How to have a very Merry Christmas

by Ania Tylunas, psychotherapist

Christmas can be the most wonderful or the most dreaded time of the year. For every Noel-excited person out there, we have somebody who is apprehensive about being alone, falling out with family or not meeting expectations. So here are a few tips on how to avoid common Festive Season pitfalls.

Alone at Christmas? No problem!

The first thing to decide is whether you like spending time in your own company at this time of year. If so, seize the opportunity to make an effort JUST FOR YOU. Don’t be afraid to indulge a little. Bubbly for breakfast and watching a box-set of your favourite programme while pausing for another helping of favourite food? Why not? This is your opportunity to do something you love, guilt-free.

If you would rather not be alone, check who else you know might be in the same situation. Or consider volunteering with one of the local charities organising festive events. This can be a hugely rewarding way of connecting with people, making a difference to others while making your Christmas meaningful in a new way.

Family affair

To pre-empt any potential conflict, have a family meeting and decide together how you are going to choose different aspects to take charge of. This way everybody feels included and involved. For the perfectionists out there- you may need to let go just a tad (a very good exercise indeed!).

While talking, check out how you are all feeling about various traditions you observe. Look at them with fresh eyes and don’t be afraid to modify or let go of the ones that don’t work any more. Be creative and form your own family traditions, something that might become unique just to you.

One for keeping up with the Joneses

Quite simply - DO NOT. We are saturated with adverts, contributing to unrealistic expectations of what sort of time we should be having. If in doubt, go for lasting value rather than momentary satisfaction. So even the best-chosen present will not give your child, parent, partner or friend as much as the gift of your time, love and attention.

And when all is said and done, it is this gift and its legacy that will stay with the people you care about forever, not just this Christmas.

Wishing you a very merry, loving and stress-free Christmas!

Page 45.

Lindfield welcomes Six Physio

Welcome to Lindfield

Many residents will have noticed a new A-board that has appeared on the High Street in the last month or so.

Six Physio is a clinic being run by Lindfield resident and mother-of-two Alex Keogh. She moved to the village with her husband and boys back in 2011 when she was already working for Six Physio in London. She continued to work for the company but soon she began to ask her bosses if they would consider opening a clinic outside the city and eventually they agreed.

Six Physio is a group of ten physiotherapy clinics in London, employing nearly 70 physios. The firm was started in 1996 and has developed a special method of treating patients in two distinct strands; one manual and one rehab. These strands are typically treated by different physios, so that the patient receives double the expertise to their problems.

At the moment Alex is the only physio based in the Lindfield clinic but they are planning to expand to bring in an additional professional and include sports massage and pilates.

Alex sees patients with a range of issues from back pain, sports injury, post-surgery and pregnancy pain. Fellow resident Lee explained: “I was very impressed and she [Alex] was much better than my previous sports injury clinician at resolving my pain quickly.”

Page 46.

Helena Hall's war journals

By Claire Cooper

Marshal Voroshilov’s army has halted the German advance on Leningrad where an ‘immense and bloody battle is going on day and night.’ A fine hot day. I spent it at Birchgrove picking blackberries and made blackberry jelly and apple jam in the evening, There was no raid.

It’s 1941 and Britain is at war with Germany. But in Lindfield, like many other Sussex villages, life went on, with villagers determined to ‘keep calm and carry on’ against the backdrop of war.

Over the years many accounts have been written in the aftermath of World War II in an attempt to capture life on the Home Front.

But a series of diaries, meticulously kept by a Lindfield ARP warden, give a unique first-hand account of the war years and have now been published in a fascinating new book.

‘A Woman Living in the Shadow of the Second World War’ is Helena Hall’s daily diary of the war years from 1940 to 1945.

The book has been painstakingly put together by Lindfield residents Linda Grace and Margaret Nicolle over the last four years. “We read the diaries and fell in love with them,” said Margaret.

They found themselves enthralled by Miss Hall’s personal account of village life. “We knew that we were reading something really special,” said Margaret. “The diaries are absolutely fascinating and we quickly realised that just to publish the bits about Lindfield wouldn’t be a true tribute to what Helena had done.”

