Your letters - September 24, 2010

Perhaps Bexhillians should bear burden

I READ with great interest two letters published September 17.

The first from John Hill who referred to his earlier letter about one of the art exhibitors at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, which reminded me how much I agreed with him when I saw it.

I have seen more artistic displays at car boot sales and do hope such events are funded by someone other than council tax payers.

The second letter from William Ward (What is the purpose of the Pavilion?) states that the original purpose was 'to provide entertainment for the people of Bexhill'.

I find this commendable and would suggest, with the greatest respect, that the people of Bexhill should bear the burden of funding it to the relief of so many of us who do not live there.

Peter Venn

Lower Lake

Battle

Thanks for making book fair a success

THE team organising the Winchelsea Book Fair wish to thank everyone who contributed to making this event such a great success.

Well over 4,000 has been raised, 50 per cent of which will go to the Friends of Rye Hospital, 25 per cent to the Friends of the Ancient Monuments of Winchelsea and 25 per cent to St Thomas The Martyr, Winchelsea, where the fair was held.

Our special thanks go to the Rector of Winchelsea and to Bournes Haulage, of Rye, who provided boxes and stored them, full of books, until we could sort them.

We are most grateful to the staff and caretaker of Winchelsea School who allowed us to store and sort books there during the holiday period; also to the local village voices who gave us such good publicity before the event.

Thank you to all those who sorted more than 8,000 books, moved them to the church and manned the stalls for two days before dismantling them afterwards.

We are grateful to everyone who gave us books to sell and to those who came to buy them.

The rushg at the door at 10am on Friday was a reward for our hard work.

Finally a special thank you to Mike de Smith who had the original idea and managed the whole affair brilliantly.

There were many good books remaining which are being passed on to other charities.

The League of Friends Grand Raffle was drawn on Saturday. The 200 prize went to Milly and Emily, of Playden; the 100 prize to Mrs T Hodgson, of Rye; and the 50 to Ro Cooke; at Camber.

John Priestley

Chairman of Winchelsea Book Fair

Where are all the rural volunteers?

I HAVE recently been looking for volunteers to support families in the Rye and rural Rother area and must say how disappointing the response has been.

This for me is a real shame because, as a Rye resident, I am really keen to promote the charity I run so that local families can benefit from local volunteer support. My charity is Home-Start Hastings & Rother.

It's only since April of this year that we secured funding to work in Rye and rural Rother.

In itself this is a really exciting challenge as we have been operating in the Hastings and St Leonards area for over 21 years and can now share the benefit of our expertise to support families, train local volunteers and provide a needy link with organizations who can support them.

Our volunteers visit families in their homes for up to three hours per week, developing trusting relationships and helping those who don't always have a link with families and friends in their locality.

They share information about what is available locally to support them and benefit themselves from our training.

We never allow them to be out of pocket as we always reimburse travel expenses.

Can I implore you, if you are looking for voluntary work to consider Home-Start? I think, not only is it a worthwhile charity, but helps if you are looking for work, proving that you are building on your own personal development and knowledge of people.

We are looking for another 4 people to recruit in October. Our next Preparation course will be in Spring 2011.

Visit our website at www.hshr.org.uk to download an application form or ring us on 01424 443636 for more information.

Our next Preparation course is at Rye Children's Centre beginning 01 October (from 10am-2.00pm) and runs for 10 weeks (every Friday except half term week.)

Judy Breen

Senior Organiser

Home-Start Hastings and Rother

Dedicated bravery of Merchant Navy

AS WE think about the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, without taking away anything from our gallant airmen and women, let us also remember the dedicated bravery of the men and women of the Merchant Navy who brought the fuel, without which the RAF could not have continued to fly.

The tankers had to endure attack from U-boats, aircraft and mines which resulted in the loss of all too many.

Norman Hillier

Norman Close