HDPC 2026 meeting dates
🍂 🍽Autumn Fundraising Lunch – Food, Fun & Community Spirit!
We’re inviting you to join us for a special fundraising Sunday Lunch and Games on Sunday 12th October at 1pm in the Village Hall. It’s the perfect way to kick off autumn: delicious food, lively company, and plenty of fun.
On the menu:
- Hearty beef casserole with dumplings
- Tender chicken in white wine
- A tasty vegetarian option
Tickets:
- £15 per adult
- £7.50 per child (under 16)
👉 Pre-booking is essential! Please call 07795 451976 to reserve your tickets.
Bring your appetite, your family, and your friends – every ticket sold and every laugh shared over lunch brings us one step closer to our HDCC fundraising goal. Let’s make this another memorable village event together.
We can’t wait to see you there!
Parish Poll – 9th September 2025
4th. Viscount Hood
Hon. Francis Wheler Hood
4th. Viscount Hood of Whitely
Set In the graveyard at the north east corner of St. Mark’s Church, Hadlow Down, outside the vestry, there is a most notable gravestone. The grave itself is surrounded by a low hedge and the memorial stone, in the form of a large cross that lies prone, is decorated with a curious and unique labyrinth design which has five paths that have no obvious source. Labyrinths and mazes do appear on gravestones occasionally, particularly in historical graveyards, often symbolizing spiritual journeys, remembrance, or even as a form of memorialisation. Labyrinthine designs can vary in complexity and material, from simple chalk outlines to more elaborate stone or tile work. 
The grave is the last resting place of 4th. Viscount Hood of Whitely, Lt Colonel Francis Wheler Hood. 1838-1907.
Francis Wheler Hood was born in Marylebone, London on the 4th. July 1838 and baptised at the parish church of St Marylebone, Middlesex on 11th. August 1838 his father was Samuel Hood, 3rd.Viscount Hood of Whitely and his mother Mary Isabella Tibbits. He had two brothers Albert and Alexander Frederick Gregory. The family were living at No.38 Nottingham Place, Marylebone, London when he was born. Continue reading “4th. Viscount Hood”
The Hadlow Down Summer Show – Conditions, Rules, Hints & Entry Forms
The Hadlow Down Summer Show – Conditions, Rules, Hints & Entry Forms
Hadlow Down Summer Show
CONDITIONS
- All classes in the schedule are open to all persons to exhibit on the payment of 30p per entry.
- Entry forms and fees to be handed in BEFORE THURSDAY 6PM JULY 31ST
- Entries will NOT be accepted after this date
- All fruits, flowers and vegetables, except decorative classes must have been grown in the exhibitor’s own ground.
- Only one exhibit per class may be entered by any one exhibitor.
- Exhibitors shall, upon request, allow members of the show organisers to visit the place where their exhibits were grown.
- All jams and other preserves in the Domestic section, must have labels clearly stating the contents and date of making.
- Exhibits to be brought to the hall between 8.30am and 10.00am on show morning. Judging begins at 10.00am.
- Judges have the power to withhold any prizes where the subject of the competition is considered unworthy or where there are insufficient entries.
- Any exhibit not according to the schedule will be disqualified.
- The Show organisers do not accept responsibility for any loss or damage to any exhibit.
- PRIZE GIVING 3.30pm. No exhibits to be removed before 4pm.
- This year, for the first time, we will be auctioning exhibits that have been donated after the show. Exhibitors who do not wish for their exhibits to be sold in aid of Hadlow Down Summer Show, should remove them between 4.00pm and 4.20pm. The donated exhibits will be auctioned at 4.20pm.
Continue reading “The Hadlow Down Summer Show – Conditions, Rules, Hints & Entry Forms”
Hadlow Down Summer Show
St. Marks Promises Auction
🎉 Hadlow Down Village Fayre – Saturday 5th July – A Summer Celebration for All! 🎉
The bunting is being strung, the grills are being scrubbed, and the excitement is building… It can only mean one thing – the Hadlow Down Village Fayre is almost here!
Join us on Saturday 5th July from 1pm on the Playing Field for an afternoon bursting with fun, laughter, food, and community spirit. This year promises to be one of our best yet, and we can’t wait to welcome everyone from the village (and beyond!) to share in the festivities. Continue reading “🎉 Hadlow Down Village Fayre – Saturday 5th July – A Summer Celebration for All! 🎉”
Orbital, by Samantha Harvey
Raw space is a panther, feral and primal.
The 2024 Man Booker Prize went by unanimous decision to Orbital by Samantha Harvey. At 136 pages it is one of the shortest ever Booker prize-winners. It is an unusual book, fiction but not a conventional novel as it has only a very rudimentary plot. It follows six fictional astronauts over twenty-four hours on an orbiting international space station. The astronauts, from America, Russia, Italy, the UK and Japan are there to do vital work. Their days keep to a rigid pattern: preparing dehydrated meals, following a strict exercise routine to prevent muscle atrophy, monitoring the effects of zero gravity on the mice, routine repairs and maintenance and occasional space walks.
As they travel at speeds of over 17.000 miles per hour, they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times in a single day, spinning past continents and passing through seasons, taking in the beauty of mountains, glaciers and seas. Although separated from their world, they cannot escape its pull as news comes from home bringing thoughts of their eventual return. They watch a typhoon, marvelling at its magnificence but fearful of the destruction it brings. They become increasingly aware of the fragility of human life – so far from Earth, they have never felt more part of it. It has been described as ‘mesmerising, ethereal and tender’, a beautifully written mediation on human aspirations and limitations.
Some of us had to get used to the lack of plot and character development and would agree with the Guardian reviewer that’ ‘thrilled reports of light effects start to fall a little flat’. Nevertheless, we found it enjoyable and worthwhile while the rhythms of the writing made it a compelling read.
Our next book is Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent.
Heather Mines