Read full article on page 16/17.

More than just a house...

By All Saints Lindfield Caminul Felix Team

If someone said to you that you were going to be part of a team of construction amateurs tasked with building a house from base up in two weeks, you’d have probably said “Pull the other one…”. But that’s exactly the challenge that faced the 31 volunteers from All Saints Church, Lindfield who went to Romania recently to do just that for a charity called Caminul Felix. This build was a partner project to the All Saints’ ASPIRE Church Development Project and the £20k needed to fund it was raised by the church members this year.

Following the downfall of Romania’s tyrannical ruler in 1989 the world, and even many Romanians, learned of the awful plight of thousands of abandoned babies and children held in State orphanages. A young Christian couple from Sweden, Lars and Linda Hörnberg, had a vision for a rescue mission. Acting as ‘parents’ the couple welcomed seven such children into their apartment in Romania but soon realised that the scale of the solution was far too great for them alone. What began as a family model grew to two family villages of sixteen homes, each with a Romanian couple who would commit to raising up to as many as 15 children as their own, giving them a caring, loving home.

Read full article on page 21.

Lindfield Lads remembered

By Chris Comber

The coverage over the summer of the Great War in the media appears to be mesmerized by the mud and trenches of the Western Front in France and Flanders. It is often forgotten that this was a world war, with major operations in Africa, Egypt, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Salonika, China, Italy and the far-flung islands of the South Pacific. To give one example, the British Corps sent to aid the Italians in 1917 numbered nearly 150,000 men, far exceeding our miniscule standing army of today.

There is little mention of the Royal Navy (personnel numbered 400,000 in 1918), which was at the time a colossal force controlling the global trade of the Empire and its enormous merchant fleet, and maintaining the Grand Fleet, based at Scapa Flow, and bases overseas.

Five Lindfield men lost their lives whilst serving in the Royal Navy. Seventeen year old Harold Spiers was serving on the Cruiser HMS Hawke when she was torpedoed by U9 in the North Sea on 15th October 1914. He was just one of 524 men lost out of a crew of 544. Imagine the outcry in today’s news if this was reported!

Read full article on page 12.

Home Front - Local talents put to good use

By Jacqui Smith, interior designer

Our relationship with Barratt Homes began some years ago when they started building in Lindfield. They were very keen to engage with the local community as much as possible; sponsoring the Lindfield Arts Festival and donating money to local schools were two ways in which they supported the village community. When we secured the contract for the second show home at The Limes, I was keen to keep as much of the resulting business in the local area by using local curtain makers, track fitters, high street retailers for some of the accessories and working with Leesa Le May on the art. It’s great to work with local businesses for a number of reasons notwithstanding the fact that they are right on your doorstep making the logistics a little easier. Leesa was a total trooper on our first Barratt show home, responding quickly to feedback from the client and turning things around really quickly. I still remember, feeling slightly rabbit in the headlights with the pressure of the first one and having just been monumentally let down by our furniture supplier. I turned up on Leesa’s doorstep one evening with one of the pieces which Barratt has asked us to tweak and had the sheer bliss of Leesa looking me squarely in the face with the words, “You can take this off your worry list; it’s sorted”. Just what I needed to hear!

Read full article on page 26. 

Stories from the graves - Sir Rupert Turner Havelock Clarke

In the second of our features exploring the stories behind the graves at Walstead Cemetery we cross to Australia to delve into the life of Sir Rupert Turner Havelock Clarke. 

Sir Rupert, a former owner of Old Place in Lindfield, led a colourful life, working as a sheep farmer, entering politics, becoming governor of the Colonial bank of Australia as well as pursuing a range of business interests from running a rabbit cannery to gold mining. He also owned a string of successful race horses…

By Claire Cooper

Sir Rupert Turner Havelock Clarke, 2nd Baronet of Rupertswood, pastoralist and entrepreneur, was born on 16 March 1865 at Rupertswood, Sunbury, Victoria.

He was the eldest son of Sir William John Clarke, the first holder of one of the few baronetcies existing in Australia, and his first wife Mary, née Walker. His grandfather was one of the pioneers of Victoria who arrived in Tasmania from Somerset in the early days of the colony.

