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Parish Magazine, Calendar of Events, St Marks Church, St Marks School, Kit Wilson Trust, The New Inn, Tinkers Park, Wilderness Wood, Directory, Village Archive. Village Hall
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””
Elsie 
Marian Henderson, later Baroness de Coudenhove, was a British painter and sculptor notable for her animal paintings.
Henderson was born in Eastbourne in Sussex and with the encouragement of her mother, a keen amateur painter, she attended the South Kensington Schools before studying at the Slade School of Fine Art between 1903 and 1905. Henderson continued her art education in Paris. For periods of time, between 1908 and 1912, she took lessons at various ateliers in the city including the Academie Moderne, the Académie Colarossi, the Académie de La Palette and at Cercle Russe. In 1912 Henderson studied with Othon Friesz before spending 1913 in Italy. After some time on the island of Guernsey, Henderson enrolled at the Chelsea Polytechnic in 1916, where she was taught lithography by the artist Francis Ernest Jackson. In London she became a frequent visitor to London Zoo and animal drawings and paintings became a major theme of her work. In 1924 Henderson had her first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in London.
In 1928 Henderson married Henri Baron de Coudenhove, the French consul to Guernsey. The couple lived on the island during World War II and throughout the German occupation. Baron de Coudenhove died towards the end of the war and in 1946 Henderson moved to Sunnyside Cottage, Wilderness Lane, Hadlow Down in Sussex with her sister Mildred She continued painting into the last years of her life. Continue reading “Henderson, Elsie Marian (28 May 1880 – 1st July 1967)”
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”
‘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”
‘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”
From Uckfield News:
A new outline planning application has been submitted to demolish Hadlow Down Village Hall and build three homes on the site.
Outline permission was given in 2018 for the project- see a previous Uckfield News story: Plans to demolish village hall and build three homes approved – but reserved matters have not been submitted within the three years required.
The same design and access statement submitted for the first application, number WD/2018/0089/0 accompanies the new application, number WD/2021/0471.
Continue reading “Neighbours Object as New Plan Submitted for Homes on Village Hall Site”
Save the date: The next Great British Spring Clean will be held in Wealden from 28 May until 13 June 2021.
Our outdoor spaces are more important to us now than ever before. We are once again proud to support Keep Britain Tidy and their Great British Spring Clean campaign to free our outdoor spaces from litter. Close to a million bags of litter were collected in the UK in 2019. Wealden District Council has supported this initiative for the past five years. In the past year alone, volunteer litter pickers in Wealden have been very active, collecting well in excess of 1,500 bags of litter. This Spring, Keep Britain Tidy call on you to join their #MillionMileMission to clean up the country and show some love for those special places that helped us though lockdown. If 250,000 people pledge to pick up litter for 90 minutes each, a million miles of outdoor space would be covered – that’s to the moon and back twice!
The Hadlow Down Book Club have added a review of their February read ‘Piranesi’ by Susannah Clarke to the book club pages.
Click here to go to the Book Club pages and read.
This month we have been reading Susanna Clarke’s ’Piranesi’ (2020)
‘The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite’
I have to admit that I was reluctant to read this book – not my usual sort of thing at all – and to begin with I made slow progress. However, the beauty of the descriptions and the mystery and suspense that develops drew me in and I found it a rewarding book to read.
It is set in the ‘House’, a fantasy world made up of Halls filled with classical statues. Some Halls are very beautiful, others are sinister and potentially dangerous. The Halls are washed by the tides of the sea and periodically high tides cause flooding while clouds drift across the high walls. Within these Halls lives the narrator known as Piranesi. He is alone apart from ‘the Other’ who he believes also lives in the House and who meets him twice a week for research. Sometimes the Other brings Piranesi gifts, like shoes, vitamin pills, a ham and cheese sandwich. Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review”