Credit Card Pledgeline on 01342 315011.

Dawn is running in support of East Grinstead Hockey Club's Charity Championship which this year plans to raise over £5,000 for the hospice. The pledgeline is open daily from 9am-9pm.

TWIN TOWN: Forest Row's twin town, Milly-la-Foret, is holding a green run on May 28 and has invited people from our village to take part.

Participants will be hosted by people from Milly-la-Foret and will have the choice of an 11-mile or five-mile run.

Milly-la-Foret is about 35 miles south of Paris and is a beautiful old town in lovely countryside. Anyone interested can contact Brian Infield on 01342 822777.

Lancing Gordon White 01903 761910

CONCERT: The Boundstone Chorus present Handel's Messiah with soloists and guest orchestra, conductor Aeden Kerney, at the Boundstone Community College Hall at 7.30pm on Saturday. Tickets on the door £5. Call 01903 755894/5.

FLOWER SHOW: Lancing Horticultural Society hold their Spring Show on Saturday, April 1, at Boundstone School, Sompting at 2pm. Monthly members meetings are held at St Michael's church hall, South Street, Lancing.

LEUKAEMIA Research Fund: Coffee morning and stalls on Saturday, 10-11.30am at the Methodist Hall, Chester Avenue, Lancing. Entry by donation.

stanford Eric Ruell 01273 214999

drama group: For more than 50 years there has been a drama group at Stanford Avenue Methodist Church in Brighton. About a year ago the Stanford Avenue Young Players were formed to bring new blood into the group.

The youngsters will be staging their first production on Saturday, March 25, entitled Young At Heart. This will be at the Methodist Church in Stanford Avenue starting at 7.30pm. Admission is by programme at £2 available from Martyn on 01273 556366.

FOR CHILDREN: THE Brighton and Hove Methodist churches are supported by the ABCD charity. This is the Action around Bethlehem for Children with Disabilities.

The Rev Doug Hopwood has taken groups to the Holy Land where he has seen the work of the charity. Three members of the church have recently visited the area to see how the Methodist Churches in Brighton and Hove can help.

The fund-raising events start on Saturday, April 1 with the launch of the Mill-penny-um appeal. During the month of April members at the Stanford Avenue Methodist Church will be trying to make up at least a mile of pennies.

eastbourne Dee Sharpe 01323 649986

CANINE CONCERN: This is a charity which takes dogs to visit people in residential homes and hospices and they are looking for more venues to visit.

People who are no longer able to keep pets of their own for various reasons can enjoy regular visits from a dog and owner. This has proved to be so popular that the charity had to recruit more pets in the last two years and now have enough dogs to make the service more widely available.

Barbara Gasson is the Eastbourne organiser of Canine Concern and her Shih Tzu Chloe is well known and loved at various residential homes in Eastbourne and loves the attention and extra petting she receives. As for the elderly people, they have a furry friend to cuddle and stroke with all the stress relief and other emotional benefits of having a pet, with none of the financial or care worries.

For more information phone Barbara Gasson on 734671.

SOCCER NIGHT: An evening with Alan Mullery takes place at the Kings Centre, Edison Road, at 7.30pm on Thursday, March 23. Alan was Captain of Spurs and manager of Brighton and Hove as well as playing for England.

He will be speaking about the football world and how his life has changed since he became a Christian. He is very charismatic and a great entertainer and it will be a brilliant evening for whether football fan or not.

Entrance is £3 for adults and £2 for under 16s and this includes refreshments.

LOCAL HISTORY: The early days of the police will be presented by the Local History Society at the Arts Centre underneath the Central Library in Grove Road. Kevin Gordon will be talking about the origins of the police as we know them today. The talk is on Tuesday at 7.30 and costs £1 on the door.

WALKING: Volunteer health walkers are needed to lead people on walks in and around Eastbourne. There will be a training day next Thursday from 9.30am-4.30pm for anybody who is interested. Phone Sue Winter on 415463.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.