Author: Andrew Taylor

AGE UK East Grinstead & District ran an Energy Advice Day in partnership with Rachel Gamble of Energy Base, which took place in East Grinstead Library two weeks ago.

The event, supported by the Government, was well attended, with queues developing from the outset.

It was structured to provide impartial advice to people with an emphasis on how they could save money by switching their energy supply to a cheaper tariff. Advice was also given on other ways people can receive help on their energy bills and payments, such as the Warm Home Discount which is a payment of £140 paid towards the electricity bill for those people who qualify – for example for people receiving the pension credit guarantee).

A number of people chose to switch on the day and in total an amount of £2,640 was saved between ten people. The biggest saving on the day was over £500. There was also plenty of opportunity for people to ask questions and find out more about changing energy provider, as well as dispelling some of the myths on switching.

Age UK hopes to run further events like these in the future , so look out for further information or contact Age UK East Grinstead & District on 01342 327046 if you are interested in finding out more.

THE newly launched National Plant Monitoring Scheme is the first of its kind and asks for volunteers across the United Kingdom to visit a kilometre square local to them and record the plants they find there in several different plots.

The scheme will enable monitoring of how plants in different habitats are responding to changes in the environment.

The project is jointly organised by the  Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, the Centre for Ecology, Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Plantlife.

All volunteers registering for a square on www.npms.org.uk will receive a survey pack (survey guidance; species list; species guidebook)

All volunteers will  be able to access telephone and email support provided by the volunteer coordinator

All volunteers, who carry out surveys twice a year, will be able to access free training courses.

To find out more go to www.plantlife.org.uk

THE Town Planning Committee has unanimously recommended plans for the development of Hill Place Farm on the Turners Hill Road for refusal.

Chairman Cllr Bob Mainstone said: “At the East Grinstead Town Council Planning meeting on Monday 9 March the outline planning application for 200 dwellings on Hill Place farm was unanimously recommended for refusal by the committee.

“Thirty nine members of the public attended the meeting with most of the interest concentrated on the Hill Place Farm application.

“The committee members listened to several local residents who expressed their opposition to the application and many letters of objection were read out by the Town Clerk.

“Following a recommendation for refusal put forward by Herontye Ward councillor Dick Sweatman, the committee debated the application and voted to support his recommendation.

“The recommendation for refusal covered three main areas: Building outside the built up boundary of the town; the impact on the grade 2 listed Imberhorne Viaduct and countryside; the worsening impact on the local road network.”

* Full details of the recommendation are available on the Town Council web site. The recommendation now passes to Mid Sussex District Council where a decision will be made.”

SARAH Bunting, who has been PA to the Town Clerk and Mayors’ Secretary for the past 23 years retires today.

She started work at East Court on19 February 1992, and is the Council’s acknowledged expert on all matters of protocol, said town promotions officer Simon Kerr.

Her colleagues are having a toast to Sarah at East Court at noon, and then they are taking her out for lunch.

Geraldine Durrant, who is responsible for the Town Council’s PR, said ”Sarah is unflappable, competent and kind, and I am sure all her colleagues will greatly miss her.”

A charity night at the Roochi restaurant in Forest Row raised a total of £590 for the two charities nominated by Town Mayor Nick Hodges – CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young and the town museum in Cantelupe Road.

ACKNOWLEDGED as one of the funniest plays in the English language, Michael Frayn’s Noises Off is a masterpiece of the farceur’s art.

All the classic ingredients are there – men without trousers, nubile young women in their undies, doors by the dozen and sardines…

Lots and lots of sardines.

But what makes Noises Off such a side-achingly funny play is the sheer pace of the proceedings which is almost as exhausting to watch as it must be to perform.

A play about putting on a play, the first Act shows the final dress rehearsal of Nothing On – which is itself a farce, and allows Frayn to poke fun at the genre while indulging it.

But it is apparent from the outset that not all is well within the company, either in terms of professional competence or emotional stability.

By the second Act – which shows what is going on behind the scenes as the various players whip on and off the stage – huge cracks in the company take on an hilarious life of their own. And by the time the third Act showed the play disintegrate before their eyes, the audience at Chequer Mead were crying with laughter.

Masterpiece as this undoubtedly is, it is a brave company that takes on the sheer fast-paced ingenuity of the piece, where a single misplaced prop, a door opened a moment too soon, or a fluffed line could bring the whole preposterous confection down around the actors’ ears.

But East Grinstead Operatic Society proved they were up to the challenge in a riotously funny production which gained in momentum and hilarity with every passing minute.

Mikes Baker, as director Lloyd Dallas, was perfectly cast as the weary director trying – and largely failing – to get a performance out of his motley cast, while at the centre of what can only be described as a love triangle.

Jo Stephens made a delightfully dotty Dotty and how she kept tags on her many plates of sardines remains a mystery – probably even to her.

Garry Lejeune, in the hugely competent hands of James Klech, was simply hilarious – not least for his physical comedy, particularly in Act 2 where his murderous anger against a fellow thespian had necessarily to be acted out in silence so as not to disturb his colleagues on stage.

I think it would be fair to say that Amelia Zimmatore, as dim totty Brooke Ashton, was greatly appreciated by the male audience. Amelia’s lovely figure was shown off for most of the evening in black lace as she played the sulky young actress constantly derailed by the loss of her contact lenses.

And there is something very endearing about Robert Mitchell. I don’t doubt he could play an axe murderer if the part required it, but his “English ditherer” is perfection, and his descent into bloodied and utter confusion in Act 3 was a joy to behold.

Sarah Fisher played Flavia Brent, perhaps the one sane member of the cast, with kindly assurance as she tried – without any success at all – to bring the whole catastrophic production of Nothing On to some sort of conclusion as it disintegrated before her eyes – as plucky a display of ‘the show must go on’ as I have ever seen.

Colin White’s drunken burglar was a delight, and young Alaina Fountain, who played the love struck assistant stage manager Poppy, made a marvellous moment of announcing her pregnancy which earned her well deserved applause.

Quite how Steve Fisher managed to direct, and play Tim Allgood, the overworked stage manager is a mystery – but his was a double triumph on a night which had the whole audience swept along on a wave of merriment.

As Mayor Nick Hodges, who attended the first night, said afterwards, it was, quite simply, “brilliantly funny”.