Fairlight Focus

Just clearing up any misunderstanding about the plastic incident at Camber.

Rother District Council is the authority responsible for the foreshore and is in the lead on cleaning up the beach. Rother officers have worked promptly and tirelessly to bring in contractors with appropriate machinery and the Environment Agency is ready and willing to supply technical advice.

We are very grateful to all the volunteers who have helped with the clean-up and especially to Andy Dinsdale and Strandliners. Press reports indicate that Southern Water will be paying for the cost of beach cleaning and they have sent staff to help.

Councillor Andrew Mier

The Friends of Conquest Hospital have announced the Winter Courtyard will be open to the public from 5th December to 4th January and will provide “a peaceful retreat for patients, staff, and visitors throughout the festive season, offering a chance to step away from the clinical environment and share a quiet moment with loved ones”.

This special space, located in one of the courtyards near the Kipling Ward, will feature 14 beautifully lit Christmas trees, including a Memory Tree where people can dedicate a wooden bauble to someone they are thinking of or missing this Christmas.

Entry to the courtyard is free, and the memory baubles will be available free of charge from the hospital shop thanks to the generous sponsorship of Bauvill, one of our hospital contractors. Donations to the Friends of Conquest Hospital will be warmly welcomed.

Fairlight Village Hall CHRISTMAS FAIR

Saturday 6th December, Village Hall, Broadway TN35 4DA. Starts 12 noon

The Fairlight Village Hall are holding their Christmas Fair on Saturday 6th December. It starts at 12 noon when there will be Carol’s with village voices,  hot food, delicious cakes and mulled wine or teas and coffees as well as lots of exciting stalls, games and a visit by 🎅  

Come and support your Community Village Hall. Our poster is attached. 
Please tell your friends and family. We look forward to seeing you there.
The Village Hall Committee 

Calling all Fairlight Astronomers

There will be no meeting on the 13th November in the village hall. 

Please keep an eye out for updates on the WhatsApp group for any impromptu observing nights for the next few days. 

Fairlight Astronomers 

The footpath between Knowle Wood and Woodland Way is being worked on from today until Wednesday possibly Thursday.

Work will include scraping all the mud from the path and steps. A new layer of shingle, reprofiled steps with a metal handrail.

Please do not try and use the path until Thursday.

In case you are not already aware, please be advised that tickets are now on sale for the Fairlight Players’ autumn production, “The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s production of Macbeth”.

If you are expecting serious Shakespear, you will be mightily disappointed, although the “ladies” of Farndale Avenue give it a jolly good shot.

Performances take place over three days from 6-8 November, at 7.30pm each evening, and with an additional matinee performance on the Saturday.

Tickets may be purchased online at Box office – Fairlight Players

Alternatively, if you prefer the personal approach, Sue will be on hand at DISH, Fairlight Village Hall on Mondays between 11am to 1pm.

Or you can telephone Sue on our ticket hotline, 07988 540757.

As always, we need volunteers to help with the many jobs behind the scenes. If you can spare a little time, please speak with Sue.

We look forward to seeing you.

With best wishes

Keith Miller 

Chairman, The Fairlight Players

Fairlight Preservation Trust

(Registered Charity number: 1107169)

Recently the Trust has petitioned RDC on issues in the village, and with the knowledge of the strength of the Trust our voice is heard to show that we care about our Village.

The AGM is to be held on Sunday 9th November 2025 at 2.30pm in the Village Hall.  Please come along; refreshments are served after the meeting.  It will give you the opportunity to meet the Committee and to find out what  is being done to improve the drainage system.

New members will be welcomed, so if you would like to join, please fill in the form found on our website, together with lots more interesting information.

£10 per person over three years isn’t a lot to ask but this helps with insurance, administration and small projects. 

To further help the Trust, you could register with www.easyfundraising.org.uk, which is easy to do and anything ordered on the internet and supported by the organisation, will give the Preservation Trust a donation.

We thank you again for depositing your used or unwanted printer cartridges at the village hall for us.  We have received another donation of £36, from the last box.

Last years’ AGM minutes can be found on: https://fcpt.org.uk/documents.

Jill Lewing

Membership Sec.

On behalf of FPT

jill.lewing@btinternet.com

See poster below for details. 