Rupert was educated at Hawthorn Grammar School, Wesley College, Melbourne, and Magdalen College, Oxford, but took no degree.

In 1891, aged 21, he leased his father’s Cobran station, near Deniliquin, New South Wales, and later inherited the Sunbury properties of Bolinda Vale, Red Rock and Rockbank, totalling some 130,000 acres.

He sold these over a period, except for a reduced holding at Bolinda Vale and 800acres near Rupertswood named Kismet Park, on which, after the sale of Rupertswood to his brother Russell, he built a house.

Rupert successfully carried on his father’s stud, breeding English Leicester sheepand Derrimut Shorthorn cattle. As his holdings in Victoria diminished, he developed pastoral and other interests elsewhere, notably in Queensland, where he later owned Isis Downs in partnership with R. S. Whiting.

His adventurous spirit led him to conduct an expedition into the wilds of New Guinea and in 1895 he became one of the pioneer gold miners of Coolgardie in Western Australia.

Full article on pages 20/21.

Village People - Thomas Allen

By Claire Cooper

A Lindfield artist, whose Contemporary Cave Paintings enthralled hundreds of visitors to a Brighton exhibition earlier this year, has reached another milestone in his career.

Thomas Allen, is one of an elite group of just 64 artists from all over Europe to have a piece shortlisted for the prestigious Threadneedle Prize. “I’m absolutely over the moon to have a piece selected from thousands of submissions from across Europe!” said Thomas.

His selection comes at just the right time for Thomas, who currently has a painting, Transporting Touch, on show in the Year of the Horse exhibition at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London. He will revisit the gallery early next year to undertake his second Contemporary Cave Painting project.

Thomas describes how he has developed his unique style, taking inspiration from prehistoric cave paintings, and how he gives himself over to the life of the image, never knowing quite what will emerge when he starts a painting…

“I’ve always enjoyed drawing,” said Thomas, 24, who lives in The Glebe. “When I was a child, all my parents needed to do was give me a pencil and a piece of paper if they ever wanted me out of their hair for a few hours!” Encouraged by family, Thomas continued to draw and paint throughout his school years. On leaving Haywards Heath College, Thomas would have liked to follow his heart and concentrate on drawing and painting, but decided to take the perhaps more practical route, studying Economics and Sociology at Exeter University. Rather ironically, the Sociological theory Thomas was taught came to play a key role in the development of his unique style.

Read full article on pages 24/25

Bob White - Village People

Lindfield Primary School reaches another milestone in its history next month as pupils and staff say farewell to headteacher Bob White. Bob, or ‘Mr White’ as he is known to generations of children, has spent the past 24 years at Lindfield Primary School, the last 12 as headteacher. During his time in Lindfield Bob has seen huge changes as the school has evolved from separate infant and junior schools, to an all-through primary school. He is currently overseeing the expansion project which will equip the school for the next generation of youngsters. Claire Cooper caught up with Bob as he prepares to leave a job he describes as ‘the dream ticket’.

by Claire Cooper

As a schoolboy in South London, Bob White always knew he wanted to be a teacher, unless, of course, he became a professional footballer, which in Bob’s case very nearly happened!

“I’ve always been sporty and while I was growing up played for Crystal Palace youth team,” Bob recalled.  “I certainly had aspirations to become a professional footballer but after a serious injury and doubts over whether I was really good enough, I decided to focus on my studies. Fortunately my parents had always encouraged me to work hard, so I went off to University in Southampton with the aim of becoming a teacher.”

Football remained a passion for Bob and while at university he captained the Winchester Football team, also gaining his coaching badges.

After leaving university Bob took up his first teaching post at a primary school in Croydon. “Working in South London was challenging but I thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Bob, who also took up a coaching position at Crystal Place working evenings, weekends and during school holidays. 

He stayed at the Croydon school for 10 years until a surprise phone call from Steve Coppell took him in a new direction. “Out of the blue I was offered the job of coaching director at Crystal Palace,” he said.

 Bob jumped at the chance and stayed at the club for three years, coaching many young talented players including Gareth Southgate who went on to play for England.

