the Hurst
ISSUE 27
DEC/JAN/FEB 2024-25
What’s going on in Hurst Green • News, views and information
the Hurst
E D I TO R I A L
Welcome to the December – February edition of the Hurst. As we go to press, many in our village will be well into their Christmas preparations – with increasingly excited children (and increasingly frazzled parents). Whilst this is a lovely time of year, this year’s Christmas is, of course, tinged with sadness following the passing of our Vicar, the Reverend Annette Hawkins. Annette was a crucial part of our community and did so much for our village. Many were baptised and/or married by her and she was also there so see loved ones laid to rest.The thoughts and prayers of all of us go out to her husband John and their family. Annette’s funeral was attended by so many of her parishioners and others from our village. Coming together, in moments of sadness and icelebration is something we do best.
As this issue was being prepared, the village came together for the annual lighting of the Christmas tree. The event attracted a good crowd who enjoyed mulled wine and the ‘snow’ that fell in abundance whilst the choir regaled us with various favourite carols. A delightful event and a great start to the Christmas build-up. As this is our last issue of the year, I’d also like to thank the team of volunteers who make sure that the Hurst is delivered to all households in our village. They truly are unsung heroes. If there are any others of you that could spare some time to help in the deliveries around the village, I’d love to hear from you. This issue also includes a visit by the village to our twinned city of Ellerhoop Whilst it’s difficult to imagine summer at the moment, if anybody is able to help with the return visit next May, please let us know via the contact details below. Finally, I would like to wish all our readers, contributors and volunteers a peaceful and joyful Christmas and New Year! Francesca Wooldridge, thehurst.hg@gmail.com
U S E F U L C O N TA C T S Allotment Association 01580 860251 Breakfast Club (75+) 01580 860760/860358 Brownies 01580 860742 Comedy Capers 01580 860221 Cricket Club 07796 976809 Holy Trinity Church 01580 880282
Hurst Green C of E School 01580 860375 Nursery School 01580 860375 x211 Parish Clerk 01580 860111 Rother District Council 01424 787000 Short Mat Bowling 01580 752348 Twinning Association 01580 860977 Village Hall Booking Agent 01580 860425
H E L P F U L L O C A L S E RV I C E S
Cars Mobile Car Mechanic: Cliff Mercer 07909 911869 Dogs Holiday and day care: Lorely Watson 01580 880061/07796 392653 Pippin’s Pet Sitting and walking: 07717 681972 Sarah.janeheasman@hotmail.co.uk Eco-friendly products Joanna Girling 07443 411677 girling.joanna@gmail.com Electricians Gareth Skinner 07929 839309 Tim Russell 07771 687636 trussell.5@btinternet.com House Portraits Christine Masters Art 07833 342020 www.christinemastersart.wordpress.com 2
Leather repairs Kay Lloyd,Wealden Saddlery 01580 860860 Maths tuition Alec Whiteman 01580 861304 Pest control Paul Messenger 07940 744411 paul@roecallservices.com Plastering and tiling Edd Ripley, 07875 494493 Plumbers Aaron Plumbing & Heating Ltd Aaron Rowsell 01580 230330 Steve Walker 07564 405702 Private car hire and taxi service Hugo, 01435 883803 Mob. 07931 605057 If you would like to be included in this list please email thehurst.hg@gmail.com This is a free listing.