Tickets are £10 per person, which includes a light supper, teams of 4 – 6 people.

All profits being given to those lovely people at Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat.

Please see below details of a drop in session held by Southern Water regarding the work to replace the water mains.

Where: Fairlight Village Hall, Broad Way, Hasting TN35 4DA

When: Between 3pm and 6.30pm, Thursday 2 October 2025

WAKEHAMS/ POND FIELD ASSISTANCE TO MAKE YOUR COMMENTS TO ROTHER PLANNING

Dear All,

At the forthcoming FHG/ FRA ‘Fairlight from the Air’ event on Saturday 4 Oct in the village hall from 10am – 4pm, the FRA will be offering assistance and the use of a laptop, to enable you to add your comments on the Rother Planning portal.  If you have not yet made your comments and need assistance then please feel free to approach Chris, as you leave the exhibition.  He will be located in the small hall. 

Dear Resident,

I still have places on the next 2 trips .

• Fawlty Towers, Weds 8^th October leaving Fairlight at 4.00pm- £60pp
• Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market, Thurs. 4^th Dec. leaving at 10.00am- £20pp

If you are interested in either of these two trips, or any other outing, please contact me.

Regards

Trevor Lewing

01424812340

trevor.lewing@btinternet.com

NHS hearing aid maintenance sessions are being held this week at:

Pett Village Hall between 10am and 11.30am on Wednesday 1st October

Fairlight Village Hall between 10am and 12 noon on Friday 3rd October

This service is provided free of charge by volunteers from East Sussex Hearing (Charity No. 1101140)

A talk on the History of Royal Military Canal – Friday 17th October at 7pm – Fairlight Village Hall

From: Archive Resource Centre (ArchiveResourceCentre@outlook.com)

Please join us for this presentation on this interesting subject that we are lucky enough to live nearby.   Some of our members were very impressed by Micheal’s talk when he gave it at Appledore earlier this year, which is why we asked Michael to reprise it for us.

As we have our AGM at 6:30pm, the doors will be open, but the talk will not start until 7pm.  Wine will be available at £3 a glass, and entry is £5.  

All proceeds help fund our Archive Resource Centre:  We recently installed a fireproof cabinet, thanks in part to an initial generous donation from Fairlight Resident’s Association.  We are currently saving for an A2 overhead scanner and an A3 printer, so we no longer need to outsource copying and also for the equipment to be available to the local community.

If you wish to support us by becoming an annual member at £15, we will have forms available.

We hope to meet you there.

Fran Rogers

archiveresourcecentre@outlook.com

Located at Pett Methodist Church

www.thearc.uk

Hello Fairlight Friends!

MacMillan Coffee Morning!

Maxine, Pandy and I are having a rest this year but please support the coffee morning next Monday at DISH. 

See the poster attached! 

Thank you 

Wendy

Dear Friends

Rehearsals are going well for our autumn production of “Farndale’s Macbeth”, and news will be shared shortly about when tickets will go on sale.

In the meantime, may I share with you some information about another production that I have persuaded to take part in.

The SHADES Theatre Company is a Christian group who have been presenting the Christian message through the medium of drama for the last forty years. 

In October, they will present “The Devil in the Detail”, a cracking comedy in which I will play … well, I won’t tell you what part I play, but let’s just say that the clue is in the title! 

The two performances take place on Saturday 4th October (Blacklands Church at 7pm) and Saturday 11th October (His Place Church, Robertson Street at 3pm).

Details, including how to book, are shown on the attached poster. 

Don’t worry, I am not deserting the Fairlight Players altogether and, following these two performances, will be throwing myself back into the chaos that is Farndale’s Macbeth.

However, in the meantime, I hope that a few will be encouraged to come along and watch me get my come-uppance.

With very best wishes

Keith Miller

The Fairlight Players

New Planning Application for permission for 35 houses on and an Access Road to
Wakeham’s Pond Field

Here we go again! RR/2025/1462/P

The agent Welbeck is back again asking Rother Planning for permission to build houses on
Wakeham’s Pond Field, using I suspect the tactic of starting the process at a time of holidays
in order to make it more difficult for us to object within the legal timescale.