“But I always knew I wanted to return to teaching,” said Bob, who had moved to Staplefield and was playing an active part in village life. “When I saw that Lindfield Primary School was looking for a deputy head I knew that was the job for me.”

Read the full story on page 14 of July's Lindfield Life magazine.

Fun runners aim high

By Claire Cooper

There are many reasons why Lindfield villagers sign up for the annual fun run. For many, it’s a chance to get out in the fresh air and run with family and friends, others are hoping to better last year’s time or beat their rivals to the finishing line.

But for two runners, this year’s event was part of a training programme for much bigger challenges which they hope will raise much needed funds for charity.

John Alway and Kate Taylor are both in training for life changing events.

Former gymnast Kate will be running in her first marathon next year, while John is preparing for a gruelling night-time trek to the summit of Mount Snowdon.

You can support John’s NSPCC fundraising campaign  by visiting http://justgiving.com/JohnAlway or The Make a Wish Foundation by visiting http://bit.ly/1hIHyI0 

To support and sponsor Kate, visit her giving page: http://bit.ly/1nx4Ccj

Read the fulll story on page 10 of July 2014's magazine

How Henry lives with diabetes

By Claire Cooper

Diabetes has been a hot topic in the media recently as the numbers of adults being diagnosed with type 2 continue to rise. But far less is written about the increasing numbers of babies and young children with type 1 diabetes which is an auto-immune condition for which there is no cure.

Lindfield mum Sarah Depledge, whose son Henry was diagnosed at just 15 months old, tells what life is like with a diabetic child and why people should give generously during National Diabetes Week (June 8th to 14th).

“The first thing I noticed was that Henry’s nappies were getting wetter and he was constantly thirsty,” said Sarah. “But I assumed it was part of the transition after stopping breastfeeding.”

Over the next few weeks Henry became increasingly lethargic and cranky and when his breathing became rapid he was rushed into the Royal Alex in Brighton. “During the journey Henry began to lose consciousness,” Sarah recalled. “The hospital staff were brilliant and, when I told them about the thirst and nappies, they very quickly diagnosed diabetes. It was a huge shock for us as there are no other cases in the family.”

Henry was seriously ill with diabetic ketoacidosis and spent two days in the High Dependency Unit drifting in and out of consciousness, and a further week in hospital before being allowed home. “I have since learnt that Henry would have had stomach cramps and blurred vision,” said Sarah. “But at 15 months there was no way he could tell me what was wrong.”

Henry’s diagnosis meant a steep learning curve for Sarah and the family, who have ‘lived and breathed’ diabetes ever since.

“Henry’s diabetes affects us all day, every day,“ said Sarah, who has to take blood by pricking Henry’s finger 10 times every day. “I even have to test while Henry’s asleep but he’s got so used to it, he barely rouses.”

Now 6, Henry needs regular doses of insulin which are administered through a pump attached to his side. “People with type 1 diabetes don’t produce any insulin so every time Henry eats I have to work out how much insulin he will need,” said Sarah, who enters the information into a hand held monitor which sends the message to Henry’s pump.

“It’s a matter of working out how many carbs there are in each food,“ said Sarah, who also has to take into account any exercise which will affect energy levels. 

Because of this constant need for insulin, Sarah has to accompany Henry everywhere. “I go to birthday parties, after school clubs, swimming lessons and even to Beavers.“ Staff at Lindfield Primary School are trained to administer Henry’s insulin during the school day.

Diabetes affects every aspect of Henry’s life. “Stress, excitement, growth, illness, extreme heat and cold, all affect him and his needs are constantly changing as he grows, although he can now recognise when he’s hypo,” said Sarah.

The family are determined to ensure that Henry’s life is as normal as possible and have enjoyed several holidays abroad. “He’s got used to his pump setting off airport alarms and being frisked by security staff!” said Sarah.

There is no cure for Henry’s diabetes but research is making inroads into managing the condition.

Last year Sarah raised over £800 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, an amount doubled by her partner’s employer Vaultex, and is urging readers to support the little known charity. She is also keen to raise awareness of the symptoms of diabetes known as the
4 T’s – thirst, thinner, tiredness and toilet.

