Cuckfield shops aim for clean sweep in Muddy Stilettos Awards 2021

By Bradbury Williams

Eight Cuckfield businesses have been nominated for the prestigious Muddy Stilettos Awards 2021.

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Artologie - Best Art Gallery - FINALIST

Beautique - Best Beauty Salon - nominated

p.j and The Hare - Best Children’s Business - nominated

Ockenden Manor Hotel & Spa - Best Day Spa - FINALIST

Tom’s Food - Best Cafe - nominated

Oliver Cunningham - Best Hair Salon - FINALIST

Pepperbox Interiors - Best Interiors Store - FINALIST

jojo Boutique - Best Women’s Fashion Store - FINALIST

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One of the most coveted accolades for independent enterprises, they are run by the Muddy Stilettos website, the biggest lifestyle site outside of London.

When they were last run in 2019, around 750,000 customers and Muddy readers voted. Now in their eighth year, they’re seen as one of the most valued local business awards, providing a huge boost for winners in 27 lifestyle categories across 25 counties.

Artologie in Cuckfield, finalist in Best Art Gallery category

“It’s really exciting and it will help to promote the business alongside all the other galleries in Sussex, but there is a lot of competition,” said Wendy Rowark of Artologie, who is a nominee in the Best Gallery in Sussex category. “I am really hoping to go on to the next steps of the awards process.”

Over the long lockdown months, Wendy has been busy developing and expanding a very successful website. “I did three webinars and then learned as I went along. On average people spend just a few seconds on each page, so you have to work hard to keep their attention,” she added.

For the Muddy Stilettos, it would be more than appropriate for Cuckfield to feature amongst the winners as Cuckfield was named by them as one of the best villages to live in Sussex – just behind Steyning.

The finalists to the awards have now been selected and you can find out whether you can now vote for the Cuckfield-nominated businesses as part of the Muddy Stilettos finals online at: https://sussex.muddystilettos.co.uk – the winners will be announced at the end of July.

Clair Hall consultation launched

Mid Sussex District Council has launched a 12-week engagement programme. The local community are encouraged to participate and help shape the future of the Clair Hall site in Haywards Heath.

Starting with 12 weeks of varied engagement activities over the course of the summer, the council will seek and listen to the views of the local community about what the Clair Hall site means to them and how they would like it to support and provide for the town in the future.

The engagement will begin with a series of both digital and physical events in July and over the course of the summer the Council will support an evolving and varied consultation programme to give the local community in Haywards Heath a wide range of opportunities to have its say on the future of the site.

It is vitally important that the broadest cross-section of the local community has the opportunity to share their views. The engagement programme will include drop-in sessions, one-to-one meetings, webinars, and a whole host of measures to give everyone in the local community the opportunity to participate.

The aim is to establish how the Council can breathe new life into this gateway site and make sure that it is able to meet the demands and expectations of the 21st Century once it is no longer required as a vaccination centre.

The Council is seeking feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders, including community groups, the town council, and the wider local community. Through this engagement and consultation programme, the Council wishes to fully understand local community use and future demand for services and activities in the town and how that could be accommodated.

At this stage, there has not been any decision made on the future, with the driving ambition of the engagement process to offer the local community the opportunity to inform and shape options and recommendations for this important site.

Details of and ongoing updates on the engagement and consultation programme can be found at https://engage.midsussex.gov.uk/clair-hall

Cuckfield Cattery open for business

When Danielle and her family made a life changing decision to become the new owners of Cuckfield Cattery in May 2019, nobody could have predicted that a global pandemic and a national lockdown would occur when they were only ten months in. “The cattery emptied in only a few days,” Danielle explained, “with our customers stuck abroad and waiting for repatriation flights, their pussycats were collected by either family or friends; It was not the start which we had hoped for.” However, some feline guests did manage to stay. Cuckfield Cattery is not only an oasis for any loved pussycat to spend their holiday, but it is also a temporary placement for the cats in the care of Cats Protection Mid Sussex branch.

Since the first national lockdown, one thing that has become very apparent was that most people are now reviewing their work / life balance. With many people now working from home, this gave a lot of families a great opportunity to welcome a pet. It has been proven for some time, how having the companionship of any animal can help to reduce stress and improve mental wellbeing, a big factor for everyone during this unusual time. Cats Protection adopted a new re-homing process in the form of ‘hands free rehoming’.

“It’s been so lovely to see our foster cats have so much interest and it is never too long before they are off with their new families”. When virus transmissions began to fall over the summer of 2020, Danielle and her family welcomed back some feline friends into their countryside retreat. “We had hoped that we were over the worst, and we were looking forward to getting back on track but then the second wave hit the UK, with the worst cases directly affecting the South-East. It was a very dark and worrying time not only for the cattery’s future but for our family and friends’ health.” As a registered nurse, Danielle quickly signed up to become part of the mass vaccination team for Sussex. “As soon as I saw the notification from Sussex Community Foundation Trust, I knew I just had to help. History has already proven that vaccines save lives so when the news came through that Covid vaccines were then going through safety testing, this offered a small light at the end of a dark tunnel.”

Danielle has continued to work at the Brighton Centre since February and has witnessed thousands of vaccines being gratefully received by the public. “Working at the Brighton Centre has been such a wonderful experience. Everyone inside, whether staff or members of the public are just full of positivity and hope, there is a real buzz in the air. “Over the past few weeks that positivity has now gone on to be felt in our cattery; With the UK summer approaching and many UK holiday destinations getting set to welcome guests, I am really excited to see all of our wonderful customers and feline friends once more.”

Cuckfield Cattery is conveniently located on Deaks Lane in a quiet, rural setting. The cats are housed in spacious, centralled heated units, each with its own run. If you would like to talk to Danielle about your cat and availability during your next holiday, you can call 01444 454 187 or email: bookings@thecuckfieldcattery.co.uk. www.thecuckfieldcattery.co.uk