Rother planning executives, who are well behind on reaching their government targets on
new housing, are likely to do everything they can to support Welbeck, and while wanting to
ignore the Inspector’s decision in 2022 to reject 43 houses (RR/2020/151/P), will hope that
people’s support for more housing nationally in the right places, will convince the elected
members of the Rother Planning Committee to vote in favour of the Rother planning
executive’s likely recommendation, this time for 35 houses and an Access Road.

The timing of the application knocks into the long grass our campaign to have Pond Field de-
allocated in the New Local Plan, as Rother Planning executives have further put back
decisions on this well into 2026.

We now need to rise to the challenge yet again and conduct a campaign that puts forward
all the technical planning reasons, including why this will spoil the High Weald Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty (Natural Landscape) and increase the threat to the
environment of raw sewage pollution and flooding in Fairlight and Pett Level and the two
Special Areas of Scientific Interest downstream including the world renowned RAMSAR
wildlife site.

Equally as important is for the Rother Planning Committee to feel the full objection of the
people, particularly those living in Fairlight and Pett Level.

This needs to be organised properly and quickly. We need to inform people via leaflets in
these areas in order to maximise the number of objections that are sent in. Comments have
to be in by 26/9/25, though we will try to get this extended.

So this letter is an appeal to people to come forward to help in any way they can. Please
email me at lorne.finegolf@gmail.com or call 07803 434283 with your name, and road in
which you live and I will try to coordinate activities. The more the merrier as mass local
public opinion is very powerful.

Many thanks

Lorne Smith,
Robin Croft, Pett Level Road, Fairlight.

NHS hearing aid maintenance sessions are being held this week at:

Pett Village Hall between 10am and 11.30am on Wednesday 3r September

Fairlight Village Hall between 10am and 12 noon on Friday 5th September

This service is provided free of charge by East Sussex Hearing (Charity No. 1101140)

From: Robert Pasterfield

(rpasterfield@aol.com)

A new application has been received by Rother to build 35 homes on Wakehams Farm in Fairlight on a site south of Pett Level Road and east of Waites Lane. The site is often referred to as “Pond Field”. It is an outline application with all matters reserved for future consideration, except for the access which is a full application. 

The application provides for 40% of the homes to be “affordable” – a term which includes shared ownership schemes as well as social rented housing.

The pink planning notices will be displayed this week. Members of the public will have 21 days to comment from the date that these are displayed. (It is possible but not guaranteed an extension will be granted).

Fairlight Parish Council will consider its response at the Extraordinary Planning Meeting on the 15th September.

To view the application and to comment on-line please go to –

Viewing Applications, Decisions and Appeals Online – Rother District Council

Kind regards

Fairlight Parish Council

At 3pm on Sunday 7th September, the UK Government will run a national test of the Emergency Alerts system.
Compatible 4G/5G phones and tablets will briefly emit a loud siren sound and vibrate – no action is required, but you can read how the alerts work (and how to opt out) in advance.

Click here for more information

Fairlight History Group are holding an exhibition “Fairlight from the Air” on Saturday 4^th October at Fairlight Village Hall.

If you have any Request for Aerial Photos of Fairlight you would like to share, the history group would be very keen to include them in the exhibition.

Please contact

Haydon Luke:  haydonluke@hotmail.com  01424 814748 or

 Paul Draper:    paulwdraper@gmail.com     01424 814154     

A Blooming Big Thank You! 🌸

What a weekend! Huge thanks to everyone who helped make our event such a roaring (and blooming) success — from the generous garden owners who opened their gates, the tireless ticket sellers, the support from Just Property, and of course, the lovely lot of you who bought tickets and wandered happily among the flowers.

We’re absolutely delighted (and a bit stunned, to be honest) to announce a brilliant profit of £6,268.04 — not bad for a bit of garden hopping and cake eating!

We’ll be donating £3,000 each to St Michael’s Hospice and the Fairlight Friday Lunch Club — two fantastic causes that will put the money to great use. The leftover pennies will be safely tucked away in the shed (figuratively speaking) to help with expenses for the next Open Gardens in 2027.

Thanks again to everyone who helped, attended, watered plants, pointed at flowers knowingly, and ate their weight in Victoria sponge. We couldn’t have done it without you

Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat urgently needs to raise funds to replace three drysuits which have been removed from service due to being old and unrepairable. Drysuits are a critical component of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that all our volunteer crew must wear to ensure their safety at sea. It is vital that drysuits are completely watertight and free from defects that may put crew at risk.

