Yet another pub crawl in Lewes, organised by John Davey. We’ve done so many that we are in danger of running out of pubs. The evening of 8 August 2017 was mild warm and the landlords welcoming. The evening finished with a selection of tapas which just kept coming and coming.
BBQ AT ROBBO’S
The evening was cool, but the spirit was hot at the BBQ generously hosted by Alan and Liz Robinson on 19 August 2017. A tasty range of cooked meats and salads was followed by a selection of delicious puddings.
After the meal a strange noise grew louder and eventually became music played on the accordion by René, who had come specially from Montmartre to play for a sing song.
SKITTLED OUT
We almost did it, but were pipped at the post by the RC of Horsham on 9 November 2017.
Bob Mills Inducted
Bob lives in Crawley, but wanted to join the lively bunch at Cuckfield & Lindfield. He runs his own firm, “Agitrend” designing, producing and selling machinery for farming and construction.
YOUTH SPEAKS 2017
A record ten teams participated on 27 November 2017 at Oathall Community College. Despite being a long evening, the variety of subjects chosen and the standard of speaking made the time pass in a flash. A sample of the topics is: “Should teachers be replaced by robots?” “Do we rely too much on technology?” “Why the voting age should be lowered to 16.” “Should laws be the same all round the world?”
The winning teams were: Intermediate – Great Walstead; Senior – Warden Park.
LATE SHOPPING
As well as things to eat and drink you could actually send a letter to Santa, and amazingly get a reply. Santa’s assistant Kirsty had her work cut out sending 110 replies. It was a very jolly stall with lots of dressing-up.
UP UP AND AWAY
Alex Mackenzie organised a wonderful evening out for 48 members and partners on a beautiful evening in May 2017. We warmed up afterwards with a fish and chip su
pper.
CHRISTMAS PARTY 2017
Much jollification was the order of the evening with Andy Christmas in charge. After an excellent roast beef dinner, Andy ran a topical quiz, which Kirsty ran around nicking spectacles off people.
She put on each pair in turn and we had to guess who they belonged to.
The evening finished off with some rousing carol singing accompanied by our very own René Noel. 
EGG ON OUR FACES
On Monday 13 Feb 2018, Haywards Heath RC invited the 4-Clubs to send teams to participate in an “Egg Race.” After a pleasant roast beef and banoffee pie dinner we all retired to the bar where the competition had been set up. There were no eggs in sight – only 20 sticks of spaghetti, a strip of Sellotape, a piece of string and a marshmallow. We had 20 minutes to build the tallest tower with the marshmallow on top.
The RCCL team’s design was by far the most ambitious, but it was let down by the poor quality of the Sellotape, not enough string, and the time insufficient for the superior design to be fine tuned. In the end Jaime tried his magic massage on the rather flimsy legs, but we were missing a sky-hook in order to do a proper job.
A JOLLY REVIEW
Grateful thanks are due, once again to the Cuckfield Players for entertaining us at Wivelfield Green Village Hall on March 9th 2018. No fewer than 16 humorous sketches were presented with panache by a cast of 12 actors, supported by two crew. A useful £1250 was raised for the Charity Fund.
HORSE RACING
An exciting evening for the Club at Wivelsfield Green Village Hall as punters placed their bets on the tote and owners cheered on their steeds to neck and neck finishes. A fish and chip supper and bar revived the spirits and the real winner was the charity account to the tune of £2,000, with help from sponsor Barclays Bank.
Village Fairs 2017
As well as the coconut shy the bouncy castle proved highly popular, especially with the younger children, at the Cuckoo Fair on May 1st and at the Lindifled Village Day on June 3rd. 
Brighter Welcome at the Linwood Centre
A repaint, new furniture and brighter pictures have transformed the reception centre into a warm and welcoming space for people with mental health problems. The
upgrade was mostly funded with a cheque from RCCL for £2,000, whilst a sponsored walk by the staff raised the balance.
Skittles Versus Horsham
T’was at the bull, Shermanbury on the eve of 2o February 2017 that ten stalwarts from each Rotary Club met head on, with a delicious buffet at half time. We won 63/63, 71/70 and 75/69. The stars of the show were Steve Minter who scored 11 and Carol Taylor who scored an amazing 16.
Silence is Golden
Buster Keaton starred as “The Cameraman” on 17 March 2017 at the Queens Hall, Cuckfield. The show was a sell-out and the event raised £1,200 for a research project to investigate childhood tumours.
WE GET SOME GOOD SPEAKERS
GARY WALL AGAIN
We get an update every couple of years from the Leader of Mid Sussex Council. He told us that despite now receiving zero funding from the government MSDC have managed to desist from raising Council tax until the last couple of years when only very modest rises had to be implemented.
Gary described some of the way in which costs had been reduced. For example, grass verges cut twice instead of four times a year. Interestingly this also helps the wild flora and fauna to thrive. It does sometimes cause problems of visibility for drivers when coming out of a side turning
This appears to be in stark contrast to Surrey County Council which is holding a referendum on whether or not Council Tax should be raised 15% in order to better fund social care for the elderly and disabled. One response to this was from John O’Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, who said: “Surrey County Council should hang their heads in shame. Surrey residents will have seen their council tax go up by around 85 per cent in the last two decades and have every right to feel that their local representatives have let them down once again.”
MICROFINANCE
Whilst £100 is not much to us these days, it is an amount which, even at current exchange rates, is a serious sum to people in the poorest counties in the world. Lendwithcare do what their name says. They have a code of practice and check that the small businesses they lend to are ethical, socially responsible and environmentally aware. Countries involved are: Ecuador, Malawi, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Zambia and Ruanda.
In October 2016 the International committee was approved by the Club to offer £200 to Lendwithcare. They lent £100 to Braulio Olmedo Caicedo (63, above), a maize farmer in Ecuador to purchase fertilizer and crop protection products. He is on target to complete his loan by end March 2017.
A second loan of £100 was made to Pech Sng Oun (24) to purchase an additional 1 hectare of land to grow rice. His loan is due for completion in November 2019.
This is clearly a scheme which makes a massive difference to the lives of individuals and their families. It not only costs us peanuts at first, but we get our money back, except for a small admin fee to cover the cost of operation of Lendwithcare.
Now that we have a first tentative trial at this maybe we should consider doing more. We haven’t long to wait to see if Braulio completes satisfactorily which would give us added confidence in the scheme
HEADS ON – Support for Mental Health
Community Service Committee Chair, Professor Judith Pratt (right) has made club members aware of the needs of people with mental health problems which are desperately in need of support.
Via the Heads-On organisation the Club donated £3,000 which has gone to updating the reception of the Linwood Community Mental Health Centre, Haywards Heath, art materials for Bluebell House which specialises in personality disorders and Hellingly, Hailsham for photographic equipment to help mentally unwell offenders.
SCOUTING FOR BOYS (&GIRLS)
Each year the Rotary Club visits the Lindfield Scout Group for a sausage and mash supper. The Club has supported the scouts in many ways over the years.
Daniel Hope (left) took part in last year’s Rotary Youth Leadership Awards scheme which involves a week long adventure training course in the Surrey hills. He gave a talk about his life-changing experiences.
CHRISTMAS 2017 – THE SERIOUS SIDE
Room 101 was the main event at the annual Club Christmas Party, as well as the meal, of course.
The jollity was not even spoiled by the grumpy so-and-sos who spouted about their pet hates, such as trifle, seagulls and Christmas itself. Members voted for who was the worst. Needless to say President Elect Karen won the prize.