Archive for category: News

Councillor Peter OLBRICH died  on January 19^th.  Peter was a key and well-respected member of our Chailey community and, for more than thirty years, served on the Parish Council. As well as a Parish Councillor, he had also served as a District Councillor.  ‘Served’ is the correct word to encompass Peter’s manifold responsibilities:  at the time of his death Peter was completing a (first) survey of the Council’s land holdings;  developing the recreational area at Rowheath;  and working with the Sports Association and the Bonfire Society.  Peter worked hard for our community but his own life reflected his idiosyncratic and unassuming character; it was one of the joys to receive him in the range of vehicles he curated from a German Messerschmitt  through to Vespas and the ‘nomad’ he constructed – and not forgetting his Fordson tractor, a significant vehicle in the Sussex Tractor Club.  It was in these vehicles that Peter rode triumphantly across Europe, recalling his European heritage, though it was by train that he recently travelled to the furthest North of Scotland.

Peter combined a rare intelligence with good common sense and an attractive personality which made him attentive to others and other opinions.  He was Chair of Chailey Parish Council and thereafter Deputy Chair, knowledgeable and helpful to newcomers, and invariably gracious – speaking on behalf of Councillors to thank them for their considerations.  Peter was a very kind and fine man whose advice and help will be sorely missed by our community.

This Tuesday 14 January, Lewes District Council (LDC) will be holding a webinar and Q&A for anyone interested in hearing about the current stage of consultation over the Lewes District Local Plan.

For this current phase of consultation, LDC  are asking residents to focus their feedback on:

– Early site allocation proposals
– Themes and policies of the plan

The current phase of consultation focusses on sites within towns and a limited number of villages. There will be a further stage of consultation later in the year that will have a greater emphasis on more rural parts of the district, while also re-evaluating areas considered during phase one.

https://www.facebook.com/lewesdistrictcouncil/posts/pfbid0zEVsMd3sS7YEzc2cNjtAehat8ZRm9oLZmA8xENJ8f8T3dXunP4EmmGVo9k7BeNLpl

Chailey Commons Society will be holding a talk on Thursday 9th January on “Storks at Knepp”. The speaker is Laura Vaughan-Hirsch, who is a Stork Officer. This event will be held at Chailey Village Hall, BN8 4DA starting at 7.30pm. All are welcome to attend.

You know that feeling – it worked perfectly when you opened it, but it doesn’t now and you don’t have the receipt because it was a gift and you are too embarrassed to ask Aunt Bertha where she bought it…… Chailey Repair Café will come to the rescue – there isn’t much that our  Café’s skilled repair  teams can’t take on!

We had a remarkably successful 2024 and go from strength to strength. It’s notable that we  now have a regular core of customers –  we see the same faces over and over again, as well as new visitors,  who tell us it’s the first time they’ve been to a Repair Café and they didn’t know that such things exist!

During 2024, our talented  repair teams   tackled  some very unusual  items , including antlers,  a balalaika,  a donkey, an elephant and a  unicorn, (not all at once!) a chandelier and a helicopter, as well as the usual collection of  toasters, irons,  record players, table lamps, broken  zips and  furniture….

Don’t forget that we have an IT team who will not only get your new  laptop or iPad working properly but will also spend time showing you how to use it if you’ve got stuck. We also have a state of the art sharpening machine to sort out those blunt  knives and garden tools.  It’s all in a day’s work for  this successful local initiative which has gone from strength to strength and is now in its 8^th year!

Our 2025 dates are easy to remember  – we are normally  open every 2nd Saturday of each month between 10am – 1pm. Our new 2025 posters and flyers with all this year’s dates are now available at the Café, so you won’t forget!

Chailey Repair Café is part of a  world-wide movement where volunteer experts repair things free of charge – although a donation towards running costs is invited. Anyone can bring along broken items or clothing needing repair from home, and have a cuppa and a cake while they wait!

You’ll find us at St Peter’s Church, Chailey on the A275 at Chailey Green normally on the second Saturday   of each month (11^th Jan, 8^th Feb, 8th March and so on….) between 1000hrs and 1300hrs where we have a full Café service including our legendary cakes!

Contact  us at chaileyrc@gmail.com and we’ll see what we can do to help.

See you very soon and a very Happy New Year from all of us here at Chailey Repair Café!!

Bryan McAlley and the Chailey Repair Café team