The coastline we operate on with rocks and mud also requires heavy duty boots and non-slip, reinforced protection on key areas. Each feature – such as a pocket for casualty care cards, radios or person beacons – can add to the overall cost.

Providing this level of protection does not come cheap and each drysuit costs around £700 – meaning our target is £2,100!

If you can support this appeal, you can donate through our Give as You Live page, https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/campaign/drysuit-appeal. Alternatively, please call the Boathouse on 01424 812 457 for other ways to support us. Thank you!

Fairlight Open Gardens – This Weekend!
Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th July

Just in case you’ve somehow missed the posters, emails, or gossip — yes, Fairlight Open Gardens is back this weekend, and we’re promised sunshine, flowers, and an above-average chance of cake.

🌞 The weather forecast is looking glorious, which means we’re expecting lots of visitors — more than usual. Possibly even more than the number of gnomes hiding in hedge borders.
So, a gentle but serious plea to drivers:
Please take it slow around the village. There’ll be lots of pedestrians, including out-of-towners who may not know our roads or realise that pavements here are more of a rumour than a reality.

👟 And for those on foot: be aware there’ll be more cars than usual, many driven by people who’ve only just discovered their sat nav doesn’t understand single-track lanes.

🚗 Please park responsibly! Keep access clear for residents and emergency vehicles. 

🎟️ The final chance to get tickets in advance is Friday! These will be from MOPP and all day until closing time at Garden Gems Nursery. After that, you can pick them up on the day at any participating garden, or from the friendly folks at the Marshalls Stand at the entrance to the village on Waites Lane.

🌷 . We’ve got 18 fabulous gardens open, plus The Circle, with plenty offering refreshments, including teas, cakes, hot dogs, ploughman’s lunches, homemade ice creams, wines, beers, and even a bit of bubbly (because why not?).

🛍️ And that’s not all! You can also browse and buy plants, paintings by local artists, garden tools, cards & prints, tea towels, and even Funky Hen clothing.

All proceeds go equally to St Michael’s Hospice & Fairlight Friday Lunch Club

A huge thanks to Just Property for their continued support — and on behalf of Kerry, Penny, Cas, and Bob, we look forward to seeing you for what promises to be a blooming marvellous weekend.

The Fairlight Astronomers are meeting again this Thursday evening, 10^th July at 7:00pm, in the village hall.

Our gatherings continue to be a vibrant place for those eager to expand their knowledge of the night sky, whether you are a seasoned observer or just beginning your journey among the stars. All those curious about the cosmos are warmly invited to join us at the village hall for an evening of astronomical discovery, stimulating discussion, and friendly community interaction.

This month’s topic is a look at some of the planets in our solar system. Following our exploration of the solar system, we will pause for refreshments. Tea, coffee, and a selection of yummy cakes will be provided. This break offers a perfect chance to mingle, exchange stories, or simply relax before the next part of our programme. New faces are always welcome—don’t hesitate to introduce yourself!

There will also be an opportunity for a short Q&A session after the main talk, so come prepared with your queries and curiosities.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, 10th July at 7:00pm in the village hall—don’t forget your curiosity and sense of wonder!

Road Closure – Pett Level Road, Fairlight

04 Jul 2025 to 09 Jul 2025

Pett Level will be closed between the hours of 09:30 & 13:00 on Tuesday 8th July due to pole replacement works.

During these times Service 101 journeys departing Hastings Station at 09:49, 10:49 & 11:49 will serve Fairlight as normal before diverting via Ore Village then direct to Rye via the A259. These journeys will not serve Winchelsea Beach.

Customers requiring Hastings will need to change onto Service 321 at Ore Village.

Service 101 journeys departing Rye Station at 0956, 10:56 & 11:56 will serve The Ship at Winchelsea Beach before turning and diverting via Winchelsea Village and the A259 to Ore Village. These journeys will not serve Fairlight.

Customers requiring Rye will need to change onto Service 100 at Winchelsea Village.

We regret any inconvenience caused as a result of this road closure which is beyond our control, Please follow @StagecoachSE on X for regular service updates.