Macmillan: a big thank you! A Big Thank you to everyone who came to support our Coffee Morning in Hurst Green Village Hall on Saturday 28th September. Our thanks go to all the volunteers and bakers who came to help and made cakes. Once again some of our local businesses mainly Caravan Tech, Planters Café and Shop, A21 Aroma, Coco ’la Beauty hut, Rhoden Ltd generously donating Raffle Prizes. S pecial thanks go to Ruth and her son Daniel who closed the Coffeepot in the George for the morning to come to the hall to make the tea and coffee for us. Together we did it! We raised a fantastic amount of money and with a late donation the final total was £1,100. The money raised will go towards helping the three million people in the UK who are suffering from Cancer. Thank you to everyone for their support. Elaine Ralph Coffee Morning Organizer For more information, please contact Elaine Tel: 01580 860358 Mobile 07931 248867 Email: Elaine.ralph@pobox.com
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REVEREND ANNETTE HAWKINS There are times, in any village, when something happens that profoundly shocks and saddens communities to the core. For the residents of Hurst Green and Salehurst, that something was the sudden death of their beloved Vicar, the Reverend Annette Hawkins who passed away suddenly as a result of complications during surgery on 12 November. So many people in the villages will cherish special memories of Annette - the families of those she baptised, the couples she married, and those for whom she buried loved ones Annette was married to John for nearly 45 years, and they had four children and six grandchildren. The family moved to East Sussex from London nearly forty years ago.
What some may not know is that before being called to ordained ministry, Annette trained as a nurse and then as a teacher before going into project development. She worked firstly for a local charity helping adults with learning difficulties and complex needs; and then for a national charity providing childcare and early years consultancy and training to the three Sussex local authorities. She was ordained deacon in Chichester Cathedral in 2009 and became a priest a year later at St Helen’s, Hastings. During her curacy she helped to set up Night Church in the centre of Hastings.
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S. YOU WILL BE MISSED... I have prepared for you,’ and may that same Annette and John moved to Robertsbridge in 2016 when she was licensed as Vicar of St God who wept at the grave of his friend comfort them in their grief.” Mary’s Church Salehurst and Robertsbridge So many in our community will treasure and Holy Trinity Church Hurst Green. She special memories of Annette and, without quickly became a much loved and cena doubt, she will be greatly missed by all tral figure in both parishes, deeply with whom she came into contact: involved in local and community the school children, the elderly activities. She served as a Thank you for and needy in both parishes; all Foundation Governor of both everything you those who worshipped at both Hurst Green and Salehurst did for our churches over the past eight Church of England Primary communities. You years; and particularly by her Schools and more recently will be very sadly Churchwardens, members of she was elected as one of missed. both PCC’s and all the volunteers the two designated Disability who have worked alongside her Officers of Chichester Diocese. during her ministry here. At a heartfelt service held on the Sunday Mary Digman, on behalf of the Holy Trinity following the sad news, Bishop Will HazlePCC in Hurst Green said, “Without a doubt, wood said: “Our prayers and love are with Annette was an inspiration to us. We so John, their family, friends, and the church admired her continual determination to live communities that Annette served with such dedication. May our Lord welcome Annette as full a life as she could despite the conhome with the words, ‘Come, inherit all that straints and pain that her disability brought her daily. It never stopped her working tirelessly to help and improve our community.” Annette’s funeral was held on 27th November where nearly 300 people packed St Mary’s in Salehurst for a touching and beautiful service with tributes from her husband John and her children and grandchildren. The bishop led the prayers for Annette, and she was laid to rest in the grounds of St Mary’s Church. The impact that Annette had on our communities cannot be underestimated and will be remembered for many years to come. Annette, thank you for everything you did for our villages. Without a doubt, you will be sadly missed. 5
HURST GREEN WALKS Allan Cheek continues his regular feature in the Hurst describing different walks of varying difficulty. Allan is happy to discuss this and other Hurst Green walks in more detail including the possibility of leading small groups. For information, contact Allan by text/ WhatsApp 07803 502972