For more information visit www.jdrf.org.uk

Frisbee Champions from Lindfield

By Claire Cooper

Lindfield siblings Harry and Stella Slinger-Thompson are flying high in the sporting world.

The pair are among the top frisbee players in the country and have represented Great Britain in tournaments all over the world.

Between them Harry and Stella have an impressive collection of gold and silver medals and are looking forward to competing in many more competitions later this year. 

But until a few years ago Stella and Harry, who both attended Lindfield Primary and Oathall schools, thought Frisbee was a just fun game to play on holiday, in the park or on the beach.

That all changed when Harry spotted a newspaper article advertising a Frisbee tournament in Hove. 

“I thought it looked like fun and something my hippy friends would enjoy,” he said.

“We went along not knowing what to expect but what we found was a high octane, fast, physically challenging sport. 

“We were even more surprised to find that frisbee is a fast growing sport with tournaments all over the world.”

Impressed with what they saw, the friends signed up for weekly training sessions with Ultimate Frisbee in Brighton. “Members are a lovely bunch of people and we were made really welcome,” said Harry.

A year after joining the Brighton club Harry was selected to play in the National League.

.... full story is available on page 10 of June 2014 Lindfield Life magazine.

Cockhaise Farm Open Day - 8th June

Cockhaise Farm is running an open day on Sunday 8th June from 11am-4pm.  It is part of the national Open Farm Sunday programme and is not the first time the farm has opened its doors to the community.

The diary farm will have sheep shearing, pigs, calves, tractors, see the cows being milked, meet the vet, tractor and trailer rides and a farm walk, along with a bbq serving our Cockhaise burgers.  It is a chance for people to come and see how an organic dairy farm is run and how they are trying to build for the future as well.

The Burdett family have been at the farm since 1986 and they now farm over 650 acres at the site. The milk around 230 cows and have been selling their (organic) milk through a european cooperative since 1999. 

Dan Burdett explained how they are seeking to make changes to the farm fields in the future: "In the next five years we will grow more diverse grassland, supporting more species of plant that are able to root much further down, therefore bringing more life to our soils.  With this will come a greater ability to be able to survive the extremes of weather that we now face, with our soil being able to hold more water when it's wet and therefore be able to be more drought tolerant in the extreme dry." 

Dan and the team will explain more about this and how the farm works at the FREE event on Sunday 8th June. 

Lindfield Motors Celebrates 40 years

One Lindfield business is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month. 

Lindfield Motors was started in 1974 by Jim and Janette Yule, and is now run by their son and daughter-in-law Alan and Nicola. It was originally two separate businesses as it used to sell fuel on the forecourt. They have also sold second-hand cars during their history too. “But it’s always been fixing cars and keeping our customers happy,” Nicola said. In 2003 they extended the workshop and built a new reception in order to facilitate MoT testing on-site. 

Jim, who was in the Formula One industry before starting the garage, retired from the business three years ago. Alan completed A-levels at college and then worked in the family business when he was 20 ‘because it seemed like the natural thing to do’. Alan ran a Formula Ford racing team from the garage until 2003 when the couple had their first child.

The business employs six people at the garage on Lewes Road, including Paul Markham, who has been there 25 years since he started out as an apprentice mechanic when he left school. They also have some very long-standing customers – a few of whom have been there since the beginning. “Garages traditionally have such a bad reputation. We are always trying to challenge that by giving great service,” Nicola said. 

Lindfield Motors is fully equipped to deal with all types of cars, including having the skills and technology needed for diagnostics and testing on newer vehicles, and is open between 8am-6.30pm Monday to Friday. 

Beckworth House

By Richard Bryant, Lindfield History Project Group

Adjacent to Lindfield Common, Beckworth House and grounds stood on the land now occupied by Lindfield Primary School. Taking its name from a medieval field of that name, Beckworth House was built in 1872 for its first owner, Mr William Blaber, by Parker Anscombe, a well-known Lindfield builder. Living with Mr Blaber, a retired merchant, was his wife Elizabeth and their three children, plus a governess and five domestic staff. 

