An Easter message from Holy Trinity Church, Cuckfield

By Rev Daniel Valentine

As Easter approaches, the shops and media channels are filled with imagery of eggs, bunnies, and chicks, signaling a season that seems to demand lavish expenditure on chocolate and Easter eggs. All this stands in stark contrast to the true essence of Easter for Christians. The real significance of Easter, rich in emotion and spirituality, spans from Palm Sunday through Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and culminates in the celebration of Easter Sunday. I invite you to join us at Holy Trinity to walk with us on a profound journey from suffering to hope… Our observances start with the Maundy Thursday Eucharist at 8pm on 28th March, marking the beginning of the Triduum, the sacred three-day period before Easter. This service invites us to reflect on Christ’s sacrifice and our faithfulness, followed by a vigil extending into the night. Good Friday, observed on 29th March, is a day for deep reflection. At noon, we’ll meditate on Jesus’ final words from the cross, contemplating His sacrifice, with preacher Kevin Carey guiding us. This reflection will be accompanied by Fearghus Beauchamp’s rendition of Haydn’s Seven Last Words piano sonatas. Simultaneously, families can look forward to Easterthemed craft activities at the Old School, providing an opportunity for everyone to get involved in the Easter story. At 2pm, the Good Friday Liturgy in the church narrates Christ’s Passion, from the Last Supper to His crucifixion, highlighting Jesus’ immense love and sacrifice for the sins of the world. Alternatively, ‘Family Praise’ at the Old School provides a worship experience for all ages, followed by refreshments and hot cross buns. Holy Saturday’s vigil on 30th March at 8pm is a shortened version of the traditional overnight gathering, recounting God’s salvation history up to Jesus’ resurrection, a celebration of new life and hope. Much of the service focuses on the ‘light of Christ’ bringing illumination and grace to the world. Easter Sunday starts at 8am with Holy Communion, followed by the 9.45am Parish Eucharist. This service joyfully proclaims the Easter Gospel and celebrates the First Eucharist of Easter. We sing ‘Halleluiah’ depicting our shared joy in Christ’s resurrection through song, and enjoy fellowship over cake and a glass of fizz. At the heart of the Easter narrative lies a powerful tale of sacrifice, love, and rebirth, as it chronicles Jesus’ passage from death back to life. This story, steeped in profound themes, not only brings about a sense of renewal and forgiveness but also prompts us to deeply reflect on the nature of divine love. The season calls upon us to embrace its spirit fully, urging us to offer hope and support to those in need. You’re warmly invited to join us in embracing the transformative spirit of Easter. As we approach this sacred season, let it inspire us to share the boundless love of Christ with others. I encourage you this Easter to dedicate this time to reflection, celebration, and recommitting ourselves to acts of kindness and love. Do join us in making this season truly meaningful. Wishing you a blessed Easter…

Daniel

The movies come to Cuckfield with Friends of Holy Trinity Church

The Friends of Holy Trinity Church is following up its blockbuster musicalsthemed concert last spring with a new concert – Magic of the Movies – featuring music and film extracts. On Sunday afternoon, 17th March the Friends are partnering again with top Sussex choir Coro Nuovo and outstanding young mezzo soprano Rebecca Leggett for an unforgettable cinematic journey.

Friends Chairman Colin Sewell-Rutter says: “Last year we had an audience of 250 filling the church to capacity, meaning that we had to turn people away, so we’re hoping that this latest concert will achieve the same but without any disappointments. We’re inviting everyone to join us for an afternoon where the magic of the movies meets the power of live music so we’re pretty confident!”

Accompanied by film extracts and stills on the church’s cinema system, Coro Nuovo will be singing a programme of several beloved film scores from Saving Private Ryan, Amadeus, Empire of the Sun and Henry V amongst several others. The choir has 38 members, led by Kate Kent, and this will be their first concert in their second decade, having celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2023. The concert will be conducted by Neil Matthews, who is also Director of Music at Hurst College, and accompanied on both organ and piano by David Moore, who teaches at the London Oratory School.