A circular walk via Ockham House and Silver Hill 5 Miles This walk starts as usual at the Clock House and heads south down the A21 on the pavement past the school. At the Silver Hill/Bodiam Road junction cross with care and take the grass verge continuing beside the A21. Continue for approx. 200yds carefully along the narrow verge until you reach the 50mph signs at the end of the red warning strip on the tarmac. Peer across the road to find a stile in the hedge. Cross with care! Now safe from traffic, follow this path (often with a small stream after rain) downhill for about half a mile. You will pass outbuildings on your left of the Ockham House estate with its Grade 2 listed Edwardian manor house (currently on the market for £4.5m!). Keep going downhill until you reach a high stile on your left. Climb over and follow the path keeping to the contour of the slope towards the bottom corner of the field. Cross the stream to find a metal gate into the elderflower orchards. Turn left uphill 6
and keep on this top path all the way to the end of the third orchard where you’ll find a metal gate tucked in on your left out onto a driveway. Head down the tarmac drive back to the A21. Cross over with care onto the grass verge, ignoring the stile in the hedge, turn left uphill to find the Bantony driveway on the right. After a few yards you will find the stile on the left. Follow the footpath uphill all the way until you reach the stile onto Beech House Lane. Turn left up the lane to the top then right along the Bodiam Road past Mill Barn and Mill Cottage until the track on the left at the end of the hedge. Turn left and up to the top where you’ll see the sign about the Stage Field with its beacon. Don’t venture there but take the opposite entrance to the weird green round building (an underground reservoir, supposedly). Follow the path round to the right and a metal gate. This leads to another metal gate
and downhill into a field where in the dip is a sign pointing you across to the left. The path continues between hedges to a lane. Turn right for about 400yds where the lane splits to the left. This leads to a cottage at the end and a metal gate on the left into pasture, turn right through another gate and downhill to another gate leading down to a stream. This path is often very slippery. Up and out into often muddy brambly access path through a couple of adhoc gates to the plantation and field over a couple of stiles which eventually pop you out directly onto the A21 once again. Be very careful here to cross back onto the safety of the pavement and home. Depending on your progress at just under 5 miles this walk would normally be done in about two hours. Enjoy!
WHAT’S ON IN YOUR VILLAGE HALL Reg Charity no. 229672
MONDAY
5pm Children’s gymnastics 7.30pm Short Mat Bowls TUESDAY 8.45am Pilates (07798 663820) 7pm Jive & Lindy Hop (07766 881045) 8pm Parish Council Meeting (last Tuesday of each month) WEDNESDAY 5.30pm Brownies (termtime only) THURSDAY 8.45am Pilates 1.30pm Short Mat Bowls 8pm Zumba FRIDAY 10am Breakfast Club (2nd & 4th Friday each month) 4pm Children’s gymnastics For more information, contact: Sue Endean, booking agent: 07718 282605, 01580 860425
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THE HURST GREEN TWINNING ASSOCIA November saw the long-awaited return to Germany of the Hurst Green Twinning Association. Prevented from visiting for a few years due to Covid, and following he highly successful visit of Germans to Hurst Green last summer, a group of over 20 adults and children from the village and surrounds, stayed in Ellerhoop with German host families for 4 nights. This year was particularly important, as 2024 represents 40 years since the first twinning visit in 1984. It was an early start for the visitors, with a 6.30am flight, but a quick “hop” over to Hamburg meant before long we were meeting our hosts at the airport, and then settling into our new homes for the next few days. The weather in Hamburg was much the same as at home, so we wrapped up warm! Our first day in Ellerhoop involved a champagne breakfast reception at the Ellerhoop equivalent of the village hall – the Multifuktionzemtrum (or MFZ for short!).
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Old friendships were rekindled and new ones started as we feasted on some fantastic, homemade breakfast fare, as well as some fizzy! The rest of the day was spent with host families, with some taking a walk in the locally-famous Ellerhoop Arboretum. These are some truly stunning gardens, which even in the late autumn was spectacular and lovely to visit. The following day, our hosts had arranged a really unique visit. We went to the Torfbahn Himmelmoor – the Peat railway - now an area of rewilding. Designed to restore the original moor landscape, this is an area that since the 18th century was “mined” for its peat, which was used in part to fuel the industrial centre of Hamburg. For the last 10 years, volunteers have worked ceaselessly to re-wild this area, allowing the original flora and fauna to return. The tour itself was done on a narrow-gauge railway which had originally been used to bring the peat back to the town. Fascinating (but a little cold!!) As it was Halloween, the children among
ATION visit to Ellerhoop local city Hamburg which is a fascinating and interesting city, with many of the group being taken to the Miniaturwunderland, the words largest model railway. This was particularly enjoyed by some of the younger members of our group.
our group then had the chance to do “trick or treat” German style – and they all came back with impressive sweet hauls! Meanwhile, the adults once again went to the MFZ, where we met the local mayor, the local press took photographs, and speeches were given by representatives from Ellerhoop and Hurst Green.
