News from Cuckfield Parish Council - January 2023

News from Cuckfield Parish Council - January 2023

Warm Hubs

In partnership with Age UK, we are delighted to have launched the new Coffee & Company sessions last November. We offer a warm space at the Queen’s Hall for any Age UK members and non-members (age 50+) to share a bit of company with a warm cup of tea or coffee. These take place every Monday afternoon from 1pm until 3pm, so please come along to the Council Chamber to join us - no need to book.

In the same spirit, we are hoping to open the Council Chamber at the Queen’s Hall as a warm hub in the New Year and would appeal for volunteers to help us run these sessions. The warm hub will be opened based on volunteers’ availability, starting with one day per week and progressing to more days should it be a success! Opening days would be restricted to Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. If you have any time to give please contact Noemi at noemi.ripert-forrest@cuckfield.gov.uk.

News from Cuckfield Parish Council - January 2023

Upcoming events for your diaries...

Rain or Shine - Sherlock Holmes and the Musical Mystery will be performed at the Queen’s Hall on 27th January 2023 at 7pm. For more information, please visit: www.rainorshine.co.uk

We have secured another date with Team Rubicon who will be running a Skate Jam event on Friday 17th February 2023 from 10am to 3pm at Cuckfield Skatepark. This is a free event open to all ages and ability. So come along and give it a try, all equipment provided so no excuses!

We are also delighted to announce that we will be hosting another Silver Sunday afternoon at the Queen’s Hall on Sunday 23rd April 2023 from 1-3pm. We will provide more information closer to the event.

Also…

A new noticeboard has also been installed at Cuckfield cemetery in the Newbury section where you will find the current rules and regulations as well as other notices. We are also delighted to announce that a second Queen’s Jubilee bench has been installed at Whitemans Green outside the Co-op.

News from Cuckfield Parish Council - January 2023

News from Cuckfield Parish Council - January 2023

Please click the images to enlarge or pick up your copy of Cuckfield Life and turn to page 20.

The Weald Theatre Group presents Peter Pan this January 2023

Members of the Weald Theatre Group are delighted to be presenting their 79th Annual Charity Pantomime, which, this year, is the family favourite Peter Pan. Children and adults alike are captivated by the story of how Peter, the boy who never grows old, along with the mischievous fairy Tinkerbell, take Wendy and her two brothers John and Michael and fly off on an adventure to Neverland, where they meet the lost boys, pirates, red Indians and a crocodile.

Group president Anne Skinner, a long-time member of the group who lives in the village, has been checking up on rehearsals, which include 20 children from around Sussex. She told us that the cast, from local towns and villages, are busy learning lines and song and dance routines, under the watchful gaze of their director and writer Lance Milton, who has performed as Captain Hook in past productions. Lance has been involved with the Weald since 1987, both on and off the stage, and is also the creative lighting and sound director. He has written eight pantos and directed 18. Sadly, Lance has recently been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, so this year’s show will raise funds for both Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) East Sussex branch.

This year should have marked the group’s 80th production, but 2020 was missed due to Covid. In 2021, the pandemic dealt another blow as members found that their usual home, Clair Hall, had become a vaccination centre. Luckily, they were made to feel very welcome at the recently refurbished Wivesfield Village Hall and will return there for this year’s panto.

Panto is traditionally linked with Christmas. However, The Weald Theatre Group – which relies on local volunteers – has always presented its pantos in the New Year, giving families an event to look forward to after Christmas. Performances will be at 7.30pm from Tuesday 10th to Friday 13th January, with two performances on Saturday 14th at 12 noon and 5pm. Tickets, priced from £8, are available from: www.ticketsource.co.uk/weald

Cuckfield walks the Cuck-stye site

Large numbers of villagers jumped at the chance to join a guided countryside tour of the Cuck-stye site, where a local company is planning to build a giant new settlement in the face of widespread opposition. Despite the controversial plan by developer Fairfax to build 1,600 houses merging Cuckfield and Ansty being dropped from the latest District Plan, it could be back within months. It would come on top of 3,500 houses now under construction in the huge Northern Arc development less than a mile from Ansty and in the same rural parish.

“We have been given a detailed briefing by Mid Sussex District Council that the developer Fairfax will put up a very determined fight to get this controversial plan back on track, which is not surprising since there are millions of pounds at stake,” said parish Councillor Simon Stokes, who is also Co-Chair of the Stop Cuck-sty Action Group. “It was great to see so many local residents and dogwalkers come on the tour, which will help the campaign to build even more momentum and comes on the back of three other well-attended community events in the past seven months,” he added.

A six-week public consultation is now underway and Mid Sussex District Council Leader Jonathan Ash-Edwards wants everyone to have their say. “The decision to exclude the Ansty Farms site from the latest draft of the plan will be heavily challenged by the site promoter at all stages of the plan making process,” said Jonathan, in a letter to parish councils.

And he went on to warn: “They will of course present their own transport modelling and other studies seeking to justify inclusion of the site.” Four initial studies have already been commissioned by Stop Cuck-stye Action Group, covering Landscape assessment, ecology, traffic and planning issues. Whilst a legal scoping strategy is also underway. “We are gearing up for a long battle, but at the same time Fairfax will try to stay one step ahead of us as we move towards a planning inquiry. But there is every chance our community will win in the end,” added SCAG Co-chair, Simon Stokes.