By the 1890s the house was lived in by Ernest and Agnes Arbouin, of whom little is known. 

From the early 1900s until after the Great War, Beckworth was owned by Mr Mellor Brown. The 1911 Census records that he was aged 72, living on ‘Private Means’ and had been married for 35 years to Eva, aged 56. At that time they employed five live-in domestic staff. Additionally, at least two outdoor staff were employed; Mr Townshend and family lived in Beckworth Lodge, while the other man lived ‘above the stables’. Mrs Mellor Brown was a regular supporter of good causes during the Great War. 

Major George Churcher and his wife Aida purchased the property in 1924. A member of the Royal Horticultural Society, Major Churcher was a respected and well-known cultivator of gladiolus, creating new hybrid varieties. He was also a keen grower of daffodils and peonies. An active member of the RHS, he wrote a paper on ‘The Modern Gladiolus’ and was a regular exhibitor at shows. George Churcher died in 1938 and in his memory Aida gave All Saints church the carved oak eagle lectern.

In September 1939 at the outbreak of World War II, the patients and staff of the Hostel of God, a Catholic Hospice in Clapham, were evacuated to Beckworth. 

After the war, in about 1946, it became the dormitory house for boys sent to attend an agricultural course at Haywards Heath Secondary School (now Oathall Community School). The house was later used as the East Sussex County Council Youth Employment Service and Area Education office.

A purpose-built children’s residential nursery was constructed in the extensive grounds. Costing £36,000 it opened in January 1966, as St Nicholas Nursery, to provide a home for 18 babies and young children taken into East Sussex County Council care. The matron was Miss Whitmarsh. 

St Nicholas is remembered with warmth, as a lovely place by children and staff. The children lived in small groups as a ‘family’ of four or five children in their own self-contained accommodation. Each family was looked after by nurses solely dedicated to them. Children were treated as individuals and would be taken on shopping trips into the village or Haywards Heath to buy their own clothes. 

The nursery closed in 1976, being redundant following the realignment of East Sussex and West Sussex county boundaries. The building was demolished and the site developed as St. Nicholas Court. 

Beckworth House was demolished in March 2000 to make way for the redevelopment of Lindfield Primary School. However, Beckworth Lodge remains to this day and stands at the entrance to the school.

He's a record breaker - Village People

By David Tingley

If you were lucky enough to be given a copy of The Guinness Book of World Records for Christmas this year, then you may have already read about this month’s guest on page 130.

Mark Gasson grew up in Lindfield. You could say he’s ‘born and bred’. He went to the old Junior School, Oathall Community College and studied Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A Level down the road at Haywards Heath College. “I always enjoyed science,” Mark explains. “My father is an engineer and I used to love going to work with him occasionally as a child.” That said, when he left school he was none the wiser about what he actually wanted to do. A ‘state-of-the-art’ careers computer program suggested working as a baker!

In 1995 Mark left the confines of West Sussex to study Cybernetics at the University of Reading. “In many ways,” Mark continued, “I felt an affinity with Reading because its large leafy campus reminded me of my old home in Sussex.”

After successfully completing his Degree he was invited to stay on to do a PhD at the University. He did so and, working closely with Professor Warwick at Reading, his thesis explored connecting the human nervous system to a computer so that the Professor could feel what a robotic hand was touching.

Read the full article on page 22 of the March 2014 issue.

Lisa Barnett - Village People

By Claire Cooper 

When Lisa Barnett arrived at St Augustine’s Church in Scaynes Hill two and a half years ago, she immediately broke tradition by becoming the parish’s first female vicar.

But earlier this year Lisa went on to create a further piece of history by becoming the first vicar in the diocese to take maternity leave, after giving birth to twin daughters.

Now back at work, Lisa is enjoying the challenge of juggling her part-time role as vicar of St Augustine’s Church with being mum to Cara and Amy, who have just celebrated their first birthday.

“Returning to work was daunting but wonderful at the same time,” said Lisa. “I’ve had fantastic support from the community in Scaynes Hill. Some church congregations might not be too pleased about their vicar taking maternity leave but everyone here was really delighted for us. When the babies were born parishioners drew up a rota and brought us meals every day.