Finally, on the last day, the English and Germans took part in what is now becoming a regular event, namely a game of “Bosseln”. This is the most typical of German games, something which we do not really have an equivalent of in England!The game involves two teams (which in the interests of fostering international relations was mixed on this occasion), walking around the village, and bowling a rubber ball as they walk. Each team must make it around the circuit, and the team which uses the fewest number of throws, are the winners. Of course, there are ditches, cars, fields and people’s gardens, which often got in the way! And every time the ball went astray, the cry went up “Schapps!”. At this point, the group were all required to drink some schnapps. While this obviously helped us stay warm as we walked, I am not sure it helped with our ability to bowl the ball in a straight line! I am pleased to report the red team won, and a great time was had by all involved. We finished the day with a farewell disco with lots of cheesy Euro pop.
As this year marks the 40th anniversary of the twinning association, Hurst Green presented Ellerhoop with a spectacular work of art portraying significant buildings from Hurst Green, and produced by local artist Barbarann Smith. In exchange, Hurst Green were presented with a lovely photobook with photos over 40 years of visits. The following day the group visited the
Our German hosts will return to Hurst Green in May 2025, most likely in the last week, from Wednesday 28th until Sunday 1st June. If you would like to be involved in this visit, either hosting, or attending events, please do get in contact (contact details on front page of this magazine), we look forward to speaking to you! 9
Cricket Clubs don’t have a lot to report in the middle of winter! We’ve put the square ‘to bed’ following post-season renovations. The renovations involve stripping out and scarifying the top inch or so of the surface to remove weeds, moss and thatch. Organic matter like that can affect the bounce of the ball, which isn’t necessarily a problem unless it’s uneven and causes an unpredictable bounce. It can take several passes over a number of days to remove enough to give a consistent surface. We then cover the square with a layer of loam to replace what we’ve taken out and finally seed new grass to repair any worn out areas around the footholes at each end of the wicket. It’s a lot of work and, to be
honest, it hardly looks any different when we’re done but it will pay back next season with a good surface to play on. In other news, we’ve had a leak in the water supply pipe to the pavilion which became quite a crisis when the stop valve at the meter failed and pools of water came up to the surface. After spending a morning digging down to find the supply pipe, cutting it and getting thoroughly drenched we have capped the leak but now we’re without a supply until we can get a permanent fix. The supply pipe was laid probably 50 years ago or more and we think roots from trees have split it somewhere. Our treasurer recently attended a Sussex County safeguarding course to find out more about what we can do to ensure our club remains a safe environment for people of all ages to play, with the aim of taking on more under-18s in the years ahead. Hopefully more news on this in the spring. We’re now looking forward to a Christmas meal at our sponsors The Royal George, at which we’ll hand out player of the year awards for the first time in at least 10 years. Who will win? There have been many stand out performances this season with both the bat and ball, which represents real progress in our ability both as individuals and as a team. All of us at the club send sincerest condolences to our teammate John following the recent loss of his wife and our parish vicar, Reverend Annette Hawkins.We hold you and your family in our prayers.
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Would you be interested in joining a fishing club in Hurst Green? Are you interested in fishing? We are thinking of starting a fishing club but we want to know whether there are enough people interested to make it worthwhile. Young or old, all would be welcome. If you’re not sure whether you would like it and would like to try it before you bought any equipment, we can lend you the kit needed and if you want, we could book a day’s fishing for you to go with us. If you are interested contact Mandy James at madeleine.janes@btinternet.com.