Rebecca Leggett – who received rapturous reception from the audience last year – has been described by the Daily Telegraph as singing with ‘grace and beauty’. A winner of the Sussex Young Musician competition in 2018, she has since completed studies at the Royal College of Music and has performed at the Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Glyndebourne, with The Sixteen and at many other prestigious places. At Cuckfield she will be applying her glorious voice to songs from the movies Mamma Mia, Lord of the Rings, Toy Story, A Star is Born, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Beaches (yes, you guessed, it’s the guaranteed tearjerker Wind Beneath My Wings!) “All in all,” says Colin, “a wonderful feast of captivating live performances guaranteed.”

Tickets for Magic of the Movies are available now at £20 from www.ticketsource.co.uk - search Magic of the Movies. Members of the Friends of Holy Trinity get a 20% discount on this and most other Friends’ events, so why not join first? Just contact friends@ holytrinitycuckfield.org.

Greener Cuckfield and the Weald to Waves project

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By Nicky Holbrook (Greener Lindfield), Amy Hurn (Gardens & Greenspaces Coordinator, Knepp Wildland Foundation), and Will Faas (Greener Cuckfield)

Our local nature needs your help to survive and thrive! Do you have a green space that you look after - your garden, balcony, school field, allotment etc? Could you pledge some of this to nature recovery? Without swift action, we will continue to see a fall in the diversity and abundance of nature across the UK and the loss of all the ecosystem services they provide.

The good news is that we can reverse this trend and we can ALL make a difference. Beneath our patios and goalposts and all our gardens are part of ancient ecosystems which can provide crucial stepping stones for pollinators, small mammals, amphibians and birds.

Here in Sussex Weald to Waves is a great project coordinated through the Knepp Wildland Foundation to create an initial 100-mile nature friendly corridor from the High Weald and Ashdown Forest, through the Low Weald and over the South Downs National Park, along the river catchments of the Arun, Adur and Ouse to the coast at Climping, Shoreham and Newhaven and out to the kelp forests of Sussex Bay (see map). Its ambition is to tie together a wide community of land managers and owners, farmers, conservation organisations, councils, schools, businesses, local community groups and individuals working for nature recovery across Sussex.

The Weald to Waves project is mapping and supporting efforts of all sizes and is a leading national example of how nature’s recovery can coexist and support sustainable food production alongside our cultural and social lives. The nature recovery corridor will enhance habitats and support species, allowing our wildlife to survive and thrive across our local areas. Key to this success is engaging and connecting people and communities across Sussex by creating new opportunities to understand enjoy and protect nature.

We can all be part of this great project as last year Weald to Waves launched their Gardens & Greenspaces project. Everyone in Sussex can register and pledge their green space and you can contribute to extending this nature friendly corridor right now! This doesn’t mean abandoning your gardens but rather working with nature. The ambition is to create something truly remarkable; a community-led nature corridor extending across Sussex which will demonstrate landscape-scale recovery in action.

Our gardens are important because they make up the largest block of land in the Weald to Waves corridor. When we add in our parks, playgrounds, allotments, balconies and verges, this amounts to more land than Ashdown Forest!

When you register and pledge your green space, with your agreement, it will appear as a dot on a digital map. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to start linking up dots all over West Sussex? Could you leave a hole under a fence, plant some climbing plants or a native tree so nature can fly, jump and scurry between nature friendly spaces?

Signing up to the Gardens and Greenspaces project will offer you ideas and practical guidance for nature recovery, as well as opportunities to connect with others, share knowledge and experience. You will learn about species and habitats and can take part in monitoring and recording what we have outside our back doors.

So are you involved with a school playground, a scout hut, community orchard or an allotment group? Are you part of a community group managing green space such as a churchyard, burial ground or a community garden? Are you a gardener trying to make changes in your garden or window box? The Weald to Waves Garden & Greenspaces project urges you to SIGN UP and PLEDGE your space. Let’s link up with different communities across Sussex.

To read more and sign up, go to the ‘Get Involved’ page on the Weald to Waves website www.wealdtowaves.co.uk Information on Greener Cuckfield can be found at www.greenercuckfield.org or email greenercuckfield@ gmail.com.