Cora Courtney Bennett is a year 11 student at Claverham and is offering to help out with home schooling.

Hello, my name is Cora and I’m a Year 11 student at Claverham.  At school I used to volunteer in a peer reading scheme helping pupils struggling with their literacy skills, and I also helped others with Maths work.   I know that, in the current situation, home schooling is very difficult for many parents and children, I would love to offer my time to assist any students with their work, over zoom calls.  If you are interested and want to find out more, please initially contact my mum via her email: hannah.courtneybennett@btinternet.com

Irene (Parish Clerk)

Sadly, the terrific programme for the 900th Anniversary of our beautiful church – All Saints, has had to be amended due to the coronavirus emergency.
Many of the events have been postponed until 2021.
Please click on the link below for full details.

Amended Anniversary Programme (13.05.20)

Here we are again and expecting some further news about the lockdown on Sunday, it’s been nearly 7 weeks now.  I’m listing below the usual information for anyone who has just subscribed to the email posts alerts system and if it is possible, can you let anyone not able to access this website have the important information.

Safe sites for coronavirus information

Click on this link to go to the NHS coronavirus information website

Click on this link to go to the NHS dental advice service during the coronavirus emergency

Click on this link to go to the GOV.UK website for conronavirus information and advice

Community Hubs

There’s some good and safe information here from East Sussex County Council for those who need extra support.

Click on this link to go to the ESCC Community Hubs information page

Shopping/Prescriptions

Click on the link below to see information about major supermarkets opening/restrictions etc. during this emergency.

Click on this link for supermarket information

Local shops – best to ring first to find out their open hours and if they can deliver.

Food shops operating in Rother during this emergency

Boots, Robertsbridge – for prescriptions please contact David Todd from Robertsbridge and Salehurst Helping Hands at davidtodd@hotmail.com or on 07726 592 739 and he will organise delivery of your prescription to you.

Some additions to local shops from the list previously posted.

1. Bee and Bear Baker – home delivery of brownies, muffins etc.
   www.beeandbearbakery .co.uk
2. Browns Farm Shop, only delivery or collection – not open for browsing – orders@browns-farmshop.co.uk  or phone on 01580 880502/07532 267002
3. Busters Farm Shop – deliveries meat/veg/dairy/bread on Tuesday to Saturday 9-6 on Sundays 10-2.  Phone on 01580 882020.
4. Culverwells – local country store and delivery available for Calor Gas.  Pay over the phone and collect from gate.  info@culverwells.co.uk.
   Phone – 01580 880567.
5. Great Park Farm Catsfield – deliveries £3.50, veg box £15.00 and all other farm shop produce.  www.greatparkfarm.co.uk or phone on 01424 772531.
6. One Stop – call about shopping you need and who will be collecting it for you.  They get it ready for your nominated person to pay for and collect.  Only contactless payments (no cash) – phone on 01580 880319.
7. Robertsbridge Village Store – Post Office open Mon-Sat 9-5, shop open for delivery/collection Mon-Sat 8.30-6pm.  Telephone to place your order on 01580 880540 or 880714.

Thank you

The people who are working to keep our lives going are too many to mention – but my sincere thanks to all of them.  I would like particularly to mention the “Mountfield Volunteers,” when the lockdown started I asked the Mountfield community if there were any out there who would collection prescriptions/do a bit of shopping etc., – I have called on them several times and they have always stepped up to the plate – THANK YOU.

Mountfield Parish Council Business

Like all District/Town/Parish Councils, we are dealing only with essential business.  Any planning applications that come in will be dealt with on my delegated authority and no meeting will be held – all new planning applications will be posted on this website.
We hope to have an Extraordinary Council Meeting in late-June/early-July to approve and sign off the Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2019-20 (AGAR).  If this is possible, the date and agenda will be posted on this website and we will maintain strict social distancing.

The Adventures of Alfie

I had no choice but to get my very amateur dog grooming kit out and have a go!  He literally couldn’t see out of his eyes.  I looked at all the videos on-line, obviously professional groomers and perfectly behaved dogs – yeah right.  He was pretty good actually, didn’t like it much, but I managed to get rid of the Denis Healy eyebrows.  The end result was pretty disastrous – a bald spot on his head, very spiky all over and I didn’t dare touch his “undercarriage, also made a terrible job of his tail, I got carried away and just kept cutting.  My eldest granddaughter saw the result and her only comment, after the face palm, was “what have you done Nana, his tail looks just like a bog brush.”  Thankfully his groomer phoned last Monday and RDC have told the licenced dog groomers they can open again if they observe strict social distancing.  I took him there on Tuesday and she was very understanding, “it will grow again.”  His beautiful powder-puff tail has gone and we will have to wait for that to come back.  I don’t know how she gets him so white – when she bathes him he looks as if she’s done it with Ariel Bio on a boil-wash, when I try to bath him, he still looks very grubby.  However, he’s still the happy, precious, little soul he always was and much perkier now he’s got rid of all that fur.

I was without broadband for nearly two weeks recently, it came back last Sunday.  A long story, but Sky were pretty good considering all of them are working from home.  Apart from an outage in East Sussex, there was a problem with my MAC address (that’s a unique number assigned to a network interface controller(?)).  They sorted it out as soon as they could and I’m up and running again.  It got me to thinking – what did I do before the Internet?  I was obviously younger, had young children (2) and was never bored.  I suppose what you don’t know, you don’t miss.  I more than missed it, it has become my main access to information – I get up in the morning (still in dressing gown), brush teeth, go downstairs, make a cup of tea, fire up the iPad and look at the papers.  Without it, I have to look at BBC News – which at the moment seems to be a lot of people singing Vera Lynn songs.

So we will have to wait until Sunday when Boris lets us know the next steps out of lockdown – why do they insist on calling it a roadmap?  Surely it is just a plan.  I’ll keep in touch, look after yourselves.

Irene (Parish Clerk)

Mountfield has a new planning application.
RR/2020/425/P Selton, Hoath Hill TN32 5LL – single-storey side and rear extensions and render existing ground floor brickwork.
Deadline for responses is 12.05.20

Click on this link to see full details on the RDC planning website

This application will not be considered by MPC at a meeting, but a decision will be made using delegated authority.
If you wish to make any comments, please go directly to the RDC planning website – the link is above.