Stephen Fry supports Ensemble Reza’s concert

By Hannah Carter

Poster: Anna Jarvis

We are very excited to announce that Stephen Fry recently agreed to narrate and record Richard Dehmel’s poem Transfigured Night (Verklärte Nacht) for our first ticketed concert of the year at Holy Trinity Church in Cuckfield on Sunday 18th October at 6pm.

I heard Stephen talking about the work Verklarte Nacht several years ago and I had always thought it would be amazing to have him narrate the poem for us. After a chat with a publishing friend and a few emails to his agent, he kindly agreed.

The recording is magical and brings the whole poem Transfigured Night (Verklärte Nacht) to life and makes the music even more special. Schoenberg wrote this piece when he was still influenced by the great German romantics like Brahms and Wagner, and it is beautifully melodic. The programme will also include Mozart’s brilliant Quintet in G Minor.

We have been running weekly live streamed concerts on the Ensemble Reza YouTube channel since March. Although nothing will ever beat the experience of being at a concert in person, we have mastered both the sound and picture for live events as our audience would agree: ‘Lovely sound! Feels like we are in the church too’.

We will be live streaming this concert from Holy Trinity Church in Cuckfield via a private link from our YouTube channel. Tickets cost £10 per household and available from: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ensemble-reza. I hope you will be able to join us!

Cuckfield Museum's WWI Woodcroft Scrapbook

By Phillipa Malins

Cuckfield Museum may be closed at the moment but we are still coming across new and exciting discoveries thanks to thoughtful members of the public. Recently a remarkable album from the time of the First World War was shown to one of our Museum trustees.

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The album belonged to Joyce Bevan of Woodcroft, now the Manor House in Manor Drive. Joyce would have been 15 when the album starts at the end of 1914. It takes the form of a photo album/scrapbook recording family events at the house where she lived but also other houses in the area which the family visited like Borde Hill, Copyhold and Colwood Park. Life seems to have continued in a fairly untroubled way with holidays in Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Wight but we also see the impact of the war on the village. There is a programme for an entertainment at The Queen’s Hall by the Post Office Rifles who were billeted in the village during the first winter of the War and little sketches by Joyce of soldiers dancing with young women adorn the pages. One of the most charming features of the album is the care and skill which have gone into compiling it. Decorations in the form of sketches, watercolour paintings and collage pictures surround the photographs and other mementoes. Another aspect of the War was the VAD Hospital in The Queen’s Hall and it seems that Joyce became a nurse – there is a wonderful little sketch on the hospital page of her sitting up in bed with her long plaits, yawning because it is 6.30am! There are photos of the nurses with their patients in the Hall, of great interest to the Museum.

The red leather bound album is in remarkable condition, still bearing Joyce’s initials E.J.B on the front. Local residents remember that she became Mrs Baines and lived at Barnsnape House. We hope this marvellous find will inspire others who might have overlooked treasures to get in touch!

More photographs of the scrapbook inside Cuckfield Life magazine and more information at www.cuckfieldmuseum.org

Doing Halloween Covid-style!

Widely renowned for its celebration of Halloween, Bolnore Village will be changing up the spooky festivities later this month to make it ‘Covid Style’ and safe. Resident Charlie Bancroft said: “Although we won’t be trick or treating I really hope people will still decorate in some way so we can still enjoy all the lovely displays that Bolnore seems to do so well!” The idea is that children (and adults!) do drawings in a similar way to the rainbow drawings which many in Bolnore did at the beginning of lockdown, which can then be displayed in your window. The pieces of art should be up between 25th October and 1st November, so that children can safely walk around the area – dressing up if they’d like to – and look out for the various Halloween-themed posters in windows. Parents walking with the children can then dish out a treat to their own kids for each drawing spotted. And there you have it; a nice and safe way to do your trick or treating this year. There’s plenty of time for you to get creative for your window display!