Advertising in the Hurst
The Hurst is delivered to every household in Hurst Green and is published in March, June, September and December. If you are looking to reach the village, advertising is competitively priced to allow all businesses the opportunity to promote themselves to the community. A quarter page is £25 for one issue, £90 for the year (4 issues) A half page is £50 for one issue, £180 for the year (4 issues) A full page is £100 for one issue, £360 for a year. Interested? Please email us for more information: thehurst.hg@gmail.com 11
The world of walking football It’s been a busy three months since our last update not least because the new Southern Combination Over 60’s Walking Football League – East Sussex division season has started. Looking slightly rusty and a bit off the pace Burwash opened their 2024/25 ‘ Over 60’s ‘ season against last year’s champions with a creditable 0-0 away draw. Early defensive lapses left Hastings twoagainst-one on a couple of occasions but Hastings had left their shooting boots at home and Burwash were able to ride out the early storm before starting to get into the match. Peter Manning gave way for new-boy Kevin up front but with an opportunity opening up before him he scuffed his shot. However with the rest of his team mates, and all the ‘neutrals’, urging him forward on his debut Big Kev was able to fashion another chance and with their ‘keeper beaten hit the far post Into the second half and Burwash looked a far more settled side having most of the possession but unable to beat ‘The Cat’ in the Hastings goal who made a couple of good saves until he was beaten but saved again by the woodwork when Nigel’s shot from 15 yds cannoned back-out off the cross bar.
completely outplayed the league leaders for a thoroughly deserved 3-1 win. Burwash also had two goals disallowed for minor infringements. Next up was Ringmer away. They really have some superb facilities at the club with a state-of-the-art 3G pitch, Clubhouse and bar but things could not have got off to a worse start with a speculative shot from the half way line squirming off the wet ‘grass’ and under our keeper to go 1-0 down within 20 seconds! We did pick ourselves back up and Big Kev blasted an equaliser before half time and in the second half we made it 2-1 through Peter Henley’s superb strike from an angle across the keeper. Happy days indeed. Socially we have a had a curry evening at the new Jumeira restaurant in Wadhurst and a social trip to the CM Booth Collection of Historic Motor Vehicles in
For all our second half dominance there was always the risk that, given half a chance, Hastings could grab a goal but with a steady defence Burwash were able to claim the point and return to the Salehurst Halt PH to replenish liquid levels and where we agreed that before kick-off we would have been a very happy with that result. But……. Our next match was against The Atha Strollers from Bexhill. On this occasion we 12
Pre-match t
Kevin, Andrew and Ian check out a Super Speed Twin
Rolvenden where we stopped for lunch at the new Lakedown Brewery pub - The Eight Bells Hawkhurst - on the way back. A tough gig but it had to be done! Chris Booth, the museum curator, bought his first Morgan three-wheeler in 1960 aged 16yrs and has been collecting and restoring them (along with other vehicles)
tactical talk: Kevin, (Doc obscured) Peter, Nigel, Clive and Chris
ever since. With so many available he can only display around a dozen at a time on a rotating basis but what a sight they are! Chris has just finished restoring the ‘Beaney’ World Speed Record three wheeler from the mid 1920’s and has recreated the very first vehicle constructed by HFS Morgan for his own use in 1909. Acknowledged as the world leading authority on pre-war Morgan vehicles Chris is always happy to chat about his love and his passion (and I don’t mean Mrs Booth!). Although we are ‘Burwash’ please don’t think we don’t embrace our near neighbours. We have players from all the surrounding villages and further afield. I did suggest that to reflect our diversity we change our name to Wealden Walkers or something similar to reflect our catchment area but I was very vehemently put down on that score so Burwash we remain - and proud of it! Contact Steve ‘Minty’ Mintram on 01435 882444 for more information. www.burwashwalkingfootballers.co.uk Sponsored by Archway Builders of Burwash 13
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