“My first Sunday service after returning to work was very special, with me leading from the front and having my husband and daughters at the back of the church.”

Sussex born and bred, Lisa grew up in Worthing and became a Christian when she was 15 years old. “I had a lot of friends who were Christians and spent a lot of time in discussions with them, asking difficult questions and enjoying our debates,” she recalled. “Gradually I found myself talking to God and saying: “I still have a lot of questions but I believe you’re there.”

Full story on page 18 of February 2014 issue...

Lindfield in The Great War

To commemorate the centenary of the start of the Great War, the Lindfield History Project Group will be holding an exhibition in the King Edward Hall on the 9th-10th of August. The exhibition will describe life in the village during the war years and also focus on the men and women who served their country. Sadly, over 60 men from Lindfield lost their life in the war.

Much information is being drawn from local newspapers but to assist research the Group would welcome the opportunity to view any post cards, letters, documents, photographs, medals, badges or other memorabilia residents may have regarding the Great War, especially anything relating to Lindfield. Photographs of Lindfield men who served or details of their wartime experiences would be particularly helpful.

Please contact Richard Bryant on 01444 482136 if you have any items or information you are willing to share. 

Charity car wash in Scaynes Hill – 13th Feb

The garage and SPAR shop in Scaynes Hill is open for some special business this month. On Thursday 13th February they will be removing the price tag from the car wash and making it available in exchange for any donation to Cancer Research UK. 

The owners, brothers Jay & Gunvant Patel, have been running the event annually since 2009 when they sent £345 to the charity. Last year the machine washed more than 120 cars and raised over £1,500. “Every donation really does make a difference,” Jay said. “Some people pay a lot and others pay a little but together we raise a large sum of money to make someone else’s life better.” 

The garage opens at 6am and the offer continues throughout the whole day until 11pm when they close. Customers can also take part in the raffle for a Hamper worth £50 when they buy tickets for just £1. Jay and Gunvant are also giving away free copies of The Mid Sussex Times during the day too.

The origins of Christmas pudding

By Caroline Young

If you are not a fan of those foods made with dried and candied fruits, fragrant spices and marzipan, please do not read any further because I am talking about our traditional Christmas treats – Christmas Pudding and Christmas Cake. Stir-Up Sunday is traditionally the day they should be made, five weeks before the Day. You may have just missed this but there is still time to catch up, get the whole family stirring the rich mixtures and all making a wish (which must be kept secret).

Both the pudding and the cake started off as a very basic plain porridge, often containing meat, that was eaten on Christmas Eve after a period of fasting. Solid and comforting, it was meant to fill an empty stomach. In the 16th century the oatmeal was replaced by butter, eggs and flour but Oliver Cromwell banned the eating of this rich mixture in the 17th century as it was thought to be a pagan celebration to mark  the end of the winter solstice. What a killjoy! However, as more kitchens came to have ovens, which replaced cooking in a pot over an open fire, the rich fruity mixture was baked and so became a cake.

The pudding version continued, with the mixture wrapped in a cloth and boiled for many hours. Traditionally it was supposed to have at least thirteen ingredients to represent Christ and his disciples, and the fragrant spices represented the Three Kings and their gifts to the baby. When coins were made of silver they were stirred into the mixture before boiling. Whoever found one in their portion would receive great wealth, happiness and good health in the coming year. Perhaps it would be wiser now to slip a well washed coin on to the edge of each portion as it is served! The flaming of the pudding represents the passion of Christ.

The Victorians, headed by Prince Albert, are credited with the introduction of  the  richly iced cake and the flaming pudding as we know them today, so we really are eating a slice of our history when we enjoy our Christmas cake and pudding.

If you have some pudding left over for another day, try grilling thick slices and serving them topped with brandy butter or ice cream. Or crumble cold pudding, moisten it with a little alcohol of your choice and fold into softened vanilla ice cream. Pop back into the freezer to firm up. Well wrapped the cake will stay fresh for several weeks but if you freeze it the marzipan and royal icing tends to part company with the cake.