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‘Pachi
nko is a foolish game, but life was not.’
Our book this month was “Pachinko”, by Min Jin Lee, an American Korean who spent time in Japan with her husband. This was one of the most popular choices among writers offering their summer choices to the Irish Times and a runner-up to the National Book Award for Fiction 2017.
Click to go to the Book Club pages and read full review.
‘Everything ends… doesn’t mean it wasn’t good’.
A few years ago the Book Club read Francis Spufford’s debut picaresque novel ‘On Golden Hill’. Described as a frolicsome, exuberant romp, all of us really enjoyed it and we were therefore keen to read his next novel, Light Perpetual’, a title taken from the Requiem Prayer.
Click to go to Book Club pages and read full review
‘Pachinko is a foolish game, but life was not.’Our book this month was “Pachinko”, by Min Jin Lee, an American Korean who spent time in Japan with her husband. This was one of the most popular choices among writers offering their summer choices to the Irish Times and a runner-up to the National Book Award for Fiction 2017.
Pachinko is a game of chance – a cross between pinball and slot machines in which the managers tilt the pins to make more money. Popular in Japan, but disreputable because of its element of gaming, Pachinko halls were often one way for Korean immigrants to make money, as do three of the main characters in the novel. The title of the book is literal but also metaphoric – life is like the game of Pachinko, especially for despised immigrants like the Koreans in Tokyo.
Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review – April 2021”
From Uckfield News:
A new outline planning application has been submitted to demolish Hadlow Down Village Hall and build three homes on the site.
Outline permission was given in 2018 for the project- see a previous Uckfield News story: Plans to demolish village hall and build three homes approved – but reserved matters have not been submitted within the three years required.
The same design and access statement submitted for the first application, number WD/2018/0089/0 accompanies the new application, number WD/2021/0471.
Continue reading “Neighbours Object as New Plan Submitted for Homes on Village Hall Site”
Save the date: The next Great British Spring Clean will be held in Wealden from 28 May until 13 June 2021.
Our outdoor spaces are more important to us now than ever before. We are once again proud to support Keep Britain Tidy and their Great British Spring Clean campaign to free our outdoor spaces from litter. Close to a million bags of litter were collected in the UK in 2019. Wealden District Council has supported this initiative for the past five years. In the past year alone, volunteer litter pickers in Wealden have been very active, collecting well in excess of 1,500 bags of litter. This Spring, Keep Britain Tidy call on you to join their #MillionMileMission to clean up the country and show some love for those special places that helped us though lockdown. If 250,000 people pledge to pick up litter for 90 minutes each, a million miles of outdoor space would be covered – that’s to the moon and back twice!
The Hadlow Down Book Club have added a review of their February read ‘Piranesi’ by Susannah Clarke to the book club pages.
Click here to go to the Book Club pages and read.
This month we have been reading Susanna Clarke’s ’Piranesi’ (2020)
‘The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite’
I have to admit that I was reluctant to read this book – not my usual sort of thing at all – and to begin with I made slow progress. However, the beauty of the descriptions and the mystery and suspense that develops drew me in and I found it a rewarding book to read.
It is set in the ‘House’, a fantasy world made up of Halls filled with classical statues. Some Halls are very beautiful, others are sinister and potentially dangerous. The Halls are washed by the tides of the sea and periodically high tides cause flooding while clouds drift across the high walls. Within these Halls lives the narrator known as Piranesi. He is alone apart from ‘the Other’ who he believes also lives in the House and who meets him twice a week for research. Sometimes the Other brings Piranesi gifts, like shoes, vitamin pills, a ham and cheese sandwich. Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review”
Is the future of our local playing field at the crossroads?
Yes, this does sound dramatic but the reality is that future of this much loved local community amenity is very uncertain.
What do you know about the playing field?
Opened in 1975 it has provided a space for walkers, informal recreation and both cricket and football pitches for competitive sport. This provision has relied on the goodwill and commitment of a succession of volunteers.
What does it involve?
It requires local people to give of their time generously to maintain and improve the facility and raise much of the funding to pay for this.
Why is the future of the facility in doubt?
Worryingly the current committee numbers just three trustees and one committee member. It is the case that also these volunteers undertake much of the fund-raising and maintenance and they’re not getting any younger!! Two of the trustees are over 70 and one over 65 years of age.
What do we need? WE NEED NEW VOLUNTEERS.
People of all ages, of both genders and those with disabilities would be welcome and no previous experience is required.
How can you help?
In addition to the specific roles – chairperson, treasurer and secretary, there are places for members to help with organising fund raising and events, – examples of such activities are the Firework and Bonfire Evening, Pop Up suppers, Race and Quiz nights. Committee meetings annually total six and usually are held in the pavilion.
Other volunteers Grass cutting, football pitch line-marking, cricket wicket maintenance, pavilion repair and upkeep, drainage ditch clearance – activities to name but a few! The first three tasks need to be carried out on a weekly basis and the others through maintenance/working party sessions on Saturday mornings – usually six annually.
Do you think you can help? Interested? Would you like to find out more? As a first step, why not visit the Playing Field website visit the Playing Field website hdpf.uk and click on the Contact Us in the menu.
Many thanks
The Trustees, Hadlow Playing Field.
This month we have been reading Anne Tyler’s ‘Redhead by the Side of the Road’, one of the shorter and more bittersweet of her novels but, nevertheless, quietly profound and longlisted for the Booker Prize.
It is about Micah Mortimer:- a man in his 40s, the youngest of a chaotic family of sisters; the only one to go to university and then have a professional job, but who opted out of corporate life and now scrapes a living running a one-man computer repair business and caretaking his block of flats, giving him free accommodation. His family regard him with affectionate bewilderment.
Continue reading “January Book Club Review”