TLAP is the slogan: THINK LOCAL, ACT PERSONAL

The Cuckfield community already has a wide range of activities specifically designed for those who live alone in their retirement. In the face of successive government failing to tackle care in the community from top down, now is the time to engage with local charities and organisations to make their respective resources better know.

Many individuals already keep an eye out for their neighbours who fall into this age range, who have health issues, have suffered recent bereavement or are struggling with increasing technology.

Below are listed some of the local activities already in place. The parish council is acting as a hub and will assist you with other contacts.

Cuckfield Baptist Church:
office@cuckfieldbc.com
01444 473531
Friday coffee mornings, occasional lunches, and golden years events.

Cuckfield Parish Council:
clerk@cuckfield.gov.uk
01444 454276
Silver Sundays, Tuesday tea afternoons, and Christmas hampers.

Holy Trinity Church:
pa@holytrinitycuckfield.org
01444 456461
Lunch ‘n’ Linger, last Thursday in a month, and crafts on Thursdays.

Good Neighbours CARE:
careinhaywardsheath.co.uk
01444 455955
Volunteers assist with shopping, hospital visits and visit you at home.

Cuckoo Choir:
info@cuckoochoir.org.uk
Friday afternoons at The Old School

Independant State of Cuckfield:
info@cuckfieldstate.org
01444 454336
Christmas lunch for elderly and benefactor of many local charities.

By Candy Hood

We are the Cuckoo Choir, an over-60s mixed choir, run by our delightful choir mistress Jane Haughton, with the administrative side run by Sarah Cheesemur. We meet every Friday afternoon in term time at the Holy Trinity Church Hall in Cuckfield.

We repair to the Talbot pub after singing, to quench our thirst and it was at one of those sessions more than a year ago that Peter Cheesemur asked Marta Lindop (one of our singers who is Hungarian and who arranges small choirs and musicians to sing and play in her native Budapest): “When are you going to take the Cuckoo Choir to Budapest?”

And Marta said: “Whenever you’re up for it!”

So, at the beginning of December 2017, around 30 of us, including our 91-year-old piano accompanist, Fiona Fawcett, packed our thermals and boarded a plane to Budapest for a long weekend.

We sang in the Roman Catholic Church of Fot, with their choir, singing carols in Hungarian and English.

We visited the wonderful Christmas Market and the Thermal Baths at the famous Gellart Hotel, where some of us brave souls swam in the outdoor thermal pool, watching the sun go down and the sparkly Christmas lights come up.

Marta arranged sightseeing trips, including one to an amazing marzipan exhibition that had many extraordinary models and statues all made from almond paste.

The last night included a typical Hungarian meal in a beautifully decorated dining room with local musicians entertaining us, and us them, with our singing.

A really fun time which we hope to repeat and to invite the Fot choir to a return visit and hospitality with us in Cuckfield.

TLAP thrives in Cuckfield

Cuckoo Choir on tour in Budapest