Hadlow Down Book Club Review for March

Words define us, they explain us, and on occasion, they serve to control or isolate us.’

We think of a dictionary as giving objective, authoritative definitions of words, based on their usage and written sources. This is not entirely the truth, however – they also reflect the dominant culture. In this month’s book The Dictionary of Lost Words (2022) Pip Williams gives an account of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary – the first dictionary since Samuel Johnson’s (1755). Work began in 1857 and it was published in full in 1928. Her novel explores those words that are omitted or inadequately defined. Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review for March”

Hadlow Down Book Club Review for February

An act of free and general pardon, indemnity, and pardon.”
Last month we read The Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (2022), a historical thriller set in the 17th century in the aftermath of the Restoration. The Act of Oblivion (1652) was the edict that pardoned those who had fought against the king except for those directly responsible for his execution. One of the most prominent of these was Colonel Edward Whalley, a cousin and friend of Oliver Cromwell, who fled to America with his son-in-law Colonel Will Goffe. The novel follows their pursuit through the wilds of pre-revolutionary New England. Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review for February”

Book Club Review – November

I’ve always believed in inherited pain’

This month our chosen book is The island of Missing Trees by the Turkish writer Elif Shafak, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022. It is about the Cypriot civil war and how the trauma of such a war imperils future generations as well as uprooting ordinary lives. It is also a Romeo and Juliet story of the passionate love affair between Kostas, a Greek Cypriot and Defne a Turkish Cypriot and it centres on the story how their daughter Ada comes to terms with the past she has never known. Continue reading “Book Club Review – November”

Driftwood Gardens Visit

Those wanting to join the Hadlow Down Horticultural Society car trip to the remarkable Driftwood Gardens on Thursday 16th. June need to let Heather Mines know by Saturday 11th.
May be an image of flower, tree and outdoors
The inclusive price for entrance and reputedly excellent refreshments is £11.50. Please contact Heather at heathermines2@hotmail.com or on 07974204231 to confirm.
All meet at the gardens located at 4, Marine Drive Seaford BN25 2RS at 10.30 am.
An article about the gardens from BBC Gardeners World Magazine can be viewed at
http://www.geoffstonebanks.co.uk/media/gwmay2021.pdf

Horticultural Society AGM

Due to differing lifestyle reasons social activity within communities is constantly changing. The internet and social media have had significant influence on pastimes and use of leisure time over the last twenty years with shared ideas, discussion, debate and activity taking place from a home environment rather than a hub of collective interest in an exterior venue at regular daily, weekly, monthly or other intervals. These social habit changes can affect smaller rural communities more than others and collective interests are more likely to be of subjects that are inherently part of daily life.
One common entity in most homes in a village like Hadlow Down is a garden.
Our village gardens vary enormously, some being spread over several acres others just the size of an average living room. They are used in many ways including aesthetic, functional, and recreational reasons.   Whatever the preferred usage of the garden somewhere in it will almost certainly be some flowers and perhaps shrubs and trees the beauty of which give great pleasure, also sometimes the reward of home grown vegetables. There is often a passion to share the attraction and experience of what is created in one’s own garden with others.
Hadlow Down Horticultural Society is a lively group that has been flourishing for almost thirty years. There are around 60 members who enjoy sharing knowledge and seeing other gardens.  Two evenings a year they have a supper followed by a talk from a visiting lecturer. they often have car outings to interesting gardens in easy reach of Hadlow Down.   In Spring there is usually a ‘Bring and Buy’ plant sale and the highlight of the year is the annual Flower Show in August.
Membership entitles discounts at several local nurseries.
The Horticultural Society Annual General Meeting
will take place on:

TUESDAY 29th MARCH 2022
IN HADLOW DOWN VILLAGE HALL
10 a.m. for   10.30
(Coffee will be available)

All villagers are welcome – come along, have a coffee, perhaps make new friends and find out more about the gardens of Hadlow Down.
More information can be found on the village web page:
http://www.hadlowdown.com/category/village-life/clubs-and-societies/horticultural-society/
or you may like to be part of the Hadlow Down Gardening Facebook Club::
https://www.facebook.com/groups/258004872958565