Category: News

HEAVY snowfalls didnt deter shoppers determined to make the most of the High Streets Dickensian Christmas promotion on the last Sunday before 25 December.

The event, which featured the High Street traders dressed in period costume offering seasonal treats including mince pies, hot chestnuts and mulled wine to customers, was the second organised by the traders to encourage townsfolk to keep it local.

And it proved just as popular as last year despite heavy snowfall in the preceding 24 hours.

There was a wonderful turnout, said Carole Weighill of haberdashers Threadneedles. We are very grateful to everyone who supported us and we cant thank the Council outdoor staff enough for the effort they put into keeping the town clear.

We simply couldnt have managed without them.

A BUSY year on the town’s tourist desk has thrown up some odd requests over the past 12 months, but tourism officer Simon Kerr prides himself on being able to deal with whatever visitors throw at him – however unusual.

Neither is he a man afraid to go the extra mile when it comes to customer service, as one couple in Berlin found out.

"Our most intriguing questions this year both revolve around Sackville House, the property in the High Street which belongs to the Landmark Trust.

"Our first request was from a family who were coming to stay and wanted us to find them a chef to come in and cook them their final meal on their last evening, so that they could enjoy eating in the house without all the hassle of preparation and washing up.

"We did indeed find them a suitable chef and received a lovely letter from the family full of praise for their stay.

"The second memorable tourist question came in an email from Berlin also wanting information about Sackville House.

"A brother and sister were bringing the rest of their family including their father who couldnt walk very far, so we arranged with the EG Access Group the free loan of a fold-up wheel chair for the duration of their stay.

"There was also a large pack of information that I was due to post them, but it just so happened that I was going on a city break to Berlin, a place I visit quite frequently, so I took the envelope and popped it in the letter box of the address they had given me, which was just around the corner from my hotel.

"This so impressed them that when they arrived here they came in with a huge box of marzipan chocolates and a bottle of Cherry Brandy."

The family also wrote Simon an appreciative note thanking him for going beyond the call of duty.

"When I sent my first email to you I was hoping for some help but did not expect in any way so much support and dedication. We all look very much forward to meeting you in October and to expressing our thanks personally.
With very best wishes from Berlin

Claudia Fritze

THE Town Council’s outdoor team faced almost insuperable odds when exceptionally bad winter weather at the beginning of December left East Grinstead snowbound.

The team shoveled paths and walkways, kept the East Court estate free for emergency vehicles at the police and fire stations, ensured all the local surgeries were accessible, and spread five tons of grit on pavements in the town centre.

Their efforts ensured the success of the French Christmas market on 5 December, which was particularly well attended as families left their homes for the first time in several days to grab some festive fun.

But the non-delivery of the town’s Christmas tree meant the annual lighting up ceremony had to be postponed for a week: and the Community Play lost three of its first week’s performances as neither players nor audiences could access a snowbound Sackville school.

TOWN Mayor Stephen Barnett joined the guests at a party for pensioners put on by the pupils of St Mary’s primary school in their church hall last month.
Deputy Mayor Cllr Bob Mainstone and his wife Cllr Christine Mainstone also attended the event, at which Jim Harling, chairman of the Pensioners Association, congratulated the children’s choir on their fine performance.

JAZZ Cafe in the Cuisine Studio presents Sussex Jazz Kings on 14 January with a toe-tapping pick-me-up programme guaranteed to banish post-Christmas blues.
Bistro menu and tickets can be booked in advance only on 01342 324860.

Chequer Mead’s Youth Theatre presents Cinderella – A Tale of Mice, Shoes and Typos! on 26 January at 7.30pm. Tickets £10 in advance (£8.50 for groups of 4+), or £12 on the door.

Atelier Community Theatre presents Peer Gynt, a tale of trolls, fairies, and treachery on 28/29/30 January. Tickets £12/concessions £8/family ticket £30.

Pericles Work, Training and Therapy (in association with Atelier Community Theatre) presents My Friends at 3pm on 30 January. Tickets £8/concessions £5/family ticket £20.

BRAMBLETYE school will be holding its annual exhibition in the Greenstede Gallery from 20 January until 2 February.

Called ‘Innovation’ the show will demonstrate work created by three to 13-year-olds as part of the school’s broad extracurricular programme of activities which includes new drawing and printmaking methods, painting on canvas and three dimensional design.

ONE of East Grinstead’s most talented and popular theatre groups is looking to expand its membership during 2011.

The Friends, whose sellout panto at Chequer Mead every year is the best outside London, is a semi-professional, non-profit theatre group.

But they need fresh blood and new talent to ensure they remain at the top of their game.

Rehearsals are just 6 weeks so anyone interested in performing should keep an eye out for details of their open auditions on www.theatrefriends.com.

Cast members pay a subscription of just £30 a show, a bargain price for all the fun involved, not to mention the opportunity to work with experienced directors, choreographers, musical directors, musicians and stage managers.

But the Friends are also looking for backstage crew, so anyone over 16 who is thinking about making technical theatre or stage management a career, should consider them a real stepping stone on the path to working in professional theatre.

THERE is still a chance to catch the behind-the-scenes story of the work which went into making Matters of Chance, the community play (reviewed below in December news) which was mounted at Sackvile school last month.

The play, which was two years in the planning and involved more than 80 cast members, was based largely on the real life reminiscences of East Grinstead’s residents collected during an oral history project called Talk of the Town.

The exhibition runs until Sunday, 16th January and entry is free.

THE sellout success of Chequer Meads Dick Whittington and his Amazing Cat was particularly appropriate given the connections between East Grinstead and the eponymous panto hero who turned again and became Lord Mayor of London.

The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington was founded in 1424 under the will of Richard Whittington who was four times Mayor of London and three times Master of the Mercers Company, and it was to the Mercers Company that Whittington entrusted the care of his several almshouses.

One Whittington College, which was originally in Highgate, was rebuilt in Felbridge in 1966, to provide a home for 56 elderly ladies and several married couples.
In addition to providing its residents with homes, the charity also gives them grants and allowances which are paid out annually from its funds.

The other connection between East Grinstead and Londons former mayor are the three Bow Bells milestones which fall within East Grinsteads parish boundary.
These are part of a series of Bow Bells milestones on the A22 between Hailsham and East Grinstead, and form one of the longest sequences of milestones in the country.

Others can be found on the A26 between Uckfield and Lewes, and between East Grinstead and Forest Row.

This particular type of milestone is known as a ‘rebus’ or puzzle milestone because of the visual reference to Bow Bells Church in the City of London from where most roads heading south were once measured.

The milestones feature a string of five bells of diminishing size below a buckle referring to the coat of arms of the Pelham family who once owned a great deal of land in Sussex.

The milestones were erected by the Turnpike Trusts which were formed in the 18th century to improve roads.

John de Pelham, along with Sir Roger La Warr, was instrumental in the capture of John II, King of France at the Battle of Poitiers (19 September 1356) which was fought against Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III.

In honour of their deeds, John de Pelham was knighted and given the buckle of a belt as a badge.

* Left to right above: Richard Whittington’s coat of arms, an engraved portrait of Whittington himself, and one of the Bow Bells mileposts, with one of the bells missing.