The Big Help Out

To mark His Majesty The King’s Coronation, thousands of organisations across the country are getting together to give us all a chance to help out in our own communities.
Starting on Monday 8th. May there will be opportunities for everyone to join in.  No matter what you are good at, there’ll be something to suit helping hands of all shapes and sizes!  From checking in on someone who’d like a bit of company or volunteering for a charity the more of us who join in, the bigger help we will be.
If you can spare an hour …fantastic.  A day…amazing.  If it becomes a regular thing, so much the better.  If we all do a bit, it will really help a lot.
Help us to do something amazing, join in, lend a hand, make a change.
As well as those numerous national charities etc. who are involved in the Big Help Out to date all of the following village clubs, societies and organisations have indicated that they will warmly welcome new volunteers.  The details of kind of help, time, contacts, benefits and other information need much more room than is available on our Village Magazine page or the Hadow Down Web Site News page or the Facebook Group page so we have created a PDF document that will be stored as a file for anyone to access at any times by just going to:
The Big Help Out PDF Form Master

The list will be updated regularly but so far includes:

H D Macmillan Big Coffee Morning
The Hadlow Down Village Magazine
The Hadlow Down Litter Picking Group
The Hadlow Down Neighbourhood Watch
The TN22 Club
The H D Children in Need Group
The Hadlow Down Drama & Variety Club
The Hadlow Down Village Trust
The TN22 Plus Club
The Hadlow Down Playing Field
The Hadlow Down Gardening Club
The Hadlow Down Village Facebook Group
The KIt Wilson Trust
Hadlow Down Online – Village Web Site
Wilderness Wood
The Hadlow Down Village Hall
H D Comic Relief Red Nose Group

Other Clubs and Organisations have contacted us to ask that although they currently need no working volunteers they would always warmly welcome new members to the clubs & societies etc. to share in their activities. They are: Hadlow Down Book Club; The Hadlow Down Horticultural Society!

A New Start For The Hadlow Down Drama & Variety Club

We are pleased to let you know that at our recent AGM it was decided to continue with our Society and to see if we can attract new members with some different approaches. In a village community, it is so important to keep opportunities open for people to connect, and this is what the committee is keen to do. If you want more information about HDD&VC do ring me on 07506889724 or email claire.rivers61@gmail.com, new members are always welcome.
We have booked the Village Hall for a monthly meeting at which we will have different activities for members to enjoy. The dates are as follows so please put them in your diaries:
17th April, 2023 7.30pm An evening of mime and improvisation- no experience needed, just a good sense of humour!!
15th May, 2023 7.30pm
19th June, 2023 7.30pm
17th July, 2023 7.30pm
We have left the three latter dates open as we would like to run our ideas past members at the first meeting, but the things we have been considering are: the showing of a play; a session with a storyteller looking at storytelling techniques; theatre/cinema visits; and play readings.
We are also exploring the possibility of joining NODA (National Operatic and Dramatic Association), which has a number of benefits, including plays, musicals and pantos that members can use, a regional website to link people to local societies and training opportunities.
Another plan, is to record some bedtime stories for children, some of which may be a video, and others audio. We would place these on a site, such as, Youtube, for parents/carers/children to access. We would also open up the opportunity to record a story to non-members of the Society. We know there are members, and potential members, that have a fear of word learning and it would be a fun, and inclusive activity, to record a series of radio style plays/’book at bedtime’ that the village community, and beyond, could access.
Social media is well-used by so many people that we intend to keep our facebook page up-to-date and to make sure we have a presence on the village website as well.
As always, the views of members are so welcome, our philosophy is ‘the more the merrier’, so do please let us know of any ideas you may have and items to include on the website.
We look forward to seeing you on the 17th April at 7.30pm and hope that, meanwhile, you have a Happy and Peaceful Easter.
Kind regards,
Claire

 

Hadlow Down Book Club Review for March

Words define us, they explain us, and on occasion, they serve to control or isolate us.’

We think of a dictionary as giving objective, authoritative definitions of words, based on their usage and written sources. This is not entirely the truth, however – they also reflect the dominant culture. In this month’s book The Dictionary of Lost Words (2022) Pip Williams gives an account of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary – the first dictionary since Samuel Johnson’s (1755). Work began in 1857 and it was published in full in 1928. Her novel explores those words that are omitted or inadequately defined. Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review for March”

Hadlow Down Book Club Review for February

An act of free and general pardon, indemnity, and pardon.”
Last month we read The Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (2022), a historical thriller set in the 17th century in the aftermath of the Restoration. The Act of Oblivion (1652) was the edict that pardoned those who had fought against the king except for those directly responsible for his execution. One of the most prominent of these was Colonel Edward Whalley, a cousin and friend of Oliver Cromwell, who fled to America with his son-in-law Colonel Will Goffe. The novel follows their pursuit through the wilds of pre-revolutionary New England. Continue reading “Hadlow Down Book Club Review for February”

Book Club Review – November

I’ve always believed in inherited pain’

This month our chosen book is The island of Missing Trees by the Turkish writer Elif Shafak, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022. It is about the Cypriot civil war and how the trauma of such a war imperils future generations as well as uprooting ordinary lives. It is also a Romeo and Juliet story of the passionate love affair between Kostas, a Greek Cypriot and Defne a Turkish Cypriot and it centres on the story how their daughter Ada comes to terms with the past she has never known. Continue reading “Book Club Review – November”