Category: Clubs & Societies

Book Club, Gardening Club, Horticultural Society, Short Mat TN22 Clubs, Variety Club.

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Hadlow down Book Club Review – June 2021

 ‘The Sympathizer’  by Viet Thanh Nguyen

“I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds.”

Fifty years ago David Ellsburg risked jail with his sensational leak of Pentagon secrets on the Vietnam War. His only regret now is that he didn’t release them earlier. In tune with the times, this month we have been reading ‘The Sympathizer’ by Viet Thanh Nguyen, a novel about that War and its aftermath and winner of the Pulitzer prize 2016.
Continue reading “Hadlow down Book Club Review – June 2021”

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Hort.Soc. 2021 Annual Show

We are pleased to announce that the Horticultural Society have decided to go ahead with this years Annual Show.
In order to create more space for people to move around the tables in line with Covid-19 guidelines some of the usual categories in the show schedule have been cut.  There will be no ‘Pot Plant’, ‘Craft’, or ‘Children’s’ categories.  Please see the schedule for other changes.
Hopefully refreshments will be available in a gazebo outside the hall.

Please click here to see or download the Entry Form & Rules
And click here for the Schedule

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Hort. Soc. Visit to King John’s Lodge

Hadlow Down Horticultural Society members are planning a car visit to King John’s Lodge in Etchingham  on Thursday June 24th..
This trip to the extensive and impressive gardens is the first opportunity for members to meet up since lockdown and we’re sure there will be a lot of conversational catching up to do which will be enjoyed in the excellent cafe in the grounds.  There is also an “Aladdin’s Cave” of a shop and a very good nursery to browse round after visiting the gardens.
All garden loving villagers are invited to join members and talk about other gardens and other Hort. Soc. activities.
Anyone who wants to join us we will meet at the cafe at 10.30 am.  Please just let Heather know you’re coming at heathermines2@hotmail.com and  turn up on the day.  The cost is £6.50 per person

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Book Club Review – “Klara and the Sun”

The Sun was always very kind to me. He was always kind to me from the start.

This month’s book is “Klara and the Sun” by Nobel Prize Winner Kazuo Ishiguro. I had looked forward to reading this as I really loved “Never Let me Go” when the book club read it some years ago and I knew that the two books had much in common, with their dystopian setting and their themes of sacrifice, solitude and exploitation. Continue reading “Book Club Review – “Klara and the Sun””

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History of Hadlow Down Village Hall

HADLOW DOWN’S VILLAGE HALL: PAST AND THE FUTURE?
Hadlow Down’s first village hall, although not named as such, was a large hut obtained from the YMCA and erected on land donated by the Eridge Estate; it was always known as ‘the Hut’ or ‘the Red Triangle Hut’ after its previous owners’ symbol.  Opened on June 8th 1921 by Princess Marie Louise, Queen Victoria’s last grandchild, it immediately became the focal point for many of the village’s activities. The Hut hosted many social occasions, classes, Horticultural Society meetings, the Organ Club, British Legion (male and female branches) the Happy Circle for older members of the village, the Jazz Club, the Pied Pipers drama group, and the Bowls Club. It was also used for more formal meetings such as the Church Parochial Council and the Parish Council. Continue reading “History of Hadlow Down Village Hall”

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Hadlow Down Book Club Review – April 2021

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
‘Pachinko is a foolish game, but life was not.’

Our book this month was “Pachinko”, by Min Jin Lee, an American Korean who spent time in Japan with her husband. This was one of the most popular choices among writers offering their summer choices to the Irish Times and a runner-up to the National Book Award for Fiction 2017.
Pachinko is a game of chance – a cross between pinball and slot machines in which the managers tilt the pins to make more money. Popular in Japan, but disreputable because of its element of gaming, Pachinko halls were often one way for Korean immigrants to make money, as do three of the main characters in the novel. The title of the book is literal but also metaphoric – life is like the game of Pachinko, especially for despised immigrants like the Koreans in Tokyo.

Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review – April 2021”

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Hadlow Down Book Club Review – March 2021

Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford
‘Everything ends… doesn’t mean it wasn’t good’.

A few years ago the Book Club read Francis Spufford’s debut picaresque novel ‘On Golden Hill’. Described as a frolicsome, exuberant romp, all of us really enjoyed it and we were therefore keen to read his next novel, Light Perpetual’, a title taken from the Requiem Prayer. Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review – March 2021”